Heart of Stone

Wedding

In the darkness of Alexander's bedroom, his phone lit up on the nightstand. He lay awake, anticipation chasing sleep from him. He glanced at LouLou's sleeping figure beside him, nude beneath his white sheets. Her body was slender and perfect, the right amount of curves in all the right places. Her hair was splayed messily over his pillow, a result of his fingers tangling in them as he claimed her body for his own once again. She slept peacefully, safely, his scent clinging to her skin, and knew he would never regret the decisions he'd made.

He picked up his phone, unsurprised to find Sebastian's name displayed across the screen. It was a text message.

"Check your email."

Careful, so as not to wake her, Alexander slipped out of bed. He pulled on a pair of loose black sweatpants and quietly exited the bedroom. He retrieved his laptop from his bag and opened it up on the marble island. He opened his email and found the one from Julian Styles. He clicked on it and lowered the volume as the video came to life. He watched the tearful confession in full, a sense of deep satisfaction coming over him.

He downloaded the video and placed it into a locked file. He then returned his laptop to the computer bag and crept back into the bedroom. Silently, he retrieved LouLou's phone from the nightstand on her side and touched the screen. He was met with a prompt to enter a password, but he'd watched her put it in enough times that he easily guessed it. It was Luna's name. He admired her innocence, and the lack of a need for high security in her life, and he would do whatever he needed to keep it that way for her. He brought up her email and deleted the one from Julian Styles.

The next night Eloise and Alexander sat curled up on his couch in his living room, the television mostly on for background noise as she read a book, and he caught up on some work-related tasks on his computer. Luna was curled in her dog bed that Eloise had retrieved from home, snoozing peacefully. The news came on, and it immediately caught Eloise's attention.

She turned the volume up as the words across the screen made her heart thump in her chest and the news anchor began speaking in their familiar monotonous drone.

"Julian Styles, of Titanium Global, was arrested last night after an anonymous phone call to police along with a chilling confessional video that was received by numerous clients on his email list. Sources confirm there has been enough evidence collected to charge him with embezzlement, fraud, trafficking, sexual assault, and a veritable laundry list of other offenses."

After a frozen beat, she turned to look at Alexander, who was watching her carefully out of the corner of his eye. His face was unreadable, nothing besides a mask of his usual detached calm, but something inside her knew.

"Alex..." She hesitated, unsure if she really wanted to know. "Um...did you know about this?"

He faced her fully, his dark eyes consuming her. He studied her a moment, his silence full of answers.

"Whether I did or I didn't doesn't change anything between us." He began, gauging her reaction. "But even if it does, you need not worry because I promise you, I will always take care of you and I will never do anything that doesn't have your best interests in mind."

Eloise pursed her lips together for a moment, understanding for the first time what it was like to have the magnitude of power that came with wealth and status like Alexander's. He closed his laptop and set it on the coffee table, opening his arms for her. She immediately went to him, curling herself into his strong embrace, allowing herself to revel in a feeling of safety and protection for the first time in her life. Her grandfather had been right about him, he was good for her, and she knew he would never allow anyone to harm her ever again.