The In-Law Mistress

Chapter 4

Julian smiled slyly. His fingers traveled up, brushing against Elena's lower lip in a sensual motion.

"Calm down, Baby. Tonight, my esteemed wife is leaving town for a three-day business trip. As long as she isn't home, you will be the one replacing her in my bed. Keeping me company."

"Julian, please—"

"Don't even think about not showing up, Elena Thorne," Julian cut her off in an absolute tone of command that left no room for refusal.

He stared down at her with a highly possessive gaze. "You know exactly what the consequences are if you keep me waiting."

Before Elena could protest any further, Julian leaned his head down and captured her lips in a brief kiss. It was a deep, wet, and demanding kiss that instantly silenced all of the girl's words.

Julian then released his hold on her, casually smoothing out his slightly rumpled suit jacket. He walked back toward the private room with an effortless stride, acting as though absolutely nothing had happened.

He left Elena standing all alone in the dim hallway, her breath coming in ragged gasps and her lips burning. After taking a moment to stabilize her breathing, she walked into the private dining room, her knees still trembling.

She tried her best to control her expression so it wouldn't betray the utter chaos churning in her chest. She took the only remaining empty chair. Cruelly enough, it was positioned directly across from Julian Vance.

Just as Elena pulled out her chair and sat down, Beatrice abruptly broke the silence, shattering the quiet atmosphere of the restaurant.

"Where were you last night, Elena? Why didn't you come home?" She deliberately asked the question out loud, determined to make the girl look as bad as possible in the eyes of Richard and Julian.

The question struck Elena like a bolt of lightning out of a clear sky. Her entire body went rigid. Her heart hammered violently against her ribs.

She stole a quick glance at Julian, but the man maintained an icy, expressionless face. He acted as though the question had absolutely nothing to do with him, the very man who had confined her inside room 808 until the brink of dawn.

"What?" Richard Thorne gasped in shock. His sharp, piercing gaze immediately dug into Elena. "You didn't come home last night, Elena? Where on earth were you?!"

"Dad, I can explain—"

"Explain what exactly?" Beatrice interjected smoothly, refusing to give Elena any chance to finish her sentence.

She let out a cynical scoff, intentionally fueling her husband's anger. "An unmarried girl staying out all night without a word.

Don't tell me you were fooling around with some shady man out there, or doing something unspeakable? You are completely tarnishing the family's good name!"

"I am not doing anything like that, Beatrice! I—"

"Enough, Elena!" Richard roared.

"You are always causing trouble! Your sister, Victoria, is busy expanding the family business and making me proud. Meanwhile, you? You can't even handle college properly, and now you have the audacity to stay out all night? You truly are an ungrateful child!"

The venomous insults hurled from her own biological father's mouth felt like a knife slicing through Elena's heart. Desperate tears threatened to spill from her eyes, but she bit her lower lip with all her might to hold them back.

Beside Richard, Victoria wore a deeply satisfied smile. Thoroughly enjoying seeing Elena cornered without mercy, while Beatrice looked on with arrogance.

From across the table, Julian watched the entire toxic dynamic unfold. The man slowly set down his whiskey glass.

Beneath his rigid, ice-cold exterior, a faint glint flashed across his eyes. He finally fully realized one thing, his stepsister-in-law was completely unloved, unappreciated, and treated as a total doormat by the Thorne family.

A faint trace of pity unexpectedly brushed against the billionaire's heart. However, his ego and need for dominance reigned supreme.

To shift Elena's focus away from her family's verbal abuse, Julian slowly moved his leg beneath the table. His expensive leather dress shoe intentionally brushed against the girl's leg.

The man began to rub his firm leg and calf along the length of Elena's leg. Traveling slowly up from her ankle toward her knee, which was covered by her simple dress.

The girl let out a sharp, soft gasp. Her eyes widened, snapping directly toward Julian. Her body trembled from the intense wave of sensual electricity the man was suddenly sending her under the table, right in front of her entire family.

‘Why is he being so reckless? Please! Leave me alone. This is incredibly dangerous,’ the girl panicked internally, her mind instantly flashing back to everything they had done the night before.

Elena glared at Julian with a gaze filled with both pleading and anger, signaling him to stop his death-defying stunt. However, Julian merely raised an eyebrow.

The corner of his lips tugged upward into a faint, sexy smirk, mysterious and triumphant, meant exclusively for Elena.

His leg beneath the table grew even bolder, pressing firmly against the girl's thigh, stroking her in a slow rhythm that caused Elena's breath to quicken and her face to turn completely crimson.

"Elena, why is your face suddenly so red? Are you hiding something from Daddy?" Victoria asked out of nowhere, noticing her stepsister's sudden shift in expression.

The accumulation of disgust, panic, and suffocating pressure in Elena's chest finally pushed her to her limit. She could not stand to be in this room for another second.

"Excuse me, I need to use the restroom for a moment," she murmured in a raw voice.

She stood up hurriedly, completely ignoring Beatrice's scornful glare and her father's disappointed grumble. Elena walked quickly out, half-running towards the restroom.

She stepped into the women's restroom, washing her trembling hands at the sink while staring at her reflection in the large mirror. Her face looked completely frazzled.

‘Being trapped between a family that hates me and a brother-in-law who has made me his secret kept woman is the absolute definition of hell!’ she lamented internally.

Just as Elena was about to turn around to step into one of the stalls, the main door to the women's restroom suddenly swung open.

She expected it to be a waitress or another guest, but her heart nearly leaped out of her chest when she saw the tall, imposing figure of Julian Vance walking in calmly. The man even locked the main restroom door from the inside.

"Julian! Are you insane? This is the women's restroom!" Elena whispered in a frantic panic. She scrambled backward until her hips hit the edge of the sink counter.

Julian didn't offer a verbal reply. With wide, authoritative strides, he eliminated the distance between them. He clamped his hands around Elena's waist and flung open the furthest toilet stall with a single yank of his arm.

Before she could scream, he dragged her petite body inside the narrow stall. Closing the door and locking it from the inside.

"Julian, let me go! Someone could walk in!" Elena pounded against Julian's broad chest in sheer frustration.

The tears she had been suppressing all evening finally broke free, streaming down her cheeks. "You have no sense of place! What if they get suspicious because both of us disappeared?!"

Julian paid absolutely no heed to her protests. Instead, he pinned Elena's body tightly between his massive frame and the stall wall.

His left hand moved swiftly to lock both of Elena's wrists above her head, while his right hand possessively gripped the back of her neck. Julian tilted his head down, silencing her lips with an intense, burning, and demanding kiss.

"Mmhh .…" Elena moaned against his mouth. She tried to fight back, but Julian's physical strength was far too immense for her to overcome.

He consumed her with the exact same wildness from last night at the hotel. Drinking in his sister-in-law's sweet lips as if the girl were an addiction he could never satisfy.

The mixture of slight ache and intoxicating pleasure caused Elena's knees to slowly go weak. Forcing her to lean her entire weight against Julian's solid frame.

After a few minutes, Julian slowly broke the kiss. His breath was heavy and rapid against the crook of Elena's neck, while his thumb gently wiped away the remnants of tears dampening her soft cheek.

She stared up at Julian with glassy eyes. Her chest heaving rapidly as she tried to catch her breath.

"Why are you doing this to me, Julian? You are playing with me right in front of them!"

The man looked down into Elena's eyes, which appeared so fragile and innocent in his embrace. His cold gaze suddenly softened with a dark, sensual glint. He brought his lips close to her ear, letting his warm breath sear the sensitive skin there.

"I am not playing with you, Elena," Julian whispered in a deep, sensual baritone that sent a shiver straight through her nervous system.

The man slowly lowered the hand that was pinning her fingers. Gently brushing a stray lock of hair behind her ear with an uncharacteristic tenderness.

"I saw how they treated you out there. Your father, your stepmother, and even my ungrateful wife.” His jaw clenching for a brief second as he recalled how effortlessly Richard and Beatrice had insulted her.

Julian looked back down at the innocent face before him, a dangerous, faint smirk etched onto his handsome features. "Tell me. Do you want me to help you get even with them?"