Chapter 280 - 0280: Just Enjoy The View

Chapter 280: Chapter 0280: Just Enjoy The View

Elena’s Point Of View

The music swelled and dipped, the final notes of the waltz vibrating through the soles of my shoes as Jaxx’s grandfather led me back toward where Jaxx stood. I hadn’t expected the dance to feel so intimate, so weighted with meaning I couldn’t fully grasp.

The old man moved with a frighteningly steady grace, his hand warm and dry against mine, each step measured and deliberate. There was nothing frail about him, despite the silver of his hair and the lines etched deep into his face. He carried himself like someone who had never once doubted his place in a room.

I felt like I was being escorted by history itself... by decades of power and legacy condensed into one elegant figure. Every guest we passed seemed to straighten slightly, their eyes tracking him with a mixture of reverence and caution that told me everything I needed to know about who he was.

Jaxx was watching us with an expression I couldn’t quite name... intense, proprietary, and maybe a little surprised. His eyes never left me, tracking every movement, every breath. The weight of his gaze made my skin tingle, as though his attention alone could anchor me to the floor despite the vertigo spinning through my head.

"Let me return you to him before he decides to start a war with his own grandfather," the old man said, his voice a low rumble that held equal parts amusement and affection. I couldn’t help it; I laughed. It was a nervous, airy sound, but it felt good, like releasing pressure from a valve I didn’t know was building. For a brief moment, the tension in my shoulders eased.

He stopped in front of Jaxx and gently placed my hand into his grandson’s waiting palm. The transfer felt ceremonial, significant in a way that made my pulse quicken, as though I’d just been handed from one Chapter of my life into another without any say in the matter. "You can call me Grandpa, Elena," he said, his eyes crinkling at the corners with genuine warmth. "That’s if you’d like."

My heart did a violent double-thud. I felt like someone had just tipped the world on its axis, leaving me scrambling for balance. I blinked, my eyes widening to the size of saucers, and I immediately looked at Jaxx, searching his face for some kind of explanation, some anchor in the sudden chaos of the moment.

I was practically screaming for approval with my eyes, desperate for some sign that I understood correctly. Is he serious? Is this a test? Is this how people get initiated into their family? My mind raced through a thousand possibilities, none of them making sense, each one more absurd than the last.

Jaxx didn’t hesitate. He pulled me flush against his side, his arm a heavy, solid weight around my waist, grounding me when I felt like I might float away from sheer panic. He gave me a sharp, encouraging nod, his expression leaving no room for doubt, as though whatever was happening was both expected and welcome.

I swallowed the lump in my throat, my mouth suddenly dry, and turned back to the old man. "Thank you... Grandpa." The word felt foreign on my tongue, too intimate, too real. But also strangely right, like trying on a piece of clothing that fit better than it should have.

The man’s eyes welled with a sudden, sharp light, a warmth that felt too big for the room, too vast to be contained by the ornate walls and glittering chandeliers. He looked at me as if I were a piece of gold he’d just discovered in a coal mine... precious, unexpected, worth protecting. For a moment, I almost forgot to be afraid.

"Welcome to the family, child," he said, patting my shoulder with a hand that felt like an anchor, steady and reassuring. "I have to attend to some guests now, but let’s talk later. Properly."

I nodded, my voice stuck somewhere between my chest and my throat, and watched him walk away. His departure left a strange vacuum in the air, as if the room itself had been holding its breath, and only now dared to exhale.

The moment he was out of earshot, I whipped my head around to Jaxx, my chest heaving with the effort of containing everything I was feeling. A hundred questions clawed at the back of my throat, each one fighting to be first.

"Jaxx! What on earth was that?!" I hissed, my hands tangling in the silk of his suit, gripping the fabric like it was the only solid thing in a spinning world. "He just... he just told me to call him Grandpa! Why would he say that? What does it mean?"

Jaxx smirked, that lazy, devastating curve of his lips that always made me want to hit him and kiss him in equal measure. The expression held a dangerous confidence that set my pulse racing, as though my panic amused him more than it concerned him. "He just openly declared that you are his granddaughter-in-law, Elena. In front of the entire underworld. It’s basically a royal decree."

I gasped, my knees threatening to buckle beneath me. The room seemed to tilt slightly, the chandeliers blurring into streaks of gold above me. "What underworld? No, he didn’t! He couldn’t have!" My voice rose with each word, panic threading through it, loud enough that a passing couple glanced our way. "And what ’in-law’? Jaxx, we aren’t... we haven’t even - "

He didn’t let me finish. Leaning down, he pressed a quick, firm kiss to the tip of my nose, the gesture both tender and dismissive, as if he could silence my spiraling thoughts with affection alone. "Don’t bother yourself with such things right now, princess. Just enjoy the view."

He straightened, his gaze shifting toward a cluster of men in dark suits stationed by the garden entrance. Their presence seemed to demand his attention, and something in his posture changed instantly, the playfulness draining out of him like water through a cracked glass. "I’ll be back. I need to settle a small matter. Stay here, don’t move."

I nodded, feeling rather like a lost child abandoned in a foreign country. I watched him cut a path through the crowd, his silhouette moving with predatory grace, parting the sea of guests like a knife through paper. Then, I stood alone, the warmth of his hand still lingering on my waist long after he’d gone.

The atmosphere shifted almost instantly. Without Jaxx acting as my shield, the cold stares returned with renewed vengeance. I felt the weight of jealousy and sharp, pointed curiosity from the women in their designer gowns. They studied me as if I were an intruder in their sacred temple, an imposter wearing borrowed finery. The air grew suffocating, pressing against my chest, and I fought the urge to fold my arms protectively over myself.

Several men, bolder than they were smart, actually attempted to approach me. One guy, who clearly spent more on his hair than I did on my rent, hovered nearby with a smirk dripping with misplaced confidence. He smelled faintly of expensive cologne and arrogance, a combination I found instantly repellent.

"A dance, perhaps?" he asked, his eyes roaming greedily over the diamonds adorning my neck.

"I’m here with someone," I replied, my voice cold and clipped.

He didn’t take the hint. "He’s not here now, is he?" The suggestion in his tone made my skin crawl.

"He’s still the person I’m with," I snapped, turning my back on him with deliberate finality, hoping the dismissal would be enough to send him slinking back to wherever he’d come from.

An hour crawled by. Then another twenty minutes. My feet began to throb in the heels, each step sending sharp protests up my calves. The mingled scent of a thousand different perfumes made my head swim, creating a cloying fog I couldn’t escape. Jaxx still hadn’t returned. Every time the door opened, hope fluttered in my chest, only to die when yet another suit or silk gown entered instead, each disappointment sharper than the last.

I couldn’t endure it anymore. Taking a deep breath, I clutched my purse and quietly slipped past a group of gossiping socialites, their whispers following me like shadows. I pushed through the garden doors and didn’t stop until the cool night air hit my face.

The relief was immediate... fresh, quiet, and blessedly devoid of the ballroom’s heavy tension. I inhaled deeply, letting the crisp air cleanse my lungs, grateful for the darkness that hid me from prying eyes.

Turning the corner, I followed the path I remembered from earlier, the one leading back to the main house. I needed a moment alone. I needed to breathe, to think. My mind raced, replaying Jaxx’s words on an endless loop. Granddaughter-in-law. Stuck with me. Mine. Each word carried implications I wasn’t ready to face, and yet I couldn’t stop turning them over, examining them from every angle like shards of glass.

"This is going too fast," I muttered to myself, my heels clicking rhythmically against the stone path. "This is way too fast for my comfort. What does he even mean by all this? Does he think he can just buy a dress and manufacture a family, and I’ll simply... fall in line?" The questions tumbled out, unanswered and unsettling, swallowed by the quiet hum of the night.

I shook my head, attempting to clear the tangled thoughts. Finally reaching the house, I let myself in through one of the side doors. The foyer stretched before me, empty and silent, shadows pooling in the corners. I climbed the grand staircase, my hand trailing along the cool marble railing, following the route Jaxx had shown me earlier, grateful for the solitude after the suffocating crowd downstairs.

I walked straight toward his room. Perhaps he’d returned here. Perhaps he’d gotten held up and decided to change again. I pushed open the double doors and stepped into the massive, dark-toned suite. The masculine space smelled faintly of his cologne... cedar and something darker, more dangerous, a scent that had somehow already become familiar to me.

The room lay silent, but a sound drifted from the bathroom... the steady, rhythmic hiss of a shower running. I released a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding. He was here after all, and relief washed through me so suddenly it startled me.

I crossed to the oversized velvet couch and dropped my purse onto it, the weight of the evening finally settling into my bones like lead. Kicking off my heels, I savored the feeling of the plush rug beneath my aching feet. The relief was exquisite, and for a moment, I simply stood there, letting the quiet of the room absorb the last of my frazzled nerves.

A few minutes later, the water stopped.

I stood, preparing to give him a piece of my mind for abandoning me for over an hour. I’d already rehearsed the opening line in my head, something sharp and biting enough to match the frustration simmering beneath my skin. The bathroom door swung open, and steam billowed out like a cloud, obscuring everything for a heartbeat.

Then Jaxx stepped out.

He wasn’t wearing a robe. He wasn’t wearing a towel. He was completely, utterly, undeniably naked.

The bedroom lamps cast golden light across every sharp angle of his body... the broad expanse of his shoulders, the wet, dark hair clinging to his neck, the way water droplets still trailed down the defined ridges of his abs.

He was a masterpiece of muscle and tan skin, and he stood there as casually as if he were fully clothed. Completely unbothered. Completely at ease in his own skin, as though baring himself to me was the most natural thing in the world.

My brain literally slammed into a wall. I felt the air leave my lungs in a sharp, jagged rush that burned. My face didn’t just turn red; it felt like it might spontaneously combust, flames licking up from my collar to my hairline. Heat flooded every inch of my skin, and my pulse roared so loudly in my ears I almost missed the sound of my own voice.

I gasped, my hands flying up to cover my eyes, though I’d definitely caught a glimpse of far more than I was prepared for. The image seared itself into my brain with mortifying clarity, refusing to fade no matter how hard I blinked against my palms.

"What the fuck?!!!"