Bound to my Enemy-Chapter 175.

Mt fingers tap once against the table, I should have known kn better. People like Claire rarely walk away quietly when they feel humiliated, especially when emotions are involved.

I push away from the table and walk toward the kitchen counter, grabbing a glass of water.

What I didn’t anticipate was Claire coming back years later to throw it in my face like this.

That’s the part I miscalculated. I thought she was handled and settled. I let out a quiet curse under my breath. My grip tightens slightly around the glass when my mind drifts back to what she admitted.

The man, the one who hurt Elaine years ago and Claire dragging him back into her life like he was just another tool in some stupid revenge game.

The thought alone makes my jaw tighten even though the bastard already paid for what he did, I made sure of that personally but hearing Claire talk about him today... If he were still alive, I’d drag him back just to kill him all over again. I would do it slowly this time, taking my sweet sweet time.

I set the glass d down harder than I mean to. Truth is, if I wanted to stop Claire earlier tonight, I could have.

The second she started talking, the second she opened her mouth about Elaine. One word from me and Aaron would’ve dragged her out before she got three sentences in. Hell, if I really wanted to, I could have ended it permanently. I would have killed her right there and then, I could easily have wringed out that neck of hers.

People disappear every day in this city and with the kind of power r I have, making someone vanish isn’t even difficult. I could bury her so deep the world would forget she ever existed.

But I didn’t do it.... Not because she exposed me, I’ve dealt with worse than that.

What stopped me was Elaine..... I couldn’t do it in front of her.

She’s too soft for that kind of thing, even after everything Claire admitted... even after the anger and the slaps and the screaming... Elaine still wouldn’t stomach watching someone she once loved or still probably love get killed in front of her or beaten half to death.

So I held back.... Fot her.

Which is strange when I really think about it, because no one crosses me and walks away.

That’s always s been the rule.

Always.

And yet today I let Claire walk out that door breathing because of my wife.

I stand there in the quiet house thinking about that for a while.....about how easily I could’ve ended it.....About how easily I didn’t and that’s when another thought creeps in.

Why? Why did I stop myself? Why did Elaine matter enough for me to change the way I would normally handle something like this?

I rub the back of my neck slowly.

I don’t remember deciding that she mattered that much but somewhere along the way... Apparently she did.

Elaine’s POV

Evening settles slowly over the house. I know because I’ve been lying here long enough to watch the light in the room change. The pale afternoon sun that had been slipping through the curtains is gone now, replaced by the dim yellow glow of the bedside lamp I turned on hours ago.

I haven’t moved much since I came into this room.

My head is resting against the headboard, my legs are stretched out under the blanket but I’m not comfortabl, not even a little.

My mind just keeps replaying everything Claire said...every single word. I press the heel of my hand against my forehead and close my eyes.

God.

Just thinking about it again makes my chest feel tight....

A soft knock pulls me out of my thoughts.

I don’t answer though, I consider pretending to be asleep but then the door opens slowly.

"Elaine, dear?"

Margaret’s voice fills the room gently as I open my eyes, She’s standing just inside the doorway holding a tray the smell of food reaches me almost immediately.... Something roasted.

My stomach twists again but not from hunger.

I push myself up a little straighter against the headboard as she walks in.

Margaret closes the door behind her with her elbow and carries the tray over to the small table beside the bed.

"I brought you something to eat."

She sets the tray down carefully, the plate clinking softly against the wood.

Then she looks at me, her expression is the same one she always wears when she’s worried about me.

"Come, eat a little."

I shake my head immediately.

"I’m not hungry."

My voice sounds rough even to my own ears.

Margaret doesn’t move, Instead she folds her arms lightly across her chest and looks at me the way someone looks at a stubborn child.

"You didn’t eat much for breakfast either."

My eyes drop to the blanket covering my legs.

"I’m fine."

The words feel empty.

Margaret makes a soft sound under her breath like she doesn’t believe that for a second.

"I know that look," she says gently.

"And that look means you’re not fine."

I don’t respond, instead I stare at the steam rising slowly from the food on the tray.

For a moment neither of us says anything, then Margaret nudges the tray a little closer to me.

"Just a few bites," she says softly.

"You need the strength."

I lift my head and look at her, something has been sitting in the back of my mind since earlier. A small uncomfortable thought that refuses to leave.

Margaret notices the way I’m staring.

"What is it, dear?"

My fingers tighten slightly in the blanket as I hesitate. Paer of me doesn’t even want to ask because once the question is out there... I can’t take it back.

Still... i ask it anyway.

"Margaret..." My voice comes out quieter than I expect.

She waits patiently.

"Yes?"

I swallow.

"Did you know?"