ELENA CARLSON

My eyes slowly peeled open and the world around me felt like a blur. A sharp pain ran from my head down to my eyes as the light beside me shone on them.

My eyes slowly adjusted to the light and that was when my eyes fell on the man by my side. He was naked, and he had his back turned to me. Since his breathing was slow, and peaceful, I could tell that he was asleep.

My eyes fell on my body, I was naked too.

Shit!

Shit!

Shit!

It was all coming back to me now. I had met this man yesterday and I had asked him to take me upstairs. I had requested for him to fuck me.

Fuck, why did I remember every detail of how I screamed when he made me cum multiple times? I thought hangovers made people forget things like that.

I had to get out of there before he woke up. I couldn't stand the shame of looking a stranger in the eyes and saying, “Sorry, last night was a mistake,”

I gently tiptoed out of the bed, picking up pieces of my clothing that was scattered all around the room. I slipped into them as quietly as I could and that was when I noticed that my panties were missing.

“Fuck,” I cursed out, squatting to see if it was under the bed. It wasn't.

I heard a sound coming from above me and I almost froze in place. It was from the stranger.

Shit. Was he waking up? I decided to crawl my way out of the room, forgoing my panties. As soon as I reached the door, I got on my feet to scurry away.

But I heard my name and I froze again. “Elena, Elena,” a masculine voice called out.

Fuck! It was him. I didn’t bother turning around to confirm as I bolted out of the door, descending the steps, hurriedly. I didn't stop running till I was at the bus stop. And my heart didn’t stop beating wildly till I got on a bus.

My head was spinning with a mixture of an early morning sprint and hangover. That was the worst walk of shame ever. My mind flickered back to the stranger.

“He called my name,” I whisper to myself.

I didn't remember telling him my name. How the fuck did he know my name?

TWO WEEKS LATER

I made my way to the elevator and pressed the button that would take me to the tenth floor. I exhaled as the elevator doors slid close.

“It is going to be fine, Elena,” I muttered to myself.

But I knew it wouldn’t.

I was on my way to another job interview, the fifth I had been to in the last two weeks. As soon as they check my records and see that I was an ex-convict, they immediately end the interview and never call me back. I was beginning to get really frustrated.

The elevator door flung open, and I stepped out. I adjusted my blue skirt, which I borrowed from Emily. It wasn't even reaching my knees and I was trying so hard for it to appear professional. So I wouldn't look like some ex-convict slut here to seduce the boss.

I made my way to the front desk and approached the brunette lady at the receptionist counter.

“Hi, I am Elena Carlson, here for the interview,” I greeted her with a smile on my face, but she didn't smile back.

“Ms. Carlson, you are a minute late.” She eyed me as if that would make up for the lost time. “The CEO is already waiting for you,”

My heart skipped a wild beat, “The CEO?” I asked.

“Yes, The CEO of ATLAS HOLDINGS. Right this way,” she gestured as she made her way through the hallway while I trailed after her, my mind racing. Why was I meeting the CEO of this big corporation? As soon as he finds out that I was an ex-convict, he would have me thrown out for wasting his time.

“Right here,” she announced when we got to our destination. She pulled the door open, revealing a gigantic modern office. I took a glance at the office but my eyes fell on the figure who had his back to me, staring at the window, staring at a distance.

He had broad shoulders, wearing a navy blue tailored suit. I stepped into the room and the door shut behind me. The brunette had left me to my fate.

He turned around to face me and that was when my heart actually left my body. My jaw dropped, and my eyes widened in disbelief.

“You…you…” I stuttered.

A knowing smile formed on his lips as he strode toward me, extending his hand to me, “Nice to meet you again, Elena,”

No fucking way. He was the stranger I had sex with two weeks ago.

“You are…You are…” I stuttered.

“I am Atlas Grant, the CEO of this company,” he introduced himself.

Atlas Grant. The name echoed repeatedly in my head.

Atlas Grant.

Grant.

Grant!

“Grant!” I exclaimed, “As in, Son of Richard Grant?”

He nodded and my head began to spin again.

I was so fucked. So so fucked.

“Elena, Elena,” he called out, as I began to back away, staggering. He held me, his hand gently gripping my wrist. “I know what you are thinking,” He muttered in a low tone.

“You are… you are the brother to Braden and Luke Grant?” I asked again, even though I damn well knew the answer. He nodded again and that was when I realized how fucked I was.

I had fucked the brother of my late and ex-husband.

Talk about the worst luck one could ever have.

I yanked my hands away from him, “You fucking piece of trash. You knew who I was, you fucked me knowing who I was,” I spat at him, my eyes burning with tears. Why did the Grants kept fucking me over?

“Hear me out, Elena. It is not what you think,” he tried to explain himself but I held up a hand to his face.

“Oh, please,” I scoffed a bitter laugh before I turned around to leave, making my way to the door. “All you Grant family are sick and fucking sadist,” I snarled about to pull the doorknob when I heard it slam back shut.

“Let me the fuck out, you Psycho,” I yelled at him, surprised that I didn't hear him follow me. That was when he pulled me to him, by my waist. My fist clenched, ready to hit his rock-hard chest, but he pulled me closer, closing the distance between us.

“Let me go,”

“Calm the fuck down Elena,” he growled and that was when my eyes met his, I tilted my head to meet his gaze as he towered over me, his chest pressing against mine, burning me, sending heatwaves all over my body.

“Listen to me Elena, It is not what you think,”

“Then what is it? you fucked me knowing who I was and pretended not to, was it revenge sex, haven't you Grants done enough?” I snorted, trying to wiggle my way out of his grip but he tightened his grasp on me, leaving no distance between us.

“No, it is not like that, yes, I am a Grant but I am the illegitimate son of Richard Grant, Braden and Luke are my half-brothers,”

I stared at him, Braden did mention he had a half-brother, but I never met him.

“I know what they did to you, and I am here to help you bring them down, I am here to help you make Luke pay and get back all he had stolen away from you.”

ATLAS GRANT

SEVEN YEARS AGO

“ I am here to visit, Elena Carlson,” I muttered to the guard in the black and white striped uniform. My voice was shaky. This would be the first time I stepped into a prison.

Elena is a stranger to me, I mean, she doesn't know me. But I know her.

“And who are you?” the Guard with the unlinked goatee had asked. I hesitated, not sure if I should give my real name.

“Atlas, Atlas Jasper,” I responded, Jasper was my middle name.

He buzzed me in and I made my way to the visitor area. I sat down, gently tapping the table nervously as I waited for Elena, she had not been convicted yet. Her trial would be in a few days, and I was here to stop her from making the biggest mistake of her life.

She strode in with handcuffs in her hands, her eyes were dim and her eye patches faded in pale yellow. Her hair was messy and it looked like she had lost a few pounds. I adjusted my sunshades and fake mustache.

I had worn a disguise because I didn't want her to know who I was.

She approached the table and sat down, staring at me, she didn't say a word.

Gosh, she is so beautiful, despite being in prison Orange she radiated like the sun, her essence gently being accentuated by her aura, her calm presence breathing a soothing stillness to the air.

“How… How are you doing?” I stuttered, not really sure what to say. She glanced at me. Her eyes scrutinized me.

“Do I know you?” she asked, clenching her fist to the table as her gaze pierced through mine, she was trying to make out my face.

“No but I know you, I know you are Elena and you are married to Luke Grant,” I responded, adjusting my glasses.

“Congratulations you can google,” she muttered, her tone laced with sarcasm.

“I know that you are innocent, I saw you that night, you were not the one driving, Luke was, you are taking the fall for him, Elena,” I spoke in a low tone, her gaze widened, her hands clasped onto the table firmer.

“You know nothing,” she simply responded.

“Elena, don't go to prison for a douchebag like Luke, he is not worth it,”

“How dare you, come here to tell me what I should do and not do,” she snapped, “I don't know who the fuck you are but it is none of your business,” she stood up from the chair.

“Elena, I just want to help, Luke Grant is evil,”

“And you are a saint?” she asked and I hesitated before responding. I stood up from the seat and tried to reach to her, my hands gently grazing hers. I expected her to shove my hands away but she didn't.

She froze at my touch, my eyes piercing hers.

“Elena, don't do this, you will regret this,” I spoke in a low tone. She glanced at me, I could feel her heaving breath on my skin.

“Who are you?” she asked.

I wished I could respond to tell her everything. But I couldn't.

PRESENT DAY

The name Atlas Grant was plastered on the door.

Being a Grant had always gotten me through doors.

But I had never felt like a Grant.

I was the illegitimate son of Richard Grant, the son people called a mistake. My mum, who was the maid, had an affair with Richard Grant.

It didn't also help that he had two sons before me.

Braden Grant, the first and probably the only Grant who liked me. He was painfully stolen from us by the cruel arms of cancer.

Then there was Luke, Luke Grant is a fortunate son of a bitch. He had always wiggled his way to the top in the shadiest way.

I am no saint either, don't get me wrong. I can't even say I am, but Luke had no moral scruples whatsoever.

You are just a bastard son, birthed from our father’s inability to keep his dick in his pants,” Luke had once said to me. We were just teenagers then.

Of course that earned him a punch, we got into a fight and my father grounded me. Just me.

That had fueled my hatred for Luke.

“I know what they did to you, and I am here to help you bring them down, I am here to help you make Luke pay and get back all he had stolen away from you.”

I had gotten her attention. She glanced at me, the same way she had glanced at me seven years ago when I was a stranger to her. The same way she had glanced at me two weeks ago when I made love to her.

Gosh, those eyes, they were breathtaking.

“You don't know anything about me, you are just some twisted sociopath,” she snarled, trying to squeal away but unable to do so.

“I know that you went to prison because of Luke, I know that you sacrificed your life for him and he stole the inheritance Braden left for you,” I explained, trying not to divulge too much, so she wouldn't think I was a stalker.

“Of course you would know that, you are part of that monstrous family,” she snapped. “Look here mister, I don't know what kind of twisted game you are playing, I want none of it. I just want to be left the fuck alone,” she tries to wiggle her way again out of my grip but my grasp was firm, I didn't want to lose her, not this time again.

“Elena, can you stop being so stubborn and listen to me, I am on your side here and I want to help you gain back all you lost,”

“Oh no, I am stubborn?” she scoffed, “I don't need your help, I don't want anything to do with you Grants, how many times do I have to say it,” she snarled and paused, I exhaled hoping she would calm down but she didn't.

“You slept with me knowing perfectly well who I was,”

“Don’t put it like that,”

“Oh sorry, I mean, you fucked me, knowing I was your brother’s ex-convict wife,”

I couldn't help but chuckle, there was this humor and beauty to the way she spoke, the way she smiled and gazed at me, it made me want to protect her, to help her, to be there for her… my thoughts trailed off for a moment. “My step-brother,” I corrected.

It made me want to WANT her.

“Let go,” she pushed, this time so hard, and I let her go, “Go fuck yourself,” she snapped and was storming towards the door when I called out.

“I will pay you 10 million dollars if you help me bring down Luke,”

She stopped abruptly, veering around to gaze at me, she didn't say a word for a moment, “You think you can buy me with money?” she glared at me.

“I am not buying you, I need a service and you can render that service, so why shouldn't I pay you for that service.”

She remained silent, scrutinizing me, I could tell her thoughts trailed off, and then she finally broke the silence, “Why are you doing this?”

“I already told you, we want the same thing. I want to bring down Luke and you want the same thing too, so why can't we work together,” I replied in a calm tone, tucking my hands in my pockets while leaning on my desk, she took a few steps close to me.

“How can I trust you?” she asked, skepticism etched all over her face.

“It is a risk you would have to take for the greater good,” I paused and stood up from the desk, tilting my head towards her. “And what do you have to lose, you already lost everything,”

She gazed at me, “I have nothing to lose,” she muttered. “Why does it feel like I am about to make a deal with the son of the devil,”

I chuckled. “Don’t be modest Elena, if we make this deal, you would be making it with the Devil himself,”

ELENA CARLSON

Who is Atlas Grant?

This man standing here offering me 10 million dollars to take down Luke Grant was a complete stranger to me.

“What do I have to lose?” I had said earlier on but now that I stare into his eyes, there was this darkness in it that I could not place my hands on. If he had ten million dollars to give away, why didn't the Grants go after him and not me.

Braden was rich, he had two successful businesses, one in the clothing line and one as an investor in a firm. But he wasn't “Give away 10 fucking Millon dollar” kind of rich.

“Elena, I would need you to give me an answer, so that I can have my Lawyers draw up a contract,” his voice was calm again, almost too calm and his expression unreadable. I hate when people’s face don't give off their intentions.

Mostly you can tell the intent from their expression but with Atlas, there was nothing. Point blank. “A contract with the devil, I see,” I muttered, the words playing on my lips a little bit long.

“Don't see it that way Elena,” he smirked, it was infuriating how good he looked when he grinned devilishly. how his lips carved out my name in a way that made my legs tremble at those words.

“How am I to see it Atlas? Because from where I am standing you knew who I was, you fucked me knowing who I was, and now you are proposing a deal and I have no idea who you are,” I snarled, the more the words came out of my lips the more I tilted towards refusal.

“You know things about me, you know about my sick family, you know I am the illegitimate son of an asshole dad and you know what it looks like when I am butt naked, from where I am standing, I might as well just hand you over my social security number,”

My cheeks flustered pink in embarrassment and I prayed to whatever deity roamed the universe to split it into two and swallow me, but I didn't want to show him the effect his words have on me, I crossed my hands under my breast pushing them up, my chest up slightly and giving myself a posture that would make me appear more confident than I felt. Atlas leaned against his desk, his hands and butts on it as his eyes stared at me, he was in his zone, this was his world and he ruled it effortlessly.

“How comforting,” I finally spoke after moment of silence and wallowing in the shame that came with my situation.

“What do you need to know, tell me, I would answer?”

He just gave me a get to know him free card and I was going to use him.

A smile curved on my face, I had a lot of questions floating through my mind. I could ask him questions about his background and motive but I wanted the questions that was lingering on my mind the ones I wanted to know.

“Why did you have sex with me knowing fully well who I was?”

He didn't answer immediately, he studied me, his gaze still on me, his eyebrows raise a bit to hint at discomfort, it was a faint shift in his expression but I caught it.

“Hmmm,” he sighed, then continued, “I was at the engagement party when you showed up unexpectedly,”

That single statement opened a flood of a dozen questions but I bit my lips slightly, preventing myself from interrupting him now that he was talking.

“I wanted to approach you but you fainted, then I asked my bodyguard to keep an eye on you, to make sure you were fine, you left for your friends place and then I was informed you were at the bar so I came there,”

My jaw dropped in complete awe, I struggled to find the word to describe him, to express how I had interpreted all he had just said, “What in the fucking name of Joe Goldberg is wrong with you,”

Joe Goldberg is the name of an actor in one of my favorite books about a stalker.

“I just wanted to make sure that you were safe,” he responded unrepentant, his voice showing no hint of remorse.

“By stalking me, you creep,” I snapped, I have had enough of this, there was no way I was going to go ahead with any form of deal with a man who stalked me and has Grant as his last name, that was already a red flag enough.

“If you are not ready for the truth Elena, why ask?” He muttered.

“The….the …. I didn't expect you to say that you were stalking me that night,”

He stood up and all of a sudden I shrunk, all the courage I had gathered snarling at him with my words crumbled at the sight of this six foot tall man towering over me.

He walked towards me and I swallowed hard, my mind involuntarily replaying every single detail of that night, from when he had held me, the way he kissed me, the way he handled me like I was made for him. When he said “You are mine,”

“This is no fairytale Elena,” his words cut through my thoughts. I could feel his breath ever so slightly on my skin, he was standing close to me, the space between us almost non-existent. “I knew you were going to be there, I wanted to talk to you about this offer but you walked up to me, you came up to me, Elena,”

“I was drunk,” I snapped, no way I was going to take up the blame for all this.

“I tried to resist you, but I couldn't, do you have any fucking idea how gorgeous you are, I don't do romance or relationships Elena, I see them as weaknesses, and that night you proved me right, against my better judgement, I couldn't resist you and that is why we are here now,’’

I stared at him, I had not expected those words to come from his lips.

“What do you mean by you don't do relationship?” I asked, a stupid question my mind had come up with before my brain could think.

He stepped forward. closed the distance between us,and then tilted his head down to meet mine.

“Because Elena, relationships are for the weak, I have seen love screw people over and over again, my mother, you. I won't be a victim of that feeling,”

His words stirred up more emotion in me than I wanted to admit, my eyes began to well up in tears but I shifted my gaze. He was right, I had been a victim of the heart but not now.

“I will get back to you in three days time,” I spoke, my tone final. “And Atlas, if I chose not to go ahead with it, kindly stay the fuck away from me” I didn't wait for his response before I stormed out leaving his eyes trailing after me till I slammed the door.