THE WOMAN THEY COULDN’T BREAK

Chapter One - The Wrong Door

Elena

"Let’s break up," Jasper said.

Three words. That’s all it took to shatter everything we built and everything I thought we had.

It’s been a week, but the echo of his voice still lingers in my mind like a haunting lullaby that I can’t seem to turn off. I replayed the moment over and over. The look in his eyes, not of regret, but of cold calculation. There wasn’t a shred of empathy when he ended things. His lips didn’t tremble nor did his hands twitch. He was as still as stone and looked unaffected.

We were supposed to get engaged next month. The date had been picked, the venue pre-booked, my heart ready. I had allowed myself to dream and to believe in fairy tales. But Jasper was never my prince, he was just a well-disguised fraud in designer suits and the reason he was breaking up was because he found out that I wasn't the heiress he thought I was. Cas, my sister was the real heiress and I didn’t tell him of this because I didn’t want our family issues to be out in the open but it seems someone really wanted his attention so badly and it was definitely Cas. She has always hated me and I am not surprised that she did something like this.

I was adopted into this family by Cas’s father. I was just five when he took me into his family after my mother was involved in an accident and went into a coma. I had no one to look after me and he was the doctor who operated on my mom so he felt sympathy for me. Ever since then, Cas and her mother have made my life a living hell. I am happy that she did what she did because Jasper is the right choice for her, I mean ‘evil begets evil’.

Ava, my best friend and the unshakable voice of fun and fire, had tried dragging me out of my self-imposed exile all week but I refused. I cried, wallowed and binged old sitcoms in my pyjamas, I barely ate and I cursed Jasper under my breath at any chance I got but tonight, something shifted.

Maybe it was anger or maybe I was just done letting heartbreak win.

"You know what?" I said, tossing my blanket aside and standing up in my worn tank top and shorts. “Let’s go out and party like there’s no tomorrow.”

Ava’s grin stretched like a cat's morning stretch. “Now that’s the spirit. Finally! I was about to call a priest.”

We dressed to kill. My pink satin mini-dress hugged my curves and dipped low enough to announce that I wasn’t anyone’s fragile little ex. Ava shimmered in gold, her red curls wild around her shoulders. We were two women on a mission to drown heartbreak in tequila and dance until regret forgot our names.

The downtown club pulsed with neon lights and loud bass. Every heartbeat felt like a drum syncing with the music. I wasn’t thinking about Jasper because I didn’t want to. I downed shot after shot, letting the burn of liquor replace the sting of betrayal.

I danced like I didn’t have a care in the world. And for a moment, I didn’t hold back, I let loose, my hips swaying and my laughter echoing. Ava twirled beside me, pointing at cute guys and wriggling her brows but I wasn’t there for anyone at least, not yet.

That was until I bumped into a waiter carrying red wine which sent half the glass splashing down on the front of my dress.

“Shit,” I muttered, swaying a bit. “Ava, I’ll be right back, I need to use the washroom.”

She gave me a thumbs-up while dancing with some guy in a leather jacket.

Clutching my stained dress, I stumbled toward the restrooms, my heels clicking against the marble tiles. I barely read the sign on the door as I barged in. My head spun from all the alcohol and my vision blurred slightly as I staggered to the sink.

I cursed under my breath, dabbing the stained area with cold water. “Come on, come off…”

Then the door creaked open behind me. I didn’t turn, I was too focused on the stubborn stain. I figured it was just another drunk girl like me.

But then......

“What the hell are you doing here?”

The voice was deep, male and furious.

I froze. My heart lurched as i slowly turned around and almost collapsed.

He was tall maybe 6'3, with a chiselled jawline and ocean deep eyes that stared at me like I was trespassing on sacred land. His hair was tousled in a way that looked too perfect to be accidental and even in a plain black shirt and jeans, he radiated power. Not just power but dominance and command.

Nathan Cain.

My breath hitched.

I recognized him instantly. Jasper’s estranged stepbrother. The family's black sheep. The one who refused the Cain empire and built his own as a renowned surgeon from scratch. Now, Nathan Cain was the billionaire every magazine wanted on their cover and here he was… glaring at me in the men’s washroom.

“I........I didn’t know this was the men’s,” I stammered, the alcohol making me sluggish.

“You shouldn’t be here,” he said, voice low but sharp. “Unless you’re spying for someone, who sent you?”

“What? No!” I scoffed, lifting my stained dress to show him. “I came to clean this off, not to start a war.”

My dress had hiked up a little too much and I quickly pulled it down. But not before his eyes dipped, darkening with something unmistakable.

Desire.

He stepped closer. The air changed and my skin prickled.

“You’re pretty bold for someone who walked into the wrong bathroom,” he said, voice now laced with something sultrier. “But I’ll admit… fate has a cruel sense of humour.”

“I’m not bold, I am just drunk and recently betrayed by an asshole,” I replied, crossing my arms, pretending my pulse wasn’t racing. “Also, Jasper’s your stepbrother.”

He chuckled darkly. “And?”

“And maybe you shouldn’t look at me like you want to devour me.”

“Maybe I do.”

There it was. Plain and unfiltered, a confession which made my stomach somersault with disbelief.

He reached out, his fingers brushing the side of my face, trailing down to my collarbone. I should’ve stopped him, but his touch… it ignited something dangerous inside me and for a moment, I didn’t want to be Elena, the girl left behind. I wanted to be wanted and craved.

“Mr. Nathan, this is highly inappropriate,” I whispered, my voice weak.

“You entered my space, sweetheart,” he murmured, his thumb grazing my bottom lip. “And now I can’t seem to resist you.”

His hands slid to my waist, then lower. My mind screamed no, but my body betrayed me. Jasper’s ghost whispered warnings in my head, but I didn’t care. I was ready to risk it all and give my virginity to his step brother, I mean if he could throw me away like trash, I had every right to set fire to the past.

I grabbed Nathan by the collar, pulling him close. “Well, it’s not really a bad idea... Mr. Nathan.”

His eyes burned as he lifted me effortlessly onto the sink counter and crashed his lips against mine. The kiss was wildfire. It was reckless and hungry.

I gasped into him, moaning softly as he deepened it. His hands slid under my dress, rough but calculated. My fingers tugged at his belt. I was done being the girl who cried herself to sleep.

I wanted chaos.

I wanted revenge.

But just as things reached the crescendo, my phone buzzed loudly between us. I pulled away, breathless and flushed and glanced at the screen.

A message from my adoptive mother.

“Get your ass here now or you’ll regret messing with me.”

My heart dropped.

Nathan tried to pull me back, but I pressed a hand to his chest.

“I need to go,” I said.

He looked like a man starved of something precious. “You can’t be serious. You woke something in me and now you want to leave?”

“I have to leave,” I said adjusting my dress. “Besides there are a lot of girls here willing to give themselves to you, you could pick one” he cursed under his breath, trying to calm himself as I slid off the counter.

“Just leave from here, now,” he said angrily, his eyes filled with anger which I could sense as I walked out of the washroom.