**Chapter Three**
I couldn’t pretend anymore. The night after Adrian came back, he fucked me like always—hard, deep, growling that I was his. I moaned and came for him because my body always did what he wanted. But inside, I was breaking. The news about his engagement played over and over in my head. Isabella’s smile. His arm around her. While I waited in his bed like a good little secret.
The next morning, after he left for work with nothing more than a quick “Be ready when I get home,” I sat on the edge of the bed for a long time. My hands shook. My chest hurt. I thought about Mom in that care home, calling for a daughter she didn’t recognize. I thought about the money from Adrian’s card that paid for her room and nurses. And I thought about how much I loved a man who would never love me back.
I couldn’t do this not today, I dressed fast in a simple black dress and heels. Nothing too flashy. I called his driver and gave him the address of Vaughn Enterprises headquarters. He looked surprised in the rearview mirror but didn’t ask questions. No one ever did. That was the power of Adrian’s world.
My heart pounded the whole ride. I had never gone to his office before. Never. The contract made it clear—this was his space, his real life. I was the penthouse girl. The night girl. The one who obeyed and stayed hidden. But today the rules felt like lies. I needed to see his face when I asked about her. I needed to know if any part of him felt something real for me.
The building was huge and cold. Glass and steel that touched the sky. I walked through the big lobby, my heels clicking too loud on the marble. People in suits rushed past me like I was invisible. At the front desk, a polished receptionist looked up with a professional smile.
“Can I help you?” she asked.
“I’m here to see Adrian Vaughn,” I said. My voice came out steadier than I felt.
She raised an eyebrow. “Do you have an appointment?”
“No. But he’ll see me. Tell him it’s Elena.”
She typed something on her computer, then picked up the phone. While she spoke quietly, I stood there trying to breathe normally. That’s when the elevator doors opened across the lobby.
Isabella De Luca walked out.
She was even more beautiful in person. Tall, elegant, with perfect dark hair and a designer suit that screamed money and class. She laughed at something the man beside her said, her diamond engagement ring flashing under the lights. My stomach twisted so hard I thought I might be sick. Jealousy burned through me like fire. That should be me. Not hiding in a penthouse. Not pretending I didn’t exist. Her. Walking out of his building like she belonged there.
She didn’t even look my way. Why would she? I was nothing to her. Just air.
The jealousy exploded into something hotter. Anger. Pain. All the nights I had cried alone. All the times I had touched the bruises he left on my skin and told myself it meant something. All the love I wasn’t allowed to feel.
I didn’t wait for the receptionist to finish her call. I walked straight toward the private elevators I knew led to his floor. My legs moved on their own.
“Miss! You can’t go up there!” the receptionist called.
A secretary in a tight skirt came running after me. “Stop! Mr. Vaughn is in meetings. You need clearance!”
I ignored her. The elevator doors opened and I stepped inside, pressing the top floor button. The secretary tried to follow but I blocked her. The doors closed on her shocked face. My hands were shaking so bad I almost dropped my purse.
The ride up felt endless. My mind spun with everything I wanted to say. *How could you? Do I mean nothing? I love you, you cold bastard.* But the contract words kept echoing too. No personal talk. No emotions. No questions.
The doors opened to a quiet, expensive hallway. Another assistant jumped up from her desk. “Miss, you can’t be here!”
I pushed past her and opened the big double doors to his office.
Adrian sat behind a massive desk, looking at papers. He looked up, and for the first time ever, I saw real surprise on his face. Then it turned to anger. Cold, sharp anger.
“Elena.” His voice was low and dangerous. He stood up slowly. “What the hell are you doing here?”
The secretary burst in behind me, breathing hard. “Mr. Vaughn, I’m so sorry. She just ran past—”
“Out,” he snapped at her. The woman left fast, closing the door.
We were alone. The office was huge, with windows showing the whole city. It smelled like leather and his cologne. The same cologne that stayed on my skin after he fucked me.
I stepped closer, my heels loud on the floor. “I saw her. Isabella. Walking out like she owns the place. Like she owns *you*.”
Adrian’s jaw tightened. His dark eyes burned. “You have no right to come here. This breaks every rule.”
“I don’t care about the rules anymore!” My voice cracked. Tears burned in my eyes but I didn’t let them fall. Not yet. “You’re engaged? You announced it to the whole world while I was visiting my… while I was waiting for you like a good little mistress. You fucked me the night you came back and said nothing!”
He walked around the desk, tall and powerful in his perfect suit. The same man who pinned me down and made me scream his name. But right now he looked like a stranger. Cold. Controlled.
“Watch your mouth,” he said quietly. Too quietly. “You signed the contract, Elena. You knew exactly what this was.”
“I know what it says!” I shouted. The words poured out, messy and emotional. “No love. No questions. I’m just the girl in the penthouse. The one you fuck when you want and pay to go away. But I saw her, Adrian. She gets the ring. She gets the public life. And I get the black card and your cock and silence.”
He grabbed my arm, not hard enough to hurt but firm enough to remind me who was in charge. His touch sent heat through me even now. I hated how much I still wanted him.
“You are my mistress,” he said, each word cruel and clear. “That is your place. You signed the papers. Exclusivity. Obedience. No personal discussions. No emotions. I give you everything, money, clothes, the life you could never afford on your own. And in return, you stay in the penthouse. You spread your legs when I say. You do not come to my office. You do not question my life outside of it.”
His words cut deep. I felt them like knives. I loved this man. I had fallen so hard even when the contract warned me not to. I thought about Mom—how the money from him kept her safe in that bright, lonely room. How I had signed everything away for her. He didn’t even know her name. He didn’t know I died a little every time she called for a daughter who wasn’t there.
Tears finally fell. “I love you,” I whispered. The forbidden words hung in the air. “I know I’m not supposed to. But I do. Every time you touch me, every command you give… I fell in love with you. And now you’re marrying her?”
Adrian let go of my arm like I burned him. His face went hard. “Love has nothing to do with this. I told you from the beginning. This is an arrangement. You are a beautiful, obedient toy. Nothing more. Isabella is my future. She understands power. She fits my world. You… you are for private nights and nothing else.”
The cruelty in his voice broke something inside me. I stepped back, wiping my face. My chest felt tight, like I couldn’t get enough air. “So that’s it? I’m just a whore with a fancy apartment?”
His eyes flashed. “Don’t twist my words. You chose this. You signed for the money. Don’t act like you didn’t know your place.”
I thought about running. About leaving the penthouse and never coming back. But Mom’s face came to me—her confused smile, her thin hands. The bills that would pile up again. I had no other way. Not yet.
“I hate you,” I said softly. But even as I said it, I knew it was a lie. I loved him more than I hated him. That was the worst part.
Adrian watched me for a long moment. The anger was still there, but something else flickered—maybe surprise that I had dared to push back. He walked back to his desk and sat down like the conversation was over.
“Go home, Elena. Wait for me like you’re supposed to. We will talk about this breach tonight. And you will remember the contract. Or this ends now.”
I stood there shaking. The city stretched out behind him through the windows, big and bright and heartless. I had come here looking for answers. All I got was the truth I already knew but didn’t want to face.
I turned and walked out. The secretary stared as I passed. I didn’t care. In the elevator, I let the tears come freely. My makeup was ruined. My heart felt raw.
Back in the car, I told the driver to take me to the care home instead of the penthouse. I needed to see Mom. Even if she didn’t know me, I needed to hold her hand and remember why I was still in this cage.
The visit was the same pain as always. She called for Elena like I wasn’t sitting right there. I smiled and nodded and paid the new bill with Adrian’s card. On the way out, I sat in the car for a long time.
I would go back to the penthouse. I would wait for him tonight. I would obey.
But something had changed. The love was still there, burning and stupid. The pain was bigger now. And for the first time, I wondered how long I could keep living like this—loving a man who saw me as nothing but a contract.
