Chapter 273
Elena’s Point Of View
I stared at him, my mouth hanging open just enough to betray my shock. I blinked once, then twice, the gears in my head grinding against each other as I struggled to process what he’d just said. Surely I’d misheard him. Surely this was some elaborate joke, a cruel test he’d cooked up to see how far he could push me before I snapped.
“What?!” The word finally burst from me, sharp and high-pitched, echoing in the plush, silent interior of the car. “It’s today? Like, today today p>
Jaxx leaned back further into the dark leather, looking like he owned not just the car but the very air I breathed. There was something infuriating about how comfortable he seemed, how utterly at ease while my entire world tilted sideways.
He nodded slowly, that heavy, deliberate tilt of his head that made me feel like I was the only person in the world worthy of his attention. His eyes never left mine, pinning me in place with their intensity, dark and fathomless, like he could see straight through the panic I was trying so hard to mask.
“Yes, Bambina,” he said, his voice smooth as aged whiskey. “Today p>
For a second, I simply stared at him as if he’d suddenly sprouted horns or begun speaking in tongues. The sheer audacity of this man. My chest tightened with a confusing mixture of anger and something else… something I refused to name, refused to acknowledge even in the privacy of my own thoughts.
I felt a surge of heat that had nothing to do with the temperature of the car and everything to do with the fact that he’d been playing me like a well-tuned violin for the last twenty-four hours. Maybe longer. Maybe from the very beginning. The realization stung more than I wanted to admit, a bitter little betrayal tucked beneath layers of silk and perfume.
“You prick!” The word exploded from me as I swung my hand and smacked him right in the center of his chest. It was like hitting a brick wall covered in silk… solid, unyielding, infuriating.
My palm stung from the impact, but I didn’t care.
“And you didn’t let me know? You let me walk into Lexi’s place this morning, completely oblivious, not knowing that you had planned this entire charade with her behind my back?” My voice rose with each word, thickening the way it always did when I was upset, when the careful polish I’d cultivated began to crack and the real, messier version of me pushed through. “You mentioned a birthday weeks ago, Jaxx, but you never said a word about the date. Not a single word! How could you keep this from me p>
Jaxx didn’t even flinch at the hit. If anything, his grin only widened, transforming into that lazy, devastating expression that made my pulse perform a frantic tap-dance against my ribs. He looked entirely too pleased with himself, like a cat who’d just cornered a particularly entertaining mouse and was savoring the chase more than the catch. He reached out and caught my wrist, his fingers warm and steady, pinning my hand against his heart.
I could feel it beating beneath my palm… slow, calm, utterly unaffected by my outburst. The steady rhythm mocked my own racing heartbeat, a quiet reminder of just how composed he was compared to the chaos he’d unleashed in me.
“You would have made a fuss, Bambina,” he said, his voice a low, amused rumble that vibrated through me, settling somewhere deep in my chest. “I know you. You would have spent three days arguing with me about why you couldn’t go, why you didn’t have the right shoes, or why the world would end if you stepped foot into my family’s circle.” He paused, his eyes glinting with mischief and something darker, something that made my breath catch in my throat. “I saved us both the headache. Consider it an act of mercy p>
“I would not!” I huffed, trying to yank my hand back, but he held on with effortless strength, his thumb beginning a slow, maddening circle over the sensitive skin of my inner wrist. The simple touch sent shivers racing up my arm, spreading warmth through my entire body despite my indignation, betraying me in ways my words never could. “And you don’t know me! You think you do, but you don’t p>
Even as the words left my mouth, I knew they were a lie. He did know me… knew me better than I was comfortable admitting, better than I knew myself sometimes. That was precisely the problem. He saw through every defense I’d carefully constructed, every wall I’d built to keep people at a safe distance, brick by painstaking brick, over years of disappointment.
“You can’t just… just orchestrate my life like this. I’m not some puppet you can manipulate for your amusement. And look at this dress, Jaxx! Look at it!” I gestured wildly with my free hand at the shimmering, impossibly expensive fabric draped over my legs, the crystals catching the light and throwing tiny rainbows across the car’s interior like scattered diamonds.
The weight of it, the luxury of it, felt like an anchor around my neck, a beautiful, suffocating reminder of the vast gulf between our worlds. “It’s too much. It’s way too much. How am I ever supposed to pay you back for something like this? Twenty million dollars doesn’t just grow on trees in the park, you idiot p>
My voice cracked slightly on the last word, betraying the genuine panic beneath my anger, the fear that had been gnawing at me since Lexi had revealed the price tag. The thought of being indebted to him, of owing him something I could never repay, made my stomach twist into knots.
I’d worked too hard, fought too long to maintain my independence, clawed my way out of situations that tried to define me by what I owed rather than who I was. I couldn’t let him buy me, no matter how beautiful the cage.
Before I could launch into a full-scale lecture on financial responsibility and the ethics of surprise gowns, Jaxx moved. It was fast… a blur of shadow and heat, and suddenly I was being pulled across the seat until I was flush against him. My breath hitched as his other arm snaked around my waist, hauling me close enough that I could feel the ridge of his thighs beneath the thin silk of my skirt.
The warmth of his body seeped through the fabric, making my skin prickle with awareness, every nerve ending suddenly, acutely alive. He leaned down, his face so close that our noses almost brushed, his dark eyes searching mine with an intensity that felt like a physical weight. I couldn’t look away, couldn’t breathe properly, couldn’t think of anything except the way he was looking at me, like I was something precious and dangerous all at once.
“Firstly,” he murmured, his breath ghosting over my lips, sending shivers down my spine, “nothing is too much for you. Not this dress, not these stones, not the car we’re sitting in. I would gladly give you the entire world and everything in it if I thought it would make you happy for even a single second.” His thumb traced a slow circle on my hip, the touch burning through the silk. “Don’t ever talk to me about ’too much’ again p>
My heart stuttered, then raced. I felt like I was drowning in the scent of him… something dark and expensive, mixed with the clean smell of his skin. My fingers itched to touch him, to verify that this was real and not some fever dream conjured by my desperate imagination.
“And secondly,” he continued, his voice dropping to a husky, dangerous whisper that sent a bolt of pure electricity straight to my stomach, “I didn’t do any of this so you could repay me. I don’t want your money, Elena.” The way he said my name, like a prayer and a curse wrapped together, made something deep inside me clench. “I did it because you’re mine. And I take very, very good care of what belongs to me. Most especially when she comes with such a sharp, beautiful tongue and these pouty lips that have been driving me crazy since the moment I saw them this morning p>
I gasped, my free hand flying up to his chest, my fingers splaying over the rapid, heavy thud of his heart. The solid warmth of him beneath my palm grounded me even as everything else spun out of control. Jesus, I thought, my mind reeling. This… all this is just too much for me. How am I supposed to process this? How am I supposed to stay rational when he’s looking at me like that?
As I looked into his eyes, a sudden, cold wave of memory washed over me, unbidden and unwanted. I thought about Graham. The name alone was enough to make my stomach turn, souring the warmth that Jaxx had just stirred in me. For five years, I had convinced myself that what I had with Graham was love. I’d believed his lies, his empty promises, his “I’m doing this for us” speeches while he was really just burying me deeper and deeper into the mess of his own making. I’d been so naive, so desperate to believe that someone could love me that I’d ignored every red flag, every warning sign my gut had screamed at me.
Everything Graham ever did for me… every dinner, every cheap bouquet, every half-hearted “gift”…always felt like a transaction. It felt like a favor he was recording in a ledger, something I owed him for, a debt I’d have to pay back with my silence or my submission. He’d made me feel small, like I was lucky to even be in his orbit, like I should be grateful for the scraps of affection he tossed my way when it suited him.
But this? This man? Jaxx didn’t make me feel small. He made me feel like a fire that he was trying to keep from going out, like something worth protecting and cherishing. Being with him felt like standing in the middle of a storm… terrifying, exhilarating, and completely out of my control.
The intensity of it scared me, but it also made me feel more alive than I had in years, as if I’d spent half a decade sleepwalking and had only now, in this ridiculous car with this impossible man, begun to wake up.
Am I dreaming? I wondered, my fingers twitching against the fabric of his shirt, feeling the hard muscle beneath. Is this real? Is it possible for a man to look at me like I’m the sun and the moon combined, like I’m the only thing in the world that matters? Graham had never, not once, made me feel like this.
He’d made me feel like an obligation, a burden he tolerated because it was convenient. Jaxx made me feel like an obsession, like something he couldn’t live without even if he tried. The difference was staggering. Terrifying. And utterly intoxicating.
I was so deep in the rabbit hole of my own thoughts, comparing the ghost of my past to the breathing, heat-radiating reality in front of me, that I almost didn’t hear him speak again. His words finally broke through the fog, sharp and teasing, pulling me back to the present.
“You’ve gone quiet on me, Elena,” he whispered, his lips grazing the corner of my mouth, the touch feather-light but searing. “That’s a dangerous sign. Usually means you’re either falling in love or planning my murder p>
The casual way he said “falling in love” made my pulse spike, a strange, giddy panic blooming in my chest. I blinked, forcing myself to focus on the present, on the way his hand was possessively gripping my hip through the dress, on the heat of his body pressed against mine.
“I’m… I’m just trying to figure out why you’re like this,” I managed to say, my voice sounding a lot more breathless than I wanted it to. I hated how vulnerable I sounded, how transparent my emotions must be written across my face.
“I told you,” he said, his smirk returning, wicked and full of fire, “I’m a man who likes his investments to look their best.” The teasing glint in his eyes softened slightly, revealing something deeper, something that looked almost like tenderness, a flicker of sincerity hiding beneath all that swagger. “But if you truly insist on repaying me for the trouble p>
He leaned in even closer, the tension between us tightening until it felt like a wire about to snap. I could see the tiny flecks of gold in his dark irises, feel the way his body was coiled like a spring against mine, all controlled power and restrained desire. The air between us crackled with electricity, charged and dangerous, thick enough that I imagined I could taste it.
“Why not repay me with a kiss p>