Family Secret: Claiming My Father's Toy

Divided Loyalty

I sat there, alone again, feeling the walls closing in.

My phone was gone. My freedom was gone. Any illusion of control I'd had was gone.

And tomorrow, Silas was going to start a war.

All because Dante had made the mistake of threatening what Silas considered his.

Me.

A soft knock at the door made me tense.

"Elena? It's me."

Julian's voice.

"Your father said not to let anyone in."

"I don't care what he said. Open the door."

I walked over, unlocked it.

Julian slipped inside quickly, closed it behind him. He looked rough. Hair messy. Shirt untucked. Eyes wild with something I couldn't quite name.

"What are you doing here?"

"Making sure you're okay. Dad called me twenty minutes ago. Told me about the photos. About Dante's messages." He grabbed my shoulders. "Jesus, Elena. You were going to meet him? Alone?"

"I was trying to protect everyone."

"By walking into a trap? By letting him use you?" His hands tightened. "What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking that if I didn't go, he'd destroy everything. My reputation. My mother's life. All of it."

"So you were willing to sacrifice yourself instead?" Julian pulled me against him, his arms wrapping around me tight. "You can't do that. You can't just throw yourself to the wolves thinking it'll save the rest of us."

"Why not? That's what your father does. That's what you do. Make sacrifices to protect what you care about."

"We don't sacrifice you." His voice was rough against my hair. "Never you."

I pulled back to look at him. "Julian, what are you doing here? Really?"

"I told you. Making sure you're okay."

"Your father has security everywhere. You could have called. You didn't need to come here."

"Yes, I did." His hand came to my face. "Because hearing that Dante's been watching you, photographing you, threatening you. It made me realize something."

"What?"

"That I'm losing you to my father. That every day you spend in this house, you become more his and less mine. And I can't let that happen."

"Julian."

"No, listen to me. I know what we have is f****d up. I know it started wrong and it's gotten worse. But somewhere in all of this, I stopped seeing you as just a game between me and my father. You became something else."

"What?"

"Mine. Actually mine. Not because of some contract or arrangement. But because when I'm with you, I feel something I've never felt before." He leaned his forehead against mine. "And tonight, when I thought about Dante having you, hurting you, it made me want to burn the whole city down."

"That's not love, Julian. That's obsession."

"Maybe there's no difference." His mouth was inches from mine now. "Maybe that's all either of us can offer. My father's cold control or my messy desperation. But at least my desperation is real."

He kissed me before I could respond.

It was different from Silas. Where his father was always calculated and controlled, Julian was raw need. His hands were in my hair, on my skin, pulling me closer like he was trying to merge us into one person.

"Julian, we can't. Not here. Not now."

"Why not? Because my father said so? Because he's claimed you already?" Julian's hand slid under my shirt. "I don't care. Right now, in this moment, you're mine. Say it."

"This is a bad idea."

"Everything about this is a bad idea. But I'm done pretending I can share you without it destroying me." His mouth moved to my neck, finding the mark the collar had left. "Did he make you wear it during? Did you call him Sir while he f****d you?"

"Julian, stop."

"I can't. I can't stop wanting you. Can't stop needing to prove that I can make you feel things he can't." His hand found me already responding despite my protests. "Your body knows. Even when your mind is trying to be rational, your body knows you want this."

I hated that he was right.

"If your father finds out you're here--"

"Let him find out. Let him see that I'm not going to follow his rules anymore. That you're not just his to control." Julian backed me toward the bed. "Unless you want me to stop. Unless you want to send me away and wait for him to come back. Tell me to leave, Elena. Use your words. Tell me no."

I couldn't. I kissed him back instead.

"That's what I thought," he murmured against my mouth.

His hands were everywhere, pulling at clothes, claiming skin. We fell onto the bed together, a tangle of limbs and desperation and need that had nothing to do with logic.

"Say it," he demanded, his body pinning mine. "Say you're mine."

"Julian--"

"Say it."

"I'm yours," I gasped as his hand slid between my legs. "Right now, in this moment, I'm yours."

"Good." His smile was dark. "Now let me prove it."

He made good on that promise. Took his time stripping me bare, mapping every inch of my skin with his hands and mouth. Where Silas was controlled precision, Julian was chaotic intensity. He wanted to devour me, possess me, mark me in ways his father never could.

When he finally pushed inside me, we both groaned.

"Look at me," he commanded. "I want to see your eyes when you come. Want to know you're thinking about me and only me."

His pace was punishing, desperate, like he was trying to erase every trace of his father's touch. And maybe he was. Maybe this was his way of claiming what he thought should be his alone.

"Julian," I gasped, my nails digging into his back.

"That's right. My name. Not his. Mine." His hand fisted in my hair. "Come for me, Elena. Show me I can make you feel this way."

The orgasm hit hard, tearing through me. I cried out his name, exactly like he wanted.

He followed seconds later, burying his face in my neck, his whole body shaking.

For a long moment, we just lay there, breathing hard, tangled together.

Then reality crashed back.

"Your father is going to know," I whispered.

"Probably." Julian lifted his head to look at me. "Do you regret it?"

"I don't know. Ask me tomorrow when we're dealing with the consequences."

He laughed, the sound rough. "Fair enough." He rolled onto his back, pulling me against his side. "Stay with me tonight. Just tonight. Let me pretend you're mine and not his."

"Julian--"

"Please. One night where I don't have to share you. Where I don't have to think about him touching you, claiming you, controlling every aspect of your life." His arm tightened around me. "Just give me tonight."

I should have said no. Should have sent him away before Silas came back.

Instead, I curled into him and closed my eyes.

"Okay. Tonight."

We fell asleep like that, wrapped around each other, pretending the morning wouldn't come.

Pretending Silas wouldn't find out.

Pretending this wouldn't make everything infinitely more complicated.

But morning always comes.

And when I woke hours later to the sound of the door opening, to Silas standing there with two cups of coffee and murder in his eyes, I realized we'd just made a catastrophic mistake.

"Get up," Silas said, his voice deadly calm. "Both of you. We need to have a conversation about boundaries. And consequences."

Julian's arm tightened around me protectively.

But we both knew there was no protecting me from this.

From the war we'd just started.

Between father and son.

With me caught in the middle.