Not The Same Girl

Elaris’ POV

The elevator doors were just beginning to close when Cassian thrust his hand between the sliding panels, forcing the sensors to trigger and send the doors sliding back open.

"Don't you dare turn your back on me and walk away like this, Elaris," Cassian said, stepping directly into the elevator frame to block us from leaving while glaring at Enzo with pure contempt. "And you, Everhart, don't stand there talking to me about court threats, because who do you and Elaris think you are dealing with? You think some small-time corporate lawyer you hired can threaten the legal power of the Virelli family?"

"You still haven't changed at all, Cassian," I said, holding Casey tighter against my chest as I met his angry glare with complete calm, "you still think your family name and your money make you untouchable in this city, but you have no idea who you are dealing with anymore."

"I know exactly who I am dealing with," Cassian scoffed, taking another step forward into the elevator cab, his eyes shifting from me down to Casey, who buried his face into my shoulder to avoid looking at him. "I am dealing with my runaway wife who came back after six years with another man's kid, trying to intimidate me in my own building."

"My children belong to me and me alone, Cassian," I told him, keeping my voice low, firm, and steady so my son would not feel scared by his rising anger, "they have nothing to do with you, and Enzo is my closest business partner, so you will speak to both of us with respect or you will deal with the consequences."

"Your children?" Cassian repeated, a cruel, bitter laugh escaping his lips as he reached out his hand, intending to grab my upper arm to drag me out of the elevator cab and back toward his private office. "You think you can just bring a child into this city who looks like this and tell me he has nothing to do with me?"

Before his fingers could even graze the fabric of my suit jacket, I raised my right hand and slapped his incoming hand away with a loud, sharp crack that echoed off the walls of the elevator.

"Do not put your hands on me," I said, stepping back into the corner of the elevator while Enzo immediately shifted his weight to block Cassian's path, "you lost the right to lay a single finger on me, or to ask a single question about my life, the exact moment you handed me those signed divorce papers six years ago so you could go play house with Liora."

Cassian stood frozen for a second, staring down at his red hand in complete shock, as if he could not fathom that the woman who used to silently endure his cold distance in his mansion had just struck him in broad daylight.

"Elaris, you are out of your mind," Cassian growled, his jaw clenching tightly as he looked up at me with dark eyes full of disbelief, "you think you can hit me in front of my staff, bring this boy into my building, and expect me to just let you walk out that door?"

"I am giving you one final chance to handle this quietly, Cassian," I said, pointing straight at his chest while looking him dead in the eyes, "you take those documents on your table, you place your final signature on the city court registry, and you send them to my legal representative by tomorrow afternoon."

"And if I don't sign them?" Cassian challenged, crossing his arms over his chest as he stood his ground in the doorway, "What are your lawyers going to do against the entire Virelli legal department? We hold half the corporate judges in this state, Elaris, so your little threats mean absolutely nothing to me."

"Then you are going to find out very quickly that the world moved on while you were sitting in your office, Cassian," Enzo spoke up, stepping directly into Cassian's space and forcing him to take a half-step back out onto the lobby floor, "we are not asking for your permission, we are simply giving you the option to save yourself from a public court disaster that will tear your company's stock to pieces."

"Get your hands off the elevator threshold, Virelli," Enzo added, his voice dropping into a tone of pure authority as he pressed the door-close button on the internal panel, "or my security team downstairs will come up to clear the path for us."

"You think this man can protect you from me, Elaris?" Cassian shouted over Enzo's shoulder, pointing a finger at me as the doors began to slide shut once again, "You belong to this marriage until I say otherwise, and I am not letting you take that boy anywhere until I get a full explanation about who his father is!"

"I don't belong to you, Cassian, and I never will again," I said coldly, watching his angry face get cut off as the double metal doors finally clicked completely shut, sealing us inside the elevator as it began its fast descent toward the underground parking garage.

Casey pulled his face away from my neck, looking up at me with wide, worried eyes while holding onto my collar tightly. "Is that mean man going to follow us, Mommy?"

"No, sweetie, he is not following us anywhere," I reassured him, kissing his forehead softly before looking over at Enzo, who was already pulling his mobile phone out of his jacket pocket to call our legal head.

"He is completely delusional," Enzo said, shaking his head as he tapped on his phone screen, "he actually thinks you came back here broke and desperate, using some cheap lawyer to scare him."

"Let him keep thinking that for now," I replied, setting Casey down on his feet as the elevator reached the basement floor and opened up to our waiting car, "it will make it so much more satisfying when he finds out who he is actually fighting."