Chapter 63 - 0063: Let Me Remind You Who You Belong To

Chapter 63: Chapter 0063: Let Me Remind You Who You Belong To

Elena’s Point Of View

Lexy held my hand tightly as we stepped out of the warm, amber-lit café, the brisk evening air cutting through the linen of my blouse. The street was quiet, save for the distant hum of traffic along the boulevard, but the storm brewing behind my ribs felt loud enough to shatter glass.

I focused on the rhythm of our footsteps against the pavement, anything to keep the tears threatening at the corners of my eyes from spilling over.

"You sure you’ll be okay, Elena?" Lexy asked, stopping by the door of her sedan. Her eyes, sharp and endlessly perceptive, searched my face, seeing right through the carefully crafted composure I’d spent the last five years perfecting.

"You look like you haven’t slept in a month, and that house... God, Elena, I hate thinking about you going back to that gilded cage with his mother and that... that woman walking around like she owns the place."

The words landed like small, precise blows, each one true enough to sting. I managed a soft, bitter laugh, squeezing her fingers before pulling my hand back to wrap my arms around myself, as if I could hold my own ribs together by sheer force of will. "I’ll survive, Lexy. I always do. It’s just noise."

"It’s not just noise, and don’t you dare downplay it!" Lexy narrowed her eyes, her tone shifting into that fierce, protective edge that had kept me tethered to reality for years. She stepped closer, her voice dropping but losing none of its intensity.

"Listen to me. Anytime you need someone to punch sense into that arrogant, ungrateful husband of yours... just one call, babe. I’m serious. I’ve got a right hook that’ll send Graham Sinclair into next Tuesday, corporate board and all."

A genuine laugh escaped me this time, cracking through the heavy armor over my chest, and for a moment the weight on my shoulders felt almost bearable. I pulled her into a tight, desperate hug, breathing in her familiar perfume... something floral and warm, a scent that had anchored me through worse nights than this one. "You’re completely insane."

"Damn right I am," she murmured into my shoulder, holding me just a second longer than usual before stepping back. She unlocked her car door, looking at me over the roof, her expression softening into something almost maternal despite the mischief still lingering in her eyes. "Text me the second you get inside. And Elena? Don’t let him make you feel small. Don’t let any of them take your fire."

"I won’t. I promise." The words felt thin even as I said them, a promise I wasn’t sure I had the strength to keep.

I watched her red tail lights disappear around the corner before I turned toward my own car, sliding into the leather driver’s seat and pulling the door shut. The silence inside the vehicle was deafening, pressing against my eardrums until I could hear my own pulse. I rested my forehead against the steering wheel, closing my eyes as the sheer physical and emotional exhaustion washed over me in crushing waves.

My shoulders felt like lead. My mind was a tangled mess of Graham’s icy glares, his mother’s spiteful insults, and the unbearable, suffocating reality of another woman carrying his child under my roof. I sat there for a long moment, unmoving, letting the cold vinyl of the wheel ground me before I finally found the strength to lift my head and turn the key in the ignition.

All I wanted was a scalding hot shower, absolute darkness, and a room where nobody could ask anything of me ever again.

When I finally reached the estate and pulled up the long, winding driveway, the grand stone mansion looked towering, dark, and hollow against the night sky, its windows unlit like closed eyes. I pushed open the heavy front doors, stepping into the foyer.

The absolute silence was unnatural... no staff rustling in the kitchens, no ambient classical music, no echo of voices from the living quarters. Even the air felt different, heavier somehow, as though the house itself was holding its breath.

"That’s strange..." I muttered under my breath, my voice swallowed whole by the high, vaulted ceilings. The dim accent lights cast long, distorted shadows along the polished marble walls, making the vast home feel less like a palace and more like an empty mausoleum. A faint chill crept up my arms, though I told myself it was only the temperature and not some deeper unease.

I didn’t care to investigate. Exhaustion had hollowed me out too thoroughly to summon any curiosity about the missing staff or the unnatural quiet. I trudged up the grand staircase, each step heavier than the last, my feet dragging against the carpet.

I completely bypassed the master suite... the room that smelled of his cologne and broken promises, and walked straight down the west corridor to the small guest room I had retreated to in recent weeks, the one space in this enormous house that still felt like mine.

It was pitch black inside, the thick velvet drapes drawn tight against the moonlight. Exactly what I needed. I didn’t even bother turning on the bedside lamp. The darkness felt like a shield, a quiet sanctuary where I could finally stop pretending, where no one could see the cracks running through me.

Reaching behind my back, I unzipped my dress, letting the heavy silk pool around my ankles. The cool room air immediately kissed my bare skin, sending a wave of goosebumps dancing along my spine. I reached around to unclasp my bra, letting out a long, shuddering sigh as I peeled it away, relishing the fleeting feeling of physical freedom.

I kicked off my heels, standing in nothing but a lace thong, my head spinning with fatigue, my heart raw and bleeding, aching for the kind of rest that sleep alone couldn’t provide.

I turned toward the bed, intending to fall into the sheets, when a sudden shadow moved in the dark.

Before I could even gasp, two massive, rock-hard arms wrapped around my waist from behind, yanking my back flush against a broad, burning chest with absolute, overwhelming authority.

My heart leaped into my throat, a choked gasp escaping my lips as panic surged through my veins. I stiffened, my hands instantly going to the heavy forearms locked around my stomach, ready to fight, but then I completely froze.

That scent.

Warm amber, cedarwood, expensive dark tobacco, and pure, intoxicating heat. An unmistakable, agonizingly familiar scent that had been woven into the fabric of my life for five years, one I could have picked out blindfolded in a crowded room.

"Graham?" I whispered, my voice trembling in the dark.

My body, traitorous and starved, betrayed my mind in a single heartbeat. The resistance melted out of my spine. My back caved against his chest, my breath hitching as my ribs expanded and fell rapidly. His heat was suffocating, a drug I had been violently deprived of, wrapping around me until my knees felt weak.

"What are you doing in here?" I breathed, trying desperately to inject strength into my tone, but it came out as a fragile, breathless whimper instead. "Where is everyone?"

"I dismissed the staff for the night," he murmured, his deep, gravelly voice vibrating against my shoulder blades, sending a shiver straight down to my thighs. His warm, heavy breath fanned across the sensitive curve of my ear, making me shiver violently. "Shush, Elena... Don’t talk. Don’t fight me right now. Just feel."

A deep, electric tremor ran from the crown of my head to my toes. His broad palms began to move, sliding up from my waist, over my ribs, his thumbs tracing the underside of my bare breasts with a slow, possessive, agonizing drag.

It was slow and deliberate, as if he possessed all the time in the world and knew every inch of the terrain he was claiming, as though five years of marriage had mapped my body into something only he could navigate.

My head fell back against his shoulder, my lips parting on a silent gasp. I hated myself for it. I should have shoved him away. I should have screamed at him for bringing Lillian into our home, for letting his mother tear me apart at breakfast, for ripping my life to pieces.

But my body was starved, aching, and completely powerless against the memory of his touch, betraying every ounce of resolve I had built over the past weeks.

"I’ve missed you," Graham whispered into my skin, his lips pressing a hot, lingering kiss to the arch of my neck, his stubble scraping deliciously against my flesh. "God, Elena... I’ve missed you so much it’s been driving me out of my mind. Tell me you missed me too. Tell me."

I couldn’t answer. My throat felt clamped shut, tight with a mixture of grief and rising desire, the two emotions tangled so completely I couldn’t tell where one ended and the other began. All that escaped me was a broken, pitiful exhale as I pressed myself closer into his heat, my hips subtly shifting back against his thighs.

He took the movement as permission. A low, guttural groan rumbled deep in his chest. His right hand trailed down from my ribcage, over the flat plane of my stomach, his broad fingers sliding beneath the delicate band of my thong. He cupped me through the thin lace, his heavy palm pressing firm, relentless heat against my core.

I gasped, my hands gripping his forearms for support as he slid two fingers inside the silk, parting me, tracing through the slick, hot wetness that had already gathered there.

"You’re so wet for me," he growled against my ear, his tone dark, arrogant, and thick with satisfaction. "Even when you hate me... your body still knows who you belong to, doesn’t it?"

"Graham... please..." I whined, my knees buckling as his fingers began to stroke me with practiced, lethal precision.

"Please what, Elena?" he demanded softly, his thumb finding my clit and circling it with an agonizingly light pressure that made my toes curl into the rug. "Tell me what you want. Tell me to stop, and I’ll walk out that door. Tell me you don’t want this."

I couldn’t say it. The lie stuck in my throat, refusing to form into words no matter how desperately some small, wounded part of me wanted to speak it. My hips rolled helplessly against his hand, chasing the friction, silently begging for more as a high, breathy whimper tore from my mouth.

Graham bit down gently on the slope of my neck in dark approval, his fingers moving faster, firmer, dragging wave after wave of intense, blinding pleasure straight out of my core.

Before I could unravel completely, he pulled his hand back, spinning me around in the darkness so quickly my head swam. His large hands cupped the back of my head, tilting my face up, and his mouth crashed down onto mine.

It wasn’t a gentle kiss. It was possessive, hungry, and full of raw, unbridled desperation. His tongue demanded entry, sliding deep into my mouth, tasting me with a fierce, punishing passion that erased every logical thought in my brain.

I melted instantly, my arms wrapping tightly around his neck, my fingers tangling into the thick hair at the nape of his neck as I drank him in, drowning in his heat, his taste, his scent, letting the kiss silence the voice in my head that still screamed I deserved better than this.

He lifted me effortlessly, pressing my chest against his as he walked us backward through the pitch-black room. The back of my knees hit the high mattress, and I fell back onto the soft duvet with a soft gasp, my breath coming in ragged, shallow bursts.

Graham didn’t hesitate. He dropped down between my parted legs, kneeling on the floor at the edge of the bed. His dark eyes glinted in the dim moonlight filtering through the edge of the curtains, looking completely wild... his hair mussed, his jaw dark with stubble, his tie undone, every trace of the polished, controlled man he presented to the world stripped away.

He hooked his fingers into the sides of my thong, dragging the thin fabric down my legs and tossing it onto the floor.

"Graham..." I started, but the word turned into a loud, helpless shriek as his hands clamped onto my thighs, spreading them wide, and his hot mouth replaced his fingers.

His tongue swirled around my center with devastating accuracy... lapping, sucking, and circling with a fierce, rhythmic intensity that made my lower abdomen coil into tight, unbearable knots. My hands slammed into the bedsheets, gripping the fabric so hard my knuckles turned white, my back arching off the mattress as he devoured me like a man starved.

"Ah... God, Graham! Graham!" I cried out into the quiet shadows of the room, my hips rolling shamelessly against his face, chasing the exquisite, agonizing pleasure he was building inside me.

He groaned against my skin, the hot vibration sending shockwaves straight through my core, his hands digging possessively into the soft flesh of my hips, anchoring me to his mouth as he took me higher and higher, driving me to the absolute edge of sanity.

I was falling, drowning, ready to shatter into a million pieces beneath his lips - And then, out of nowhere, a face flashed in my mind.

Dark, piercing eyes. Heavy ink crawling up a muscular neck. A sharp, arrogant, dangerous smirk.

Jaxx.

The image hit my brain like a bolt of white-hot lightning, shattering the fantasy into a thousand jagged pieces. My eyes shot wide open in the dark, my breath catching violently in my chest.

No. No, no, no. Why the hell is he in my head right now?

My body went completely rigid. The sudden, violent shift in my energy didn’t escape Graham. He stopped immediately, his heavy breathing loud in the dark room as he slowly pulled his face back from between my thighs.

He looked up at me, his face shadowed, his dark eyes blown wide with unbridled lust, his lips glistening wet with my essence. He looked wild, untamed, completely consumed by me, and for a fleeting moment I almost forgot the name that had just torn through my mind like a blade.

"Elena..." he rasped, his voice deep, gravelly, and laced with an intense, desperate hunger.

"Graham..." I whispered back, my heart pounding a frantic, terrifying rhythm against my ribs, my mind spinning out of control, torn between two men who had no business occupying the same thought.

He pushed himself up onto his knees, crawling over the bed, looming over my body like an imposing shadow. He rested his weight on his forearms on either side of my head, his chest heaving, his dark eyes locking onto mine with an intensity that burned right through the darkness.

"I know what you need," Graham growled softly, his thumb reaching out to gently trace my swollen, bruised bottom lip, his voice dropping into a dark, possessive promise. "I know how much you’ve been hurting... and I know you want to punish me. But right now, let me fix this. Let me give you what you need. Let me remind you who you belong to."