Chapter 5

Elena’s POV

The night air was colder than I expected when we left the Blackwood estate. The chill cut through my silk gown, making me shiver as Adrian’s hand rested firmly at the small of my back. His grip wasn’t gentle it was guiding, commanding just like everything about him since the moment he’d peeled off the mask of poverty and revealed the truth.

Or at least, the truth he wanted me to see.

The truth was that he wasn’t a beggar. He was a billionaire. A man whose world I didn’t belong to.

My thoughts spun in a thousand directions, each more terrifying than the last. I barely felt the polished leather seats of the Maybach beneath me when we slipped inside. My hands were clenched in my lap, the silk fabric of my dress wrinkling under my grip.

“Say something,” Adrian’s voice broke through the silence, low and steady, though a flicker of impatience laced his tone.

I turned to him, the words bursting from me before I could stop them. “You lied to me.”

His gray eyes sharpened, catching the dim glow of the city lights streaming through the tinted windows. “I didn’t lie,” he corrected calmly. “I withheld the truth. There’s a difference.”

I let out a bitter laugh. “Withheld? You let me walk into a registrar’s office dressed in rags, humiliated in front of my stepmother and stepsister, thinking I was marrying a man who had nothing. Do you have any idea what that did to me?” My voice cracked at the memory of Vanessa’s laughter, Claudia’s sneers. “I thought I was condemned to a life of shame again.”

His jaw tightened, but he didn’t flinch. “And yet here you are. Sitting in a car worth more than your stepmother’s entire estate. Wearing a gown I had prepared for you. Beside me.”

I shook my head, anger bubbling beneath the surface of my chest. “You let them mock me, Adrian. You let them treat me like garbage while you sat there knowing all along that you had the power to stop it. Why?”

For the first time, he turned his face away, his sharp profile cast in shadows. “Because I needed to see,” he muttered.

“See what?” I pressed, my nails digging into my palms.

His eyes flicked back to me, stormy and unreadable. “Whether you would break.”

The words struck me like a physical blow. My breath caught, my chest tightening painfully. “So I was just some experiment to you? A test subject?”

Adrian didn’t answer immediately. He leaned back against the leather seat, one hand resting loosely against his thigh, the picture of calm control. But his silence was louder than any words.

I pressed my forehead against the cold glass window, tears pricking at the corners of my eyes. My entire life had been a series of cages, each one crafted by Claudia, each one locking me deeper into a nightmare I couldn’t escape. And now, just when I thought this cage might be different, it turned out to be gilded, but a cage all the same.

I didn’t realize I was crying until Adrian’s voice cut through the silence again. Softer this time. Almost human.

“Elena.”

I didn’t turn. I couldn’t bear to look at him.

“Elena,” he said again, his voice firmer now, pulling me back against my will. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“Then why did you?” My whisper cracked, fragile and trembling.

There was no answer. Only silence.

*****

By the time the Maybach pulled up in front of the weather-beaten house I had first stepped into earlier that evening, my thoughts were so tangled I could barely breathe.

Adrian stepped out first, his expression unreadable, and opened my door. His hand extended toward me again, but I didn’t take it this time. I pushed past him, walking up the crooked steps alone.

The house felt different now. Smaller. Fake. Like a prop in a cruel play I hadn’t known I was starring in.

Inside, I slipped out of my heels and sank onto the threadbare couch. My head throbbed from the weight of too many revelations, and my heart felt raw, scraped open by truths I wasn’t ready for.

Adrian moved quietly around the room, removing his jacket, unbuttoning his shirt cuffs with the kind of precise, deliberate movements that only reminded me how in control he always seemed to be. He didn’t stumble. He didn’t hesitate.

And I hated him for it.

Finally, he spoke, his back still turned to me. “Do you regret it?”

The question startled me. “Regret what?”

“Marrying me.” His voice was low, almost dangerous in its restraint.

I stared at his broad shoulders, at the way his muscles flexed beneath the fabric. The answer should have been simple. Yes. Of course, I regretted it. Who wouldn’t regret being forced into yet another marriage especially one built on deception?

But when I opened my mouth, the words wouldn’t come.

Because somewhere deep inside me, beneath the anger and betrayal, there was something else. Something I didn’t want to name.

Something that terrified me even more than Claudia ever could.

*****

The following morning, sunlight streamed through the cracked window of the small bedroom Adrian had given me. I rose slowly, my body aching from the tension of the night before.

I found Adrian already in the kitchen, dressed sharply in a tailored suit that clung to him like it was made for his body alone. The rags were gone. The disguise was discarded.

“You’re leaving?” I asked quietly.

He glanced up from his coffee, his gray eyes sharp as ever. “Business. I’ll be gone most of the day. Stay here. Don’t open the door for anyone.”

I frowned. “Why?”

“Because you’re my wife now.” His voice was calm, but beneath it was a layer of steel. “That makes you a target.”

The word sank deep into my bones. Target.

Before I could ask more, he was gone, the door clicking shut behind him.

And I was left alone with my thoughts.

Alone… until the knock came.

Soft at first. Then louder. More insistent.

My stomach twisted as I crept toward the door, Adrian’s warning echoing in my ears. Don’t open the door for anyone.

But when I peeked through the small crack in the curtain, my blood ran cold.

Standing on the porch, dressed in expensive clothes and wearing a smile sharper than any knife, was my stepmother.

Claudia.

And beside her, with glittering eyes full of cruel delight, was Vanessa.

I froze at the door, my heart pounding so hard I thought they might hear it.

Claudia’s knuckles rapped against the wood again, sharp and impatient. “Elena!” she called sweetly, though I knew better than to trust that tone. “Open up, darling. Don’t keep your family waiting.”

Family. The word made bile rise in my throat.

I should have stayed silent, pretended I wasn’t here. But Vanessa’s cruel laughter sliced through the door.

“Come on, Elena. We saw you through the window. Don’t hide like a rat in a hole. Or is that what your new husband reduced you to already?”

Shame burned hot on my cheeks. My fingers trembled against the doorknob, Adrian’s warning echoing in my head. Don’t open the door for anyone.

But Claudia knew how to twist the knife.

“Unless…” Her voice dropped to a mocking whisper. “Unless your precious husband abandoned you already. Is that it? Married one night, discarded the next? Oh, Elena, you poor thing.”

Something inside me snapped. Before I could stop myself, I yanked the door open.

Claudia stood there in her expensive mink coat, diamonds glittering at her throat, her painted lips curved into a smile that never touched her cold eyes. Vanessa leaned against the railing in a designer dress, her arms crossed, a smirk gleaming.

“Well, well,” Claudia drawled, stepping past me without invitation, her heels clicking on the creaky floorboards. “So this is the grand home your new husband provided for you?” She wrinkled her nose, glancing around the shabby living room with open disgust. “Charming. If you enjoy squalor.”

Vanessa snickered, trailing her fingers across the chipped paint on the wall. “I’ve seen storage closets that look better than this. Tell me, Elena, do you sleep with rats now? Or do they sleep with you?”

Her words stung, but I lifted my chin, refusing to let them see how badly they pierced me. “What are you doing here?”

Claudia arched a brow. “Is that any way to greet the woman who raised you?”

“You didn’t raise me,” I spat before I could stop myself.

Her hand moved so fast I barely saw it coming. The sharp sting of her slap echoed across the room, my cheek burning under the force.

“You ungrateful wretch,” she hissed, her face twisted in rage. “If it weren’t for me, you’d be rotting in the streets by now. Don’t you dare forget who kept you fed, clothed, and married again and again to men far better than you deserved.”

I tasted blood on my lip, but I didn’t flinch. Not this time.

Vanessa’s laughter rang out, high and cruel. “Oh, Mother, don’t be too harsh. Look at her living in this dump, wearing last night’s dress like a beggar clinging to scraps. She’s already been punished enough.”

Claudia’s lips curled into a mocking smile. “True. Though I must admit, I expected better from Adrian. At least enough to buy you a proper house. But perhaps he really is nothing more than the penniless fool I said he was.”

Heat flared in my chest, but I forced myself to stay calm. “You don’t know him.”

“Oh, darling,” Claudia sneered, circling me like a predator. “I know men like him far too well. They strut around with scraps of money, pretending to be powerful. But at the end of the day, he’s just another liar. And you… You’re the perfect fool to fall for it.”

Vanessa leaned close, her green eyes glittering. “Don’t worry, Elena. If he truly has anything to offer, I’ll make sure it’s not wasted on you. Men like Adrian don’t stay with plain, pitiful girls like you. They want women who shine. Women like me.” She flipped her blonde hair over her shoulder with a satisfied smirk.

My hands clenched into fists at my sides. “You can laugh all you want, but Adrian married me. Not you.”

Her face darkened, and for a flicker of a second, the mask slipped, jealousy flashing in her eyes. But then she smiled, saccharine and cruel. “Oh, he married you, yes. For now. But you forget, Elena, men always leave you. Always. And when he does, I’ll be there to take what’s mine.”

The words hit harder than I wanted to admit, because they echoed my deepest fear.

Claudia stepped forward again, her perfume choking me. “Enjoy your little fantasy while it lasts. Because sooner or later, Adrian will see you for what you really are worthless. And when that day comes, don’t come crawling back to me.”

With that, she turned sharply, her coat swishing behind her. Vanessa smirked one last time before following, her laughter echoing through the hall as the door slammed shut behind them.

I stood there trembling, my cheek still throbbing, my heart in tatters.

And then the sound of another engine outside cut through the silence. A familiar one. Low, expensive, commanding.

My blood ran cold.

Adrian’s Maybach.

He was back.

And he had seen them leave.