Forbidden Night, Forever Love

CHAPTER 3

Impact

Elena's POV

Before Alex can see anything else, I turn my phone face down. Watching his face makes my heart race, but he doesn't appear to notice anything odd. I almost spill my wine glass on the white tablecloth when the waiter arrives with fresh drinks.

"So what kind of bad day makes a gorgeous woman drink by herself in a posh hotel?" Alex queries. He seems to genuinely care about the response as his blue eyes meet mine. Alex feels different from most men who approach me in bars, who only want to get me into bed.

To buy myself some time to reflect, I take a sip of wine. I can't tell him about my business, Kane Industries, or how I recently lost the largest contract of my life. He is most likely a wealthy businessman who would consider my small tech company to be unimportant but cute.

"Work stuff," I say at last. "You understand how it feels to put your all into something and still have it fall short."

Alex gives a nod as if he truly comprehends. "Today, I left the most significant meeting of my life. My family wanted me to do something I couldn't handle, so I left their business. He sips his whisky slowly. "My uncle believes that my conscience makes me weak."

His words cause a sensation of warmth to rise in my chest. This man rejected wealth and power due to his moral principles, choosing right over easy. No one from his world that I know would choose that.

"What did they want you to do?" Before I can stop myself, I ask.

Alex's hands clench into fists around his glass as his jaw tenses. "Just because a small business competes with us, destroy it. Steal contracts and destroy people's lives by using dishonest tactics. His voice becomes hushed and irate. "They discussed this intelligent woman as if she didn't exist. As if her dreams and her job were unimportant.

In my veins, my blood turns to ice. He is discussing how Kane Industries destroyed a small business. He talks about ruining people like me. But based on his tone of disgust and rage, I don't think he's the enemy I believed him to be.

"So you said no," I mumble.

"I said no." Alex's intense blue eyes are fixed on me. "Even though it most likely cost me everything I had hoped for. There are some things that are more significant than wealth or family acceptance.

I look at this complex, gorgeous man who sacrificed everything for the sake of protecting me and others like me. The wine gives me the confidence to touch his hand across the table. Instead of being soft as I would have expected from someone wealthy, his skin is warm and rough.

I tell him, "You did the right thing." "Whoever that woman is, she is fortunate to have someone standing up for her, even if she is unaware of it."

Alex grasps my fingers in his as he turns his hand palm up. Electricity shoots up my arm and directly to my heart at the touch. He says my fictitious name, "Elle," as if it were a valuable item. "Sitting here with you feels more real than anything I've experienced in years, even though I know this sounds crazy."

Something in his voice draws me forward unintentionally. "It sounds reasonable. I also sense it. His eyes darken with something that makes my stomach turn, and the words escape my lips before I can stop them.

Under the little table, Alex pulls his chair closer to mine until our knees nearly meet. "Tell me a genuine story about yourself. something that no one else is aware of.

He must be able to hear how hard my heart is pounding. I want to tell him everything because of the wine and his warm hand. about having immigrant parents who worked three jobs apiece and growing up in poverty. about starting my business from scratch in a garage. about how worn out I am from battling for everything by myself.

"I'm scared," I mumble. "I'm afraid every day that I'm not strong enough, intelligent enough, or good enough to survive in a world full of people like..." Before I can say "like you," I stop myself.

Alex whispers, "Like what?"

"I'll never have the advantages that people who were born with." I glance down at our clasped hands. "People who never had to choose between paying their rent or buying groceries, who attended the right schools, and who know the right people."

I think I said too much because Alex has been silent for so long. His eyes are filled with what appears to be pain when I look up. "You believe I have no idea what it's like to struggle?"

I say, "You're wearing a watch that costs more than my car while sitting in the priciest hotel in Seattle." "So no, you don't seem to understand what it's like to struggle."

Alex laughs, but it sounds bitter, rather than angry. "You're correct regarding the hotel and the watch. However, Elle, hardship does not always equate to wealth. I immediately miss his warmth when he releases my hand. "It can occasionally mean being constrained by the expectations of others. It can occasionally mean that everything is given to you, with the exception of the freedom to choose your own identity.

I examine his face and notice a similarity to the pain in my own chest. Although we are broken in different ways, we both have unhealing wounds. The idea makes me want to console him in the same manner that he has been consoling me.

"Alex, what's your last name?" I ask abruptly. "Because we're disclosing genuine personal information."

As if I had just pointed a gun at him, his entire body freezes. His blue eyes widen with what appears to be panic as the colour fades from his face. He looks at me for a long time as if he has lost the ability to talk.

At last, he asks in an odd, tight voice, "Why do you want to know?"

"Because I like you," I say plainly. "Because you help me feel less alone than I have in months." because I'm curious about your true identity."

Alex opens his mouth to respond, then shuts it again. He scans the lounge as if to see if anyone is paying attention. His face is split between fear and desire as he turns back to face me.

"Elle," he begins.

I see him then. A tall man in a pricey suit entered the lounge with furious, brisk steps. He looks around as if he's looking for something, and his face contorts in rage when his icy grey eyes find our table.

Alex looks back at me. All the blood runs out of his face when he sees the man.

"Uncle Marcus," he murmurs.

Uncle Marcus. Kane, Marcus. Alex's uncle has been ruining my bus

iness for the past two years.

Thus, Alex is actually Alexander Kane.