All Chapters of unmasked desire : Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

Elias knew something was wrong the moment he stepped inside.Not wrong in the way panic felt but wrong in the way gravity shifted, subtle and undeniable. The entrance ritual was the same: verification, quiet nods, the familiar low hum of music barely audible through the walls. But instead of being guided toward the corridor he recognized, the attendant paused.“This way,” she said, voice neutral.They passed the usual hallway.Then another.The mirrors changed first. No longer narrow panels meant to reflect fragments, these were full-length, seamless, stretching from floor to ceiling. Elias caught his reflection in passing and almost didn’t recognize himself. His posture was different straighter. His eyes held a tension that wasn’t fear alone, but expectation.The attendant stopped before a door Elias had never seen.There was no number on it.Just a smooth surface of dark wood, warm under the light.“This suite is reserved,” she said quietly. “You’ve been cleared for it.”Cleared.Th

The room felt different tonight.Not in its design still silk and shadow, still the careful hush of a place meant for truth, but in the way the air seemed to press inward, heavy with things unsaid. Elias sat on the edge of the couch, blindfold still in place, hands resting loosely on his thighs. His heartbeat felt loud in his ears, as if his body already sensed something coming before his mind could catch up.The guide didn’t touch him at first.He stood a short distance away, close enough that Elias could feel his presence like a change in gravity. When he spoke, his voice was unfiltered no modulator, no distortion just quiet, controlled, and unmistakably human.“I need to tell you something,” the guide said.Elias nodded, throat tight. “Okay.”“This isn’t part of any exercise,” the guide continued. “And you don’t owe me anything for hearing it. If at any point you want me to stop, I will.”“I want to listen,” Elias said. The words came easily. Truth had done that to him, it had soft

Morning came without relief.Elias woke with the disorienting certainty that something was wrong before he could remember what it was. His body felt out of sync with itself too warm, too alert, as if he’d slept without ever truly resting. For a moment, he lay still, staring at the ceiling, waiting for the fragments of the night before to arrange themselves into something manageable.They didn’t.The near kiss replayed instead. Not as a single image, but as sensations: the warmth of breath against his skin, the steadiness of a hand that had been shaking, the weight of that whispered question still yes? and his own answer, fragile and certain all at once.Yes.The interruption followed immediately, sharp and invasive. The way his guide had pulled back, the sudden distance, the apology that felt too abrupt to soothe anything.Elias sat up slowly, pressing the heel of his palm against his sternum. His chest ached not dramatically, not in a way he could point to and name, but with a persis

The boardroom was glass and steel and control everything Alexander was supposed to excel at.Morning light cut sharply through the windows, reflecting off polished surfaces, screens alive with numbers that shifted too quickly for anyone but him to track instinctively. Men and women in tailored suits spoke in precise tones, each sentence a maneuver, each pause a calculation.Normally, Alexander would be ten steps ahead.Today, he was barely present.“Alexander.”He blinked, refocusing as one of the senior partners cleared his throat. A hostile acquisition proposal glowed on the screen aggressive, meticulously planned, already gaining quiet support from shareholders who smelled vulnerability.“They’re exploiting the recent restructuring,” the partner continued. “If we don’t respond decisively, they’ll fracture the holding company within weeks.”Alexander nodded once. He understood the mechanics. The strategies assembled themselves in his mind with habitual ease.What didn’t come easily

The first headline Elias saw was brutal in its simplicity.VALE HEIR CAUGHT IN MIDNIGHT RENDEZVOUS — QUESTIONS RAISE ABOUT HIS “PLAYBOY” IMAGEThe photo beneath it made his stomach drop.Alexander, unmistakable even in grainy resolution, stepping out of a hotel entrance just after dawn. His suit jacket slung over one shoulder, tie loosened, expression unreadable. Beside him, a man Elias vaguely recognized from business pages older, polished, respectable. The implication wasn’t explicit, but it didn’t need to be. The framing did all the work.Elias stared at the screen longer than he should have.He told himself it shouldn’t matter. Alexander had always been photographed leaving places with women, mostly, glamorous and interchangeable. This was just another variation, another story for the tabloids to feast on.So why did his chest feel tight?By noon, the house was in controlled chaos.Phones rang constantly. Assistants moved in and out of rooms with hushed urgency. Elias’s mother sat