Chapter 199: You think we should help?

Elena Steel had done a lot of reckless things in her life.

But this?

This was the worst of them all.

She should have stopped.

Should have pulled away.

Should have never let Dominic Hale back in.

But when his mouth met hers—hard, desperate, the weight of years of anger and longing colliding into something neither of them could stop—

She didn’t pull away.

She kissed him back.

And the moment she did—she knew she was doomed.

For years, he had trained himself to believe that Elena was nothing more than a ghost.

That she had left, that she had chosen to leave, and that it had meant nothing to her.

And then, in one conversation, she had ripped that belief apart.

And now?

Now he wasn’t thinking.

Wasn’t calculating.

Wasn’t measuring consequences the way he always did.

Because the second she kissed him back—

Every single ounce of restraint he had left snapped.

His hands gripped her waist, pulling her against him, closer, harder, deeper.

And she let him.

Let herself sink into it, let herself forget, just for a second, that this was a mistake.

That they weren’t supposed to be here.

That this would only end in disaster.

And yet—

Neither of them stopped.

"Well," James muttered, peering over his glass. "That escalated."

Liam, leaning against the lounge doorway, grinned.

"You think they’re finally getting it out of their systems?"

Zayn snorted. "Doubtful."

Seraphina, arms crossed, sighed.

"This is going to end badly."

Damon, smirking, sipped his whiskey.

"Oh, definitely."

James chuckled. "You think they’ll admit it happened, or just pretend it was some kind of tactical accident?"

Zayn smirked. "I hope they deny it. Watching them lie about it will be the real entertainment."

Liam laughed. "You guys are terrible."

Seraphina gave him a flat look. "And yet, you’re standing here, too."

Liam shrugged. "What can I say? I enjoy a slow-motion car crash as much as the next guy."

Damon shook his head.

"They’ve got two options," he muttered. "Either they deal with this now, or it’s gonna blow up in their faces later."

Seraphina sighed. "I think we all know which one they’ll choose."

James smirked. "Oh yeah. They’re gonna avoid it like the plague."

And honestly?

They weren’t wrong.

**Elena Was the First to Stop**

It took every ounce of control she had left, but she did it.

She broke the kiss, stepping back, breathing hard, her heart slamming against her ribs like she had just run a damn marathon.

Dominic didn’t move.

Didn’t speak.

Didn’t let go of her waist.

And that?

That was a problem.

Because the second he let her go, this became real.

And she wasn’t ready for that.

Neither of them were.

"That," she finally murmured, voice uneven, "shouldn’t have happened."

Dominic exhaled sharply.

"Too late," he muttered.

Elena swallowed.

It had been too late the second she walked back into his life.

And they both knew it.

Dominic had always been good at lying to himself.

He had never been good at pretending.

And yet—

That’s exactly what he found himself doing the next morning when he walked into the briefing room like nothing had happened.

Elena was already there, standing beside Orion, flipping through a report, perfectly composed.

Like she hadn’t had his hands on her.

Like she hadn’t kissed him back like she was starving for it.

Like none of it had meant anything.

Dominic clenched his jaw.

Fine.

If that was the game they were playing, he could play it, too.

Liam nudged Zayn as they both watched Dominic take his seat, expression carefully blank.

Zayn grinned. "He looks like a man trying not to think about something."

Liam smirked. "You think we should help?"

James, sitting nearby, chuckled.

"Please," he muttered. "Let them suffer."

Seraphina sighed, flipping through her tablet. "Can we focus? Some of us actually have work to do."

Zayn snorted. "Sure, Hale. We’ll focus. Right after we figure out if Dominic just rekindled his long-lost romance with the woman who walked out on him a decade ago."

Damon smirked. "They’re definitely ignoring it."

Liam shook his head. "That’s not gonna last."

And, honestly?

They were right.

Because no matter how much Elena and Dominic wanted to pretend nothing had changed—

Everything had.

And the next time this happened?

Neither of them were going to stop.