جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 110

8VanessaThe end came with silence. The kind of silence that settles in your bones when you know everything’s about to collapse and you go through with it anyway.I told myself I was going to the office to pick up files I’d forgotten. It was Sunday. Jake was out. I had time. Time to breathe. Time to not think. But the moment I stepped out of the elevator and saw the light bleeding under Adrian’s office door, my chest tightened.He was here too. Of course he was.One more time. That’s what we always said. Just one more.I didn’t knock. I opened the door, my heart beating too hard, and there he was standing behind his desk in a black dress shirt, sleeves rolled up, hair pushed back like he’d run his fingers through it one too many times.He looked up, and some kind of recognition and resignation passed between us. He knew why I was there.Neither of us said a word.I stepped inside, closed the door, and locked it.“Your wife called Jake,” I said, quietly.He didn’t even blink. “Yeah. S

1Elle (as Eli) I’ve gotten good at the voice. Low, clipped, not sounding too eager. If I tilt my chin just right and keep my chest hidden under the stiff lines of a black button-down, no one questions me. Not in the dim gold wash of this bar. The lighting does half the work.I’m just Eli here. One of three bartenders. Fast with a shaker, quiet with the regulars and polite with the drunks. I was invisible in the best way.Until him.He came in like he owned the place, though I knew he didn’t. The real owner never left his penthouse. But this guy made the air tighten when he walked through the door with his expensive coat, crisp stubble, and a face like sin carved into stone. He didn’t smile. He looked around as he walked.And then he sat directly in front of me.“Whiskey. Neat.” His voice was deep and rough.I gave a short nod, grabbed the bottle of Highland Park from the top shelf. It was the good stuff. He didn’t ask the brand, but I poured it like he had. He watched the whole time

Elle I didn’t want to go. I should’ve said no the second Damon handed me the black card with the address scrawled in his handwriting.“You’ll be safe,” he’d said. “And anonymous. If you want it.”I’d laughed tightly. I was nervous. I could tell he already knew that by the way. “I’m already anonymous.”He looked at me for too long and had said, “Not from me.”So now I stood outside a house tucked deep in a gated neighborhood, my face burning under a thin velvet mask with my heart racing.Everyone else who walked in looked like they belonged. They were all draped in silk, lace, with their bare skin and half-covered faces. I wore black slacks, a button-up shirt, and the same low cap I wore at the bar with a mask over my eyes. My chest was still bound under layers.The man at the door didn’t question me. He nodded, checked the card, and let me inside.Low music played inside. It was just a bass sound instead of an actual song. The rooms glowed with red light. People were already touching

5ElleI waited all day for his message. My shift passed in a blur of making drinks, pretending to listen to people talk, smiling when I was supposed to. But my body was humming with tension, and my phone never left my pocket.It came at 5:02 p.m., just after I stepped out of the shower.Damon: Back office. Ten o’clock. Don’t be late. Don’t wear the binder.I stared at the screen. Heart pounding. I hovered over the reply box, typed out okay, deleted it. Typed yes, Sir, deleted that too. In the end, I didn’t respond. I just stood there dripping on the tile, clutching the phone with wet fingers and a fluttering chest.I didn’t wear the binder. I didn’t wear much at all, just a loose black hoodie, old jeans, no bra. I didn’t want to look sexy. I wanted to look like I was still hiding, even if I wasn’t. I wanted him to strip it away from me.By 9:59 p.m., I was outside the office door.Outside the same place he’d kissed me, touched me…Undone me.I knocked once.“Come in.”His voice was ca

7ElleThe door clicked shut behind me, and the silence in Damon’s penthouse felt thicker than usual. The city lights outside blinked like stars drowning in fog, muted through the tall windows. I stood in the entryway, heart ticking in my throat. I didn’t need to be told to wait. I knew better now.He appeared a few moments later. Shirt sleeves rolled to his elbows, barefoot and looking calm.“Come in,” he said.I stepped forward, stripping off my jacket and watching him for clues. He said nothing until I stopped near the edge of the living room, close to the long leather couch we’d never touched.“Take off your shoes,” he said.I obeyed. The floor cool against my feet.He stepped closer. “Kneel.”My knees met the floor without hesitation. I felt it in my thighs, in the ache I carried from our last meeting, from the bruises only I could feel now. He liked seeing me here, bare, quiet, and ready for him. It still shook something deep in me that I liked it too.Damon circled me once. I d