All Chapters of LOVE BENEATH RIVALRY : Chapter 81 - Chapter 90

A week had passed.Seven days since Elisa had woken up in a strange bed, in a strange house, with the ghost of death still clinging to her skin.Seven days of quiet.The house Damian lived in was nothing like the Greyhound estate. It was large, yes—clearly expensive—but it didn’t feel like a fortress. There were no armed guards standing at every corner, no suffocating silence laced with threat. Sunlight streamed freely through wide windows. The walls were painted in warm, neutral tones. Everything felt… lived in.Safe.And yet, safety was something Elisa still didn’t know how to exist inside of.She spent most of her days in one of the guest bedrooms—her room now—sitting by the window or curled up on the bed, lost somewhere between memories and exhaustion. Damian never forced her to talk. Never demanded explanations. He moved around her carefully, as if afraid a single wrong step might shatter her.Their relationship changed slowly, cautiously.Every morning, without fail, Damian brou

Three months had passed.Three months since Elisa had crossed the gates of Rowan’s villa.Three months since she had last stepped into the outside world.The days blurred together inside those walls—quiet, heavy, suffocating. Curtains were always drawn. Doors always locked. Footsteps always made her flinch. Even sunlight felt dangerous, like it could betray her location to the wrong eyes.She hadn’t left.Not once.Not for air.Not for walks.Not for freedom.Fear had become her second skin.The phone rang.Elisa stared at it for a long time before answering.“…Hello?”“Elisa.” Rowan’s voice came through, calm but firm. “You didn’t eat again, did you?”She swallowed. “I wasn’t hungry.”“You haven’t been hungry for three months,” he replied quietly.She said nothing.“I want you to come have lunch with me,” Rowan said. “At my office.”Her heart dropped.“No.” The word came out sharp, instinctive. “I can’t.”“Why?”“You know why,” she whispered. “I don’t go out.”“Elisa—”“I don’t leave

The bathroom door was closed.Elisa leaned over the sink, gripping the porcelain so tightly her knuckles had gone white. Her reflection stared back at her—pale, hollow, eyes rimmed red. Sweat clung to her temples, damp strands of newly dyed black hair sticking to her cheeks.Her stomach twisted violently.She barely managed to turn before retching again, her body convulsing as bile burned her throat. The sound echoed too loudly in the quiet space. She coughed, gasping, eyes watering as she straightened with trembling hands.“Pull yourself together,” she whispered hoarsely.For days now, every meal had betrayed her. Her body, weakened from months of starvation, rejected nourishment like poison. Eat—vomit. Eat—vomit. Over and over again.She rinsed her mouth, pressing a shaking hand to her aching stomach, breathing through the nausea until it dulled.That was when she heard a different voice, not that of the assistant and receptionist she had met earlier on. This one sounded more mascul

Elisa didn’t wait for the driver to open the door.The moment she stepped out of the revolving glass doors of the building, the city air hit her face—cold, sharp, real—and for a split second, she thought she might collapse right there on the marble steps. Her legs trembled beneath her, weak, unreliable, as if her body had finally decided it was done pretending to be functional.The company driver was already there, standing beside the sleek black car Rowan had assigned to her, one hand on the handle, posture straight and professional. The second his eyes landed on her, his expression faltered.Just for a moment.It was brief—but she saw it.Her hair was undone, strands clinging to her damp cheeks. One side of her face was flushed an angry red, swelling already visible beneath her pale skin. Her eyes were glassy, unfocused, rimmed with tears she hadn’t even realized were still falling.“Madam…” he began carefully, quickly schooling his features back into neutrality. “Are you ready to—”

Elisa stumbled backward as though the floor itself had shifted beneath her feet.“No,” she said quickly, the word tumbling out with a breathless apology that didn’t belong to it. “No—Leonard, I can’t. I won't do it.”Her back brushed against the cold wood of the study’s desk, fingers curling against its edge as if it were the only thing keeping her upright. Her eyes darted briefly—instinctively—toward the infant still cradled in Leonard’s arms before returning to his face, already braced for cruelty.“I can't do what you're asking of me,” she continued, voice trembling despite her effort to steady it. “You’re using him—using Luca—to force my hand, to blackmail me into agreeing to this. And God, you have no idea how much I want to say yes just to keep him. Just to be with my son.”Her lips quivered. She swallowed hard.“But I won’t betray Damian.”Leonard’s expression didn’t change.“I won’t,” she repeated, firmer now, as tears welled in her eyes. “I won’t destroy his company, his hard