Slamming the door shut, Kian strode into the living room. His heavy footsteps echoed the thud in Elara's chest. He didn't speak. He didn't need to. Every muscle in his body screamed accusation. Elara looked up from the book she wasn't really reading. Her pulse quickened. Kian’s face was a mask of cold fury, his jaw clenched so tight it looked painful. “Where were you?” His voice was a low growl, barely above a whisper, yet it vibrated with a dangerous intensity that made the air crackle. She swallowed, trying to project calm she didn't feel. “I went for a walk.” Kian let out a short, humorless laugh. “A walk? Is that what you call it now?” He moved closer, his eyes, usually a warm hazel, now chips of glacial ice. “Or were you just taking a stroll down memory lane with Julian Thorne?” Elara’s breath hitched. He knew. How? Dread coiled in her stomach, mixing with a sudden, hot anger. “How did you know?” she demanded, dropping her pretense of ignorance. Her voice came out sharper than intended. Kian’s lips thinned. “You think I don’t know what goes on in my own house? You think you can sneak around behind my back and I won't find out?” His hand shot out, not touching her, but slamming flat against the wall beside her head. The impact rattled a small framed picture. She flinched, but quickly straightened her spine. “I wasn’t sneaking. I met him. So what?” “So what?” His voice rose, a dangerous edge replacing the low growl. “So what, Elara? You meet with the man who tried to sabotage me, who tried to ruin my company, who lied to you about me, and you ask ‘so what’?” He stepped back, running a hand through his dark hair, frustration radiating off him in waves. Her chest tightened. “He told me things, Kian. Things about the past. Things you never bothered to explain.” “What could he possibly tell you that’s true?” Kian scoffed, his eyes blazing. “He’s a liar, a manipulator. He’s obsessed with tearing me down.” “And you’re not?” Elara shot back, heat rising in her own cheeks. “You’re so quick to condemn him, but what about your own actions? You dragged me into this mess. You married me under false pretenses.” Kian's eyes narrowed to slits. “False pretenses? You think what we have is false?” His gaze swept over her, possessive and intense. “You think the life I’ve given you is false?” “You forced me into this marriage!” she cried, finally letting her own frustration boil over. “You bought my family’s debt. You made me sign a contract I barely understood.” “And you think Julian would have offered you a better alternative?” Kian’s voice dripped with scorn. “He’s using you, Elara. He always has been. He fills your head with nonsense to get to me.” “Is it nonsense?” Elara’s voice trembled with a mix of hurt and defiance. “He showed me documents. He talked about your father, about a business deal gone wrong. He said you ruined his family.” Kian’s face went rigid. A vein pulsed in his temple. “He showed you what? That rat.” He clenched his fists, knuckles white. “He has no right. None of that concerns you. It's ancient history.” “It concerns me when you refuse to talk about it,” she countered, stepping forward, anger eclipsing her fear. “It concerns me when you act like I’m a child who can’t handle the truth. It concerns me when Julian, the supposed enemy, tells me more than my own husband.” He stared at her, a profound disappointment clouding his features, mixed with his rage. “My husband? You call me your husband, yet you run to another man the first chance you get. You doubt everything I say, everything I do.” “Because you don’t give me a reason not to!” Elara shouted, her voice cracking. “You keep secrets. You push me away. One moment you’re cold and distant, the next you’re… you’re almost kind. I don't know what to believe!” Kian closed the distance between them in two swift strides. His hands landed on her shoulders, his grip tight, almost bruising. His eyes bored into hers, a stormy tempest. “You believe Julian’s lies over me? After everything? After I told you to stay away from him?” “What exactly have you told me, Kian?” She tried to pull away, but his grip was unyielding. “You tell me to trust you, but you never offer any trust in return. You demand loyalty, but you don’t explain anything.” Her voice rose, desperation creeping in. “You just expect me to follow blindly, to accept whatever you dictate.” “I expect you to be loyal to *me*,” he ground out, his face inches from hers. “Not to some phantom past Julian conjures up. I expect you to choose *me*.” “Choose you?” Elara scoffed, a bitter laugh escaping her lips. “Choose you over what? The truth? My own sanity? You don’t even tell me the truth about why you hate him so much. You just expect me to side with you, no questions asked.” He shook her gently, his eyes burning into hers. “There’s nothing to tell you. He’s a parasite. End of story.” “No, it’s not the end of the story, Kian!” she cried, tears blurring her vision. All the hidden pain, the confusion, the feeling of being trapped, erupted. “You don’t understand *anything* about why I left you!”

Chapter 24: Kian's Fury