All Chapters of Seven Minutes with my Ex's Uncle : Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

The words landed like a gunshot and silence crashed over the group as her finger rose—steady, unflinching—and pointed straight into the shadows. Toward him. Shock rippled outward. Liam straightened abruptly, disbelief etched across his face. Chloe gasped softly as the girl at the bar stared with her mouth falling open. The man didn’t move and for a long moment, he simply studied Layla—measuring, assessing—before one corner of his mouth curved into something that wasn’t quite a smile. No one laughed at first.They stared—frozen—as Layla pointed past her boyfriend and chose the man instead. Then the silence shattered into gasps, whistles, and cheers that tasted like scandal. “Isn’t that her boyfriend's uncle?” “Isn't that Liam's uncle?” “That’s Mr.Elias.” Whispers filled the air and then cheers. “Do it.” “Go on.” Chloe turned to her. “Layla… are you sure?” she whispered, eyes wide with disbelief. Layla didn’t answer. She was already walking toward the man in th

The sunlight that seeped through Layla’s blinds felt less like morning and more like punishment, thin blades of gold slicing through the dark refuge she had tried—and failed—to hide in. She didn’t wake all at once. Instead, a warm breath brushed her cheek first—soft, insistent—followed by a wet nose nudging beneath her jaw. A small weight shifted against her chest, then a sudden, unapologetic lick dragged across her face. Layla groaned faintly and turned her head, half-asleep irritation bubbling up before memory could catch her. “Okay, okay,” she murmured hoarsely, eyes still closed. “I’m up.” Another lick landed on her cheek, more enthusiastic this time and her eyes fluttered open.Brown eyes stared back at her wide and loyal,tail thumping faintly against the mattress like it was the best morning in the world. Milo. Her family’s dog,too small to be intimidating, too affectionate to understand boundaries, and apparently determined to wake her whether she was ready or not.

By Monday morning, Oakridge High no longer felt like a school.It felt like a courtroom where the verdict had already been decided. Layla felt it the moment she stepped onto campus—the way conversations faltered and restarted in whispers, the way eyes tracked her movement with thinly veiled curiosity. Phones dipped and lifted again, recording nothing and everything all at once. The video had spread faster than the truth ever could. Chloe stayed glued to her side, her shoulder brushing Layla’s protectively as they moved through the hallway. “Eyes forward,” Chloe muttered. “Breathe and let them choke on their curiosity.” Layla tried. She really did but every teacher’s gaze lingered a second too long, every smile felt sharpened by judgment. Even people she’d known for years looked at her differently now—as if she’d crossed an invisible line and couldn’t step back. Visible eyes of mockery followed her till dismissal. When the final bell echoed through Oakridge High. It echoed like a

The words settled over Layla like a brand.Mine.Her pulse roared in her ears.“You don’t get to decide that,” she whispered, though her voice lacked strength.“I already did.” Elias said as his head tilted slightly.Layla's chest rose and fell quickly.“This isn’t how people work,” she said. “You can’t just claim someone.”“I didn’t claim you,” he corrected calmly. “You stepped toward me,you stayed and you responded.”“That doesn’t mean—”“It means,” he cut in quietly, “that you felt it too.”He lifted his hand slowly.Layla’s breath caught as his fingers brushed a strand of hair away from her face.The touch was almost gentle which made it worse.“You’re afraid,” he murmured.“Yes.”“Of me?”She hesitated and that hesitation was answer enough.A faint, knowing look crossed his face.“You should be,” he said. “But not in the way you think.”Layla's back pressed harder against the wall, as if she could disappear into it.“You don’t own me,” she said again, forcing the words out.His ha

Layla flinched when her phone vibrated. She hesitated, then picked her phone,then answered without looking at the caller's name.Silence greeted her at first.Then—“You think he can protect you?”Her fingers tightened around the phone. She now looked at the caller's ID.“Liam, what is it?”“You forget who my family is?” His voice was low, controlled in that way that meant rage sat just beneath it. “You embarrassed me.”“I didn’t do anything to you.”“You went with him.”“You cheated first.”“That was nothing,” he snapped. “That meant nothing.”“It meant enough.”Liam went silent and then his tone went colder.“You belong with me.”Layla's chest tightened at the echo of another voice saying something disturbingly similar.“I don’t belong to anyone,” she said.A sharp exhale on the other end.“You think he wants you?” Liam continued. “You think you’re special? You’re just something new to him. Something to break.”Her breath trembled.“You don’t know him.”“I know men like him.”“An