LOGINRoth stood alone on the balcony overlooking the Dimitri estate, a cigarette burning slowly between his fingers. The smoke drifted into the cool night air as he took one slow drag after another, hoping it would quiet the anger simmering beneath his skin. It didn't. His chest still felt tight, but it wasn't because of Celeste. It had never been because of her. He caught his reflection in the glass doors behind him. A faint smear of her red lipstick still marked the edge of his jaw, and her expensive perfume clung stubbornly to his shirt. The scent made him frown. It wasn't the fragrance he wanted lingering on him. Every time he closed his eyes, all he could think about was Elena. Her perfume was softer, lighter, almost impossible to notice unless she stood close, yet somehow it had followed him everywhere since the night they met. He should have wiped Celeste's lipstick away the moment she'd kissed him, but he hadn't. He'd left it exactly where it was because he wanted Elena to see
By the time the engagement party finally came to an end, Elena felt like she had survived a battle instead of a celebration. The moment she climbed into the car, she let out a quiet breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding all night. Every nerve in her body felt stretched to its limit, and the smile she had worn for hours had left her cheeks aching. She couldn't remember the last time pretending had been this exhausting.The drive home passed in silence. Adrian seemed tired after spending the entire evening entertaining guests, while Elena was grateful he wasn't asking questions she didn't have the strength to answer. She rested her head against the window and watched the city lights blur past, hoping the distance between herself and the ballroom would somehow quiet the storm inside her. It didn't.When they finally stepped inside the apartment, Elena stopped just beyond the front door and slowly looked around. It was the same home she had walked out of only a few hours earlier,
The ballroom faded into a blur around Elena. The soft sound of violins drifted through the air. Couples glided across the polished dance floor, smiling as though they didn't have a single worry in the world. Laughter echoed from every corner of the room, champagne flowed freely, and guests continued celebrating her engagement as if it were the happiest night of her life.Elena smiled whenever someone looked her way. She thanked people for their congratulations. She accepted hugs. She posed for photographs. No one noticed that she was barely holding herself together.Every time she closed her eyes, she saw Roth with Celeste. She saw the way he'd held her, the way she'd looked at him, the ease between them that spoke of a past Elena knew nothing about. The memory refused to leave her alone, replaying over and over until her chest felt too tight to breathe.Adrian slipped an arm around her waist and leaned closer, saying something about the speech his best man was preparing. Elena barel
Elena walked back into the ballroom, feeling as though every step weighed a hundred pounds. Around her, the engagement party carried on without a care.Champagne glasses clinked together, music drifted through the room, and guests laughed as they celebrated the future she was supposed to be looking forward to. In everyone else's eyes, tonight marked the beginning of her life with Adrian.So why did it hurt so much knowing Roth was somewhere in this room with another woman?She blinked quickly, refusing to let the tears gather in her eyes fall. Not tonight. She had promised herself she wouldn't let him ruin her engagement party, yet here she was, barely holding herself together because of a man she had no right to want.God, she hated him. She hated the hold he seemed to have over her. She hated that seeing him with Celeste felt like someone had reached into her chest and squeezed her heart until she could barely breathe. Most of all, she hated herself for caring.Straightening her sho
The whiskey did nothing. He could drink an entire bottle and still feel her, Elena pressed into him, hot and wet and begging as though her body had only ever belonged to him. It was in his blood now, carved into his nerves, clawing into his sanity.And she was right there. Across the glittering ballroom, clung to Adrian’s side, smiling too brightly, her lips brushing his cheek in a way that made Roth’s gut twist. Her dress clung indecently to her curves, the very same body he had stripped and devoured only hours ago. Every time she laughed, every time Adrian bent his head toward her, Roth wanted to rip the entire world apart. It was madness, very dangerous. He knew it. But knowing did nothing to stop the fire. That was when Celeste appeared beside him again. “Brooding never did suit you,” she purred, sliding against his arm like silk poured into a shape. Her perfume hit him first; heavy, decadent, and suffocating. It yanked him backward in time, into rooms filled with champagne a
The taste of her cunt still clung to his tongue even as Roth stepped out of the bathroom and into the golden glow of the ballroom, the ghost of Elena’s soft body burned into his hands. Her slick heat still coated his fingers, her cries and moans still rattled in his ears, and the way she had broken apart under him refused to leave his mind.He had fucked her. After few denial, of stopping just short, of forcing himself to hold back, he had finally shoved her open on the bathroom counter and taken her on the engagement party day. And God, she had taken him back with a hunger that would haunt him forever. He had thought it would ease him, release some of the unbearable tension. Instead, it left him worse off—starving. She wasn’t sated either, not really. He had felt it in the way she clung to him after, begging for more, whispering don’t stop. And then Celeste had walked in. The memory twisted in his chest. He had shielded Elena without thinking, blocking her with his body, forcing hi







