Chapter 5 The Price of Silence

The envelope sat on the kitchen counter. Cream paper. No return address. My name in looping cursive: Elena Carter.

I opened it, knowing that I would not like what I would fine but knowing that I was helpless. I had to open it. I had to know. I knew it was from the Blackmailer and I needed to know. I found the same photos from the USB-Julian, and me, two nights ago, captured before I stepped away. Every moment of intimacy, immortalized, inside. And a sticky note read:

"We both know what this looks like. Let's not make it worse. Meet me. Alone".

A downtown suite. 7 p.m.

Fear coiled in my chest. For the first time in years, it wasn't Julian nor the reckless and uncontrollable desire he evoked in me, I feared-it was what someone else might do, now that they had their eyes on us.

My pulse raced. My hands shook as I refolded the photo. My mind spun. The blackmailer had taken it further than Julian or I could have imagined. And suddenly, the thrill of being with Julian was tainted by something darker. Someone else was watching. Someone else had power over us.

I thought of Max. He hadn't returned yet, aside from leaving that innocent, oblivious message on his phone last night. And now, there was someone else. Someone with the ability to disrupt everything, to see what we had done, and to use it against us.

Julian was in the living room when I arrived home, shirtless and barefoot.

"You're awake," he said. "Max called twice."

"I turned off my phone," I said. "Did he... sound normal?" I asked. Julian knew immediately what I meant to ask but was not asking and he answered,

"He doesn't know yet," he said. "Though we could save trouble by telling him. He's away on a business emergency. Are you okay?"

I hated how fast my body responded to him. His fingers grazed my arm. Too close. Too warm.

"There's something I need to handle... alone," I whispered.

His jaw ticked. "If this is about the blackmailer..."

"No. I just need air." I needed to think, despite the lingering ache of last night, despite the mutual tension still smoldering.

I gasped as his lips brushed my cheek-a whisper, a sin, a promise. Then he stepped back.

"They can't hurt me," I said, feigning confidence. "Not really."

"I'll let you go," he said. "But when you return, don't expect me to be the good brother. I'll be waiting."

At the suite, the shadows swallowed the space. Floor-to-ceiling windows, skyline views.

A woman emerged from the shadows. Elegant, blonde, late thirties, ice in her smile. She looked like she belonged to power and danger, like a predator in silk.

"I know Julian. Very well," she said.

"What do you want?" I asked, going straight to the point. What was the use of beating around the bush.

Insurance. Threats. Demands. More photos. Surveillance patterns.

"You'll give me access to your husband's latest acquisition," she said. "Or everything goes public",

"How am I supposed to do that?" I asked, furiously. "I don't even know anything about his business".

"How you do it is your business", she said, nonchalantly. "Just give me what I ask and we are good".

There was no reasoning or arguing with her,, so, I left shaken, furious and frustrated.

But home again, Julian was there, arms folded, gaze unreadable.

"You saw her," I said.

He nodded. "You're not just being blackmailed, Elena", he said, a hard look in his eyes. "She's doing it to get to me."

I felt the ground tilt beneath me. "Why?"

"Well, because I ruined her life," he said, voice like thunder. "And now she wants to ruin mine. One piece at a time."

I reached instinctively for the railing, struggling to hold myself upright. "She wants Langford Holdings. She thinks I can get it for her."

Julian's step forward was decisive, unyielding. "You won't," he said firmly.

"But if I don't-" I started, afraid to complete the thought.

"She wins," he growled. "And you break. And I'll never forgive myself if I let that happen."

For the first time, I didn't see the elder brother. I didn't see Julian Hart, dangerous, charming, sin incarnate. I saw the man who would burn the world to protect me, even if I didn't deserve it.

"You will go again and this time, I shall have a surprise waiting", he said. Seeing the woman was scary enough. Going to her once more without what she asked for was very dangerous. Doubly so. But I trusted Julian knew what he was doing.

"You don't have to save me," I whispered.

His hand touched my face, gentle yet possessive, grounding me in the storm. "I already did", his voice tender and passionate all at once. I saw an odd expression on his face, a flicker of emotion cross his handsome features.

And in that moment, the weight of threats, desire, and impossible choices coiled around us, a tense promise of fire and freedom yet to come.

"Help me forget", I said, fisting my hand on his shirt as I drew him close and planted a hot wet kiss on his lips.

With an anguished growl, he carried me upstairs into the bedroom, kissing me all the way.

By the time he drove his hard length into me, I was speaking in languages I didn't understand. He drove me to insanity and by the time my sanity came back and reality alongside it, I had decided what I was going to do and hoped I would be strong enough to stick to it.