His First Rule

THEA’s POV

Elias was still leaning over me, his face so close I could see the dark blue flecks in his eyes.

I looked at him, and for a split second, I didn't see my husband. I saw a jailer. In my last life, I would have cried. I would have begged him not to say such scary things. But that Thea died in a cold hospital bed while her sister laughed.

I didn't answer. If I told him the truth that I wanted to be free from everyone, he would never let me out of this room.

Instead, I stood up and simply turned to walk out of the dining room.

I could feel his eyes on my back, watching me like a hawk.

I ran up the stairs and locked myself in the library. My heart was pounding, but my hands were steady.

I pulled out the burner phone. A text was waiting from Mr Hale: "The Southview deal is ours. Funds moved to the 'T.V.' account as requested. Pleasure doing business with a ghost."

A cold, satisfied smirk pulled at my lips.

In my first life, I didn't even know how to check a bank balance. I had to ask my mother for pocket money while she sat on my millions. Now, I had five million dollars of my own, hidden in a place they couldn't touch.

Or so I thought.

The library door creaked open. I calmly tucked the phone into the cushion of the armchair and picked up a book.

Elias walked in. He had changed into a fresh white shirt, the top buttons undone. He looked relaxed, but his eyes were sharp, scanning the room like he was looking for a leak in a dam.

"You're very sharp mouthed this morning," Elias said. He didn't sit down. He paced the length of the room, his footsteps heavy on the Persian rug. "Usually, after your family causes a scene, you spend the rest of the day crying in the garden."

"I'm all out of tears, Elias," I said, flipping a page without looking at him. "Besides, watching them crawl away was better therapy than a garden walk."

Elias stopped pacing. He stood right in front of my chair, his shadow stretching over the pages of my book.

"I received an interesting notification from my security team just now," he said. His voice was too calm. That was always the sign he was about to strike. "A signal from an unregistered mobile device was pinging from inside my master suite."

My stomach dropped, but I kept my face like stone. "This is a big house, Elias. Maybe the staff?"

"I don't employ staff who carry encrypted burner phones, Theo."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, printed slip of paper. He dropped it onto my lap. It was a wire transfer confirmation.

My heart stopped.

"The Caymans?" Elias leaned down, his hands resting on the arms of my chair, trapping me between his body and the velvet fabric. "A five million dollar deposit from Hale Holdings? The man who just stole the Southview deal out from under my biggest competitor?"

I looked at the paper, then up at him. I couldn't deny it. Elias wasn't just my husband; he was the CEO of the biggest company for a reason.

"I’m an investor, Elias," I said, my voice steady despite the heat radiating off him. "Is there a law against me making my own money?"

"There’s a law in this house against keeping secrets from me," Elias growled. He reached behind my back and pulled the burner phone out from the cushion. He didn't even look at it before he crushed it in his palm, the plastic snapping like dry bone.

"Where did you get the information to make that deal?" he demanded. "That's inside information. Information even I didn't have yet."

I looked at the broken phone, then back at his glacial blue eyes. I couldn't tell him the truth. I couldn't tell him I lived this all once before.

"Maybe I’m just smarter than you gave me credit for," I challenged. "Maybe while you were ignoring me for three years, I was actually paying attention to your business calls."

Elias’s eyes darkened. He didn't look angry, he looked fascinated. It was a terrifying expression. He reached out, his thumb tracing the line of my jaw, his touch possessive and rough.

"You're a revelation, Thea," he whispered. "A lying, scheming little revelation. You are building your divorce fund, aren’t you? An escape route."

He leaned in until our foreheads touched.

"I’ve already called the bank," Elias said, a dark smirk playing on his lips. "The Caymans account is frozen. The funds are being redirected into a joint account, one that requires my signature for any withdrawal over a hundred dollars."

"You bastard," I hissed, trying to push him away.

Elias grabbed my wrists and pinned them to the headrest above me. He looked down at me, his face full of a dark, triumphant hunger.

"You want to play at being a shark, sweetheart? Then learn the first rule: Never hunt in my waters."

He lowered his voice until it was a vibration against my skin.

"You’re not leaving this house, and you’re definitely not leaving with a cent that didn't come from my hand. If you want to be rich, Thea... you’ll have to stay right here and beg me for it. Just like you used to."

I glared at him, my chest heaving. He thought he won. He thought he had cut off my legs. But he didn't know that Marcus wasn't my only play.

"I'm not begging you for anything ever again, Elias," I spat.

"We'll see," Elias whispered, his gaze dropping to my mouth. "Because I'm starting to think I like this version of you. The one who bites back. It makes me want to see just how much it takes to make you scream."