Se connecterElena's Point Of ViewMy pulse thundered in my ears like a war drum, every drop of blood in my body turning to sheer, liquid ice. No. No, no, no. A sickening wave of nausea rolled over my stomach. The realization hit me like a physical blow, heavy and crushing. It had been too easy. The fork, the powder, the quiet hallway, the abandoned post… God, I had been so proud of myself down in the dark, thinking I had played him like a fool.But Graham wasn't a fool. He was a predator, and I had walked right into a cage he had built specifically for me. Every step of my supposed cleverness had been another thread in a web I hadn't even known I was weaving for myself. Before I could even process the horror curling in my gut, Jaxx moved. Despite his torn muscles, despite his cracked ribs that must have felt like shattered glass, he didn't hesitate. He grabbed my arm and shoved me gently but firmly behind his back, throwing his own beaten, bloodied frame directly between me and the open doorw
Elena's Point Of ViewThe heavy brass key ring, slick with my own nervous sweat, pressed cold and sharp against my palm. I gathered the voluminous skirts of the sea-foam green gown in my left hand, pulling the expensive silk high above my ankles so it wouldn't whisper against the flagstones as I sprinted through the darkened wing of the estate.Every footstep felt too loud, every breath too ragged, as if the very walls might betray me. My heart pounded so violently I feared it might give me away before my feet ever did. Think, Elena. Remember. My mind flashed back to four hours ago, right after Lillian had dressed me. I had leaned against the heavy oak dresser, pressing a hand to my forehead, making sure my breathing sounded ragged and faint, rehearsing the lie until it felt almost true. I had practiced the tremor in my voice in the mirror, hating how easily deception came to me now, how quickly I had learned to wear fear like a costume. "Lillian?" I had asked, letting my voice cra
Elena's Point Of ViewThe sea-foam green silk felt like liquid ice against my skin… expensive, weightless, and suffocating all at once. I sat frozen in front of the ornate vanity mirror, staring at the woman looking back at me.She barely resembled the person I remembered being. Her hair was swept up, her skin pale as bone china, and her eyes were wide, shadowed with a terrifying blend of exhaustion and adrenaline. I hardly recognized the stranger staring back. In my right hand, held so tightly my knuckles bled white, was the tiny paper packet Lillian had handed me. Three blue pills. Three tiny keys to my freedom, or my absolute ruin. I turned the packet over once, twice, feeling the weight of the decision pressing down on my chest like a stone. One pill for eight hours of sleep. Two for a deep coma. My breath caught in my throat, a dry, jagged sound. I placed two of the small blue tablets on the cold polished surface of the vanity, my fingers trembling as I set them down. My hands
A/N: An Extra chapter to apologize for the delay in upates.Elena's Point Of View"No take-backs, Elena," Graham said softly, his voice dropping into that quiet, dangerous register he used when closing a multi-million dollar merger. "You give me your word in this room, you don't get to slide back into your little heroic defiance tomorrow morning. You don't get to change your mind." I didn't say a single word. I just let my chin drop lower, keeping my throat tight, letting another wet tear trace its way down my jawline. I couldn't push it too far… I knew Graham wasn't daft. He wasn't some naive fool who'd fall for a dramatic 180-degree turn without checking for the knife behind my back. The man was a shark, and sharks could smell blood from miles away, even blood that wasn't really there. He'd made his fortune sniffing out weaknesses and calculating leverage before anyone else even knew a game was being played. If I overacted… if I suddenly started smiling or acting thrilled to be
Elena's Point Of ViewThe silence in the room hung thick and suffocating until the heavy brass latch clicked open, splintering the quiet like a gunshot. Graham walked in, his suit jacket off, his silk shirt sleeves rolled up to his forearms like he'd just finished a light afternoon of gardening rather than ordering a man beaten into the gravel. He paused near the threshold, his dark eyes sweeping over me… over the rumpled linen dress, my bare, smudged feet, and the way I sat stiffly at the edge of the mahogany table.Something in his gaze lingered a beat too long, as though he were cataloguing the wreckage he'd made of me and finding it, perversely, beautiful. I could almost see the calculations running behind his eyes, the quiet satisfaction of a man surveying his own handiwork. "Giulia said you wanted to see me, sweetheart," Graham said, his tone casual, almost conversational. He leaned back against the heavy wooden door frame, folding his arms across his chest. "I must admit, I d
Elena's Point Of ViewThe floorboards were cold under my palms. I didn't move for a long time. I just lay there on my side, my cheek pressed against the plush cream rug, watching dust motes float through a sharp beam of Italian sunlight. My throat felt raw, like I'd swallowed sand, and every breath I took rattled in my chest.The silence pressed down on me, thick and suffocating, broken only by the distant cry of gulls somewhere beyond the locked window. Somewhere in that silence, I thought I could hear my own heartbeat, slow and stubborn, refusing to let me disappear into the numbness creeping at the edges of my mind. Three days. That was seventy-two hours. Seventy-two hours on a clock that was already ticking down, each second heavy and suffocating. I could almost hear it counting, a phantom metronome ticking away inside my skull, mocking me with every passing breath. I tried to imagine what those hours would look like, stacked one on top of another like stones building a wall I
Elena’s Point Of ViewHis words hit me like a physical blow.“I refuse for that to happen again.”I froze.My eyes widened, my breath catching in my throat, my heart suddenly pounding so hard I could feel it in my ears. My hands were still looped around his neck, but they’d gone rigid, my fingers s
Elena’s Point Of View“But,” he added, eyes flicking briefly in the direction Marco had been dragged, voice calm as ever, “that’s if they would accept him.”I gasped.It slipped out of me before I could stop it, sharp and disbelieving, my hand tightening around his arm as if that alone could anchor
Elena’s Point Of View“I don’t need anyone to tell me how beautiful I am before I know,” I said evenly. “I know I am.”For a split second, the man just stared at me.Actually stared, like my words had short-circuited whatever rehearsed confidence he’d walked over with. His brows lifted, lips partin
Elena’s Point Of ViewThen he pouted.Actual. Pouted.Like a child.His lower lip jutted out, his brows furrowing just slightly, his hand stilling between my legs. “But my little guy…” He shifted his hips, and oh God, I could feel him… hard, thick, pressing against my thigh. “... is also complaining







