LOGIN***Elena's POV***The room erupted.Not loudly. These people were too polished for that. But I saw the reactions immediately. The widened eyes. The sharp inhale from one side of the table. The looks exchanged between people who suddenly realized this was no longer a routine update but a public stripping of masks.Mr. Harlow tried to speak first. “That is a gross misunderstanding—”“It is not.”Mr. Doran swallowed. “We were only—”“Spare me.”The word came out flat.I could feel the room watching me now, all of them very suddenly aware that the woman they had once quietly dismissed was not here to be decorative.I opened the next page and slid it forward.“This,” I said, tapping the paper once, “is a transfer trail from your private device, your private account, and your private meeting with a rival intermediary. You do not get to call that a misunderstanding.”Neither of them moved.I looked at them for a long second.Then, with a calm that was almost colder than anger, I said, “You’v
***Elena's POV***The bedroom door opened and Rook walked in.He stopped so abruptly it was almost funny.His eyes moved from me, to Dominic in bed, to the bathrobe on my body, to the wet towel draped carelessly on a chair, and back to me.For one full second, he said nothing.Then he looked at us with the kind of calm expression that only made the joke worse.“I leave you two alone for one hour,” he said, “and this is what I come back to.”I felt every ounce of blood rush straight to my face.Dominic’s expression turned murderous.“Get out,” he said at once.Rook lifted both hands slightly in mock surrender. “I was only checking on the patient.”“Get… lost.”Rook’s gaze flicked to me again, and there was no hiding the amusement there now. “Mrs. Blackwood, I admire your commitment. So much for a contract marriage.”I nearly groaned.Dominic looked one insult away from throwing him out the window.Rook, somehow still wearing that same straight face, added, “The meeting at headquarters
***Elena’s POV***Water splashed up around us in a rush of warmth and shock and total humiliation. My heart nearly stopped. My hands instinctively grabbed for the nearest solid thing—which happened to be Dominic’s…. Oops, I'm too embarrassed to even say it out loud.He looked just as stunned for half a second.Then, very slowly, the corner of his mouth curved.I stared at him.He stared back.Like my brain was just jolted back to life by electricity, I quickly retracted my hands burning in shame. The water had soaked through my clothes almost instantly, clinging to me in ways I absolutely did not have the mental strength to process. My hair had loosened, my breath was gone, and the fact that I was now sitting in the bathtub with Dominic Blackwood after being yanked in by him was not a thought my brain was prepared to shelve politely.Dominic had that signature smirk on his face again and I knew what he was insinuating. I opened my mouth.Nothing came out.I felt so wronged but even
***Elena’s POV***“Elena.”His voice stopped me in my tracks.I had already reached the door, one hand still on the knob, my mind halfway out of the room and halfway on the stupidly dangerous awareness that had been lingering between us since breakfast.I turned back slowly.Dominic was still leaning against the pillows with that unbearably self-satisfied look on his face, as if he had just remembered a very important detail and was deeply pleased with himself for choosing the most inconvenient possible moment to bring it up.I narrowed my eyes immediately. “What now?”He looked at me for a second, then let out the faintest smirk.You know that kind of smirk. The kind that makes a person suspicious before they even know what they are being suspicious of.“Juliet said,” he began, entirely too calmly, “that I was to be cared for properly.”I stared at him.He continued, “You have not bathed me.”My mouth opened.Then closed.Then opened again because I genuinely had no idea whether to l
***Elena’s POV***My heart was beating so loudly I was certain Dominic could hear it.Which was… ridiculous, because he looked far too calm for a man who had just asked me to lick sauce off his mouth like he was testing how much of my dignity could survive breakfast.I stared at him.He stared back.Not blinking.Not retreating.Not even pretending he had just said something normal.My face burned. My pulse misbehaved. My entire soul stood somewhere near the ceiling trying to leave my body without paying rent.And then, because humiliation had apparently become a hobby in this room, I thought; ‘Fine. If Dominic Blackwood wants to be dangerous, I can be worse.’I lifted my chin.His gaze shifted immediately, sharp and attentive, as though he could sense the decision before I made it.Slowly, deliberately, I leaned in.Very close.Close enough to feel the warmth of him.Close enough to hear the faint change in his breathing.His eyes flicked once to my mouth and then back to my face, an
***Elena’s POV***I had no choice but to agree.Not because I enjoyed it.Not because it made any sense.But because Dominic Blackwood had woken up, survived a bullet wound, looked at me with those maddeningly calm eyes, and somehow managed to make the idea of refusing him feel more difficult than handling an entire company meeting.Juliet had been very firm about it.He needed rest.Real rest.Not the sort where he sat up in bed pretending he was fine while plotting three different ways to return to work too early.So, after some arguing, some glaring, and one especially smug look from Rook that I chose not to forgive, Dominic was moved from the medical wing to his personal bedroom as per one of Juliet's many instructions.Which, irritatingly, turned out to be even more luxurious than the rest of North Hill.Of course it was.The bedroom was vast and elegant, with tall windows draped in heavy midnight curtains, a king-sized bed with dark linen sheets, a sitting area by the fireplace,
***Elena’s POV***Sleep had been a cruel joke.I woke several times through the night, each time to the same unfamiliar ceiling and the same silent reminder that I was no longer in the life I had once known.No Marcus. No Vivienne. No parents waiting to tear me apart with polished smiles and pois
***Elena’s POV*** Entertaining?? I scoffed internally. What the hell does he mean by that?? The word echoed in my mind long after Dominic left the study. I didn’t know if he meant work… or humiliation. Given the sharp gleam in his eyes, I suspected both. The maid escorted me back to the ro
***ELENA'S POV***My memory went blank at first when the strange guy who I just learnt his name is Dominic asked me for my name. But…the moment he stepped forward, fixed his stormy gray eyes on me and asked me 'who the hell are you?'The memories I wish I could erase flooded in, suffocating me. So
***Dominic's POV***“You sure not one survived?” I asked, my voice cutting through the silent night air like a blade.Rooks, my personal assistant and right-hand man replied. “Yes, Boss. We made sure to clear them all. Not a single gangster is left breathing.”As much I wanted to believe him, I cou







