Se connecterElena's Point Of ViewMy eyes widened as the full weight of the situation finally settled into my brain like a stone sinking to the bottom of a dark lake. The sheer horror of it made my stomach drop into a bottomless pit. God, I had been such a complete, utter fool. I had walked straight into the slaughterhouse because I thought, for one single second, that a piece of her might still be human.That somewhere beneath the greed and selfishness, there might be a mother who actually cared about her daughter's wellbeing. She wasn't. She was just a broker, and I was the merchandise. She was selling me out... again. Just like she'd done when she'd pushed me toward Graham in the first place, dazzled by his money and status. "You're a monster," I whispered, the words coming out cold and hollow as I looked at her. I wanted them to hurt, wanted them to cut, but her expression didn't even flicker. There was nothing there to wound… no conscience, no maternal instinct, no love. "I'm a realist, sw
Elena's Point Of ViewI turned my back on her before she could even open her mouth to scream, walking toward the heavy door without a single backward glance. My fingers clamped around the silver handle, cold metal biting into my palm. I pulled. It didn't budge. A sharp spike of irritation pierced my chest as I frowned. I jerked the handle harder, the metal clinking loudly against the frame, but the mechanism remained entirely dead. Someone had locked it from the outside. The realization sent a cold trickle of unease down my spine. "What the hell..." I muttered, my fingers straining against the unyielding handle. The metal bit into my skin as I rattled it again, my heels pivoting on the linoleum as a cold, prickling sensation began to climb up the back of my neck. Nothing. The door might as well have been solid stone. My pulse quickened, a warning bell starting to chime in the back of my mind. I spun around, my eyes flashing as I locked them onto the woman in the bed. Heat flooded
Elena's Point Of ViewMy mother shrugged her thin shoulders, casually wiping a drop of apple juice from her chin with the back of her hand. "Oh, please, Elena. Don't look at me like that," she said, her tone almost cheerful, as if we were old friends catching up over coffee. She took another bite, the crunch echoing in the small room. "You wouldn't see me any other way. I've been calling your office for six months and your little secretary bitch keeps blocking my number." The venom in that word was casual, practiced. "I had to do this. I had to get creative to get my own flesh and blood into the same room as me." I let out a short, hollow scoff, a dry chuckle that didn't reach my eyes. "So you lied. You had your little neighbor friend stage a full medical emergency. Wow." I shook my head slowly, feeling something hard and final settling in my chest like a stone. "Heather was right. She called it down to the exact syllable." Cynthia's face soured instantly, her comfortable demeanor t
Elena's Point Of ViewThe car crawled at a glacial pace down the crumbling street, the uneven pavement jolting me against the plush leather seat. I couldn't stop my eyes from drifting to the left, and then, there it was. The house. The exact peeling, off-white bungalow where my entire childhood had been systematically dismantled, piece by piece. The front porch was rotting even worse than I remembered, the old rusted screen door hanging off its hinges like a broken wing. The paint had faded to a sickly yellow-gray, and weeds choked the small front yard where I'd once tried to plant flowers, desperate to create something beautiful in that place of ugliness. Those flowers had died within a week… I'd been too young to know they needed water, and there had been no one to teach me. A heavy, suffocatingly bitter feeling washed over my chest, hot and thick, choking the air from my lungs. My throat constricted as memories I'd buried deep clawed their way to the surface.I ripped my gaze aw
Elena's Point Of View"Fine," he muttered, adjusting his stance with a lazy, satisfied smirk that made my stomach flip and heat pool between my thighs. "But you are not going there alone. And if she's actually dead, you let me know immediately and I will personally send the cheapest, heaviest pine casket Dallas has to offer." The dark humor was so perfectly Jaxx that I couldn't help but laugh. I burst out laughing, the sound bright against the lingering tension in the room. The absurdity of his grim humor never failed to catch me off guard, to remind me that beneath the violence and the control, there was a man who made me laugh in the darkest moments. Jaxx just shrugged, completely unbothered by his own dark wit, though a small smile played at his lips, softening the hard lines of his face. "But must you even be there personally?" he grumbled, his eyebrows pulling together again as his hand trailed slowly up the spine of my shirt, leaving goosebumps in its wake. Each touch was deli
Elena's Point Of View"I will," I said, my thumb smoothing over the glass screen one last time before dropping the phone onto the desk. The device landed with a hollow thud that seemed to echo in the quiet office, a sound that felt far too final. "I will talk to him, Heather. I promise." "Good," she groaned, her voice still vibrating with that protective, younger-sister fire that had grown sharper since our childhood struggles. The edge in her tone reminded me of the girl who'd once stood between me and our mother's boyfriend with nothing but a kitchen knife and sheer determination. "Because if I find out you snuck down to some sketchy county hospital by yourself, I will personally dig that granite grave for you too. Love you, bye." The line went dead, leaving me in the quiet expanse of my office. I sat there for a moment, staring at the dark screen, wondering how my little sister had become the voice of reason in my life. When had the roles reversed so completely? The following da
Elena’s Point Of ViewThe night air hit me like a slap as I stormed out into the parking lot, my breath coming in sharp, uneven gasps. The valet called after me, his voice muffled by the roar of blood in my ears.“Ma’am! Your car…”Screw the car. I needed air. I needed space. I needed to breathe bef
Elena’s Point Of View“Who… who the hell are you?!” Lilian’s voice shredded the stairwell as if she’d finally remembered how to be loud.Jaxx’s eyes burned into Lilian. “You tried hurting my woman in front of me… and you have the nerve to ask who I am?”Shock froze Lilian in place. “Your… your woman
Elena’s Point Of ViewThe hall was silent.Not the kind of silence that lingers after a whisper, but the kind that crashes like a wave freezing mid-air, like a breath caught in the throat, like the world itself holding still. Every eye was on me. Every ear strained. Every heartbeat echoed in the hol
Elena’s Point Of View“This ride’s going to ruin you.”His voice was a promise, a threat, a vow… dark, rough, dripping with the kind of confidence that made my stomach clench and my thighs tremble. The words slithered into my ear, hot and heavy, wrapping around my mind like smoke, clouding every th







