All Chapters of Tempting Uncle Alaric: Chapter 1 - Chapter 5

ELARA POV The guest room was as cold as the man who owned it. I sat on the edge of the king-sized bed, my fingers tracing the hem of the silk robe I had found in the marble bathroom. Everything in Alaric Vance’s penthouse was shades of slate, charcoal, and glass. It felt more like a gallery than a home, and certainly not a place for someone who had just lost everything. My damp funeral clothes were folded neatly on a chair, a stark reminder of the mud and the graveside I had left just hours ago. I looked at the digital clock on the bedside table. 3:14 AM. The silence of the penthouse was heavy, broken only by the faint hum of the city seventy floors below. I was exhausted, but every time I closed my eyes, I saw the mahogany caskets and the cold, unyielding expression on Alaric’s face. Restless, I stood up and padded softly toward the kitchen. I needed water. My throat felt like it was lined with sandpaper. I didn't turn on the lights. The moonlight streaming through the floor-to

ELARA POV The silence between us after the blowout in his office was thick, but it wasn’t peaceful. It was the kind of silence that felt like a held breath. Alaric didn’t apologize for his coldness, and I didn’t apologize for my outburst. Instead, he simply left a garment bag hanging on my door the following afternoon with a note: Be ready by seven. The dress was emerald silk, floor-length, and probably cost more than my entire first-year tuition. As I stood in front of the full-length mirror, I felt like a fraud. I looked like a Thorne—polished, wealthy, and untouchable. But underneath the silk, I was just a girl living out of cardboard boxes in a stranger’s penthouse. When I stepped into the living room, Alaric was already waiting. He was dressed in a black tuxedo that fit him with agonizing precision. He was checking his watch, but he stopped when he saw me. His gaze travelled from the hem of my dress up to my face, lingering for a second on my lips before his expression smoot