LOGINElena'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 View I stared up at him, my breath catching as his thumb traced the edge of my jaw with deliberate slowness. The sheer weight of what he was implying made the room tilt beneath me. On the television screen behind him, red banners flashed in frantic succession while a news anchor spoke over live footage of Sinclair Global employees streaming out of the corporate headquarters, clutching cardboard boxes to their chests like life rafts. Some of them looked shell-shocked, faces pale and drawn. Others appeared angry, gesturing wildly as they spoke into their phones. The scene looked like the apocalypse for Graham's world, yet Jaxx sat here with the casual satisfaction of someone who'd just ordered his morning coffee exactly right. "Come on, Jaxx. Don't play with me right now," I said, my voice dropping into a low, breathless plea that I barely recognized as my own. My heart hammered against my ribs, each beat a question I desperately needed answered. I reached up, my
Elena's Point Of View The cool water of the shower had washed away the slick, sticky remnants of our chaotic session on the mahogany table, but my legs still trembled so badly I could barely maintain my balance against the tiled wall. Jaxx hadn't permitted me to do a single thing for myself. He'd carried me into the steam, washed my hair with a slow, almost agonizingly thorough gentleness that stood in complete contrast to the way he'd just ruined me, then carried me right back out. The tenderness felt almost surreal after the intensity we'd just shared. It was as if he'd flipped some internal switch, transforming from the dominant force who'd had me writhing and begging into this careful, attentive caretaker. The duality of him never ceased to catch me off guard. He didn't even let me reach for a towel. He dried my skin himself, his eyes dark and utterly possessive as he tracked the fresh, faint red marks his fingers and the leather straps had left behind. Each touch was rev
Elena’s Point Of View I couldn’t remember how long I’d stayed crouched in that hallway. My knees ached, my dress wrinkled beneath me, but the burn in my chest was far worse than any physical pain. The silence pressed down, thick, broken only by the sound of my uneven breathing. My hands shook where
Jaxx’s Point Of ViewHe laughed then… a raw, throttled thing that didn’t reach his eyes. “You won’t,” he said. “You won’t pull it.”I let the silence sit heavy, like a curtain. He expected the dramatic halting moment, the moral hesitation. What he didn’t expect was that I’d already decided the play
Elena’s Point Of ViewIt had been two weeks since I had seen Jaxx.Two long, blessed weeks.Not after what he had done in my office, in front of my workers, almost humiliating me, cornering me, making me feel things I swore I would never feel around him again. Who does that? Who has the audacity to
Elena’s Point Of ViewThe sound of my name being called snapped me back into the room. For a moment, I had forgotten where I was, the dazzling chandeliers, the perfectly dressed guests, the gentle clink of glasses. All eyes turned toward me with warm applause. My chest tightened, not from nerves, b







