Chapter 6

Richard Thorne’s threat struck Elena like a bolt from the blue. Marrying Mr. Henderson, an old widower and her father's business associate, was equivalent to surrendering the rest of her life to yet another iron cage.

"But, Dad! That's not fair!" Elena protested, her voice trembling with a mixture of panic and fury. "I've never been running around wildly! I go to college, I—"

"Enough, Elena! I doesn't want to hear another single lie out of your mouth!" Richard cut her off callously.

He waved his hand in the air as if Elena's words were nothing but a passing breeze irritating his ears. Beatrice and Victoria exchanged triumphant smiles, thoroughly enjoying the sheer despair written all over Elena's face.

However, the stifling, intimidating atmosphere suddenly plummeted to absolute freezing point. Julian clinked his fork against his plate, an action that somehow managed to silence the entire room.

The man leaned back against his chair. Locking his knife-sharp eyes onto Richard.

He did not like what he had just heard. Not because he cared about the Thorne family's morality, but because Elena Thorne belonged to him.

She was his possession, one he had bought at a steep price. No one, not even the girl's biological father, was permitted to hand Julian's property over to another man.

"Marrying her off for a business alliance, Mr. Thorne?" Julian spoke up. His voice sounded utterly flat and cold, yet it dripped with a lethal undertone of sarcasm.

"I wasn't aware that the operations of your shipping company now hinge upon the marriage prospects of a final-year college student."

Richard froze instantly. His face paled at the direct reprimand from his son-in-law, who happened to be the largest investor in several of his subsidiary companies.

Highly respectful and deeply terrified of Julian's power, Richard immediately felt uneasy. "Ah, Julian, that's not what I meant."

Richard offered a bitter smile, hurriedly adjusting his posture to explain himself. "Elena just needs to be taught a little lesson so she doesn't get out of hand. She—"

"I am not in the mood to hear your explanation," Julian cut him off coldly, deliberately severing Richard's sentence without mercy.

Julian pinned him with a piercing gaze. Leaving his father-in-law to feel exactly what it was like to have his self-defense cut short and completely ignored.

An awkward, suffocating silence choked the room. Julian then stood up from his chair, fastening a single button of his dark gray suit jacket with an immensely elegant motion. "This dinner has ruined my appetite."

Before striding away, Julian's eyes flicked toward Elena, who remained seated rigidly. The glint in his cold gaze seemed to flash a silent code, reminding the girl to keep her promise.

"Honey, where are you going?" Victoria panicked. She hurriedly stood up and tried to grab her husband's arm. "The food hasn't even been fully served yet. Please don't leave."

Yet Julian didn't even glance back. He coldly brushed Victoria's hand off his arm without a shred of emotion, then strode out of the private dining room, leaving his oppressive aura lingering heavily in the air.

Stunned, Beatrice immediately looked at her daughter, her brow furrowing with anxiety. "Victoria, why is your husband acting like that? Is something wrong between the two of you?"

Victoria looked nervous for a split second, her jaw tightening. But she quickly forced her signature elegant smile in front of Richard and her mother.

"Of course we're perfectly fine, Mom. Julian is always cold and rigid like that in public because of work matters." Victoria chuckled coyly, attempting to diffuse the tension with a sexually suggestive joke.

"But don't worry, he's incredibly warm once he's in bed with me." She was fiercely guarding her pride.

Hearing those words escape her stepsister's mouth, something suddenly throbbed painfully inside Elena's chest, a bizarre, scorching sensation in the pit of her stomach.

Elena clenched her fists beneath the table, cursing herself internally. How could she possibly feel jealous of Victoria, when the woman was indisputably Julian's lawful wife?

Yet on the flip side, a massive question began to haunt Elena's mind.

If Julian and Victoria's relationship was truly perfectly fine and as warm as her stepsister claimed, then why on earth had Julian sought her out last night? Why was that man willing to pay such an exorbitant price just to keep her as a mistress?

Elena closed her eyes, her head feeling as though it were about to split open. She was completely sick of being in this room for another second.

"I'm leaving," she stated, standing up from her chair with a sharp, abrupt movement.

"Where do you think you're going?! How insolent of you to leave your dinner unfinished!" barked Richard, his temper still flaring from Julian's earlier insults.

"I won't be coming home tonight. I'm staying over at Anna's place because we have a crucial thesis assignment that needs to be submitted tomorrow morning," Elena lied in a flat tone.

"You absolutely may not! You are coming home, or else—"

Elena didn't listen any further. She turned around and walked briskly out of the room, completely ignoring her father's enraged shouts calling after her name.

She realized her father's threat regarding Mr. Henderson was terrifying. Yet, for some inexplicable reason, she feared Julian Vance’s threats far more if she dared break her promise tonight.

She chose to wait at her part-time job. Working on her thesis using the brand-new laptop the man had already sent over.

It was eleven o'clock at night when a taxi dropped Elena off in front of Julian's luxury penthouse building. Located in an elite downtown district.

The biting night air pierced her skin as she rode the private elevator directly to the top floor. Now, she stood before a massive, dark-toned door.

Her heart hammered violently, like a war drum thumping relentlessly inside her chest. Her trembling, ice-cold fingers lifted, hovering in the air before the doorbell panel.

Sudden doubt assaulted her sanity. ’What on earth am I doing?’ Elena panicked internally. She took a step back, intending to spin around and flee from this place before it was too late.

Yet, just as she began to turn her body, the heavy door suddenly swung open from the inside. A powerful hand instantly seized her wrist and yanked her into the penthouse.

Slam!

The door shut tight and automatically locked. Elena gasped as her back was pinned directly against the solid wood, while Julian’s imposing frame, now clad only in a black shirt without a tie, its top two buttons undone, trapped her completely.

The man offered her no chance to speak. He instantly smothered her lips in a wild, scorching kiss, heavy with an absolute demand of ownership.

Caged beneath Julian's massive build, Elena panicked and fought back with all her might. Both of her hands pummeled his broad chest. The sheer, intimidating force of his demanding kiss made her feel as though the oxygen were being completely drained from her lungs.

But Julian yielded not an inch. His grip on Elena's waist only tightened further, pinning her movements until her muffled cries of protest were entirely swallowed within the depth of their kiss.

After a prolonged moment of absolute dominance, Julian gradually softened the kiss, letting his lips trail down to brush against her trembling jawline.

The moment she caught her breath, the girl immediately protested between ragged gasps, her eyes gazing frantically down the silent penthouse corridor.

"Julian, stop! Are you insane?! What if Victoria sees us? She could walk out of her bedroom at any moment!"