Elena POV Even though my last conversation with Grace had been awkward, she never missed a chance to pop into my office for lunch. It has become our little routine, which I surprisingly enjoy so much.Even some staff at the office had started warming up to me, especially the receptionist, Jane. She was a total vibe. Always with her sarcastic comments that always had me laughing. Lunch with those two made work feel a bit less stressful. Funny how the lonely, distant geek somehow ended up with two precious friends.Grace helped me with some issues when she had the time to. She'd swing by to load me with gossip of Alex and sing his praises like he was some kind of saint without flaws. I always put on an expression of amazement whenever she said something cool about him in order not to arouse any suspicions. From all she had been saying, I could tell of her hidden feelings towards Alex, and I wondered if only she knew what a change of character he was.“ Elena,” Grace said as we exite
Elena POV Just as I was about to swing into action, a familiar voice finally responded, stepping out of the shadows and into the light.“Elena, what do you think you're doing?” Nick flinched back in fear and I sighed heavily.“ Why are you sneaking around the kitchen by this time of the night?” I asked him, setting the rolling pin down.He turned back to the fridge and brought out a bottle of orange juice, holding it up as if it were a peace offering. " I should be asking you,” setting it on the kitchen counter.I folded my arms, leaning against the counter as I watched him pour the drink into a glass. “ I came to get something to eat.” I said, looking around until my eyes found a box of pizza. I was about to take it when he suddenly grabbed it from my reach, dodging it for himself. “ So do I”I rolled my eyes at him. Always been stingy from the start. “ C’mon, it's a whole box of pizza, you can't eat it all by yourself” Nick smirked holding the pizza box just out of my reach like
Elena POV The night was still quiet and I wasn't ready to face Alex. Nick and I left the kitchen onto the terrace just outside, facing the garden. We sat there for a long time in silence staring at the stars until he broke it.“ When someone dies they turn to stars up there” he said looking up. His all attention to the sky. “ Look at that one,”I followed his hands as he pointed at a certain star ‘it's called matariki. I'm sure Madre and Papa are there. Watching over us like they used to.” “ You think so ?” I asked, looking at him now.He averted his eye to meet my before his lips curled up to a reassuring smile “ I know so” “ Nick?” “ Yes” “ Can I ask you something? ” “ Of course” “ Does Alex perhaps have an ex wife?” Nick chuckled softly as if knowing I would ask that question. He leaned back on the rails , crossing his arms as his expression softened.“ No he doesn't, if he did I would know” he said with confidence.I looked down not wanting to say anything again. Even Ni
Elena POV The rest of the day passed in a blur with me trying to sort out some documents without thinking about what had happened earlier this morning.Grace and Jane came into my office as usual for our break. I think they understood, maybe that's why they didn't ask me about the incident earlier this morning.Nick dropped me home as usual and we chatted a little till I headed upstairs for a quick shower. I went down and found Nick and Alex seated on the dining table. The two of them, sitting on opposite sides of the table. As quiet as I thought I was, I turned not wanting them to notice me but I wasn't lucky.“ Elena” Nick called, which made me curse under my breath. “ Elena come join us for dinner” I sighed heavily, turning to him smiling “ Nick I'm busy” I mouthed at him but he smiled back at me as if he didn't understand what I was saying.“ It's just dinner, come on, Mrs Wayne cooked mashed potatoes” he persuaded loudly. I sighed walking into the dinning.I sat at the dining
Elena POV I stormed into the room, went straight to the cupboard, took out my box and started loading in things that were mine. Not that anything here truly belonged to me.I seem to have a reputation of getting things that didn't belong to me but I didn't care. I was going to leave this house tonight.I took my old clothes, that were stuff on one side of the cupboard, packed them all up, and went straight to the bathroom.I grabbed my tooth brush and the other stuff that might be of use to me and went out to the room. “He has always been a controlling narcissist that doesn't give a care in the world if I'm dead. How dare he give me orders. Who does he think he is?” I mumbled to myself as I continued stuffing things into my bag.Just as I was about closing my box the door opened and Alex walked in.“ What do you think you're doing?” he asked, moving forward to stop me. “ What does it look like I'm doing?” I jerked his hands off, wanting to walk to the door when he blocked me.“ You
Elena POV My breath hitched as I tried struggling, but he wouldn't let go. His eyes were darker than the first time, now ready to kill. It was true. How would I sue someone of his caliber when he could just get away with anything he wanted? “Alex, you're hurting me,” I said, my voice low and cracked. This was the fifth time I had been calling him but he wasn't listening. Tears slid from the corner of my eyes, rolling down my cheeks. Just when I feared he would disembowel my jaw, he let go. He looked at me for a minute then turned towards the door. “ No one is going anywhere.” Just when the door clicked shut behind him, I let out the breath I didn't know I was holding, my eyes widened as I looked at the door in shock. I collapsed on the floor, my body trembling and my knee weak. What in the world just happened? I touched my cheeks where he held, caressing it a little. Did Alex just try to kill me? My eyes remained wide open as I crouched, holding my knees together. Elena, wha
Elena POV It had been two weeks of being a captive of Alexander Donovan. Everything has been calm, or rather, unproductive.I tried speaking to Nick for him to help me escape but he wasn't willing to. I begged, cried but nothing was convincing him.“ Listen Nick, please you have to help me please” I begged, clinging to his left hand “ please” Tears streamed down my face as I believed I had found hope, but he just kept his head low.“ Elena, you don't understand, Alex is-” “ What is there to understand” I shouted, frustrated and angry “ I am your sister, Nick. You barely know Alex better than you know me. We have been together since we were young why won't you just help me.” He sighed looking at me now “ He's protecting you this way, you just have to calm down” “ Calm down? You want me to calm down when I was tricked and decieved and now captured against my own will and you're expecting me to calm down”He opened his mouth as if to say something but decided against it and just mo
Elena POV“That reason doesn't justify why you would put your wife on house arrest and deprive her of food and water.” She was raging. “ You were protecting her? From what? From yourself because clearly you are the only one endangering her.”She stood up with the help of her cane. At this moment I loved her. I loved the way she made Alex so silent that he just bowed his head low without uttering a word.“ Nana, you don't understand” Alex finally spoke. His voice was low.“Understand? You talk about understanding but all I see here is madness. What happened to having a conversation?" Exactly, she's was telling the truth.Alex never told me why he was chaining me in the name of protecting me. At least I have a right to know what he's trying to save me from.But no, he thought that it was best if he kept me like a slave doing his little charades when he needs me.“ Tell me, child, did he tell you anything about why he kept you?” she turned to me and I shook my head.I could feel Alex's g
Elena POV I sucked in a breath, stunned at her effortless defense. Catherine’s face reddened, her fingers curling into fists at her sides.For a moment, it looked like she might argue, but then Alex’s mother delivered the final blow.“Now, if you’ll excuse us, my daughter-in-law and I have lunch to attend.”Catherine’s mouth opened, then snapped shut. She couldn’t argue with that without making a bigger fool of herself.Fuming, she turned on her heel and stormed off, her heels clicking against the marble floor.Looking at her angry back disappearing I couldn't help but smirk. This was the first time in a while that someone had defended me or stood up for me like that.I couldn't help but not think about my mom, in a way she hesibitrd the same character or maybe it's because I just missed her this much.It's been a long time since I visited her grave. Maybe sometime I'll drop by to check how she is doing.Alex’s mother turned to me, her expression softer now. “Shall we?” she asked, a
Elena POV I knew she must have heard the fight or probably seen it on the news on how I disgraced her son.But how embarrassing it would be if she ever knew the reason behind the fuse was my misunderstanding of her.Oh God!She softly raised my head up to look at her. “He loved you, you know,” she continued, her voice taking on a wistful tone. “That’s why it hurt him so much.”A sharp pang shot through my chest, and I looked away, unable to hold her gaze any longer. “I didn’t mean to hurt him,” I whispered.She sighed, letting go of my hand. “I know, dear. Sometimes, life doesn’t give us choices.”There was something in her tone—something deeper, something unsaid. Like she wasn’t just talking about me and Alex but about herself too. I glanced at her, but she was already looking away, her fingers tracing the petals of a nearby rose.“I never wanted to leave Alex and Nick,” she said suddenly, and I froze. “They were my world. But I had no choice.”I looked at her then, truly looked at
Elena POV “ What?…wasn't that what you wanted?” he snapped. “ You didn't care about any of this and you wanted your freedom so bad that you went on to humiliate and insult my pride.”“ That's not true, Alex” my voice came out in a choking whisper. “You don't have to wait any longer. I'll sort everything out and once that happens you'll get the freedom you so crave for.” He paused before continuing almost immediately.“ Of course with your payment in full and profit included”His words hit me like a punch to the gut, and I felt tears prick at the corners of my eyes. “That’s not true,” I repeated, my voice breaking. I felt the urge arising to explain things to him. To tell him I really didn't mean for any of this to happen but it was obvious enough that I really had hurt him“I cared, Alex. I still care.”He laughed again, but there was no humor in it. “ Well then, you have a funny way of showing it.”I took a step closer, desperate to make him understand. “I was scared, okay? I didn’
Elena POV Nick “I thought you had left?” I whispered while walking to him.“ Left? Well I was supposed to buy them. His majesty had important documents to sort out and I had to help even though I'm not his assistant. He really needs one don't you think?” He smirked at me and I pulled him away from the door.“ Com’on I'm hungry, wanna eat?” Without allowing him to respond, I dragged him all the way down to the kitchen. Once I was in the kitchen I let out a breath that I was holding all the way through. Some part of me thanked God it wasn't Alex because what could I have done.How could I have reacted? What could I have said?I opened the refrigerator trying to get something to fix myself and Nick when he suddenly said, “ don't you think you should also fix some for Alex he seems to want it more than I do”I took a bottle of orange juice and a half eaten cake out of the fridge turning to him with a glare. “ When you're done making me seem like a bad person, make sure to cut me some
Elena POV “ She’s our mother,”he said quietly, his voice almost too soft to hear.Another bombshell. I froze.“What?”Nick’s jaw tightened, and for the first time, he looked genuinely uncomfortable. “The woman you saw with Alex. She’s not his wife. She’s our mother.”My brain couldn’t process the words. It felt like the floor had been ripped out from under me.“Wait… what?”Nick sighed, running a hand down his face. “I was going to tell you but I didn't think it was necessary at that point but now I feel like you should know since it's going to affect something dear to you.”I stared at him, my heart pounding in my chest. “You’re serious?”“Yeah,” he said. “Dead serious.”For a moment, I didn’t know what to say. My mind was racing, trying to piece everything together, but it wasn’t making sense.Alex had told me that she was dead so how was is it possible that she was alive and healthy? This all doesn't make sense.“After you disappeared, I had no choice but to go back to the Donovan
The moment those words left my mouth I knew I would regret it. He stood up staring at me, his expression unreadable. The room, which had already been deathly silent, now felt dangerously dead. I heard the sharp inhale of breath from someone—Jane, maybe. The sound of shifting bodies. But my attention was locked on Alex. He didn’t move. Didn’t react. Just stood there, staring at me, his expression unreadable. The tension was suffocating. I should have felt victorious. But for some reason, I felt like I had just stepped too close to the edge of a cliff. My head was spinning, my vision getting blurrier. I wanted to steady myself but I couldn't hold it anymore so I placed my hands on the table too. Then— Alex turned. Just like that. Without a single word, he straightened, adjusting his cufflinks with precise, measured movements then he looked at Grace. "Take her home," he said. His tone was calm—too calm. One that's distant and sent a shiver through my bones. Grace hesitated
Elena POV Laughter bubbled around the table in the private suite that Alex of course arranged. The low hum of chatter and clicking glasses filling the dimly lit room.Right on the table on front of me were grilled meat and expensive whiskey. That's not all cause they were varieties of foods lined up on the table too. Even though everybody were busy chattering away and having the time of their life I couldn't ignore the cold presence and piercing eyes boring into me.Alex sat directly across from me. He was quite an unreasonable expression plastered on his face. Jos arms stretched to the sofa leaning on it his head tilted back.Even though I didn't want our eyes to met, my gaze flickeredbtowards him every minute but he's didn't. He was watching me - no studying me - like he wanted to devour me.My fingers tightened under the table. I bit my lower lips forcing myself to be distracted and not think about him. I refuse to give him that satisfaction.As I was deep in my thoughts Jane sn
Elena POV He studied me for a moment before speaking. “ Here” he pushed a box of food to my front. “You didn't eat lunch today.” I stiffened, caught off guard by the unexpected shift but my face remained unfazed. “I did.” His brow lifted slightly. “You barely left your office.” I looked away, not wanting to meet his eyes as irritation flaring in my chest. “I wasn’t hungry and I'm not now.” Silence stretched between us. When I finally glanced back at him, his gray eyes were unreadable, his dark eyes making my heart clench. He looked slightly disheveled but still had a God-like appearance. Looking at him closer you would see the dark circles that had formed under his eyes. I clenched the hem of my shirt biting my lips. Why was he looking like this? Doesn't he rest? No, Alex cares about his appearance as he does about his business, just a mere argument between us won't affect him. “Elena…” His voice was softer now, but before he could say anything else that would make me chan
Elena POV “ Madam?” The maid called softly at the other side of the door.I stood up without responding and walked towards the door. “ Yes?”I opened it to reveal the maid with a trolley and on it the exact same food I saw in Alex's study.“ What is all this?” I asked, my eye brow knitting in confusion“ Mr Alex said to bring this to you as he noticed you've been in your room and probably haven't had anything yet to eat.” She said with a smile on her face.“ and I have microwaved it, ma’am”"This is ridiculous," I muttered under my breath, staring at the food for a while before stepping aside for her to take it inside the room.I sat in front of the food not knowing whether to eat or not. Not like there's something wrong with the food.As a matter of fact I was so famished but for what reason, because I didn't want to face the woman that I sat in her position with.I was ashamed of myself even after knowing he had a wife. I still stayed and allowed myself to fall for him.No.It's al