Claimed by my ex husband’s uncle

Chapter 5

THE GAME

ELENA’S POV

The room tilts, and I realize the man from the penthouse is standing ten feet away from me. He’s wearing an expression I can’t read—it might be shock, it might be anger. His face has gone cold and still, and his eyes bore into mine so intensely that breathing becomes hard.

“You,” I whisper.

“Yes,” Lucien says quietly. “Me.”

Adrian laughs, and the sound shatters whatever is happening between us. I tear my eyes away from Lucien’s face and look at my soon-to-be ex-husband, which somehow feels worse than actually being married to him.

“Did you enjoy f*****g my uncle?” Adrian asks, his tone conversational as if he’s asking about the weather. “Is that why you disappeared like a thief? Did he give you something I couldn’t?”

“Shut up,” Lucien says, his voice so cold that even Adrian flinches.

“I have evidence,” Adrian continues, but the danger radiating from Lucien doesn’t stop him. He never knew when to back down. “She’s carrying his child, which means I can fight the settlement and claim infidelity. I can drag her through court for years, and the scandal will destroy her completely. There’s nothing she can do about it.”

My lawyer puts a hand on my arm, trying to ground me, but I’m spinning. I’m pregnant. The man I slept with is Lucien Blackwood. Adrian called him a traitor years ago, said he was cut off from the family. I thought Lucien hated me. He never spoke to me at the mansion, never acknowledged me. He just watched me suffer in that beautiful, terrible place, and I could feel his gaze on me like a weight I couldn’t shake off.

“How did you know it was his?” I ask Adrian, my voice shaking with confusion and fear.

Adrian smiles cruelly. “Because I’m smarter than you. I had people watching you, following you that night. I know everything about it, and now I know exactly how to use it.”

“You can’t use that information,” my lawyer says sharply. “That’s an invasion of privacy. That’s illegal.”

“It’s insurance,” Adrian says. “And it’s going to make Elena very cooperative.”

Lucien steps forward, and his voice cuts through the air like a blade. “I want to make you a deal. A deal you’re not going to refuse.”

Adrian’s smile falters for the first time, and I watch fear flicker across his face before he hides it.

“What kind of deal?” he asks cautiously.

Lucien’s eyes flicker to me for just a moment, and in that glance, I see something that might break me. “I’ll marry Elena,” he says, his voice sharp and dangerous, focused entirely on Adrian. “Contract marriage, legal in every way that matters. In exchange, you drop the divorce proceedings, the custody claims, and you disappear from both our lives forever. You get nothing from her, acknowledge nothing, and forget she exists.”

The silence is deafening and complete.

“You’re insane,” Adrian whispers, but there’s doubt in his voice now.

“Perhaps,” Lucien agrees. “But I’m also powerful. I have lawyers who make your lawyers look like children. So you can either take this deal, or you can find out exactly how unpleasant I can make your life.”

“You’d really marry her?” Adrian asks, trying to understand, trying to figure out if Lucien means it. “You’d really destroy me?”

“Yes,” Lucien says simply. “To both questions.”

Margaret stands up, sputtering and angry. “Lucien, you can’t possibly—”

“I can,” he says flatly. “I will. And if either of you comes near Elena or my child, I will destroy you both so completely that you’ll forget what it felt like to have money and power.”

He says it so matter-of-factly that I believe him completely. My heart races, and I feel a strange mix of hope and terror twist inside my chest.

Adrian’s face cycles through emotions—rage, fear, calculation. I watch him trying to figure out if this is a bluff, and I watch the exact moment he decides it’s not.

“This is ridiculous,” Adrian says, but his voice is weaker now. He’s losing control.

“Is it?” Lucien asks. “Because I have a team of lawyers who specialize in fraud, misuse of private information, and corporate espionage. I’m very interested in how you obtained those DNA samples. I’m very interested in every illegal thing you’ve done.”

Adrian’s jaw tightens, and I can see him calculating the cost of continuing this fight.

“And if you think you can use this child as leverage,” Lucien continues, “you should know that I have enough resources to make sure you never see this child and you lose everything.”

“Fine,” Adrian says finally, his voice bitter and defeated. “Take her. She’s worthless anyway.”

He storms out, and Margaret follows, but not before she gives me a look that promises retribution I’ll never see coming. The promise of pain lingers in the room even after they leave.

Then it’s just me and Lucien and my lawyer. And the echo of what just happened.

My lawyer looks at me with concern. “Elena, do you understand what just happened? He’s offering a contract marriage. That’s a legal agreement. You need to think about this carefully.”

“I know,” I say quietly.

“Do you?” he asks. “Because this man is a stranger, a relative of your husband. And now he’s offering to marry you to protect you from Adrian. That’s unusual and complicated.”

“I understand,” I say, and I do. I understand that I’m about to make a decision that will determine the rest of my life.

My lawyer nods and puts his papers away. “I’ll draw up the contract, but Elena, make sure this is what you want.”

He leaves, and then it’s just me and Lucien.

“You don’t have to do this,” I say quietly. “I can figure something out. I can find another way.”

Lucien walks toward me slowly, and when he’s close enough, he reaches out and touches my face. His fingers are cool against my cheek, and the touch is so gentle that it breaks something inside me. I feel tears prickling my eyes.

“I know,” he says. “But I’m going to anyway.”

“Why?” I ask desperately. “You don’t know me. You barely spoke to me when I was married to Adrian. Why would you do this?”

He smiles, and it’s the saddest, most honest smile I’ve ever seen. “I know you better than anyone, and that terrifies me. But I’m going to marry you anyway.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” I say.

“I’ve watched you for three years,” he says. “I’ve seen how you suffer, how they treat you. And I’ve done nothing. I’ve been a coward. The night you spent with me was the first time I felt alive in years, and I know it was the first time you felt alive too. I’m not going to let Adrian take that from us.”

My heart races. This is madness, the kind of decision that changes everything.

“If I say yes,” I ask quietly, “what happens then?”

“Then I will protect you and our child, and we will figure out what comes next,” he says.

“And if I say no?”

“Then you’re on your own, and Adrian will destroy you.”

I take a deep breath and think about that night, about how it felt to be real and alive.

“Yes,” I whisper. “I’ll marry you.”

Something shifts in his eyes—relief, determination, and something I can’t name.

“Then let’s make it official,” he says. “And Elena? This time, you don’t get to run away in the morning.”