Chapter 271: Little Rewards, Little Slaps

Without Giselle Frost blocking the way, the private jet took off soon after.

Serena Blackwood did not want to waste even a minute. She brought Elias back to the States as quickly as the flight plan, the crew, and her own private permissions allowed.

Only once he was back on her ground would she have the confidence to keep him protected. Only there, inside the reach of her people, her house, her company, her doctors, her drivers, her locks, could she make sure what had happened on the plane before departure did not happen again.

Elias sat by the window with one hand propping up his cheek, staring out at the clouds.

The light outside was blinding. The kind of white that made the world look clean from above, as if nothing ugly could possibly exist beneath those endless layers of vapor. He watched it for a while, absent in a way that made Serena’s chest tighten.

She was afraid he was still thinking about Giselle.

Afraid those few desperate sentences before takeoff had managed to leave something behind.

Serena did not show it. She only slid closer without a sound and wrapped one arm around his waist. Her lips hovered near his ear, so close her breath brushed the loose hair at his temple.

"I’m sorry," she said softly. "Once the company mess is handled, I’ll take you somewhere better to see the ocean."

Elias turned his head.

He smiled at her, faint and clean, with no trace of the headache that had torn through him earlier.

"Okay. You wouldn’t lie to me. I know that."

After the long trip, he was exhausted. Too exhausted, even, to keep up his usual spoiled little temper. His voice had lost its bright edge. The words came out docile, almost drowsy, and that made Serena’s heart ease in a place she had not realized was clenched.

She studied his face for a moment.

No strain. No suspicion. No sudden fear when he looked at her. Nothing strange at all.

Only then did she let out a small breath.

What she feared most was that Giselle’s words would make him remember something. Fortunately, heaven had stood on her side. Elias had remembered nothing.

Serena’s eyes narrowed slightly.

Coldness passed through them.

If even that much could not make Elias recall the truth, then even if Giselle guessed what Serena had done to him, she would still be helpless. A suspicion with no way in was only a bruise. It hurt, but it did not kill.

Serena grew more certain.

"Serena," the young man in her arms murmured, leaning his head against her chest. "When are we landing?"

His voice was lazy with fatigue.

Serena’s tone softened at once. "Hold on a little longer. We’re already above the city."

Elias nodded slightly and turned his gaze back to the window. Beneath the wing, the cloud cover had thinned, and the city below showed itself in broken pieces: glass towers, wide highways, the silver flash of water in the distance, blocks of wealth arranged so neatly they looked less like neighborhoods than assets.

"We’re already here?" he said. "Then I guess I should fly more often. I can’t even remember what the place I live in looks like from above."

The words were casual.

Serena’s hand tightened around his waist.

Only a little.

Then she laughed softly, as if nothing were wrong. "All right. However many flights you want, you can have them."

Elias immediately started swinging.

"Damn capitalists," he said, his tone changing on the spot. "Do you know how expensive jet fuel is for a round trip? Why not just cash it out and give it to me?"

[System Theta: Were you just trying to make Serena Blackwood value you more?]

Elias answered without moving his lips, still leaning in Serena’s arms like a pampered boy too tired to sit up straight.

’Yeah. A person like Serena, once she gets what she wants, even if she wanted it desperately before, even if the process of getting it nearly killed her, her attitude will start getting careless over time. That’s not exactly her fault. It’s basically human nature. I’m no exception either. That’s why you give her a piece of candy and a slap now and then, so she never dares stop caring.’

[System Theta: That does make sense, but isn’t the interval between your slaps a little short? Does that really count as "now and then"?]

Elias ignored the complaint.

A thought suddenly came to him.

’Right, I remember systems can monitor target physical conditions. Check Giselle for me. Is she dead?’

[System Theta: Oh, okay. Let me see... Hm?!]

’Don’t act like that,’ Elias said. ’I said those things on purpose. I was provoking her, pushing her to grow until she can actually stand against Serena. But I’m still a little worried she couldn’t take it. If something happened, that would be a disaster. That’s why I’m asking.’

He paused.

’She’s probably not dead, right?’

[System Theta: Mm...]

Elias was satisfied.

’That’s what I thought. Good.’

[System Theta: Nothing about this is good!]

The jet landed smoothly.

Waiting for them at the private terminal were Liora Voss and several senior Blackwood Group employees. All of them had enough status that their presence meant something, and enough training that their expressions meant nothing unless they chose otherwise.

Clearly, Serena had been cautious.

If she was going to put on a show, she would do it properly. She had called in the "cast" and dressed the whole arrival in corporate urgency, creating the impression that something serious had happened at the company and required her immediate return.

In practice, the setup was not even much of a lie.

Serena was a workaholic by nature. Her calendar could crush ordinary people flat on a normal week. Add in the fact that she had been tracking Giselle for days, then had left for the Maldives the moment Giselle booked the trip, and the amount of company business waiting for her now was probably ugly enough to make the employees at the terminal stand straighter.

Returning home with Elias meant she had won.

It also meant she had bought herself a brutal stretch of work.

Liora stood near the waiting cars, her posture neat, her smile caught somewhere between sympathy and entertainment. She looked at Serena, then at Elias in Serena’s arms, and the corner of her mouth lifted.

"Sis," Liora said, "did you have fun on your little vacation?"

She did not seem surprised that Serena had brought Elias back.

After all, Elias had been at Giselle’s side for quite a while. It made sense that he would be tired of that frozen campus routine by now. Following Serena home looked, from the outside, like the easiest possible outcome. A current carrying him where he had wanted to go anyway.

Serena glanced at Liora.

"Shut up and drive," she said with a laugh, half scolding, half too pleased to put any force behind it.

Then she carried Elias with her into the back seat.

Liora slid into the driver’s seat herself. The company employees stayed behind with the rest of the staff, peeling away to handle luggage, paperwork, security, and whatever polite fiction had been prepared for the terminal.

The car was waiting directly beneath the sheltered exit, black and immaculate, its tinted windows turning the private lane into something distant and unreal. Inside, the air held that expensive, controlled chill that made every outside temperature irrelevant.

Liora watched through the rearview mirror.

Serena’s mood was excellent.

That alone made Liora curious.

"Sis," she said, starting the car, "your work..."

Serena knew exactly what Liora was hinting at.

No. Hinting was too polite. This was practically a direct reminder.

So what if there was a mountain of work waiting? She had brought Elias back. What else could affect her mood after that?

If a few exhausting company days were the price she had paid to bring him home, then she would gladly pay that price a thousand times.

The thought made Serena’s fingers pause against Elias’s waist.

No.

There was no need to trade anymore.

This was the last time Elias would leave her. From now on, she would not let anyone take him from her side again.

Serena shook off the thought and smiled at Liora.

"So what if there’s a lot of work?" she said. "As long as I’m taking Eli out to have fun, I’m happy no matter how tired I get."

Before Liora could respond, Elias gave the most direct reaction.

He rolled his eyes at Serena, though there was laughter in them. "That’s so cheesy."

Serena lowered her gaze to him with a warmth so real it almost looked safe.

Almost.

Liora laughed too. "If you don’t feel tired yourself, I guess I have nothing to say."

Then, suddenly, Elias snorted.

"You talk too much," he said coldly. "Just drive."

Liora’s hand paused on the steering wheel.

Only for a fraction of a second.

Then she acted as though nothing had happened and smiled lightly.

"Sure, sure. I’ll shut up."

Inside, curiosity stirred.

What was Elias playing at now?

After Serena had started suspecting what was going on between the two of them, Elias had stopped interacting with Liora in front of her. Even when they exchanged words, it was rare and measured. Most of their contact had moved into private messages and stray moments, little hooks thrown out and pulled back before anyone could call them proof.

That had been the smarter game.

So what was this?

Was he planning to dance on the blade again?

Liora lifted her eyes to the rearview mirror.

Serena’s smile was bright enough to be startling.

Not the polite Blackwood smile she used on boards, donors, and people she intended to crush later. This one had texture. It was radiant, moving, embarrassingly genuine. Liora could not remember the last time she had seen Serena look like this.

She did not know what Elias had done.

But she could be certain of one thing.

Her sister had already fallen so deeply that there was no longer the slightest chance of her escaping Elias’s palm.

The fake portion of Liora’s smile became a little more real.

She turned the wheel with smooth hands and drove toward the Blackwood residence.

The city opened around them, steel and glass sliding past the tinted windows. The private terminal road fed into a secured lane, then into wider traffic where ordinary cars kept a respectful distance without knowing why they were doing it. The Blackwood car moved like it belonged to infrastructure, not traffic.

In the back seat, Serena held Elias close.

Elias let her.

That was the worst part of him, Liora thought. The part most women failed to understand until they were already inside the trap. He could accept a woman’s protection, her money, her arms, her home, even her delusion, and still make it feel like he was the one granting permission.

A man like that should have been ridiculous.

Instead, he was dangerous.

A strange sound came from the back seat.

Not a crash. Not a protest. Something smaller and more private, a soft shift of fabric, a breath caught and swallowed too quickly.

Liora lifted her eyes to the rearview mirror again.

What she saw there made one brow rise.

In the back seat, Elias was sitting on Serena’s lap.

His right arm was hooked around Serena’s neck, his fingers buried lightly at the nape as he kissed her with an intensity that looked both absorbed and deliberate. Serena had one hand at his waist and the other against his back, holding him like someone afraid he might disappear if she left even an inch of space.

Liora’s gaze stayed on the mirror for another second.

So that was it.

Was he doing it for her to see?

A little surprise after coming home?

Liora smiled and shook her head.

So half-hearted.