LOGINElena's Point Of ViewMy voice dropped to a whisper on the last sentence, all the fight draining out of me, leaving only exhaustion and grief. The words felt final, like a door slamming shut on the best thing that had happened to me in years, but I couldn't see any other way forward. I turned to retreat, to put the vast expanse of my mahogany desk between us, needing physical distance to match the emotional chasm that had opened up. But I wasn't fast enough. Jaxx lunged, his movements a blur of terrifyingly precise speed. Before I could even gasp, his large hands clamped around my wrists. I struggled, trying to yank myself away from the heat of him, but he was a wall of muscle, immovable and overwhelming.With a swift, fluid motion, he spun me around, binding both of my wrists behind my back in a single, crushing grip. The position left me vulnerable, exposed, my body pressed against his in a way that made my pulse race for reasons I didn't want to examine. I should have been afraid,
Elena’s Point Of ViewI gestured wildly toward the door, toward the lobby where the ghosts of my past had just been standing, their voices still echoing in my ears. "Did you come to me just to get back at them? Was I just a convenient tool for your revenge? A way to take the one thing Graham actually managed to hold onto for a few years? Is that it?"My voice broke on the last word, and I hated myself for it. I hated that he could still affect me this way, that despite everything, some part of me desperately wanted him to deny it all.The office felt like it was shrinking, the glass walls pressing in until I could barely draw a full breath. I stared at him, my vision blurring as the first hot, stinging tears finally forced their way past my lashes. My heart wasn't just breaking; it was being incinerated, reduced to cinders and smoke. Every memory of the last few weeks… every touch, every whispered promise in the dark, every time I thought I'd finally found a man who saw me and not ju
Elena's Point Of ViewThe silence that followed the slamming of the lobby doors pressed down like a physical weight, thick with Matilda's cloying perfume and the metallic tang of a situation that had just exploded. My employees stood frozen, their gazes bouncing between me and the man who had just dismantled the Sinclair patriarch as casually as someone might discard trash.I could see the questions forming behind their carefully neutral expressions, the shock rippling through the crowd like stones dropped in still water.I drew a deep, shuddering breath, smoothing my blazer with hands that trembled despite my best efforts to steady them. The familiar texture of the fabric grounded me, if only slightly. My fingers traced the lapel… a nervous habit I'd developed during my first board meeting years ago, when I'd been the youngest person in the room and everyone had expected me to fail.Around me, the lobby felt too bright, too exposed… every eye a witness to my unraveling composure. The
Elena’s Point Of ViewThe lobby of my headquarters, usually a place where I felt in total control of every moving part, had transformed into a theater of the surreal. My heart hammered a frantic, irregular rhythm against my ribs… a staccato beat that made my ears ring and my vision blur at the edges. I looked at Sebastian, whose face had become a map of terror and fury, every line etched deep with emotions he could barely contain.Then I glanced up at Jaxx, whose profile appeared carved from a block of dark marble, beautiful and terrifying in its absolute stillness.The silence in the room grew so thick you could have choked on it. My employees stood frozen like statues, some holding their breath until their faces flushed, others pretending to be absorbed in silent keyboards while their eyes remained glued to the explosion happening in the center of the room. I could feel their collective anxiety pressing against my skin like a physical weight."Jaxx..." The whisper escaped my lips, m
Elena’s Point Of ViewJaxx's chest pressed against my back, its warmth the only thing anchoring me to reality. My lobby… usually a sanctuary of crisp efficiency and the steady hum of logistical success, had transformed into a theater of the absurd. Matilda scrambled to her feet, her expensive silk skirt marred by dust from the floor she'd just kissed. Sebastian stood frozen nearby, his hand suspended mid-air as if the atmosphere itself had solidified around him.Jaxx ignored them completely. He paid no attention to the shattered vase or the twenty-plus employees currently witnessing the most expensive drama of their lives. The fragments of porcelain scattered across the marble might as well have been invisible.Instead, he turned me in his arms with a possessive, terrifyingly steady grip that made my breath catch. His fingers, calloused yet warm, caught my chin and tilted my head toward the light. The gesture felt both protective and predatory, a contradiction that sent conflicting si
Elena's Point Of ViewThe world didn't tilt, and I didn't burst into tears. Instead, a strange, crystalline silence settled over my brain, as if someone had pressed pause on reality itself. The sting on my cheek became a localized fire, a blooming heat that pulsed with every thud of my heart, yet my eyes remained locked on Sebastian.His face swam before me… twisted with righteous fury, convinced of his own moral superiority. In that moment, I recognized the same expression he'd worn when he'd dismissed my business proposals at family dinners, that same condescending certainty that he alone understood how the world worked.I could hear the collective gasp of my employees… the sound of air being sucked out of a room, and the panicked scuffle of Clara trying to keep a weeping intern from having a total meltdown. Someone's phone clattered to the floor, the sharp crack echoing through the stunned silence.I reached up, my fingers grazing the skin that was rapidly swelling. The flesh felt
Elena’s Point Of ViewMatilda’s face twisted, her breath hitching in her throat like she’d been slapped, because she had been, not with my hand, but with my words. Her voice trembled, outraged, her hand twitching at her side like she was considering it… actually considering raising it to strike me.
Elena’s Point Of ViewThe grand doors of the Sinclair Estate loomed before me, their polished mahogany surfaces reflecting the cold, unfeeling glow of the chandelier above. I stood there for a moment, my breath steady, my fingers flexing at my sides. In. I exhaled sharply. Out. My lungs filled with
Elena’s Point Of ViewMy body was still humming, my breath coming in ragged gasps as I sagged against Jaxx, my fingers digging into his shoulders like they were the only thing keeping me upright. His tongue was on my neck… licking, swiping, tracing a slow, deliberate path from the curve of my shoul
Elena’s Point Of ViewMatilda’s words hit me like a blow… sharp, cruel, deliberate, and for a moment, the world tilted. My fingers clenched into fists so tight my nails bit into my palms, the pain grounding me, anchoring me as the memories came rushing back… unwanted, unrelenting, raw.Five years a







