Elara's POV,
CRASH!!
I throw the last vase on the wall and continue pacing around. It's been two hours, thirty-six minutes, forty seconds since they'd locked me in here.
I bite into my fingernails and look out the window. Trying to break the glass was futile. Suddenly, I start to hyperventilate.
I start having flashbacks of when Dorine would lock me up in a shack and starve me for a day. Claiming I had no right to eat because I was an illegitimate child.
Because of that, I had become afraid of closed spaces, and the darkness became my friend.
I run to the door and bang on it.
"Hey! I know you're out there. Let me out! Please let me out! I'm suffocating here!"
I bang on it, but no one comes.
Just like no one did in that shack. I slid down the door and curled myself into a ball, shutting my eyes tight.
The darkness is my friend. The darkness is infinite. Endless space. I'm not locked up in the darkness…
"Mummy?"
I snap my head up and crawl to the door. "Asher, baby…is that you?"
"Mummy! Daddy said you haven't been feeling well, that's why you've not come out since." His chirpy voice say and I falter. What…?
"Asher, listen to me…"
"Asher, let's not disturb your mother anymore, alright? In a day or two, she'd be fine."
My blood runs cold when I hear his voice. Lucien!
"Hey! You motherfu…"
"Mummy, get well soon, okay? Daddy said it's the flu, so I can't come in. But I want you both to promise me you won't fight anymore."
"Asher…"
"Baby…"
Lucien and I say at the same time. I hear him moan. "No. Please promise. It makes me sad, and I'm sure that's why it made Mummy sick."
I grit my teeth. "You have no idea."
"Fine." Lucien clears his throat. "I promise."
"Mummy?"
I fist my hand against the door, and my eyes flare so bad, I'm surprised they don't burn a hole through the wood. "I promise, Asher."
"Yayy." He exclaims, and I nearly whimper at how cute he sounds. God, he has such a terrible father. "I'm going to bed now, Mummy. Goodnight."
"Goodnight, baby. Sleep tight."
I hear his footsteps fade in the hallway, and I bang on the door. "Okay, dickhead. Let me out."
Silence.
"I know you're still out there! I can hear you whispering shit to my 'bodyguards.'" I air-qoute.
The door opens, and Lucien steps in with a smirk. "Come on, Elara. Didn't we just promise not to fight?"
He shuts the door, and I bite my lip. "I'm not fighting, Lucien. I want you to let me go."
He gives me an amused look and crosses the room to my bed. "What are you doing?"
I ask, and he starts to unbutton his shirt. I choke on oxygen.
"What does it look like? I'm sleeping here tonight."
"W…Wha… What?!"
He shrugs off his shirt and my mouth dries a little at the sight of his chest. It was filled with scars but beautiful. I wanted to run my tongue across those abs.
"My eyes are up here, Solis." I roll mine, then look away.
"I can tell, Kórvac. Regardless of what you might think, I am not stupid."
I walk over to the door and rattle the handle to see if it was locked. Before I could bang on the wood, Lucien sighed.
"It's futile. I'm with the key." I whip my head to see him making himself comfortable on my bed. He put the key in his pocket, and I groaned.
"Why do you hate me?"
"I don't." His brows furrow. "You do."
"You're right. I fucking hate your ass."
~ ~
"What the fuck are you doing?"
I ignore him and zip up the sixth jacket on my body.
"Listen," He says again. "This may come as a surprise to you, but I don't find you attractive."
I turn and glare at him. He shrugs.
"Shut up, Lucien. I'm only letting this happen because you'd promised Asher you'd spend the night with me."
Then I pause and chuck the last jacket at him. "What kind of shitty promise is that, anyway?"
He catches the jacket and tilts his head. "Apparently, our son is a genius."
That made me remember what Camille had said to me a month ago when Asher came home with a flier and told me about his new principal. I glare at Lucien.
He must be feeling so smart.
I hiss and pull up the seventh pair of pajama pants. I was a walking clothing disaster, but I didn't care. Lucien wasn't sleeping on the couch, and neither was I, so I wasn't taking any chances. I'd burrito myself up so it wouldn't be an "accident."
"How did you find out he was your son anyway?" I start, because I really wanted to know. "You stalked me?"
Lucien rolled his eyes when he saw me coming towards the bed.
"You look like a hobo. And no, I wasn't stalking you." He grunted, and I turned the AC to full blast. "Asher thinks you have a cold, and you're turning on the AC?"
"If you have a problem, the door is to your left." I jerked my head towards the door and got into the bed.
In truth, I was sweating buckets beneath all those clothes, and to make matters worse, sleeping beside Lucien was a bad idea. The king-sized bed suddenly became way smaller.
The awkward silence was more than I could bear, and don't get me wrong, I love silence. Just not this type. I raise my hand and run it down my face.
"The light switch is beside you, Lucien."
"No, I don't sleep in the dark."
"You? CEO Lucien doesn't sleep in the dark? What? Are you afraid or…"
"I'd answer you if you told me about your claustrophobia."
I snap my mouth shut, and he smirks. Only now did I realize our faces are so close to each other's. My body heat spikes up as I remember how good it felt to kiss him five years ago.
"Why don't you have a wife?"
Damn my stupid mouth.
His brows rise, and I hiss, then turn to face the ceiling. "Before me, I mean. You're an eligible man…"
"You think I'm eligible?" His voice sounds hoarse. I hope he couldn't see my ears turn red.
"I just mean, one would expect a guy like you to be married." My eyes dart everywhere but him.
"I almost got married…"
I freeze. Could he be talking about Anya?
"...but I needed something in return, and they didn't have it."
"What was the family's name?" I ask, before I could stop myself, and he exhales. I pray to every god there was that he shouldn't call them.