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Chapter 12
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2025-04-28 22:58:46LOUIS
My new uniform itched.
Black dress shirt, black pants, black vest— clean, starched, and nothing like the faded hand-me-downs from home.
I tugged nervously at the collar as I stepped onto the casino floor for the first time.
The place hummed around me like a living, breathing entity.
Laughter. Clinking glasses. The sweet, intoxicating smell of whiskey and high-end perfume.
I made my way carefully through the crowd, tray in hand, hyper-aware of every step.
The bruises under my clothes throbbed with each shift of my weight, but I gritted my teeth and kept going.
Don't screw this, Louis, my brain screamed at me.
"Lost, kid?"
A pit boss—a mountain of a man with a crooked nose—barked out a laugh and jabbed a thumb toward the roulette tables.
I muttered a thank you and headed in the direction he pointed.
My face burned in embarrassment. I haven’t even started and I was already blowing it.
But when I spotted a dark form propped against the far wall, observing—always observing—my heart faltered.
Elias.
Even amidst the ocean of black suits and sparkling gowns, he stood out.
Sharp. Motionless. Deadly.
His eyes locked with mine.
My throat parched.
I dropped my head hastily, concentrating on the drink orders crackling in my ear.
Hours blurred by in a daze.
Smile.
Serve.
Nod.
Repeat.
That’s all I’d been doing since I got here.
By the time midnight rolled around, my ribs ached severely and my legs trembled under the strain of standing for too long.
I slipped behind the bar to take a breather, massaging and flexing my throbbing fingers.
This job was more tasking than I initially thought, but if anyone could carry this load, it’s definitely me.
But it was then something happened.
A bunch of sloppy, drunk high-rollers stumbled up to the bar.
One of them—a big guy with slicked-back hair and diamond rings—caught sight of me and leered.
"Hey, pretty boy," he slurred. "C'mere."
I forced a polite smile and took a step closer.
Bad idea.
His hand shot out before I could react, catching a fistful of my shirt and yanking me closer to him.
"Got a sweet face," he growled, his whiskey-rotten breath washing over me. "Bet you're sweet all over, huh?"
My heart pounded fiercely in my chest.
Panic flared—the old panic—and I tried to pull away.
His grip on my shirt grew tighter, hurting me.
"I said, c'mere."
I opened my mouth to protest—to yell for security —but I didn’t have to because in a split second, a hand descended on the man's wrist with cruel force causing him to yelp in pain as Elias twisted his arm back, slamming him to his knees with scary efficiency.
"You have two seconds to take your filthy hands off him," Elias said, his voice low and lethal, "before I shatter every finger you touched him with."
The entire bar went deathly quiet.
I was frozen, my breath trapped somewhere between terror and awe.
The man whimpered—actually whimpered—and retreated, cradling his hand.
Elias straightened, dusting off imaginary specks from his sleeve.
His eyes—cold, turbulent—turned to me.
"You okay?" he asked.
I nodded stiffly, in response.
He stared a second longer, then leaned in—too close, too intense.
"You don't let scum like that touch you. Ever. Got it?"
"Y-yes," I stuttered.
"Good boy."
Without another word, he turned and walked away, leaving a confused crowd behind.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I spent the next hour shaking.
Not from fear nor from adrenaline but from something worse. Something dangerous.
Later, after the casino floor started to clear and the music mellowed, I saw him again.
He was sitting alone, at the end of the bar, his beauty, a haunting one that made me want to paint. A hobby that has never once crossed my mind.
Summoning all my courage, I walked towards him. He didn't look up right away but just kept sipping his drink and waited.
"You didn't have to do that," I blurted, heart pounding.
Slowly, he lifted his eyes.
Those eyes pinned me where I stood.
"I did," he said simply.
"Why?"
A beat of silence.
His mouth opened like he wanted to say something, but then he closed it and said nothing. But I saw a flash of something I couldn’t name flick through his eyes.
Pity? Concern?
But when I blinked, it was gone. Like it was never there in the first place.
I hadn't even had time to respond before a deep voice called Elias.
It was one of his men—the same towering enforcer from earlier.
"Boss," he said quietly. "Meeting upstairs."
Elias's lips tightened then he looked at me again before jerking his head.
"Go home, Louis," he said. "Rest."
He said it like he knew. Like he could see all the bruises hidden under my clothes.
With that, he left.
I watched him go, my heart thudding against my ribs.
Bab terbaru
The Price Of Us Chapter 37
LOUISThe kids had just left.The corridor was quiet again, apart from the dying echo of Isabella's laughter ringing down the corridor. I stood frozen in the kitchen doorway for a moment, fingertips still tingling from the warmth of her tiny hand. My chest was somehow tight—not with fear for the first time, but with something else I hadn't felt in a very long time: comfort. Maybe even… belonging.With my heart light as air, I moved with a gentle pep in my step and stepped into the kitchen.The whole kitchen sparkled. Not in a sterile kind of a way but in a lived-in way as only a home could be. The soft cream colors of the wall made the whole place peaceful and there was a whistling on the stove from a brass kettle. The scent of rosemary and lemon filled the air and seemed to come from some dish a pot on the stove.An older woman—at least in her late forties, early fifties—I'd estimate stood with her back to me at the counter, humming contentedly to herself as she towel-dried a dish. W
The Price Of Us Chapter 36
ELIASElaine dropped the children off earlier this morning to hang out with Louis.Louis had taken them out into the garden and I could hear faint laughter drifting in through the open window, Isabella's high-pitched cackles ringing out like wind chimes in an oncoming storm. It soothed something inside me. Something that was frayed.But the silence within this room wasn’t peaceful as it open up wounds that had scabbed over a long time ago.I leaned against the window gazing out into the hall, sipping from a glass of bourbon that didn’t over any comfort. Sigh. It seems I was in one of my moods again. For some reason, my mind took me back to the times Elaine and I coordinated our movements together. She was once a force to be reckoned with—still is.They regarded her now and thought "mother," "warm," "kind." The thing was, my twin was all of those things… and then she wasn’t.Once upon a time, Elaine Montgomery brought men twice her size to their knees. She had a mind sharper than a
The Price Of Us Chapter 35
LOUISI didn't realize the glass was one-way.Not until afterward. Not until the press of Elias's eyes on my back started to feel… too much. As if all of our moments together in his office—each languid stroke of his fingers down my spine, each ragged moan he'd drawn from my mouth—had been done without a care in the world.And perhaps the fact that people could see us should have frightened me.But it didn't.The truth was I loved it. The risk of being caught thrilled me in a way nothing ever had, even though I’d already realized the glass was one-way. Maybe I was secretly an exhibitionist and though that thought should’ve have frightened me, it didn’t.We left the firm late, much later than usual. There was a lot of work to do today and since Elias had been gone for a while, it was all piled up on our desk. On our way out, I'd gotten my shirt buttoned up wrong twice. I was still in shock and flushed from what we’d done at the office. Elias smiled, and fixed the buttons with a gentlene
The Price Of Us Chapter 34
ELIASThe silence in my office was a blessed relief from the past few days.It had been more than a week since the ambush—since the bullet tore through my side and nearly killed me. A week since I came home bloody, leaning on Cathan like a corpse half-way to the grave, only to have Louis waiting for me. His big eyes. His panic. His trembling hands when he hugged me, cursing and crying at the same time. And then after that… time passed by slowly. He never left my side. I remembered how he helped me change dressings, how he gently slid his fingers, how he treated me like I was something worthy of love—even when I wasn't.I was back at the firm again.The ache had softened to a dull throb beneath my ribs, a ghost of pain that only flared when I rushed too quickly. But I didn't mind. Pain kept me alert. Pain kept me thinking. Pain reminded me that Aaron was still out there, still playing his game. Just because he hadn't moved yet didn't mean he was gone. No. That wasn't Aaron's style. He
The Price Of Us Chapter 33
LOUISThe kitchen felt cozy with soft laughter and the clinking of wooden blocks on the floor. Isabella had managed to discover the drawer that Elias used for random odds and ends—paper clips, coasters, corks—and proclaimed it an instant treasure chest at once. She sat cross-legged on the marble floor, constructing a miniature city out of the assorted pieces. Her brother Emilio lingered at the corner, watching the open pantry like it might bite him."You can sit down, you know," I told him, crouching beside Isabella so she could perch a stack of corks. "Your sister's making something that'll fall over if we don't offer support. We'll need to hire an engineer."Isabella giggled. "He doesn't enjoy building things, silly. He just enjoys drawing scary monsters," she said, her words still slightly unclear like that of a typical five-year-old.Emilio said nothing. He regarded me, then turned his head away again, clutching a tiny sketchbook to his chest like an armor. His uncombed dark hair
The Price Of Us Chapter 32
ELIASFive days had passed since the ambush.I still had the tear of the bullet along my side, though the stitches were neat and the pain had been dulled by medication. My body felt heavy, and was bruised and bandaged.Louis had been here, bringing me food I could barely eat. He sat by my bedside, pretending to read while his eyes tracked my breathing as though it would stop at any moment. He needed to understand that a single bullet wound was enough to bring me down.The issue with Louis’ attention was that except for my Elaine, I hadn't seen anyone care like that in a long time. Not without a price.Speaking of Elaine…I heard the shuffling sounds of little footsteps before I saw them. "Uncle Elias!”A missile of pink and tight ginger curls shot into the room before anyone could catch her. My niece, Isabella, climbed the bed with all the grace of a drunken kitten, throwing herself at me."Gentle little one," I rasped, my voice rusty from sleep and disuse. "Your uncle’s feeling a bi
The Price Of Us Chapter 31
LOUISThe morning light this time around was not a welcome one. I had not slept a wink throughout last night. Again.Unfortunately, the thought of Elias bleeding, weak form kept flashing in my mind, reminding me that I could have lost him. He wasn’t mine but I could have lost him still. The metallic smell of blood seemed to cling to the marble floors like a bad omen. The house was very quiet now. There was just nothing except the awful, sterile silence that came as an aftermath of storms.I slipped out of my bedroom barefoot, having no idea where I was going but knowing I could not stay put. The hall light buzzed quietly overhead.One of the employees rounded the corner at the far end of the hallway. She paused when she saw me, her lips curling as if she was about to say something, but she dipped her head and kept going.Since last night, they’ve all been doing that. As if I'd become off-limits.Or worse… tainted.I ignored her and headed toward the wing where I'd seen Cathan take El
The Price Of Us Chapter 30
LOUISNot once had the house ever felt this quiet.Not even in the dead of night, or even during those first lonely nights after I'd been swept into Elias's life. Tonight, the quiet buzzed—tension curled through the walls like a drawn wire, vibrating against the seams of my skin.I didn’t even bother sleeping.Elias hadn't spoken a word since Cathan and I escorted him up to bed. He'd gone limp in our arms halfway up the grand staircase, blood seeping into his shirt and flowing down onto the marble like plummeting stars—dark, sharp, and unending. We'd placed him in bed. I'd removed his tattered clothes. Wrapped the worst of the wounds with shaking fingers. He hadn't stirred. Had only stared at me with veiled eyes as if I were something distant and receding.But then he'd fainted. And I think that was what shook Cathan because apparently, he didn’t do that.Cathan had vanished a little later with a grumbled, "I'll take care of the rest."I should have slept. Should have curled up alongs
The Price Of Us Chapter 29
LOUISThe room was too quiet.Not peaceful—never that—but the kind of quiet that crawled on your skin. I lay extended over the sheets, the lamp casting a warm amber glow against the gold-ornamented walls, the silk of the pillows was cool along my spine. Still dressed, I folded my arms over my head, my eyes half-closed but sleep nowhere in view.I hadn't seen Elias since that morning. Since the kiss. Since he'd vanished and left me in a palace that was beginning to feel rather like someone else's living museum.But I could still taste him. Still feel the pressure of his hand mashed on my jaw. That fire that'd burned between us—it hadn't gone out. It'd just. simmered.But then I remembered how he’d been watching me and those lustful thoughts vanished and, in their place, anger consumed me. Anger and betrayal. It didn’t make sense for me to feel betrayed, yet, I did.I was hovering in the twilight region between annoyance and tiredness when I heard it. A sound.It was a muffled thus, bar
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