All Chapters of The Price Of Us: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

ELIASI could still taste Louis on my lips. I haven’t been able to close my eyes since our passionate encounter. The scene kept replaying over and over in my mind like some twisted obsession. The feel of Louis's breath on my skin, the way his lips moved against mine—how vulnerable he had looked, trembling, gasping, hungry for something neither of us had any right to want.Goddamn it! Get yourself together.The ache in my groin was getting too intense to be ignored. I was unraveling. And that scared me more than I'd ever admit.I rubbed my face harshly, as though I could scour away the recollection of his soft lips on mine. Of the flame he’d reignited in me. But it lingered, like a ghost, it lingered, tormenting me with what I couldn’t afford to have. That boy—no, that man—was off-limits. Just an employee. A refugee from a toxic life, I had no business being involved in. But as much as I vowed to never entertain weakness ever again, one thing rang consistently in my mind: I kissed him

LOUISMy legs trembled with terror as I backed out into the hall, my pounding heart sounded like a war cry in my chest. The sound the man made—his tortured screams—would not escape my mind. I had seen it. Everything.The blood. The broken body. The cruel callousness of it all. Mercy wasn’t shown.Mercy wasn’t shown, mercy wasn’t shown, mercy wasn’t shown.I slapped a hand over my mouth, bile rising in my throat as I turned to escape. Elias… Elias wasn't simply powerful, or menacing, or mysterious. He was a monster cloaked in silk suits and quiet smiles. And I—I had kissed him. Wanted him. Let him touch me. The thought sent a fresh wave of nausea through me. "Where do you think you're going?"The voice was a low, smooth, growl with a deadly undertone that made my blood freeze. A steel-hard hand clamped around my upper arm, yanking me back with terrifying ease. I crashed into a wall of muscle and stared up into eyes so green, they glowed like lanterns in the half-light of the corridor.

LOUISI couldn't breathe. Not because I was winded, not because I was hurting—God only knows I'd had my share of that—but because Elias was kissing me like he needed to possess every breath in my lungs. I don't know who moved first. Maybe we both did. All I knew was that one second I was staring into his eyes in the dim hallway, and the next our lips slammed together like we had been starved. His hand wrapped tightly around the back of my neck, tugging me close until I could feel every inch of him pressed against me. My fingers curled into his shirt, pulling and gripping like I needed him to survive.The kiss wasn’t gentle. There was nothing careful or tender about the way our mouths collided—just hunger. Raw, dangerous, unfiltered need. I moaned into his mouth and was shocked by how natural it felt. How right and wrong collided in my chest like a storm.His hands roamed my body with practiced ease. He slid one down the curve of my back and folded his arms around my waist like he was

LOUISThe quiet that followed Elias as he left the room clung to my skin like sweat—thick, heavy, and unwelcome.I sat on the edge of the couch, my shirt half untucked, lips still swollen from the kiss that had started it all. My fingers trembled slightly. His touch on my skin remained, especially the way it was hesitant at first but grew possessive—like he needed to own me. And maybe, for a fleeting moment, I needed to be owned.But he’d left. Just like that. He pulled away with a coldness that contrasted the fire we’d just shared. And even though I had a feeling that call was very important, I couldn’t help but feel the way I feel.I ran a hand through my hair, expelling a breath I hadn't realized I’d been holding. I still reeked of him—cologne, sweat, heat, need. His ghostly presence lingered on me, the way he'd gasped when I sucked him in my mouth was thrilling. It was like he didn’t expect it, like it broke something in him.And then he just walked away.I stood and took the walk

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