ELENA POV For the first time since I stepped into this new life, the silence scares me. After Samantha’s ambush, everything feels like a blur. Marco moves fast m, securing the space, barking orders. Alex doesn’t leave my side, not even for a second. He sits beside me in the car, holding my hand so tight I almost forget my fingers are numb. His eyes stay forward, his jaw tense. Neither of us says a word the entire ride home. Not when we pull through the gates. Not even when Sophia rushes down the stairs with her eyes wide and her lips already forming questions. Alex stops her with a single look, then guides me upstairs. When we get to the room, I don’t even ask why he locks the door. I just sit on the edge of the bed and let him pull off my shoes. We don’t speak and he doesn’t leave. He just sits beside me, his hand resting lightly over mine, his breathing steady and deep like he’s trying to stay calm. And then much later, when he thinks I’m asleep, I feel his fingers brush th
ELENA POV I should’ve known she wouldn’t just walk away. Women like Samantha never walk away. They hover. They wait. And then they finally strike. The ride back from the docks is dead silent. Alexander is driving, his jaw clenched so tightly I can hear it grind. I don’t say a word, because if I do, I might scream. Sophia sits beside me in the back, shifting awkwardly. “You okay?” she finally whispers. “No,” I mutter. “But I’ll deal with it.” She nods and leans back. I can tell she wants to say more, but thankfully, she doesn’t. When we pull into the mansion, I don’t wait for the car to stop. I push the door open and walk straight inside, ignoring Alex completely. I don’t care if he didn’t invite her or if he did. I care that she thinks she has the right to him. I care that she touched him like she’s done it before. I care that I cared. I slam the bedroom door behind me and toss my purse onto the bed. The silence around me is deafening. I’m supposed to be the girl with no m
ELENA POVI haven’t moved. I’m still sitting on the couch, lips slightly parted, fingers pressed to them as if doing so could erase the kiss he just left me with. But it’s no use. That kiss is scorched into my bones. It wasn’t just a kiss. It was a promise. Or a threat. Maybe both. I force myself to breathe. I don’t know what’s more dangerous, Daemon’s sudden entrance into my life or the way Alexander is slowly and surely crawling beneath my skin. I rise slowly and make my way to the bed, peeling off his hoodie and pulling the covers over my body. Sleep doesn’t come easily, but eventually, exhaustion wins. When I wake up the next time, the room is quiet. I push the blankets off and sit up slowly, reaching for the silk robe hanging by the bed. The hallway outside is quiet as I make my way down toward the kitchen. Sophia is already there, perched on a stool, eating a strawberry and flipping through a gossip magazine like it’s the morning paper. “Someone’s awake,” she teases, gl
ELENA POV I wake with a jolt. The faint scent of Alex’s cologne clings to the sheets, and warmth surrounds me. My throat is dry, and my arms ache faintly. Blinking through the soft morning light streaming through the wide windows, I realize I’m no longer in that dark, freezing warehouse. I’m back in the mansion, I am back in our bed.Back… safe. “Elena,” a soft voice whispers. I turn and find Alex sitting beside the bed, his eyes fixed on me. There’s a cut across his cheek and a bruise blooming beneath his jaw. He looks exhausted, his shirt half unbuttoned, and his eyes searching mine like he hasn’t stopped since we got back. “You’re awake,” he says quietly, relief spilling into his voice. I try to sit up, but he reaches forward quickly. “Hey, hey, slow down,” he murmurs, adjusting the pillow behind me and pulling the blanket up to cover my legs. “You’ve been out for hours.” “What… happened?” My voice is barely a whisper, raw and strained. His jaw clenches for a second before
ELENA POV The drive back from the park is quiet. Sophia doesn’t say much, and honestly, I don’t blame her. I’m still shaken from that odd encounter with the little girl and the woman who yanked her away like I was a threat. It shouldn’t sting, but it does. When we arrive back at the mansion, the soft champagne colored lights across the massive entryway give me a strange sense of comfort. It’s weird. Just a month ago, I didn’t even know who I was. Now this house… this man… it’s beginning to feel like something real. The butler opens the door, and as we walk in, I almost don’t expect to see Alexander waiting at the base of the stairs. But there he is, standing tall in black slacks and a white dress shirt, his sleeves rolled up, hands in his pockets, looking at me with a kind of unreadable expression. I pause, then glance at Sophia. She gives me a knowing look and walks toward the stairs. “I’ll leave you two to… talk,” she mutters before disappearing upstairs. Alex takes a step cl
DAEMON POVThe ice in my glass clinks softly as I swirl the amber liquid. My elbows rest on the arm of my leather chair, my mind turning over every piece of this strange puzzle. Across the dark expanse of my office, only the floor-to-ceiling windows cast a glow of New York glimmering like it doesn’t sleep, like it doesn’t know it buried someone who clawed her way back to life. “Elena Royal.” I hum her name, bitterness gathering in my chest. She’s Alive. I shake my head at myself “I still don’t know how but she is” I lean back, letting out a long breath through my nose. “I thought she would be dead by now,” I mutter under my breath. “Especially in the half dead stat we left her in.”The hospital, the fake death certificate, the body we burned… all arranged.All confirmed, especially by her grandfather before we took him off this planet as well. With the Royal family dead, Royal inc belonged to only one person as per the inheritance, Ava our daughter. We lived life well this past