Chapter 6: Breaking Point

The video looped again on Marcus’s cracked phone screen,my voice, high and desperate, begging Elliott to fuck me harder. The sound flooded the tiny office like poison gas.

Jax still had Marcus pinned to the floor, knee grinding into his chest, but even he froze when the dean’s name flashed in the upload notification:

"Uploading to secure cloud… 47% complete."

Elliott stepped fully into the room. The door clicked shut behind him with surgical finality. His suit remained immaculate, but his eyes burned,wildfire, pure, unfiltered rage. He didn’t glance at Marcus. He didn’t glance at Jax.

He looked only at me.

And that look cracked something deep in my chest.

“You came alone.” Not a question. A statement soaked in betrayal.

“I,” My throat seized. “Marcus said if I didn’t,”

“You didn’t trust me to handle it.” His voice dropped, colder now. “You walked into a trap instead of waiting five fucking minutes.”

Jax shoved Marcus harder into the carpet. “Back off, Professor. She’s scared shitless. You think she wanted this?”

Elliott’s gaze flicked to Jax,brief, lethal,then returned to me. “Scared enough to let this piece of shit record us? To let him threaten you while you sit here negotiating like I’m not the one who’s been trying to burn this place down for months?”

Marcus wheezed a laugh beneath Jax’s knee. “You think you’re the hero? You fucked him on my stage. In front of witnesses. That video shows you breaking every university policy. Consent or not, you’re done, Elliott. Tenure revoked. Jail time, maybe. And your little pet here?” He jerked his chin at me. “Expelled. Blacklisted. Good luck getting a job once ‘campus stripper slut’ starts trending.”

The upload hit "72%".

My legs buckled. I slid down the wall until my ass hit the floor. Cum from earlier still leaked out of me, soaking into my jeans,a humiliating, sticky reminder that less than twenty-four hours ago I’d been riding Elliott’s cock like it was the only thing keeping me alive.

Jax released Marcus and dropped beside me, one arm curling protectively around my shoulders. “Nyx,breathe. We can stop this.”

“How?” My voice cracked. “It’s already uploading.”

Elliott crossed the room in three long strides. He snatched the phone from the desk, thumbed at the screen,probably trying to cancel,but Marcus smirked.

“Cloud backup. Biometric lock. Smash it if you want. The copy’s already on my server. Backups on backups.”

Elliott’s knuckles whitened around the device. Then, slowly, he set it down.

He turned to me.

And knelt.

Right there, in front of Jax, Marcus, and the looping footage of us fucking. He cupped my face with both hands,gentle, almost reverent,and forced me to meet his eyes.

“I’m going to fix this,” he said quietly. “But you have to trust me. Completely. No more running. No more secrets. You tell me everything from now on.”

Tears burned behind my glasses. “I didn’t know what else to do.”

“I know.” His thumb brushed my cheek, catching a tear. “But we’re in this together now. You’re mine. That means I protect what’s mine,even from itself.”

He leaned in and kissed me,slow, deep, unhurried. Tongue sliding against mine, tasting salt, fear, and the faint smoke from the club. My hands fisted in his shirt. I kissed him back like a drowning man clutching an anchor.

Jax made a low, pained sound and looked away.

Marcus laughed again, weaker this time. “Touching. But the clock’s ticking, Professor. "89%.”

Elliott broke the kiss, rose, and turned to Marcus. The shift was instant,predator mode.

“You want to play blackmail?” he said softly. “Fine.”

He pulled a small black device from his inner jacket pocket,a key fob with a single red button. He pressed it.

Somewhere deep in the building, alarms began to wail. Not fire,something sharper, electronic.

Marcus’s eyes widened. “What the hell,”

“Server room lockdown,” Elliott said calmly. “Triggered remotely. Your backups? Encrypted and isolated. The upload? Interrupted at **91%.** And every camera in this club just went dark. Permanently. Courtesy of the federal warrant I’ve been sitting on for three weeks.”

Marcus scrambled to his feet. “You’re bluffing.”

Elliott smiled,thin, dangerous. “Try me.”

Sirens grew louder outside,real ones now. Campus security. Police. It didn’t matter. The game had flipped.

Jax helped me stand, arm still locked around my waist. “We need to move.”

Elliott nodded once. “Go. Both of you. Back exit. I’ll handle this.”

I hesitated. “What about you?”

He cupped my jaw again, thumb pressing my lower lip. “I’ll find you. Tonight. My place.” His voice dropped to a growl meant only for me. “And when I do…I’m going to fuck the fear out of you until you can’t remember anything but my name.”

Heat surged through me despite everything,my cock twitching traitorously in soaked jeans.

Then he shoved me gently toward Jax. “Go.”

Jax didn’t argue this time. He pulled me through the back corridors, past wide-eyed dancers, out into the night. We ran full sprint until we reached the side street where Lila waited in her beat-up hatchback, engine already running.

She took one look at me,disheveled, tear-streaked, limping,and floored it.

“What happened?” she demanded, eyes flicking between me and Jax in the rearview.

Jax answered for me. “Professor just triggered a raid. Marcus is fucked. But the video…”

“It’s contained,” I whispered. “For now.”

Lila’s hands tightened on the wheel. “And Elliott?”

“He’s staying to clean up.”

She exhaled sharply. “You’re going back to him tonight, aren’t you?”

I didn’t answer. I didn’t need to.

Jax’s hand found mine in the backseat,warm, steady. “If he hurts you again, Nyx…I’ll kill him.”

I squeezed back. “He won’t.”

But even as I said it, doubt coiled in my gut.

Because when Elliott found me later,when he stripped me, pinned me to his bed, and fucked me slow and punishing until I sobbed his name,would it be love?

Or punishment for not trusting him?

My phone buzzed as Lila turned onto our street.

Elliott: The door’s unlocked. Shower. Wait for me on your knees. Naked. We have a lot to discuss.

And beneath it, a single line that made my pulse spike:

“And bring the flash drive Marcus gave you”.

He knew.

How the hell did he know?