Chapter 9 Chapter Nine
Elena's POV
"What does that mean?" I asked but he didn't reply, and with that, he left.
I sat there, staring at the door long after it closed, his words echoing in my chest, and for reasons I couldn’t explain, my heart wouldn’t stop racing. His presence lingered like the echo of a storm, harp, charged and unsettling. It just felt like he was still here when he was long gone. I force my mind to remember what happened last night, after I strip. But nothing, nothing was coming up after that time, just me kissing him. His lips tasted sweet.
I swallowed hard, trying to push the thought out of my mind.
Then I reached for my phone again, checking if I could see any of Rafael's call, which I might have probably missed, since I was knocked out, but there was none. Rafael never called. Not once. Not a beep, not even a text to ask if I was alive, if I'd made it to my room, if I was okay, or maybe an attempted call.
There were no calls from his end, and he didn't even bother to check on me; if he did, Nikolai wouldn't be there all night watching over me. I sighed as I forced myself out of bed, my head was still throbbing but I had to get out of bed
A whisper of hurt stung behind my ribs. I reached for my phone the second time, half hoping I was wrong. Maybe, I didn't check properly, I scroll my phone again.
Nothing.
Not a single missed call.
Not a single message.
My heart dropped lower. I felt betrayed and mad at the same time. I tapped his number, and then my mind kept telling me to end the call, but I didn't want to. I shakes that thought off my head, as I press the call button before I give in to my mind's demand. The dial tone rang once... Twice... Thrice. Then finally his voice came up
“Elena?”
His voice was smooth, calm, like nothing had happened. Like he hadn't ordered me out of his party, feeling ashamed of me. Like I hadn’t spent the night burning, needy, and unconscious in the room of another man.
“Rafael, I… I didn’t hear from you,” I said softly, trying to keep my tone light. If Shannon were here, she would have said I was acting desperate, that I shouldn't speak to him calmly, that I should lash out at him. Yet I couldn't do that, I was still speaking to him softly, like everything was fine, “I thought you would check up on me, after the party, and this morning, it's almost 7, and you didn't...”
He exhaled loudly. “Elena not now, I am not caught up for this nag." He cut me off.
"Now I am nagging when it was you who abandon..."
Yet again, he didn't let me finish, he interrupted, that was Rafael for you, the boss man that wants everyone to dance to his tone, "listen, Elena, I’m downstairs. Come to the dining room. We’ll talk over breakfast.”
My lips pressed together. “You could’ve come up..."
“I’m already seated,” he cut in. “Just come down, okay?”
The line went dead.
I stared at the phone for a long heartbeat, a wave of disappointment rising inside me. He didn't have the decency to call, and now I called, he hung up on me. I hated these feelings I was having. I wanted to park my bags and leave. In the first place, I wasn't invited. I wanted to tell him, I was no longer interested in this. But I forced myself to breathe, to get up, to shake it off.
It was all a bad dream
Maybe he was tired.
Maybe he didn’t know how bad it was last night.
Maybe Arabella told him, I was safe in my room
Or maybe he spent the night with...
I shake my head, I couldn't take the words
No. I refused to think about that.
I showered quickly and dressed in a soft cream dress, simple, elegant, the kind Rafael approved of. The kind he had chosen for me, indirectly, by slowly eliminating everything he didn’t like from my wardrobe. I told myself it didn’t matter. That all the couples compromised.
By the time I walked into the dining room, I had practiced my smile enough times to almost believe it.
But the moment I stepped inside, every muscle in my body stiffened.
There they were.
Rafael was sitting close to his father who was at the head of the table, scrolling through his phone, and listening to what Don Alessandro was saying, while Nikolai was leaning back in his chair at the far end of the table like someone who didn't want to be there, his grey eyes lifted the moment I entered the room.
His gaze swept over me once, slow, unreadable and I quickly looked away. Wondering the reason, he was staring at me like.
“Good morning, Uncle Alessandro,” I said softly, taking the open seat beside Rafael.
Rafael leaned over and kissed my temple, but the gesture felt practiced, almost mechanical. “Sleep well?” he asked. Almost wanting to roll my eyes, since when did he care?
“Well enough.”
Lies. All lies.
Breakfast was served: pancakes, eggs, fruit, and a table full of things I barely had an appetite for. I tried to eat, but the silence was too loud.
Finally, Rafael cleared his throat. “Elena… I need to let you know I’ll be busy today. Meetings, calls, everything piled up after the party.”
I forced a smile. “Okay. I understand.”
“Good,” he said, already reaching for his phone again
Uncle Alessandro grabbed his newspaper that had been lying there since the meal started. “Elena,” he said warmly, “you should enjoy your time here. Relax. Explore.”
Before I could answer, the words tumbled out of me, uncontrolled, heavier than I meant them to be. I was tired of Rafael and his bullshit
“Do you… Want me to leave?”
Rafael looked up quickly. “What? Of course not.”
“It feels like I’m in the way,” I murmured, staring at my plate. “Last night… and now today… I don’t want to be somewhere I’m not welcome. Because it's obvious that you don't want me here.”
Rafael sighed, running a hand through his hair. “Elena, don’t be dramatic.”
The words stung.
First, he called me a nag, and now, dramatic.
His voice softened immediately. “Listen… I’m sorry about last night, okay? The party got… complicated. I’ll make it up to you tomorrow, I promise.”
Tomorrow.
Always tomorrow.
Never today.
Maybe, just maybe, Shannon was right, a man could be busy, but he would always make time for the woman he loved. Rafael doesn't love me.
"Do you love me or..."
"Elena..." He called in frustration, "What's this all about now? Are you listening to that..."
"Rafael!" Uncle Alessandro called him to order, and he hissed, running his hand on his temple. I was giving him a headache.
"I'm sorry," he muttered, a lip apology, something not reaching his heart, "just stressed up, you know how it is to deal with all this mess at the same time. You know I love you and no one else, just bear with me, today." He wrapped his hand around my palm, and I felt disgusted by his touch.
I nodded slowly, but the ache in my chest remained.
“Good,” Alessandro said. “Then today, Nikolai will show you around town.”
My breath caught.
Nikolai’s fork paused midair.
Rafael blinked, startled. “Dad, she doesn’t need..."
“Your brother is free,” Alessandro cut in. “And you…” He gave Rafael a pointed look, “Are not.” A faint tension rippled across the table.
I felt Nikolai’s gaze settle on me again, quiet, unreadable, almost probing. Heat crawled up my neck. Last night’s memory, the one where he carried me in his arms, the one where his voice whispered my name as I slipped into darkness flashed through me like lightning, the one I had kissed like a starving lion, and how I had stripped in front of him, not knowing what I did after that.
Rafael set his phone down slowly. “I can arrange one of the drivers,” he insisted. “She doesn’t need..."
“Nonsense,” Alessandro interrupted again. “Nikolai can take her.” The room thickened with unspoken friction.
I swallowed hard, pulse racing without permission. I didn’t know what scared me more, the idea of spending a day alone with Nikolai… or the fact that part of me didn’t want to refuse. That part was excited to be with him.
Rafael looked at his brother with a forced smile. “If it’s okay with Nikolai.”
Nikolai turned his head slowly, his grey eyes that were turning dark locking on mine.
What was that? Do pupils change colors? Somehow that didn't bother me because his gaze had somehow stopped the air.
"Is it?"