LOGINElena's Point Of View"Fine," he muttered, adjusting his stance with a lazy, satisfied smirk that made my stomach flip and heat pool between my thighs. "But you are not going there alone. And if she's actually dead, you let me know immediately and I will personally send the cheapest, heaviest pine casket Dallas has to offer." The dark humor was so perfectly Jaxx that I couldn't help but laugh. I burst out laughing, the sound bright against the lingering tension in the room. The absurdity of his grim humor never failed to catch me off guard, to remind me that beneath the violence and the control, there was a man who made me laugh in the darkest moments. Jaxx just shrugged, completely unbothered by his own dark wit, though a small smile played at his lips, softening the hard lines of his face. "But must you even be there personally?" he grumbled, his eyebrows pulling together again as his hand trailed slowly up the spine of my shirt, leaving goosebumps in its wake. Each touch was deli
Elena's Point Of View"I will," I said, my thumb smoothing over the glass screen one last time before dropping the phone onto the desk. The device landed with a hollow thud that seemed to echo in the quiet office, a sound that felt far too final. "I will talk to him, Heather. I promise." "Good," she groaned, her voice still vibrating with that protective, younger-sister fire that had grown sharper since our childhood struggles. The edge in her tone reminded me of the girl who'd once stood between me and our mother's boyfriend with nothing but a kitchen knife and sheer determination. "Because if I find out you snuck down to some sketchy county hospital by yourself, I will personally dig that granite grave for you too. Love you, bye." The line went dead, leaving me in the quiet expanse of my office. I sat there for a moment, staring at the dark screen, wondering how my little sister had become the voice of reason in my life. When had the roles reversed so completely? The following da
Elena's Point Of ViewThe second the words left Heather's mouth, it felt like a bucket of ice water had been dumped directly over my head. My skin went entirely numb, and the small, lingering trace of conflict inside me froze instantly into solid glass. The familiar protective instinct I'd built over years of distance from our mother shattered, replaced by cold clarity. I cursed under my breath, my voice low and raw. "You're right, Heather," I said, closing my eyes against the wave of self-recrimination. "Damn it, you're completely right. I don't know why I didn't think of that immediately." I pressed my palm against my forehead, feeling the heat of shame creeping up my neck. The weight of my own naivety pressed down on me like a physical thing. "For a split second, I actually forgot who our mother is. I stupidly thought she might have changed because she's staring down the barrel of a casket. As if proximity to death could transform a person who'd spent decades perfecting her cruel
Elena's Point Of View"Sorry, but I'm not coming," I said, my voice cutting through her desperate wheezing like a blade through silk. I shifted my weight, leaning my hip against the edge of the mahogany desk. My fingers found my pen, twisting the cap off and on in a restless rhythm. Click. Click.The small sound anchored me, kept me from drowning in emotions I refused to acknowledge. "You weren't there for us when we actually needed a mother," I continued, each word measured and deliberate. "So why on earth should I come now just because it's convenient for your conscience?" A violent, wet cough rattled through the speaker, followed by the agonizingly slow sound of her trying to draw air back into her failing lungs. Each ragged breath felt like an accusation, a reminder of all the times I'd waited for her to come home, listening for footsteps that never came. I could picture her in that sterile hospital room, tubes snaking from her arms, machines beeping their mechanical sympathy.
Elena's Point Of ViewThe temperature in the room plummeted twenty degrees in a single, freezing second. My fingers tightened around the phone until the cheap plastic casing let out a small, desperate creak. Blood rushed past my ears in a loud, rhythmic thudding that drowned out the low hum of the office air conditioner. "What?" The word came out flat and dangerous as my voice dropped into a register I reserved for courtrooms and confrontations. My eyebrows pulled together, forming a deep frown as I leaned one hand heavily against the edge of my desk. The polished wood felt cool beneath my palm, grounding me in the present moment even as my past threatened to drag me under. A frantic, shaky breath came from the other end, but it wasn't her voice. Instead, I heard an older woman, completely out of breath and thoroughly panicked. "Elena? Oh thank god, you actually answered," the woman stammered. The chaotic sound of rolling hospital gurneys and beeping monitors blared through the ear
Elena's Point Of ViewWeeks had passed since the world watched Sinclair Global's pristine, multi-billion-dollar empire crack down the middle and begin sinking into the Texas dirt. Weeks since frantic news anchors, flashing red banners, and black government SUVs swarming their corporate headquarters dominated every conversation. And honestly? Everything had been so incredibly quiet and peaceful since then. I couldn't begin to describe how grateful I was for that stillness. It felt like emerging from a storm into unexpected sunshine. My days had taken on a rhythm that wasn't complicated, but it was exactly what I needed. Go to work, handle my business, come home, train with Jaxx until my lungs burned and my muscles ached, eat whatever ridiculous feast he'd either ordered or cooked, then sleep without looking over my shoulder. No paranoia. No fear. Just rest. Jaxx had even stubbornly insisted that the two of us do something completely fun every single day… whether it was a midnight dr
Elena’s Point Of ViewThe tears came without warning.One second, I was talking… voice steady, hands clenched in my lap, and the next, my chest was heaving, my vision blurring, my entire body shaking with sobs I couldn’t stop. It was like something inside me snapped, like the last thread holding me
Elena’s Point Of ViewThe apartment was too quiet.The kind of quiet that pressed against my skin, that hummed in my ears like a living thing. I stood in the middle of the living room, my suitcases still unopened by the door, my purse slung over my shoulder like an anchor. The walls were a pristine
Elena’s Point Of ViewThe silence in the room was deafening, heavy, suffocating… like the walls themselves were holding their breath, waiting for something to break. My back was pressed against the door, my knuckles raw and bleeding, my breath coming in sharp, uneven gasps. The tears had dried on m
Graham’s Point Of ViewThe thud of Elena’s heels against the marble stairs echoed through the house like a death knell, each step a hammer against my chest, each sound twisting the knife deeper. My fingers clenched around the glass of whiskey, the crystal biting into my palm, the amber liquid slos







