Chapter 99: A Kiss Off Target

You should’ve said that sooner.

The instant Serena offered him another two million, Elias felt his whole body soften on reflex.

If she had led with that, how was he supposed to stay angry enough to throw that perfectly good dragon-strawberry at her face? What a waste. Thinking back on it now made him feel a genuine pang of regret, and not for anything sentimental.

Serena felt the change in him almost immediately.

The rigid line of resistance in his shoulders eased first. Then the tension in his back thinned away by slow degrees until the body pressed against hers no longer felt like a snarling animal determined to keep every muscle braced. In her arms, Elias had not entirely yielded, but he had undeniably given way.

Naturally, Serena misunderstood the reason.

She did not believe the money itself had moved him. The millions she had already given him still sat untouched, not a dollar spent, so what sense did it make to say he was greedy? In Serena’s mind, the new offer was not payment. It was a step. Money was simply the clearest way to measure whether the step was large enough. Once it reached a size that would not damage Elias’s pride too openly, he could descend without feeling as though he had been forced to kneel.

That was all this was.

If System Theta could have heard the full shape of Serena’s reasoning, it probably would have advised burial.

Serena wanted to do something more with him then. The impulse was there, unmistakable and strangely tender, but when her palm settled on his back, she did not tighten her hold or move any farther. She only stroked him there, slowly and lightly, as though rewarding a creature that had finally stopped baring its teeth.

Neither of them spoke.

For the first time, silence rested between them without strain. They leaned into each other and remained that way, sharing a stillness that did not fit the nature of their relationship at all and yet, for that very reason, felt more precious than it should have.

Even Serena found it strange.

For people like them, with everything between them poisoned from the beginning by coercion, possession, money, and pride, this kind of quiet felt almost unnatural. Too peaceful. Too intimate. Too much like something ordinary.

Even so, she could not quite bring herself to break it.

Outside the windows, the daylight was warm and steady.

The moment lasted until Elias started to move.

It began as a subtle restlessness, the shift of someone who had sat still for as long as his nature permitted and was now beginning to itch with the need to ruin the atmosphere on principle. Serena felt it at once and frowned faintly.

Elias noticed.

Inside, he laughed.

Did she really think two million was enough to buy total surrender from him? Half her assets, maybe. Then they could talk seriously.

He had only meant to soften a little. Enough to show there was a way back from the fight, nothing more. Their relationship was not meant to drift into warmth and domesticity. That was not the route they were walking, and besides, the more faithfully he maintained his role, the easier it was to keep extracting value from these women. That mattered far more than indulging in an accidental peaceful moment.

He started to rise from Serena’s lap.

Then she spoke.

"Starting tomorrow, you’re living here."

Elias froze.

At the Blackwood residence?

Starting tomorrow?

For one wild second, excitement shot through him so hard he almost turned and kissed her on the spot.

So this was what she had been hiding.

This was how she planned to crush him.

Living here meant eating outrageously good food every day without spending a cent. Better still, sneaking around with Liora would become dramatically more convenient. The offer was so viciously effective it bordered on personal attack.

If he assigned favorability to these women the way they assigned it to him, Serena would have jumped to eighty on the strength of that line alone.

But Elias forced the delight down and answered in a low voice, "Okay..."

Serena’s expression eased for the briefest moment.

Then Elias finished the sentence.

"But I’m not staying here every day."

That changed everything.

Serena’s eyes sharpened immediately.

She did not need long to guess at the reason. There was no practical excuse for refusing full-time residence here. The food mattered too much to him. She had confirmed that with her own eyes. There was almost nothing he liked more openly than good meals.

What, then, could outweigh that?

Only Giselle.

Her voice cooled. "You went to see Victoria today and still haven’t given up?"

She did not bother hiding that she knew where he had been.

That part did not surprise Elias. Serena Blackwood was more than capable of planting eyes in the right places. But knowing he had gone there was not the same as knowing what had happened inside that room, and her wording gave her away. She had information, but only up to the door.

That made sense.

If Serena could place people near Victoria Frost, it proved she was competent. If Victoria had somehow let private conversation itself get overheard, that would have been stupidity, and Victoria was many things, but never that.

Since Serena had no way of knowing that Victoria’s violently unconventional parenting style had led her to support Elias ending up with Giselle, the easiest response was the safest one.

Elias lowered his gaze and said nothing.

He wore the expression of someone who either did not understand the accusation or had no intention of dignifying it.

That only made Serena angrier.

"Don’t play deaf with me," she said sharply. "If you really force Victoria to act against you, not even I will be able to protect you."

The point of the sentence was threat.

Elias chose to twist it anyway.

His mouth curled slightly. "What’s wrong? You can’t handle Giselle’s mother?"

[Host!]

System Theta practically screamed.

That was not a sentence. That was gasoline.

Serena’s temper leapt at once. Her hand closed around Elias’s wrist before either of them had time to think.

The grip was tight.

Elias’s lashes fluttered. His eyes shut instinctively.

The reaction was quick, honest, and so unguarded that it struck Serena harder than the provocation had.

A second later, she loosened her hand.

When Elias opened his eyes again, Serena was looking at him with a thin, mocking smile. "Look at you. You frighten so easily. Useless."

Elias stared at her.

Then he made a decision.

Since Serena had managed to restrain herself, he would reignite the war for both of them.

Before he could move, Serena called out, "Bring another dragon-strawberry."

That stopped him cold.

He sat there for one ridiculous moment weighing two options with absolute sincerity: slap Serena Blackwood across the face or eat another dragon-strawberry.

In the end, the dessert won.

He could slap Serena any number of times in the future, including potentially in bed if circumstances aligned. The dragon-strawberry was different. Its preparation was too complicated, too elaborate. Miss it today, and there was no telling when he would get another chance.

When the servant approached carrying the plate, Elias climbed off Serena’s lap at once. He moved quickly, before the man drew close enough to make the intimacy embarrassing. Serena noticed the haste, understood it, and did not stop him. She had already realized that he was unusually thin-skinned in front of other people.

[Serena Blackwood favorability increased. Current favorability: 40%.]

Good.

The twisted little romance between them was finally beginning to produce visible results.

Serena, irritated by how intently Elias was watching the dessert, said coolly, "Sit down and eat."

Elias almost laughed.

The sisters truly were alike in the most infuriating ways. Both of them had mouths too stubborn to soften when it mattered.

Still, no matter how hard a mouth acted while speaking, it softened in other situations soon enough.

System Theta made a small sound of distress and clearly regretted being exposed to Elias’s thought process at all.

Elias ignored both of them and sat down to enjoy the dessert. This time he changed tactics and began with the tiny black seeds on the surface, curious whether even those had been engineered into something absurdly good.

Across from him, Serena’s attention drifted elsewhere.

Her feelings for Elias had been piling up for a long time before she recognized them. Now that she had, other questions rose naturally with them, and the ugliest among them was also the most persistent.

What, exactly, did he feel for Giselle?

The question reached her throat.

Then she swallowed it.

To ask it aloud would be to grant him too much importance.

So what if he liked Giselle?

If Serena wanted him, he would remain beside her. That was all. No one could take him away. Not Giselle. Not Liora. Not Victoria Frost. If anyone had the power to try, it was probably Victoria, but even she would fail in the end.

Serena sat there with a cold face, thinking too hard and, without realizing it, letting the full aura of authority gather around her. The pressure of command rose from her as naturally as heat.

Elias felt it and looked up.

Their eyes met.

What Serena saw then stopped her.

His gaze was still clear.

Too clear.

He had been beside her for a while now. He had already been dragged through ugliness, coercion, humiliation, and yet something in him remained untouched by the filth of it, bright as water under sunlight. The purity of it was offensive.

Then her attention dropped to his mouth.

A trace of red clung there. Tiny strawberry fragments stained his lips, vivid and wet-looking, making them resemble fruit that had just been washed and laid out for someone’s hand.

Desire rose in her so abruptly it felt like being struck from within.

Serena moved before she could decide not to.

She bent toward him, one hand lifting to the back of his neck to hold him steady as she aimed for his mouth.

The motion came too suddenly.

Even so, Elias reacted in time.

Instinct made him turn his head.

Serena’s lips missed his mouth and brushed instead against the corner of it, landing precisely where the red strawberry still stained his skin.

Both of them froze.

For one long second, neither moved. Serena remained bent over him. Elias stayed half-turned away, neck caught in her hand, their faces too close and the angle between them awkward enough to make the entire moment feel strange and unbearable.

They held there, stiff and silent, trapped inside a kiss that had almost happened and had not.