Chapter 3

Elena

I dreamed a lot of things.

The first half was sweet — William had returned my feelings, and that grand wedding was proof enough.

Then the dream turned on me. All I could see was William's face, cold and blank.

"No!"

I jolted awake with a scream, startling Jax beside me.

"Elena, are you okay?"

He steadied me, his voice thick with guilt.

I looked around, disoriented, and realized I was lying in a hospital room. My expression shifted immediately.

"Jax, why am I in the hospital? Did you —"

I wanted to ask if he'd found out about my breast cancer. But the words caught in my throat, and suddenly I was coughing, hard.

Jax grabbed a cup of water and held it to my lips.

"Drink first. You never used to have low blood sugar. How has he been taking care of you?"

There was an edge to his voice now. Three years in prison had worn something down in him.

I blinked. "Low blood sugar?"

Since when did I have low blood sugar?

Jax kept a straight face. "That's what the doctor said. You fainted from it. Feeling better?"

Low blood sugar. I let out a quiet breath. Jax and Mary were the closest thing I had to family. The last thing I wanted was to worry them.

"I'm fine, Jax."

I thought about what he'd said before I passed out. I wanted to ask about it, but I couldn't quite bring myself to.

Jax seemed to read me anyway. He reached over and ruffled my hair gently, and for a moment he felt like the old Jax again — steady, reliable.

"Elena, I know this wasn't your choice. I was out of line earlier. Did I scare you?"

I shook my head. My eyes were starting to sting. It had been so long since anyone had looked out for me like this.

I almost said something sentimental, but Jax spoke first. "That case you're taking — is it the defamation suit? Dr. Chloe Sinclair?"

I looked at him, surprised. "How do you know about that?"

He cleared his throat. "Mary told me."

I looked down with a tired smile. "Yeah. It is."

Jax leaned forward, almost anxious. "Elena, do you actually think you can win it?"

Something about the question felt off. I studied him. "Why does it matter so much to you?"

He looked caught for just a second, then relaxed and let out a casual laugh. "I just think — if you want to keep the orphanage running, you need to win this one, right?"

That was true enough. But something still didn't sit right with me.

When I didn't say anything, Jax sighed softly. His expression turned quiet, almost sad. "There's another reason. I spent three years locked up for something I didn't do. I don't want to watch someone else get dragged through the same thing."

He meant it. I could hear it.

Part of me wanted to tell him the truth — that Chloe hadn't been smeared, that the rumors were real.

But I couldn't get the words out. Not with the way Jax was looking at me, open and earnest, someone who'd already been through enough.

Did he really need me to tear apart my own marriage and lay it out in front of him?

---

William

"Was Elena alone when she went back to the orphanage?"

I sat with my back to Blake, voice flat.

He didn't answer right away. Like he hadn't expected that to be my question.

"No, sir. Miss Vance was with a young man, mid-twenties, around six-one, slim build, reasonably good-looking. They seemed pretty familiar with each other."

I crushed the teacup in my hand.

"Mr. Holloway!" Blake's voice jumped. "Are you hurt?"

I pulled out my handkerchief, wiped the blood away without looking at it, and turned to face him. "She agreed to take Chloe's case, and you just left?"

Blake understood immediately that he'd made a mistake. He dropped his head. "I apologize, Mr. Holloway. I thought that was what you wanted."

I slammed my hand on the desk. "You presumptuous idiot."

Blake's shoulders tensed. He'd worked under me for two years — longer than any assistant before him — but my temper still rattled him.

"I was wrong, Mr. Holloway. Whatever punishment you see fit."

I pressed two fingers to the bridge of my nose. "Get out."

He slipped out quietly, and I heard him exhale the moment the door clicked shut.

I stared at nothing.

If I remembered right, today was the day that Jax got out.

And Elena had gone running to him without a second thought.

The nerve of her.

The anger stayed with me all day. I wore it on my face without trying to hide it, and by the end of the afternoon, every executive and business partner in the building had learned to stay out of my way.

By nine o'clock, the last of the day's work was done. I got up, got in my car, and drove home.

I pushed open the front door. "Elena. Come down here."

Upstairs, I heard footsteps — hurried, a little clumsy.

Once, that sound used to mean her. Running down the stairs to meet me, face lit up, so obviously happy I'd come home.

The image softened something in me for just a moment.

Then I frowned.

"Martha? Where's Elena?"

Martha was scrubbing at her face, still half in her work clothes, visibly flustered. "Ma'am — ma'am hasn't come home, sir. Not at all today."

Ma'am hasn't come home.

The words turned over in my head.

Bad enough she'd gone to see that man the moment he walked out of prison. But she still hadn't come back?

A cold smile crept onto my face.

I had let this woman get away with far too much.

"She's having too good a time to bother, is she?" I said. "Martha, change the door code. And tell the rest of the staff — no one lets Elena in. Not for any reason."

She was an orphan with no parents, no real friends. Without the Holloway house, where exactly was she going to go?