Chapter 271 - 0271: More Than Anything Money Can Buy

Chapter 271: Chapter 0271: More Than Anything Money Can Buy

Elena’s Point Of View

The air in the dressing room hummed with an electric charge. I stood frozen, staring at the stranger reflected in the mirror... a woman I barely recognized. She had my face, my body, but something about the way the light caught the diamonds on her skirt made her look like she belonged to another life entirely, one I wasn’t sure I was ready to claim. My fingers trembled against the silk when a shrill phone ring shattered the silence.

Lexi’s phone. She lunged for it, snatching the device off the table with the reflexes of someone who’d been waiting for exactly this call. Her eyes flicked to me for a heartbeat before she pressed it to her ear. "Yeah? He’s here?" The words tumbled out in that hushed, conspiratorial tone she reserved for her schemes... the same tone she’d used in college right before dragging me into some disaster I’d regret for weeks. A few more whispered exchanges followed..."Just give us a minute, keep him busy" ...before she snapped the phone shut with a decisive click.

She turned to face me, and a slow, dangerous grin spread across her features like wildfire. "There’s someone waiting for you, Lena."

My stomach executed a slow, sickening somersault. A wave of panic crashed over me, cold and sudden, leaving goosebumps in its wake. "Who? Lexi, if this is some kind of setup..."

"Oh, just shut up and walk," she cut me off, punctuating her words with a wink as she grabbed her purse. "Let’s go. Time for the big reveal."

Each step felt precarious, as if I were walking on stilts. These heels were gorgeous, certainly, but they transformed every movement into a gamble with gravity, and my pride refused to let me stumble in front of Lexi, who would never let me live it down. I concentrated on placing one foot in front of the other, my ankles wobbling slightly, my pulse thudding somewhere in my throat.

As we moved through the boutique’s hallway, the seamstresses’ chatter died down like someone had turned down the volume on the world. I felt their eyes on me... a heavy, silent weight that pressed against my skin, and I fought the urge to cross my arms over my chest and hide.

Lexi pushed open the double doors leading to the private waiting area, and my breath caught in my throat.

Jaxx.

He leaned against the far wall, looking as if he’d stepped straight from the pages of a high-fashion editorial - dark, composed, utterly unbothered by the world around him. One hand cradled a glass of water, condensation trickling onto his olive skin, while the other scrolled absently through his phone. He appeared bored. Lethal, but bored. The combination was uniquely him, a contradiction that somehow made perfect sense once you knew the man beneath it.

Then it happened.

The shift was palpable, like a physical pull, a magnet snapping into place with an audible click that only I could hear. His head jerked up, and his gaze cut through the room like a blade until it landed squarely on me. The world seemed to tilt on its axis.

Smash.

The glass didn’t just slip from his fingers; it plummeted. It struck the hardwood floor and exploded into a thousand glittering shards, water pooling around his expensive Italian shoes. He didn’t blink. He didn’t glance down. He didn’t care. His phone vanished into his pocket in one fluid motion as he pushed off the wall, his entire body suddenly coiled with purpose.

The way he walked toward me... it wasn’t the casual approach of a man coming to say hello. It was the purposeful stride of a predator who had finally found exactly what he’d been hunting for. Every step he took made the room feel smaller, the air thinner, until it seemed as though the two of us existed in some separate pocket of reality where nothing else mattered. My heart hammered against my ribs so hard I was certain everyone could hear it.

"God of Heaven," he muttered, the words emerging like a prayer or a curse, I couldn’t tell which. Perhaps both.

He stopped mere inches away from me. I could feel the heat radiating off him in waves, the scent of woodsmoke and something purely, intoxicatingly him wrapping around me like a second skin. His eyes... dark, hungry, and filled with a pride so thick I could almost taste it on my tongue, started at the crown of my head and dragged, inch by agonizing inch, down to my toes.

He took in everything: the diamonds catching the light, the sheer panels of the dress that made me feel both exposed and powerful, the way the fabric hugged my curves like it had been designed specifically for my body. Which, I realized with a jolt, it had been. A strange thrill ran through me at the thought... that every stitch, every gem, had been chosen with my body, my skin, my shape in mind, long before I’d ever walked into this room.

"Jaxx, the glass..." I started, my voice emerging breathy and pathetic even to my own ears.

"Forget the glass," he growled, the command brooking no argument. He reached out, his hand large and warm as it enveloped mine. He didn’t just hold it; he claimed it, his fingers intertwining with mine in a gesture that felt both possessive and protective, as though he were anchoring me to him against some invisible current.

With a sharp tug, he twirled me around, making the twenty-million-dollar fabric flare out around my legs like a dark, shimmering cloud. When I spun back into him, slightly dizzy from the movement, his hand slid to the small of my back, pulling me flush against his hard frame. The contact sent electricity sparking through every nerve ending, and for a moment I forgot entirely about the audience, about the shattered glass, about anything that wasn’t the warmth of him pressed against me.

He leaned down, his lips brushing against the shell of my ear, sending a violent shiver cascading straight down my spine. "Do you have any idea how beautiful you look, mama mia?" he hissed, his breath hot against my sensitive skin. Each word felt like a caress, deliberate and slow, as though he wanted me to feel the weight of it settle into my bones.

I was speechless. My mouth felt stuffed with cotton, my tongue thick and useless. "I... Lexi said you picked this. You spent..."

"I spent exactly what you’re worth," he interrupted, his gaze locking onto mine with an intensity that made my knees weak. His eyes held mine captive, refusing to let me look away. "Which is everything. And I’ll gladly spend more."

Before I could process that declaration, before I could even draw a full breath into my constricted lungs, his hand moved to the back of my neck. His fingers tangled in my perfectly styled hair, probably destroying hours of work, but I found I didn’t care. He pulled me toward him and crashed his lips onto mine. It wasn’t a "hello" kiss. It wasn’t gentle or questioning. It was a "you are mine" kiss... deep, possessive, claiming. It tasted like adrenaline and promise and danger all rolled into one intoxicating blend.

For a second, or maybe an eternity, I lost myself completely. I reached up, my fingers digging into his shoulders, seeking purchase, seeking more. My body melted into that familiar, dangerous heat like wax near a flame. The world narrowed to just this: his mouth on mine, his hands on my body, the thundering of two hearts beating in sync.

A soft, knowing giggle from one of the staff members shattered the moment like glass, snapping me back to reality with the force of a bucket of cold water. I gasped and wrenched my face away, my chest heaving as I struggled to catch my breath. Heat flooded my cheeks, spreading down my neck until I was certain I resembled a ripe tomato. "Hey! People are here... they’re watching, Jaxx!" The words came out breathless, almost pleading. I looked around frantically, my mortification growing with each familiar face I spotted.

Lexi stood by her desk wearing the smuggest expression I’d ever seen, one perfectly manicured hand covering her mouth as if that could hide her amusement; her eyes practically danced with delight at my humiliation. Two of the tailors had abandoned all pretense of working and were blatantly staring, their eyes wide as saucers, mouths slightly agape. One of them clutched a pincushion like it might offer protection from the scene unfolding before them.

My face felt like it was on fire. I placed my hands flat against Jaxx’s chest, feeling the steady, heavy thud of his heart through the expensive fabric of his shirt. The rhythm was slower than mine, more controlled, infuriatingly calm, as though kissing me senseless in front of an audience were simply another Tuesday for him. I tried to push him away, but it was like trying to move a mountain... immovable, unyielding, completely unbothered by my efforts.

"Stop it," I whispered, though my heart wasn’t really in the protest. My voice wavered, betraying me. "People are literally right there. They can see everything."

Jaxx didn’t move an inch. He didn’t look at them. He didn’t acknowledge their existence at all. He didn’t give a damn. A slow, wicked smirk spread across his face, the kind that promised trouble and delivered it in spades, the kind that made my stomach flip despite my embarrassment. "Who cares?" he asked, his voice vibrating through my palms, rumbling in his chest like distant thunder.

"Well, I do," I huffed, trying desperately to regain some shred of dignity, though I suspected it was already scattered across the boutique floor along with the broken glass. "This is a professional establishment. You can’t just... maul me in the lobby like some kind of caveman."

He leaned in even closer, eliminating what little space remained between us. His forehead dropped to rest against mine, and I could feel his breath on my lips, warm and intoxicating. He smelled so good it was irritating... that mixture of expensive cologne, leather, and something uniquely him that made rational thought nearly impossible. His hands tightened on my waist, the diamonds on the dress digging slightly into his palms, but he didn’t seem to notice the pain or care about it.

"Princess," he murmured, his voice dropping into that low, gravelly register that always made my knees go weak and my resolve crumble. "The only saving grace you have right now is that we’re in public. You think I’m being bold? You have no idea what restraint I’m exercising."

I swallowed hard, my throat suddenly dry, my eyes wide as I looked up at him. The intensity in his gaze made my pulse race, and some traitorous part of me wondered what exactly he meant by restraint. "Jaxx..."

"Listen to me," he said, and the playfulness vanished like smoke, replaced by an intensity so sharp it felt like it could cut through steel. His eyes darkened, pupils dilating until only a thin ring of color remained. "If you don’t be a good girl, I’ll carry you out of here right now. Over my shoulder if I have to. I’ll take you somewhere private... somewhere with a lock on the door and no witnesses, and I will rip this gorgeous dress off your body. I don’t give a damn about its price tag or how many hours someone spent sewing these diamonds on. I’ll tear it to shreds just to get to the skin underneath."

My breath hitched, caught somewhere between my lungs and my throat. The air in the room felt thick enough to drown in, heavy with tension and unspoken promises. He wasn’t joking. I could see the promise of it in the dark swirl of his pupils, in the set of his jaw, in the way his fingers flexed against my waist. This wasn’t a game to him, and something in me thrilled at that knowledge even as it terrified me.

"You wouldn’t," I whispered, though I knew better. I’d seen him do crazier things. "Twenty million, Jaxx. You’d really ruin it? Just like that?"

He didn’t even hesitate. Didn’t pause to consider. He leaned down, his lips a fraction of an inch from mine, so close I could almost taste him again. His voice emerged as a ghost of a threat that made my entire body hum with anticipation and apprehension in equal measure. "In a heartbeat. Without a second thought. Because when I get you alone, what I’ll be taking from you will be worth far more than any dress, Bambina. More than twenty million. More than anything money can buy."