Chapter 5: The Gift

Christmas morning arrived with a kind of merciless beauty.

The storm had vanished overnight, leaving the world outside the Vance estate scrubbed clean and blindingly white. Sunlight reflected off the snow with such intensity it felt accusatory, as though nature itself was exposing what had happened beneath the roof of the house.

The power hummed back to life just before dawn.

Elena woke alone in Julian’s bed.

The realization settled slowly, cruelly. Silk sheets cooled beneath her fingertips. The faint scent of cedar and expensive cologne still clung to her skin, impossible to escape. She lay there for several seconds too long, staring at the ceiling, her body heavy with memory.

Nothing about her felt untouched.

She dressed mechanically, hands trembling as she pulled on clothes that suddenly felt wrong too innocent, too thin. The mirror reflected a girl who looked unchanged, but Elena knew better. Something fundamental had shifted. Something irreversible.

She slipped back to her room before the staff began circulating in earnest, locking the door behind her like it might protect her from herself. In the shower, she scrubbed until her skin burned, until the water ran hot and relentless over places that still felt branded by his hands.

It didn’t help.

By the time Chloe came bursting in, all manic joy and holiday glitter, Elena was sitting on the edge of her bed, wrapped in a sweater two sizes too big.

“Merry Christmas, sleepyhead!” Chloe sang, bouncing onto the mattress. “Dad’s in an amazing mood, which is rare, and he says breakfast is in the solarium. Oh and he’s got big gifts this year.”

Elena’s stomach tightened. Seeing Chloe's happy face suddenly made her feel guilty.

“He got you something too,” Chloe added, eyes sparkling. “Come on. I want to see what it is.”

The solarium felt unreal.

Glass walls rose on all sides, sunlight pouring in, turning the snow covered grounds into something ornamental and cold. Julian stood near the windows, black coffee in hand, perfectly composed. He looked untouched by the night no guilt, no hesitation.

When Elena entered, his gaze lifted and locked onto her.

It didn’t soften.

“Merry Christmas, Elena,” he said, voice smooth and controlled.

The words slid over her skin like a caress.

“Merry Christmas, Julian,” she managed, keeping her eyes down.

Breakfast passed in strained politeness. Chloe chatted. Staff moved quietly. Elena barely tasted anything. She was acutely aware of Julian’s presence the way his attention followed her without ever being obvious, the way he seemed to own the space she occupied.

When the plates were cleared, Julian gestured toward a small table set slightly apart.

“There are gifts,” he said calmly. “Chloe, yours is in the study.”

Her friend barely let him finish before squealing and running off.

“And Elena,” he continued, “yours is here.”

The air shifted.

Elena approached the box slowly. It was heavy, velvet-lined, deliberate. Her pulse thundered in her ears as she opened it.

Inside lay a thick platinum cuff.

Not delicate. Not ornamental. Solid. Expensive. Intentionally severe.

Engraved on the inside was a single date.

Last night.

Her breath caught.

Julian stepped closer. Too close.

“It locks,” he said quietly. He lifted the cuff, his fingers brushing her wrist in a way that made her shiver. “The mechanism is internal.”

He snapped it into place.

The sound echoed sharp, final.

“The key stays with me.”

Her throat tightened. “Julian this isn’t” Her voice dropped instinctively. “I can’t wear this. Chloe will notice. People will ask questions.”

His thumb pressed into her pulse point, steady and unyielding.

“Let them,” he murmured. “You’ll say it’s a gift. A thank you. A reminder of my generosity.”

His gaze darkened. “We’ll know what it really is.”

Her body betrayed her, heat curling low in her stomach despite the fear clawing at her chest.

“It’s a reminder,” he continued, voice low enough that the room itself seemed to lean in, “that wherever you go back to school, back to your life you carry me with you.”

Footsteps echoed.

Chloe burst back in, breathless, waving car keys. “Dad! You’re insane! A Porsche? I love you!”

Then she noticed Elena’s wrist.

“Oh my god,” Chloe said, grabbing her hand. “That’s… intense.”

Julian didn’t intervene. He watched.

“It’s beautiful,” Chloe added slowly, brow furrowing. “Kind of serious though. Like… museum-level serious.”

“It’s a symbol of stability,” . “She’s family.”

The word settled like a sentence.

Elena forced a smile for Chloe thin, brittle. “It’s perfect,” she said, the lie tasting like ash.

Outside, the snow began to melt, water dripping from rooftops in slow, inevitable rhythms.

Inside the Vance estate, Elena felt the cold weight of the cuff against her skin and understood the truth with devastating clarity.

This wasn’t a mistake.

It wasn’t a moment.

It was ownership.

And she was already wearing the proof.