Chapter 195 - 0195: You Can’t Let Yourself Get Hurt Again

Chapter 195: Chapter 0195: You Can’t Let Yourself Get Hurt Again

Elena’s Point Of View

Lexy didn’t wait for me to gather my thoughts or construct some careful, diplomatic executive response. Instead, she unzipped her designer tote bag with a crisp, dramatic flick of her wrist, reached deep inside, and pulled out a small, plush velvet box. With a flourish, she tossed it casually onto the polished wood of my desk, where it landed with a soft, heavy clink against my glass blotter.

"What’s this?" I asked, eyeing the box warily while keeping my pen suspended over my open file.

"Open it," she said, her red lips curving into a wicked, unapologetic grin. "Go on, don’t just stare at it like it’s going to bite you."

I set my pen down and flipped open the velvet lid. Resting on the black satin lining was a delicate, beautifully crafted silver necklace. The chain was thin and elegant, but the pendant dangling at the center was shaped into a tiny, unmistakable miniature hand giving a sharp middle finger.

I stared at it for two full seconds before a sudden, unbidden laugh burst straight out of my chest, cutting through the fog that had settled over me for days. "Lexy! What the hell is this?"

"It’s a gift, darling," she declared, leaning back in her leather armchair and crossing her arms with immense satisfaction. "A commemorative token for when you finally tell Graham to fuck off directly to his arrogant face. Wear it with pride, Elena. You’ve more than earned it after everything he put you through."

I shook my head, my shoulders shaking as I closed the box, though I couldn’t stop the laughter from bubbling up. There was something almost healing in it, a small crack of light breaking through days of gray numbness that had followed me like a shadow since I’d walked out. "You are completely unhinged."

"And you’re very welcome," she shot back smoothly, crossing one long leg over the other. "Now. Talk. Or do I have to start guessing? Because I will start guessing right now, and you know my guesses are never kind, never subtle, and usually involve arson."

I groaned, leaning back into my chair and rubbing my temples, the familiar ache of exhaustion settling behind my eyes, a reminder of too many sleepless nights spent staring at the ceiling instead of sleeping. "You’re absolutely exhausting, Lex."

"And you’re blatantly stalling," she countered, her sharp smile glinting under the office lights. "Out with it, sister. What did that absolute waste of oxygen do now?"

I met her burning, expectant gaze, taking a deep, grounding breath. The room seemed to grow quiet around us, all the corporate noise fading into the background as I let my resolve lock into place. My voice stayed steady, my tone unwavering, despite the storm of memories still swirling inside me, threatening to pull me back under if I let them.

"I’ve left Graham."

Lexy shouted. It wasn’t just a gasp. It wasn’t just a startled word. It was a full-on, raw, ringing "FINALLY!" delivered at a volume so loud and triumphant that Clara jumped half an inch out of her seat in the outer office.

Lexy lifted completely out of her chair, her hands flying up into the air in sheer victory, her face lit up with a grin so wide and ferocious it looked almost painful.

"Oh my God," she breathed, slamming her hands back down onto the leather armrests as she hovered over my desk. "Oh my God, Elena! Finally! Do you know how many times I’ve longed for this day? Do you have any idea how many long, agonizing years I’ve prayed for you to finally wake up and leave that selfish, manipulative, parasitic bastard?"

She leaned forward, her dark eyes blazing with an absolute fire. "If I had known he was going to pull this pathetic shit today, I swear to God I would’ve slapped him across his smug face twice before having my guards throw him out into the street! This is literally the best news I’ve heard in years! Let him stay with his mistress. Let him rot in whatever mess he built for himself!"

I watched her dramatic explosion, feeling my lips curl into a real, unforced grin despite everything. For a moment, the weight pressing on my chest for weeks eased, just slightly, under the warmth of her loyalty, a loyalty that had never once wavered no matter how many times I’d pushed her away in favor of pretending everything was fine. "You’re completely insane, you know that?"

"And you’re finally free," she shot back, her loud voice suddenly dropping into a register thick with genuine, fierce emotion. "God, El. Finally."

I exhaled slowly, resting my forearms on the cool surface of the desk and shaking my head. "I gave him the divorce papers. Packaged them up, dropped them where he couldn’t miss them, and walked out. But I haven’t heard anything directly from him yet, just his unhinged screaming at your store. If by the end of this month he doesn’t sign them quietly, I’m getting the courts and my legal team fully involved. I won’t play games with him."

Lexy nodded fiercely, her expression hardening into absolute steel. "Good. Fuck him. Let him drown in his own bullshit and choke on his consequences."

I exhaled a long breath, feeling a massive layer of heavy tension that had settled over my chest for days finally lift a little more. "Yeah. It’s... it’s really over, Lex."

Lexy’s ruthless grin softened, the sharp edges melting away into eyes full of deep, fierce warmth. "I’m so proud of you, El. You have no idea how proud I am."

I offered her a soft smile, my chest tightening with genuine gratitude for her presence, for the years of unwavering loyalty that had never once faltered even when I gave her every reason to walk away. In that moment, I realized how much I had taken her steadiness for granted, how rarely I had let myself lean on it. "Thanks, Lex. Really."

She leaned forward across the desk, her expression shifting in a flash from supportive best friend to relentless investigator. Her voice dropped into a low, conspiratorial whisper that practically vibrated through the air.

"Now. Tell me everything. And don’t you dare leave out a single, solitary, juicy detail."

So I told her. I laid it all out... the quiet betrayal, the crushing weight of walking through that front door, the confrontation, and the absolute numbness of packing my life into two suitcases while the world I thought I knew crumbled around my feet. Lexy sat motionless, her expression shifting rapidly from blinding fury to raw horror, and finally settling into a cold, fiercely protective pride as I finished speaking.

When the last word hung in the air between us, the office fell dead silent. Lexy didn’t hesitate for a single second. She leaned forward, her sharp eyes pinning me to my seat.

"What about Jaxx?"

Her question hung in the quiet room like a live wire, crackling with raw tension, with messy history, with every single chaotic thing I’d spent years trying to bury under work and denial. I froze, my breath catching in my throat. My fingers tightened around the heavy wooden edge of my desk, my mind racing as the heat rushed straight to my face.

Clara, ever perceptive, must have picked up on the sudden, electric shift in the atmosphere. She stood up smoothly from her workstation outside, holding her tablet tucked securely under her arm. Her expression was a mask of pure executive professionalism, though a subtle flicker of deep curiosity danced in her eyes.

"I’ll be taking my leave now, ma’am," Clara said, her voice smooth, composed, and perfectly timed. "I have to oversee those document adjustments you pointed out, and I’ll brief building security personally on the restricted visitor updates."

I exhaled, a surge of relief washing over me as I nodded. "Thank you, Clara. Take as much time as you need."

"Understood, Ms. Elena," Clara replied, giving me a small, knowing, wonderfully supportive smile before stepping back into the outer hallway. The heavy oak doors clicked shut behind her with a quiet, final thud, locking the two of us in absolute privacy.

The moment Clara was gone, the remaining air in the room seemed to compress. The sheer weight of Lexy’s gaze pressed down on me hard. She was practically vibrating in her chair, posture forward, eyes wide and sharp like a predator that had just caught the scent of prey.

"How are things now between you and Jaxx?" she asked, her voice dropping low, her tone flatly refusing to allow a single inch of evasion. "And do not give me that corporate deflection look, Elena. I know you."

I bit my bottom lip hard, my mind instantly flashing back to that stormy night... showing up at his private residence, soaked from the rain, humiliated, desperate, completely broken from Graham’s betrayal. I remembered the intense, overwhelming look in Jaxx’s dark eyes when he opened that door. The heat radiating off his body.

The broad, commanding set of his shoulders. The way his hands had felt when they touched my skin - firm, possessive, electric - and the terrifying, intoxicating way he had made me forget everything in the world except the scorching heat burning between us. Even now, weeks later, the memory sent a shiver rippling down my spine, equal parts shame and longing, a confusing tangle I still hadn’t managed to untie.

"We had sex," I admitted, my voice dropping so low it was barely above a breath.

Lexy’s eyes widened so fast and so wide I thought they might actually pop right out of her head.

"WHAT?!" she shrieked, her voice bouncing off the high ceiling and glass walls with explosive force. "El! How on earth did that happen?!"

I winced, slapping both hands over my face and rubbing my temples in sheer embarrassment. "Lexy, keep your voice down! Please!"

"Keep my voice down?!" Lexy hissed, leaning so far over my desk her necklace nearly dipped into her coffee. "You just dropped a nuclear bomb on my head! Explain! Right now!"

I swallowed hard, pulling my hands away from my flushed face, the raw truth spilling out before I could stop it. "After I left the party humiliated... after everything blew up with Graham... I went straight to him. I was out of my mind, Lex. I went straight to his place... and I begged him to fuck me."

Lexy’s jaw dropped so low it looked like it had unhinged completely. She sat frozen, paralyzed in total, breathless shock. "You... you what?!"

I nodded slowly, my cheeks burning with a heat so intense it felt like a fever. "I did. I asked him. And he did. And he did it... so good, Lex. So shockingly, terrifyingly good."

Lexy stared at me for three long, agonizing seconds, as though I had just announced I’d sprouted a second head right in front of her eyes.

"Elena. Elena, look at me," she whispered, leaning back slowly, dragging both hands down her face in sheer disbelief. "You hate him. You’ve spent years telling me how much you hate him!"

"I do hate him," I said, my voice tight, defensive, and desperate to anchor myself to something familiar. "I hate how arrogant he is. I hate how easily he gets under my skin. But it’s like my body tells a completely different story the second I’m anywhere near him."

Lexy groaned out loud, throwing her head back against the leather cushion. "Oh my God. Oh my absolute God. This is so insanely complicated."

I let out a ragged sigh, my fingers twisting tightly together in my lap as the sheer weight of the mess settled back onto my shoulders. A dull ache pulsed behind my ribs, the exhaustion of carrying two unraveling men inside one battered heart. "I know, Lex. I know it is."

Lexy stopped squirming, her posture straightening as she looked at me, her sharp features softening with deep, genuine understanding. "So what are you planning to do now, El? What’s the play here?"

I exhaled, my mind a chaotic whirlwind of confusion, pride, and terrifying desire. "I’m avoiding him. I’m burying myself in my work, keeping my head down, and staying away. I don’t want to have anything to do with him again. I’m scared of repeating the exact same mistake and handing someone else the power to destroy me."

Lexy’s expression softened even further, her dark eyes filled with a quiet, compassionate clarity. "I get it, El. I really, truly do. After what Graham pulled, you’re in defense mode. But, El..." She hesitated for a second, her gaze locking onto mine with surgical precision. "From what you’re saying... from the look on your face right now... it sounds like you want him."

I went completely quiet. The silence stretching between us was deafening.

Do I?

The question echoed in the quiet corners of my mind, loud, relentless, and suffocating. I didn’t know. I honestly didn’t know. All I knew was the overwhelming way my body reacted to his touch, the frantic rhythm my heart pounded whenever he was near, and the terrifying realization of how much I hated how badly I still wanted him.

"I don’t know, Lex," I admitted, my voice raw, stripped of all executive composure. "I don’t know."

She reached across the wide mahogany desk, her warm, manicured hand covering mine with a gentle, grounding squeeze. "It’s okay not to know right now, El. It really is. But you have to be careful. You can’t let yourself get hurt again."

I nodded, my throat tight, a hard knot forming in my chest. "I know."

I slowly pulled my hand back from hers, my fingers curling into a tight fist against the dark wood of my desk as my spine straightened, my executive armor snapping back into place stronger than ever before. Whatever softness Lexy’s comfort had stirred in me hardened instantly into resolve, a wall I built brick by brick with every ounce of will I had left, every brick laid atop the wreckage of a marriage I’d given everything to save.

"But all I know is... I wouldn’t allow myself to be hurt twice by the same man."