Lucian's Rules

ELENA'S POV

I didn't sleep, 

I just lay there on top of the bed, still dressed, and I stared up at the ceiling, wondering…

Did he know?

Did he really know? 

__

Morning crept in like a warning.

I opened my door slowly, one hand clutched the frame. I hope, no, I prayed that he was gone.

But he had not.

He stood near the front door, a dark suit pressed sharp against his body and one hand held two mugs of coffee.

One was for me.

He didn’t smile, he didn't blink.

“Get dressed,” he said, his voice was flat.

I blinked. “Why?”

“You are coming to the office.”

He walked past me before I could react.

“You are my wife now,” he said “You work for me.”

_

The drive felt like punishment.

Lucien typed on his phone the whole time. He was fast, focused and silent.

I sat stiff in the other corner of the back seat, my hands twisted in my lap. I didn't breathe too loudly and I didn’t move.

Outside, the city was alive, cars, lights, horns, and music. Inside the car, it was a grave.

__

Stone Enterprises towered above the street. Steel and glass and cold power. His name was stamped across the top in silver.

He owned everything, and I didn't even own peace.

Inside, the lobby was black, grayvand polished and everyone walked fast, talked low, and stared at the floor.

We stepped into the elevator. Just us.

His cologne wrapped around me, it was clean and expensive, it was too much.

I tried. “Lucien—”

He cut me off without turning his head. “Don’t speak in front of my staff unless I tell you to.”

I nodded and swallowed the rest.

The elevator doors opened and people stared.

“Good morning, Mr. Stone,” someone said with a bow in her voice.

He ignored her.

Everyone scrambled out of the way like he was a storm.

_

His office was glass and sky and the city stretched beyond the windows like he owns the horizon too.

He pointed to a smaller desk near his. “You will work there.”

I stared. “Me?”

“You are my assistant. Take calls, manage my schedule and answer emails. Don’t be late and don’t screw up.”

“But..I don’t know how to—”

He stepped closer and his voice was sharpened. “Learn.”

He turned away, sat behind his desk and started typing like I was already forgotten.

I sunk into my chair and touched the keyboard with shaking fingers. I didn't know what I was doing, but I did it anyway.

I copied what I saw the others did, I clicked buttons, opened tabs and faked it.

Every few seconds, I felt him watching me.

Or maybe it was just my guilt.

___

At noon, I brought him coffee and he took it without looking.

I handed him a file I have spent all morning fixing and he flipped through it and then  tossed it onto the desk.

“Wrong formatting.”

Heat crawled up my face and I picked it up.

“You are used to being taken care of,” he said, like it was a curse. “Aren’t you?”

I froze. “What?”

“Must have been nice,” he said. “Leaving me. Marrying rich.”

I gripped the file tight. “I didn’t—”

“Save it.”

His words cut sharper than the suit he was wearing.

I stared at him. “You think I married someone else?”

He finally looked at me and his eyes were darker than I have ever seen. Hurt hid behind the hate.

“Didn’t you?”

“No.” I shook my head. “Never.”

He didn't say anything. He just looked down again and picked up his phone and I stood there. Invisible.

__

I walked out of the office with the file and clutched to my chest.

My feet moved without a destination, my hands shook and my chest felt tight.

I passed open door and voices slipped out.

A woman, she was cold, sharp and familiar.

“She is not real,” the voice said. “That girl. She is fake. I know it.”

I stopped and I peeked through the crack.

It was her.

Lucien’s stepmother.

Blonde, blood-red lips and holding a phone to her ear.

“If I can prove the marriage is just for the will,” she said, “Lucien loses everything.”

I stopped breathing.

“I will catch her slipping,” she said with a little laugh. “Just one mistake. That’s all I need.”

I stepped back, I was fast.

My heart slammed in my chest, they were not just watching me.

They were coming for me.

___

I ran back and I pushed his door open. “Lucien—”

He was already on his feet.

“Where were you?” His voice was hard.

“I…I heard something,” I said “Listen to me…”

“Let me guess.” He stepped closer. “Sneaking off again? Eavesdropping?”

“No…your stepmother…she was planning to…” He moved fast 

One second I was standing.

The next, my back hit the glass wall behind me.

His hand slammed next to my head and His face was right there, it was inches from mine.

His breath hit my cheek and his eyes burned into me.

“You lie. You disappear at night. And now you play spy?”

“I’m not lying,” I whispered.

He didn’t blink.

I looked into his face and his eyes, so close. It was too close and the air shifted.

“You left me,” he said and his voice was lower now. It was rough. “No note. No call. Just gone.”

“I had no choice,” I said.

“There was always a choice.”

His face moved closer and our lips were almost touching.

My heart stuttered and my lips parted.

His breath brushed my mouth and then froze and he sniffed.

Once. Twice.

His brows pulled together and his eyes narrowed.

“You smell like…”

His voice was too quiet.

“…baby powder.”

My entire body went still and stared at me.

“Why do you smell like a baby, Elena?”

I couldn’t breathe, I couldn't speak.

The truth clung to my skin.

And he could smell it.