All Chapters of One Night Stand with My Stepdad: Chapter 61 - Chapter 64

The rain had softened to a fine silver mist by the time the last of the Vanguard contingent filtered out into the night. Elena kept her composure through the final handshakes and polite farewells, the phantom weight of Alexander’s gaze still lingering on her skin like a brand she couldn’t scrub off.Marcus said nothing as they stepped out onto the curb. His driver was already waiting, black umbrella open, the long sleek car idling at the curb like a shadow with a heartbeat. Marcus opened the rear door himself. Elena slid in without a word. He followed, the door shutting with a heavy, expensive click that sealed them into silence and the low hum of the engine.The city lights smeared across the tinted windows as the car pulled away from the Upper East Side. Marcus sat angled toward her, one arm stretched along the back of the seat, silver-gray eyes fixed on her profile. He didn’t speak. He simply looked—slow, thorough, as if cataloguing every micro-expression, every shallow breath she

Marcus’s POVI didn’t ask if she wanted a ride. I simply stood beside the open rear door of the car after the last of the Vanguard people had cleared out and waited. Elena looked at me for a second longer than necessary. I could see the calculation behind her eyes—the same careful weighing she always did when she was trying to decide how much distance to keep. Then her phone buzzed. She glanced at the screen, exhaled once, and said quietly, “My mother’s still at the apartment. She’s not leaving for another hour.” That was all. No further explanation. She slid into the back seat. I closed the door, walked around, and got in on the other side. The driver already knew the address. The partition was up. The city lights moved across the glass in long, wet streaks. Neither of us spoke. I kept my eyes on the window for the first few blocks, but I could feel her presence the entire time—the controlled way she sat, the faint scent of her perfume mixed with the rain that still clung t