All Chapters of Cherish Me, Daddy: Chapter 101 - Chapter 110

ELI'S POV. The black wool of my tuxedo jacket felt like a shroud. I had spent my life gravitating toward white and the reliable comfort of linen—fabrics that let you breathe, that didn't demand a certain kind of posture. But Lucen was a man of contrasts, a man who saw the world in high-definition ink. To be his partner was to be painted in his colors, whether or not they suited the canvas. "Elion wears black," he had commanded, his voice a low, gravelly vibration that left no room for negotiation. It wasn't a suggestion; it was an instruction on how to exist within his orbit... within the shadow of his true mate... my brother I adjusted the cuff for the tenth time, staring at my reflection in the floor-to-ceiling mirror of our foyer. My face looked less joyful, or perhaps just hollowed out by the artificial light. I was two years into a life that had become increasingly performative, and yet, staring at the man in the mirror, I felt like a stranger. I was a prop in the Blackthorne n

ELI'S POV The marble of the fountain’s edge was an icy, unforgiving anchor, biting into my thighs through the layers of my sodden, soaked trousers. I didn’t move. I didn’t want to. The ballroom behind me...a cavernous space of gold leaf, crystal chandeliers, and the stifling fragrance of expensive perfumes—felt like a reality I had been evicted from. Everything had dulled. The music, a frantic, swirling waltz, had bled into a rhythmic thrum that pulsed behind my eyes, distorted and distant. I felt like I'm underwater, trapped in the freezing depths of my own quiet misery, while the world above danced on, oblivious. My fingers, pale and trembling, traced the surface of the fountain water. Ripples. They were small, pathetic things that vanished as quickly as they were born. Just like my time here. Just like the phantom status I’d been granted. "Three months," I whispered, the words catching on the jagged edges of a sob. The count was a death sentence I had signed the moment I stepp

ELI'S POVHis hand didn’t let go. Even after the kiss or even after the music swelled again and the world slowly returned around us like nothing had just shifted.His hand stayed wrapped around mine... firm, warm, unyielding. And that… that alone was enough to unsettle me more than anything else that happened tonight. Because Lucen didn’t hold on to things. Not people. Not me. Not beyond what was necessary. And yet... Here he was. Still holding on mine. At some point, I want to believe this is all real. But I'm afraid that it is just wishful thinking... because I'm not in Lucen's side as myself but a temporary replacement to my brother.The doors to the ballroom opened, and the noise crashed back into me... music, laughter, the low murmur of conversations layered beneath chandeliers and gold light. The same place that had suffocated me earlier now felt… different. Not welcoming. Not comforting.But different because this time I wasn’t alone. Lucen didn’t slow as we stepped in. If anyt

ELI'S POVThe night felt wrong long before anyone said it out loud. I knew it the moment the sky turned darker than usual outside my window, the way the silence in the halls stretched too far, too thin… like something was missing. Or maybe someone.Lucen.I sat at the edge of the bed, hands resting on my lap, staring at the door like it might open if I just waited long enough. Like he would walk in the same way he always did... unannounced, composed, carrying that quiet authority that filled every space without trying.He was supposed to come tonight... that was what I had been bracing for. I am not hoping… no, I wouldn’t call it that. I wasn’t hoping. I was preparing for the end, conversation we both knew was coming. The one that would strip everything down to what it had always been... a contract. An agreement. A transaction that had reached its expiration. Vulk was probably already adjusted by now.I thought he would come in, look at me with that unreadable expression, and say it p

ELI'S POVThe cabin door groaned as it swung closed, the hinges protesting under the force of Lucen’s boot. I barely had time to turn before his body crashed into mine, the weight of him slamming me back against the wood with a dull thud.His mouth was on me before I could draw breath... hot, demanding, his tongue forcing its way past my lips like he owned them. And fuck, maybe he did. My spine arched against the door, my fingers clawing at his shoulders, not to push him away, but to pull him closer, to anchor myself against the storm of him.He kissed like he fucked... relentless, consuming, like he wanted to crawl inside my skin and never leave. His hands were everywhere, one fisted in my hair, yanking just enough to make my scalp sting, the other gripping my hip hard enough to bruise. I could taste the iron tang of blood where his teeth grazed my lower lip, could feel the way his chest heaved against mine, his heartbeat a wild drum against my ribs. Then, just as suddenly as he’d t