All Chapters of Craving his control : Chapter 81 - Chapter 90

The boardroom was silent, except for the ticking of the antique clock that had watched over generations of Declans. Helena stood at the head of the long, glass table. Every director, advisor, and shareholder present stared at her—not just as the heir, but now as the authority.She wasn’t just her father’s daughter anymore.She was the Declan now.“Let’s begin,” she said, her voice calm but slicing through the air like a blade. “This emergency meeting was called for one reason. My mother, Mia Declan, has appointed me interim CEO while she recovers from surgery. My father, Harry Declan, remains in advisory status. From today, I’m leading this company.”There were murmurs. Objections simmered, cloaked in respectful tones. But Helena didn’t blink.Her heart beat fiercely, but her spine didn’t tremble. She had grown up in this empire’s shadow, studied its weaknesses, watched how her parents fought wars—boardroom and bloodline. And now it was her turn.A man in a dark suit, older with skept

I used to believe that power was armor—that control, when worn tightly enough, could protect me from everything.But as I stood alone in my office, overlooking the city from the top floor of Declan Global, I felt none of that protection. Just the biting chill of vulnerability seeping through every invisible crack Lucien had left behind.Lucien Vale.Even saying his name in my mind felt like a secret I wasn’t supposed to keep.He was gone. Again. Just like he had years ago. No call. No message. Not even a note left behind on the pillow where he used to watch me sleep with that agonizing intensity in his eyes.I clenched my jaw and reached for the control panel on my desk, dimming the lights. Shadows curled around me like comfort. Or maybe warning. I didn’t know anymore.The board was demanding answers. Investors were on edge. My father’s legacy—now mine—was slipping through my fingers faster than I could grip it. And the only man who had ever made me feel both unstoppable and undone ha

I watched her sleep.God help me, I watched her sleep like a man starved. Her lashes rested like shadows against her cheeks, her lips slightly parted, her breath soft, steady. Helena Declan—my enemy, my obsession, the heiress I’d vowed to ruin—was curled beneath my sheets like she belonged here. Like she trusted me.That trust was dangerous.That trust would be the death of us both.My fingers ached to trace the slope of her collarbone, to memorize her skin again, but I didn’t move. I sat on the edge of the bed, hands buried in my hair, trying to remember who the hell I was before she entered my life. Before her voice started echoing in my thoughts, in my bones. Before I stopped seeing her as a means to an end and started craving every broken, fiery, clever part of her.She had undone me. And the worst part? I let her.She stirred behind me.“Lucien?” Her voice was husky, half-asleep. A thread of something dangerous curled in my chest.I turned. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”Her eyes s

The silence in the elevator was too loud.Each floor we passed, the numbers blinked back at me like a countdown to my implosion. I didn’t say a word. Neither did she. Helena leaned against the mirrored wall of the lift, her arms crossed over her chest, legs slightly parted, her heels tapping faintly against the marble floor.If I looked at her, I’d lose control. Again.I was already toeing the edge, the kind of edge I’d vowed never to dance on after my past cost me everything. I had lived too long in control, in power, in calculation. But she—Helena Declan—had become my personal cataclysm. My forbidden indulgence. My undoing.“Still refusing to talk?” she finally said, her voice slicing through the thick air like a hot blade.The elevator pinged as we reached the penthouse.I stepped out without answering, jaw tight, shoulders coiled with tension. I could hear her sigh behind me, annoyed, impatient, but she followed anyway.Inside the suite, the lights were dim—just the way I left the

Lucien sat in the shadows of the Declan estate’s west wing library, his shirt half-unbuttoned, collar soaked from the earlier downpour. The scent of her still clung to his skin—jasmine and fury. Helena had stormed away from him hours ago, but she hadn’t taken all of herself with her. She never did. Pieces of her stayed lodged inside him, tearing, infecting, rebuilding.The reports from the Vale board were sprawled across the desk—unread. Numbers didn’t matter tonight. Nothing did, except Helena’s eyes when she said: “I’m not afraid of you anymore.”Liar.He saw the tremble she tried to bury. He felt the way her body curved toward his in defiance. Even in war, her soul recognized its captor. No matter how she clawed at him, she’d never escape him—not truly. Not when their darknesses were mirror reflections of each other.He closed his eyes and gritted his teeth. The memory of her breathy moan from the night before still echoed in his skull, louder than thunder. The way she whispered hi