Chapter 2

ELION 

This city is beneath me.

Everything else will be soon. It's only a matter of time. 

My jaw ticked once as I watched the bustle in the streets of Seattle, several floors beneath my office windows. Busy people moving in every direction: hurrying, rushing, sprinting, scrambling, running towards jobs and lives that would amount to nothing noteworthy

I flicked the steel lighter in my hand, the flame burned the pad of my thumb for a moment before extinguishing it. 

Habits

Pain had a way of keeping the mind focused, I would know that more than anyone, I've lived three years in nothing but pain, only one thought kept me through every second of it 

And that thought was about to become reality 

The door opened softly behind me “Sir" My secretary's voice came with a small shake to it. He cleared his throat once. “Mr. Sterling and his daughter have been waiting Sir. It's been an hour”

Below, on the street, two people bumped into each other, nearly tripping over the sidewalk. A car sped past another, narrowly missing a woman crossing 

Mindless things

Behind me, I heard my secretary shift on his feet, uncomfortable with my prolonged silence. He apologized after a while and excused himself, shutting the door with a soft click

Smart man. It's why I hired him.

Making George Sterling wait was deeply satisfying, but that was just the tip of the iceberg. He's delusional if he thinks I'm letting him go because of this contract 

As for Loretta....

I flickered the lighter on, burning the pad of my thumb longer than necessary 

I knew she would comply, after all wasn't she Daddy's obedient girl who would do anything for her family? Whether it was to accuse an innocent man or sign her life away to damnation 

How cute

For six years, I had planned carefully. I could have taken my revenge on the Sterlings immediately I was out of jail, but if prison has taught me one thing, it's patience

The Elite Group hadn't existed until I created it, but now we sit atop the world. My leadership is unquestionable, my results were unmatched, but my public image remained a blockage to growing to the fullest potential 

A man who had served a prison sentence? Not very suitable for the press, to clear my image, I have to sell the world the biggest propaganda of all time

Love

And Loretta Sterling was the perfect candidate

I tore my eyes away from the chaos below and stalked to my chrome desk

‘Send them in’ I shot my secretary a quick text

≈

George walked in first, leaving his daughter behind. If selfishness were a person, it would be stunned by George Sterling. The man was so eager to marry off his daughter to me as long as I didn't crumble his dying company to dust

“Fitzpatrick” his practiced smile was as pleasant as a knife to one's guts. His brown eyes showed no warmth at all, if anything, I could see his wicked thoughts through them. 

I ignored him which I knew would be a big blow to his pride. Seeing George Sterling in the flesh made my blood turn into molten lava. 

I flicked the lighter once, held the flame against my thumb, and reminded myself that to utterly destroy a man like George, I had to make him believe he still had something to lose.

He believes I'm choosing peace. Let him believe that

Loretta on the other hand....I felt her before I saw her. 

The fear that emanated from her like a perfume, the soft uncertain footsteps that told me she'd rather be anywhere else but here, her hesitation to step into the office, and the deliberate pause in my doorway

I have photographs I've looked at a thousand times over. I knew every feature of her face, from the thirty-one freckles that sat above her nose, to the feminine cut of her jaw. I knew every single highlight in her caramel hair started and ended, I knew how she looked from every angle possible to mankind

The photographs had not prepared me enough. 

There was a flawless kind of perfection and there was....her, something that bypassed my eyes and landed somewhere very inconvenient. The thought arrived before I could control it, my grip on my lighter tightened 

“Sit” I ordered Sterling, looking away from his daughter 

George's lips twisted at my tone, but he didn't dare say a word. Loretta sat next to him, folding her hands on her lap while keeping her head lowered, my jaw tightened 

Sterling slid the document across the desk “All signed” he announced. “We can proceed”

I scanned through the document, She had signed everything. Every condition, every demand. Loretta had handed her life to me without putting up a fight. I expected to feel some sort of victory, my plan was gradually setting in 

But I didn't feel any

I cut her a glance and my jaw hardened “Did you read everything?”

She nodded once, weakly. Like a prisoner who had accepted their fate

George opened his mouth but I raised a finger, cutting him off. “Leave ”

He blinked, then leveled Lorreta with a stern look before walking out. When he closed the door behind him, I pushed off my chair

“Look at me Rea”

Her head raised quickly, and those unique eyes, the color of evergreen leaves, and brown earth hitting me with a force I did not expect 

She flinched when I approached, I could see all the effort it took for her not to bolt out through the doors.

Her fingers tightened around the edge of her dress “Why? Why are you doing this?"

I felt the corner of my lips tilt upwards. “What do you think? I need a wife”

Her red lips quivered, on the verge of tears. It was beautiful to watch. “You hate me.”

I resisted the urge to smile. “More than you can imagine”

Her eyes shone bright with tears. “I lied against you”

“I know,” my response came with a cruel smirk. “I was there”

The tears broke free now, sliding down her pale cheeks. “So why?”

I reached for the tear before I could stop myself, hovering my thumb on it

"Because every morning for three years...." My voice lowered an octave "I woke up in a cold room and the first thing I thought about was you" 

Memories of my days in prison flooded my mind. The cold nights, the fights, the shame and mockery I faced, all because of her. My pulse thundered, my blood simmered with the need for retribution  

Lorreta's throat moved with a hard swallow. 

“Because when the pain became too much, the only thing that kept me going was you, Rea. The moment I will make you suffer for what you did, take back every day you stole from me” I wiped the tear away from her face. She felt soft. Warm. “And more”

Her wet, long lashes fluttered “I'm so sorry, it wasn't–”

“Your fault?” I finished before she could. “It was. You had a choice. You took it and now, you'll suffer the consequences, right by my side where I'll get to watch”

I leaned down until I was close enough to feel her breath fanning my face "You created a monster, Loretta, and there is no one in this world I'd rather suffer with me than you.”

Another tear. And another. 

I watched it all fall.

"Save it” I said quietly, stepping back. "You'll need them in the days to come”

I returned to my desk "My driver will contact you with the arrangements. You have twenty-four hours to move your things to my penthouse"

She didn't respond. I didn't look up. But I felt her hot stare before leaving 

The office fell silent, the salty taste of her tears hung in the air.

I flicked my lighter once. Watched the flame dance and held.

Loretta was finally becoming mine. Mine to ruin, mine to destroy, So why did my thumb sting from something other than the flame?

I closed the lighter, banishing that thought 

It didn't matter.

Nothing mattered except the plan, I would finally get my long-sought revenge