Exposure Threat
710 Words
It was supposed to be safe.
Just a coffee shop tucked away in a quieter part of the city, the kind of place where no one would know their names. Elias had insisted on taking her out, claiming she deserved more than stolen nights and bruised lips behind locked doors.
For an hour, it almost felt normal. He ordered her cappuccino the way she liked it, stole bites of her croissant, and smirked when her foot brushed his under the table. They looked like any couple. Ordinary. In love.
But Avery knew better. Ordinary didn’t apply to them.
The bell above the café door jingled, and that was when her heart plummeted.
“Mr. Carrow?” a bright voice said.
Avery froze, blood running cold.
Standing in the doorway was Clara Vincent—her father’s business associate’s daughter, a woman known for her sharp tongue and sharper gossip. She was smiling politely, but her eyes were already scanning, assessing, calculating.
Elias shifted smoothly, draping his arm over Avery’s chair, pulling her in close. His smirk didn’t falter, but his grip on her thigh tightened—warning, anchoring.
“Clara,” Avery managed, forcing her lips into a smile that felt like glass cutting her tongue. “What a surprise.”
Clara’s gaze lingered far too long on Elias’s hand, the way his thumb idly stroked Avery’s bare skin just below the hem of her skirt. Her brows arched.
“I didn’t realize you two were… acquainted.”
Avery’s throat went dry. Her pulse thundered in her ears. She wanted to pull away, to make it innocent. But Elias held her still, eyes glinting with that dangerous amusement.
“Acquainted?” Elias drawled. “That’s one word for it.”
Her heart stopped.
Clara’s lips curved, sharp and knowing. “Interesting. Your father will be… very interested to hear about this.”
Avery panicked. She leaned forward quickly, voice trembling. “Clara, please—it’s not what it looks like.”
Clara tilted her head, her smile all sugar. “Oh, I think it’s exactly what it looks like.”
Before Avery could say more, Elias’s low chuckle cut through the tension like a blade. “You think running to her daddy will buy you something? Don’t.”
Clara’s eyes narrowed, intrigued and cautious. “Or what?”
Elias leaned back, calm, dangerous, every inch the man Avery knew others feared. “Or you’ll find out just how bad it feels to be on my wrong side.”
The air went still. Avery’s stomach twisted. Clara faltered for only a moment before she forced another smile.
“Well. I suppose we’ll see.” She picked up her coffee order, her heels clicking as she left, but not before shooting Avery a final look—half pity, half promise.
The moment the door shut, Avery shoved Elias’s hand off her leg. “What the hell was that? You just painted a target on us!”
“She was going to run her mouth no matter what,” Elias said, unbothered, sipping his coffee as if nothing had happened. “Better she knows not to cross me.”
Her hands trembled around her cup. “You don’t get it—Clara lives for this. One whisper from her, and it’ll spread like wildfire. My dad—Elias, if he finds out—”
His hand shot across the table, gripping her wrist hard enough to make her breath hitch. His eyes were steel. “Let him. Let the whole f*****g city know. You’re mine, Avery. No one’s taking that away.”
She swallowed hard, her pulse jumping under his grip. His certainty, his ruthlessness, it both terrified and thrilled her.
“Elias…” Her voice cracked, caught between fear and the ache that never left her. “If this gets out, it won’t just destroy me. It’ll destroy us.”
He leaned in, his voice dropping, rough and intimate. “Then let it burn. I’d rather burn with you than live in the dark.”
Her chest ached. She wanted to believe him. She wanted to believe they could survive the fire.
But as Clara’s face flashed in her mind, Avery knew—the clock was ticking. Their secret was no longer safe.
- Writer
