Chapter 2

~Eliza~

He didn’t say anything as he stalked towards me with long steps.

“Wha—”

The rest of my words froze in my throat as his hand grasped my arm. My breath hitched at the feel of his warm hands on my skin.

“Get back in bed right now,” he snapped.

That shot me straight out of my shock. I bristled and glared at him.

“Who do you think you are to tell me what to do?” I said sharply, digging in my heels.

He gently but firmly got me back onto the bed without replying to me. I immediately pushed back up, but he placed his palm on my chest.

“Stay,” he ordered like he was talking to a dog.

But it wasn’t the ridiculous order that made me stay put. It was the rather distracting fact that the heel of his palm was dangerously close to my right breast. Any wrong movement and he would brush against me.

I swallowed and stilled, hardly daring to draw a deep breath.

“Get your hand off me,” I ground out quietly.

For a second, I thought he would refuse. But then, he moved and stepped away from the bed.

I didn’t get up, but I did place a pillow behind my back to get myself into a half-sitting, half-lying position.

I haven't seen him in six years, but if there is anything I have learned, it is to never put myself in any weak position with him. Ever.

Atlas West, my husband’s uncle, stared back at me blankly, his face revealing nothing of what he was thinking.

I swallowed hard as my eyes involuntarily ran over him. His eyes were still the same startling shade of blue that sliced deep and saw more than they should.

His short, black hair was neatly trimmed at the sides, different from the shoulder-length style he used to have. But that did nothing to take away from his almost achingly handsomeness.

His nose flared as my gaze trailed down to his firm lips. They were currently pressed into a thin, forbidding line, but when he smiled…

I curled my hands into fists and let myself stare like I hadn’t allowed myself for six years. My eyes dipped to the strong column of his throat, exposed beneath his crisp, white shirt.

“Seen enough?” his sardonic voice cut through my silent perusal.

I jerked my gaze back up to his eyes. They glinted at me, dark and mocking.

I raised my chin and crossed my arms on my chest. “Why are you here?”

Just like the first time I had asked, he still didn’t respond. His jaw worked as he stared into my eyes with an intensity that made my breath catch.

I tore my gaze away from him and huffed. “Well,” I started to move off the bed. “If you’re only going to stare, I will—”

“This is my house,” Atlas finally said, his voice deeper than before.

He slid his hands into the pockets of his grey slacks.

I stopped and looked at him. “Then what am I doing here?” I asked, my hands curling into the soft bedsheets.

Atlas opened his mouth to respond, but I put up my hand, cutting him off.

“Don't even bother,” I said brusquely. “I just need to get dressed and I'll be out of your hair in a minute.”

I knew I was being rude, but Atlas has always had that effect on me. He made me do things, reckless things.

But that was years ago. I was older now, wiser too.

I looked around the room. “Where are my clothes? Can you please ask that lady to come in?”

He didn’t move. “Are you keeping me hostage?” I asked, arching a brow.

Atlas sighed and shook his head. Under his breath, he muttered something that sounded suspiciously like an insult.

I narrowed my eyes at him. He walked to a side table and picked up a glass pitcher. He poured water into a cup and returned to my side.

“Drink,” he said, stretching out the cup to me.

I stared at it dubiously for a second before snatching it from his hand. I cautiously sniffed the water, and he huffed.

“I'm not going to poison you, Eliza,” he scoffed. “If I wanted, you would be dead already.”

I shrugged and downed the water in three gulps. The sooner I got this over with, the quicker I could go home. Maybe I could even cut up that cheating bastard’s clothes while packing up his shit.

Silently, he took the cup back when I finished, his fingers lightly grazing mine. Sparks zinged through my hand where he had touched me.

I yanked my hand away like I had been burned, but he remained cool and unbothered. But I felt his gaze on me, drifting from my face and then down. Despite myself, my nipples tightened like he had actually touched them.

Shifting uneasily, I wondered whether I had lost my mind while unconscious. I should be thinking about getting a competent divorce lawyer, not ogling Daniel’s uncle.

Clearing my throat, I said, “Look, I don't want to be a bother. I'm grateful to you for your help. But I just need my clothes and I'll be on my way home, okay?”

Atlas returned the cup to the table and stood there, backing me. Warily, I watched his shoulders tighten and relax under his shirt.

“Don’t you feel even the slightest bit of anger towards him?” He suddenly growled, making me jump a little.

“My life is none of your business, Mr West,” I replied shortly.

He turned to face me. This time, there was a stark look in his eyes that made me gulp. “None of my business?” He spat.

I shrank back from the icy fury that was now gleaming in his blue eyes.

“Mr West?” he repeated, his lips twisted in disgust. “Is that all I am to you now? After everything?”

A lump lodged in my throat as I quickly looked away from his penetrating gaze. I shook my head.

“This is—”

“Do you want to a reminder about how you ended up here?” Atlas interrupted, his voice terrifyingly soft as he slowly walked back to my side.

I inhaled sharply as my breath shuddered out. The memory of everything that happened was still too fresh.

His lips curved in a cruel smirk as he raised his hand to my face. His finger traced the curve of my cheek, sending a small shudder down my back.

“Don't,” I whispered, and my eyes fluttered closed.

But Atlas rolled on. “You were on the filthy floor outside your company with blood running down your legs!” He snarled.

Hot tears threatened to leak from under my eyelids. I pressed my lips together to hold in the shriek bubbling in my throat.

“That is what that fucking bastard did to you,” he added cruelly. “But, of course, you have always been the perfect wife, haven’t you?”

“You are willing to forgive and continue living your life just like that, aren’t you?”

My eyes flew open as his rage lit mine. I met his glittering gaze head-on, my chest heaving with repressed anger.

“You don’t know anything about me!” I snapped, the anguished words ripping out of me before I could stop.

I shoved his hand away from me and pushed his chest. He barely moved an inch.

Atlas stared me down, strange light in his eyes. “Oh, really?”

His lips curved slightly in a mocking smirk as he tilted his head and leaned forward. His lips were a hair's breadth from mine.

I could feel the warmth of his breath on my face. His heady scent drifted through my nose and up to my head.

“Then why are you crawling back to him like a coward?” he sneered.

Before I could stop myself, I jerked up my hand and smacked his cheek.