The Billionaire’s Bound Bride

Chapter 5 - Secrets Unravel

Elena’s POV

“Why on earth didn’t you tell me?” My voice vibrated beyond my recognition, as I held out the letter in my trembling hands.

Lucien stood with his jacket hanging loosely around his neck. Across the room, he pretended like he had no idea what I was talking about. His expression, as always, unreadable, but at the same time, he drilled me with those stormy grey eyes.

“Tell you what exactly, Elena?” His tone was too calm, and I doubted he was the one. The way one would be calm just to soothe a child throwing a tantrum.

“That our families, long before we graduated from high school, were tangled. And this contract was where it all started? That your name wasn’t new to my family? That this wasn’t in any way about saving my mother or getting me out of poverty? This was all a revenge plan.”

Lucien moved closer, his eyes burning coal. He moved slowly, deliberately, until he got to me. “Be very careful with your words. They have much weight in this house.”

“Oh, please,” I snapped, taking the courage to close up the remaining strength within me. “You have the guts to talk about weight, when you held something as heavy as this against me over all these years without my knowledge? You came knocking at my door with the contract because you knew I would sign it, that I needed my signature for my survival. What happens to the part of telling the truth?”

He smirked, clearly enjoying whatever was unfolding before us. “I was generous enough to give you only the part of the truth that matters. If I had gone ahead to spill everything, it would have become very complicated.”

“Complicated?” I let out a bitter and humorless laugh. “Finding out in this manner that my family betrayed yours? That everything you’ve ever done has nothing to do with getting your public image back, or helping my mother in the hospital, but out of revenge? That’s nothing close to complicated, Lucien, it’s manipulation.”

“Manipulation,” he repeated after me. “That’s interesting to note. And yet, with the way you apportion blame, here you are. Still under my roof, eating my food, and still mine.”

The letter crumpled in my fist out of anger, as I would have squeezed the life out of him if I had the chance. “Don’t you dare manipulate or twist this in your way, as always, to suit your claim of ownership.”

“Oh, Elena.” He stepped closer, his eyes burning with rage. “It’s not twisting, as you pointed out. It’s simply the truth. You are the one who signed yourself to me. Every word of that contract, in ways you can’t imagine, bound you lawfully to me. To me alone.”

His closeness made me almost lose my breath. It was too suffocating, too intimidating. There was already a building tension between us, and I was doing my best to avoid it. I did my best to look away, to not stare into his eyes. But he forced my chin up to his level.

“Tell me,” he murmured, his eyes never leaving mine. “Is it only hate that you have in your heart for me, right now?”

I opened my mouth to speak, desperate to discredit whatever he was forming in his head, but all of that never mattered the moment his lips found mine in a fervent, hungry kiss.

It wasn’t the gentle type. It wasn’t asking for permission. It was more of possession—very raw and heated, and at the same time, consuming. My body stiffened, my heart stopped beating. My soul searched for answers, for the meaning of whatever was happening. My heart betrayed me at the last minute, the moment I needed it most, to stand firm in decision-making. He pulled me against him, like he couldn’t get enough of me. My emotions were wild, filled with images of things I had no explanation for.

I pushed him off me, my breathing ragged when we broke apart. “You don’t get to do that to me.”

His smirk returned, that annoying grin I didn’t want to see, darker this time. “And yet, you waited a long time before stopping me. You enjoyed the kiss before pretending to push me off.”

“I…” My voice faded away as I tried to gather myself. The knots were all confusing. I was supposed to be angry—he was using me as a revenge plan—but my heart was doing a different thing altogether. “You stand here and kiss me like I meant something to you. But you are still hiding something that might destroy me.”

Lucien’s gaze sharpened, like a storm. “I’ve done nothing wrong. I hide nothing that changes what we are already.”

“What we are?” My laugh was unexpected, very shaky and bitter. “We’re a storm contract. A bargain that was never supposed to happen. Nothing more than that.”

His silence stretched on, very deafening. The kind that alerted every nerve in me. His gaze focused on me, the intensity very alarming, making it impossible for me to breathe freely. It was deliberate, to weaken my resolve.

“You believe that as of now. But you’ll learn about other things, Elena. There’s more to what you think is binding us than just ink and paper.”

What exactly is he talking about? That I’m yet to discover what is binding both of us together? Is it not enough that he lured me into signing a contract marriage with him? Why is he trying to complicate my life even more with secrecy that I never asked for? I was just fine managing on my own, until he showed up as my savior, to rescue me and my mom. But right now, he wants more than a contract marriage. His possessiveness is what I’m yet to wrap my hands around. But what I don’t know is: this new him—his obsession with me—is it also part of the revenge, or is there another reason for that?

Before I could respond to him, the door flung open!