Chapter 278 - 0278: I Like Her

Chapter 278: Chapter 0278: I Like Her

Jaxx’s Point of View

The old man didn’t say anything for a long, agonizing minute. I could see the questions swirling in the depths of his dark eyes... questions about why she seemed familiar, about how I’d found her, and probably about why I looked like I was ready to burn the whole ballroom down if anyone so much as breathed in her direction. His silence stretched on, heavy and deliberate, the kind that came from decades of sizing people up before they even opened their mouths.

But I didn’t give him an inch.

I just stood there with my hand anchored on her waist, feeling the small, rhythmic trembles of her body against mine, and I smiled. It wasn’t my business smile. It was the smile of a man who had finally found the piece of the puzzle he didn’t even know was missing. Elena’s fingers twitched against my arm, a silent plea for reassurance, and I pressed my palm a little firmer into her side, hoping she’d understand it as a promise: *I’ve got you.*

Pops nodded slowly, his gaze finally breaking away from mine to settle on Elena with a look that was surprisingly soft. "She’s very beautiful, Jaxx," he said, his voice carrying that gravelly weight of authority. "You sure have good eyes for good things... just like me."

I felt the tension in Elena’s shoulders give way just a fraction, but the moment the old man complimented her, my own pride flared up, hot and possessive. I let my smirk sharpen, the kind of expression that usually made my board members sweat.

"Even better, Pops," I countered, my voice smooth and unapologetic. "My eyes are much better than yours ever were."

The words had barely left my mouth when I felt a sharp, subtle jab to my ribs. Elena’s elbow connected with my side with a precision that told me she was losing her patience with my arrogance.

I didn’t flinch. If anything, I only tightened my grip, pulling her so flush against my hip that she had no choice but to stay anchored to me. I could feel the warmth radiating off her skin, the stiff set of her spine as she tried, and failed, to maintain some semblance of composure in front of the one man whose opinion actually mattered to me.

Pops let out a dry, raspy chuckle, the sound of ancient parchment rubbing together. He didn’t seem offended; he seemed amused. He stepped closer, his presence commanding the space between us, the kind of gravity that came from a lifetime of being obeyed without question. "I like her," he said, and for a second, the Don of the family disappeared, replaced by the man who had raised me... the one who used to sneak me sweets behind my mother’s back and teach me how to throw a punch before I was even ten years old.

"She’s brought positive changes in you, Jaxx. I can see it in the way you carry yourself. You’re not just a ghost haunting this estate anymore. I’m impressed. Truly."

He paused, his eyes narrowing as he looked me dead in the face, the humor vanishing, replaced by something far more solemn. "Don’t mess this up, son. Women like this don’t come around twice, and I’m too old to watch you ruin something this good out of pride."

I met his gaze head-on, my expression turning dead serious. "Not for a chance, Pops. I know exactly what I have."

He patted my shoulder... a heavy, symbolic gesture that carried more weight than words ever could between us, and then, with a polite nod toward Elena that was more respectful than anything I’d seen him give a business associate in a decade, he turned and began to navigate back toward the center of the gala, his cane tapping a steady rhythm against the marble floor.

The second he was out of earshot, the air between Elena and me changed. It went from a collective front of unity to a localized storm. She whipped her head around to look at me, her eyes flashing with a mix of indignation and sheer disbelief, her chest rising and falling with the force of her building frustration.

"What was that?" she hissed, her voice low enough to stay between us but sharp enough to cut through the silk of my suit. "How can you say things like that about me in front of your grandfather? ’Even better’? ’Mine’? Jaxx, we are not together! You’re acting like I’m some prize you won at an auction!"

I squinted my eyes at her, leaning down until our faces were inches apart, ignoring the way the nearby socialites were practically leaning over their champagne flutes to hear us. "Really?" I murmured, the word vibrating with a challenge. "Are we really playing this game again, Elena? Right here? In the middle of my grandfather’s eighty-fifth birthday?"

"It’s not a game!" she whispered-yelled, her face turning a delicious shade of pink that made me want to kiss her until she forgot her own name. "You’re making claims you haven’t earned. You just... you just assume!"

"Assume?" I let out a short, dark laugh, my hand sliding from her waist to the small of her back, pressing her closer, savoring the way her breath hitched despite her protests. "After everything we’ve done? After the car, after the boutique, after I’ve spent the last two weeks thinking about nothing but the way you taste? You still think we ain’t together, baby?"

I saw the flicker of a memory in her eyes... the heat of the car, the way she’d come apart in my arms, but she was stubborn. God, she was the most stubborn creature I had ever encountered, and somehow that only made me want her more. She rolled her eyes so hard I was certain she was trying to see the back of her own skull.

"You’re delusional," she huffed, crossing her arms over her chest, which was no easy feat in that dress. "I don’t know what you are talking about. This is a professional arrangement. I am your guest. That is it."

I smirked, leaning in until my lips were ghosting over the shell of her ear, my breath hitching as I caught the scent of her perfume mixed with the faint, sweet smell of her skin. "Really? You don’t? Then why is your heart trying to beat its way out of your chest right now, princess?" I asked, letting my voice drop even lower. "Why are you leaning into me instead of pulling away?"

She didn’t answer. Instead, she let out an exasperated noise and turned her head away from me, staring pointedly at a large floral arrangement across the room as if it held the secrets of the universe. I chuckled, the sound low and satisfied, watching the way her jaw tightened in quiet defiance.

I knew she was being difficult for the sake of it. I knew she was terrified of the way I made her feel, of the way I was systematically dismantling every brick in the wall she had built around herself to keep the world out. It wasn’t lost on me how much courage it must have taken her to stand here, in a room full of strangers who could smell weakness from a mile away, and still hold her ground against me.

She thought she was still behind those walls. She thought she was safe. But I was already halfway through the perimeter, and I had no intention of leaving. I watched the way the light from the chandeliers caught the diamonds on her neck, the stones I had picked because they looked like stars against her skin. She was acting like she didn’t belong here, like this world of power and excess was a foreign language she didn’t speak, yet she wore it better than anyone else in the room, whether she realized it or not.

But as I watched her stand tall, her chin lifted despite her nerves, I realized she was the only real thing in this entire house. She was the only thing that mattered. No matter how long it took, no matter how many times she tried to tell me we were nothing, I was going to prove her wrong. I would spend every waking moment making sure she felt the weight of my presence, the reality of my claim.

She could be as stubborn as she wanted, but she was already home. And through every argument, every stubborn roll of her eyes, and every time she tried to push me away, I would always let her know that she belonged rightfully by my side, even if it took the rest of my life to make her believe it.