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chapter 92

Author: Evie hydes
last update Huling Na-update: 2026-01-16 21:56:47

The rain had started sometime after midnight.

Elias noticed it first not because of the sound, but because of the way Alexander stopped pacing.

The city lights beyond the windows blurred as water streaked down the glass, turning the skyline into something softer, less sharp. Alexander stood there, hands braced against the window frame, shoulders rigid like he was holding himself together by force alone. He hadn’t moved in nearly ten minutes.

Elias watched him from the couch, knees pulled up, ar
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  • unmasked desire    Bonus Chapter: Five Years Forward

    The ring still caught the light in a way that surprised Alexander. Five years later, and he still noticed it—still paused sometimes, mid-thought, when it flashed against glass or polished stone. Not because it felt new, but because it felt real. Chosen. Earned. He adjusted his cufflinks in the mirror of the penthouse bathroom, the city stretching behind him in soft twilight. The penthouse no longer felt like a fortress or a reward. It felt lived in. Books stacked where they didn’t belong. A throw blanket Elias insisted on draping over every chair. Framed photographs that weren’t curated, just… kept. “Alex,” Elias called from the bedroom. “If you’re overthinking your tie again, we’re going to be late.” Alexander smiled to himself. Some things really didn’t change. He stepped into the bedroom, where Elias stood by the window, already dressed for the gala. Five years had sharpened him, not hardened—confidence settling into his posture the way comfort does when it’s finally all

  • unmasked desire    chapter 100

    The club hadn’t changed.The lights were still low, warm gold bleeding into shadow. Music thrummed beneath the floor, familiar and steady, vibrating through bone and memory. The mirrors still lined the walls—sleek, deliberate, once designed to obscure and divide.What had changed was how they walked in.Alexander entered first, posture calm, shoulders relaxed, no longer braced for impact. Elias followed at his side, close enough that their arms brushed with every step. There was no attempt to separate, no instinctive pause before crossing the threshold. They didn’t scan the room for danger or recognition.They were seen immediately.A few heads turned. Conversations stuttered, then resumed. Recognition flickered—surprise, curiosity, something like respect. Not everyone smiled. Not everyone approved.Alexander didn’t flinch.Elias felt the moment settle into his chest, not as fear but as weight—real, solid, survivable. He reached for Alexander’s hand openly this time, fingers threading

  • unmasked desire    chapter 99

    The apartment smelled like rosemary and warm bread—comforting, familiar, earned.Elias stood at the kitchen counter, sleeves rolled up, fingers dusted with flour as he shaped dough with slow, practiced movements. Outside the tall windows, the city hummed softly, dusk settling in like a held breath. One year ago, this hour would have carried a different weight. Panic. Anticipation. Fear of headlines refreshing every few seconds.Now, it carried something steadier.Behind him, Alexander adjusted the table settings for the third time, aligning the cutlery with unnecessary precision. Elias smiled to himself without turning around.“You’re going to wear a groove into the table if you keep nudging that fork,” Elias said gently.Alexander paused, then exhaled. “I know. I just—” He stopped himself, shook his head, and let his hands fall to his sides. “Old habits.”Elias turned then, leaning back against the counter. He studied Alexander openly, the way he did now without hesitation. The sharp

  • unmasked desire    chapter 98

    The club is quiet in the morning.Not empty—never empty, but hushed in a way Alexander rarely allowed himself to notice before. The lights are dimmed low, the velvet curtains drawn back just enough to let thin bars of daylight slip across the polished floor. It smells faintly of citrus cleaner and last night’s incense, a mingling of care and history.Alexander stands at the edge of the main floor, hands in his pockets, looking at the space that once felt like both sanctuary and prison.This place was born out of survival.He knows that now, in a way he didn’t before.Elias joins him, leaning lightly against his side. No performance, no role to play, just presence. They’ve learned how to stand together without filling the silence with tension.“Do you ever think about what it could have been?” Elias asks softly.“All the time,” Alexander admits. “And what it still can be.”They walk slowly through the club, passing rooms that once existed solely for secrecy. Each door feels different n

  • unmasked desire    chapter 97

    Alexander has always known how to endure silence.It’s a skill learned early—through boardrooms and dining rooms, through a father whose affection came packaged as expectation and approval as performance. Silence, for him, was never empty. It was judgment withheld. Love conditional.Still, this silence feels different.It has been weeks since the family meeting. Weeks since the public fallout, the interviews, the carefully measured chaos. Weeks since his father last spoke to him.No calls. No messages. Not even anger.Just absence.Alexander sits alone in the study of the penthouse, late evening shadows stretching across the floor. The city glows beyond the windows, indifferent and alive. He has a legal pad in front of him, pages already half-filled with writing that will never be mailed.The letter started as an exercise his therapist suggested. Write what you need to say, not what you expect to hear back.He hadn’t expected it to hurt this much.He reads the last line he wrote, jaw

  • unmasked desire    chapter 96

    Elias almost doesn’t answer the call.The phone lights up on the kitchen counter while he’s rinsing a mug, sunlight spilling across the floor in lazy afternoon stripes. The name on the screen tightens something deep in his chest—instinctive, reflexive.Mom.For a moment, he just stares at it, heart ticking too fast. He hasn’t spoken to her since the night everything broke open, since the shouting and the silence that followed. Since being told without words that love came with conditions she didn’t know how to renegotiate.Alexander watches him from the doorway, saying nothing. Just present.Elias exhales and answers.“Hi,” he says.There’s a pause on the other end. Long enough that he wonders if she’ll hang up.“Hi,” his mother says finally. Her voice sounds… different. Not sharp. Not defensive. Tired. “I was wondering if you’d be willing to meet me. Just… talk. No pressure.”Elias closes his eyes.“When?” he asks.The café she chooses is quiet, tucked between a bookstore and a flori

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