Chapter 232: The Pull of Good Food
There was no chance Elias would let Serena get what she wanted that easily.
Given where they stood now, he had a role to maintain. He was the rebellious boy who did the opposite of whatever Serena asked. If she pointed east, he went west. If she told him to come upstairs, he found a reason to head down. The obedient version of Elias, the one who had once played sweet and accommodating while they were together, was long gone.
Serena pulled him to his feet.
Elias immediately threw his weight backward and dropped back onto the sofa.
He looked up at her without a word, dark eyes cold behind his glasses.
Serena’s mouth shifted as though she were suppressing a smile.
Then she tightened her grip and lifted him again.
This time, no matter how hard Elias pressed his feet down, no matter how much he bent his knees or threw his body weight toward the couch, he could not make himself sit again. Serena held him upright with insulting ease.
"You’re acting spoiled again," she said.
The words stopped him.
Elias had been fighting with everything he had. Now he stood caught between sitting, standing, and making a dramatic escape, with no move left that did not make him look exactly like a sulking child.
Serena smiled faintly.
Elias no longer loved her. Serena understood that much, even if she could not bear to look directly at it for too long.
She still knew him.
That knowledge had not vanished with everything else.
She knew where he would stiffen, where he would bite back, what sort of teasing would leave him with nowhere to retreat without looking ridiculous. It was enough to hold him for now.
"All right," Serena said, gentling her voice. "Don’t make a scene in front of everyone. Let’s get lunch."
Elias remained stiff, but he stopped struggling.
Serena brought him out of the office with an arm around him that was close enough to an embrace to make the meaning clear. He was not dragged, exactly. He was not free, either.
The executive assistant watched them go.
Her mouth had fallen open without her noticing.
The news that Serena Blackwood had brought a young man to Blackwood Group traveled quickly through the executive floors. It was not because the assistant spread it. She knew better than to discuss Serena’s business.
Serena herself was simply not trying to hide him.
They used the private elevator because it was faster, because Serena had meetings to return to, because the building was designed to make powerful women move through it without waiting for anyone else.
It was not used to conceal Elias.
That difference mattered.
Serena no longer seemed to mind employees seeing him beside her. Employees watching them enter the elevator might not know who he was, but they would understand one thing immediately.
This boy belonged inside Serena Blackwood’s space.
Elias understood it too.
It meant that in Serena’s mind, he was no longer only a substitute she had bought, dressed, controlled, and kept behind closed doors. She had begun putting him somewhere else, though Elias could not yet tell what place she had chosen.
A lover?
A possession?
A private weakness she wanted the whole building to notice?
He did not know.
For now, Serena kept moving him forward until they reached the executive dining room.
The cafeteria was quieter than the public floors. It resembled a private restaurant more than an ordinary employee space. The room had large windows, carefully spaced tables, and a long counter where the company’s in-house culinary team prepared lunch. Nothing was ostentatious, but everything looked expensive enough to make clear that Blackwood Group did not treat feeding its senior staff as an afterthought.
Elias’s nose moved slightly.
The smell drifting from the serving counter was rich, warm, and unfairly good.
Serena had been watching him from the corner of her eye.
The instant she noticed, she lifted one finger and brushed the tip of his nose with it.
"You said you didn’t want to come," she said. "Now you’re hungry?"
Color rose faintly in Elias’s cheeks.
His expression turned even colder.
He twisted once in Serena’s hold, failed to get free, and turned his head away. "I’m full. I’m not eating."
"Sit here."
Serena guided him toward a table and settled him into a chair.
Then she walked toward the serving counter.
She knew Elias too well on this point.
He loved good food. The slight lift of his nose, the brief brightness in his eyes, the way his body had gone still when the scent reached him, all of it meant the same thing.
He wanted to eat.
He had eaten an entire tray of snacks in her office and somehow still had room left. Serena found herself smiling before she could help it.
Such a greedy little thing.
Then she remembered the state of their relationship.
Her smile faded.
One of the chefs noticed Serena’s expression as she approached the counter. The woman’s face changed instantly.
What happened?
Was Ms. Blackwood dissatisfied with the lunch service?
Had the menu been wrong? Was there a problem with the ingredients? Did someone make a mistake during preparation?
The chef’s mind started producing questions faster than she could answer them. She looked at Serena with the nervousness of someone waiting to hear a verdict.
Then a thought came to Serena.
Elias liked food.
Could she use that?
Could she keep him close by giving him things he did not want to leave behind?
Even if the food was only a small tether, even if he stayed near her because he liked a meal rather than because he cared about her, that would still be better than watching him leave.
The thought was not enough to solve anything.
It was still one of the few workable ideas Serena had.
Her face eased.
The chef looked as if she had climbed out of hell and back into daylight.
Serena chose two lunch plates, one for Elias and one for herself. As she picked them up, she noticed the chef still watching her. Serena gave a small nod.
The food was good.
Good enough that Elias had reacted.
It was probably time to raise the culinary team’s compensation.
By the time Serena returned to the table, Elias was still sitting where she had left him. He had not wandered off. He had not tried to escape toward the elevator. He had not started a public scene.
The sight made Serena feel better than it should have.
"Snacks don’t fill you up," she said, placing a plate in front of him. "Try lunch. The company brings in excellent chefs."
Then she sat across from him.
Elias remained motionless.
Serena looked at him. "You’re not eating?"
He did not respond.
"All right." Serena reached toward the plate. "Then I’ll have it cleared. It would be a waste otherwise."
Elias looked up sharply.
"Don’t touch it," he snapped. "Wasting food is shameful."
The real meaning was obvious.
He did not want to accept Serena’s kindness.
He would eat because throwing away food was worse.
Serena’s eyes warmed.
Elias picked up his fork and took a bite.
His eyes lit up.
It happened fast, then vanished almost as quickly. He lowered his gaze and continued chewing with deliberate calm, pretending the food was merely acceptable.
Serena saw it all.
So food did work.
The smile she gave him this time was bright enough to soften her entire face. For all the anger and distance between them, Serena was difficult to look away from when she smiled. Even Elias, currently committed to ignoring her, had to admit she was easy on the eyes.
Fine.
He would reward her with another full day of silence.
Then System Theta spoke inside his mind.
[System Theta: Host, Giselle Frost is here.]
Elias’s pupils widened.
Excitement flickered and disappeared beneath his usual expression.
"Where?"
[System Theta: Downstairs in the Blackwood Group lobby.]
"Good."
Elias immediately began eating faster.
He knew Giselle well enough to understand why she had come.
A show was about to begin.
There was no reason to keep eating slowly when he could finish and wait for it.
Serena had no idea.
She watched him start devouring the meal and paused in surprise. Then a fond smile touched her mouth.
"Why are you eating so fast?" she asked. "No one is going to take it from you."
She moved part of the food from her own plate onto his.
Elias looked up at once.
Then he stopped eating.
His fork rested against the plate.
Perfect.
He had a reason to quit.
Serena’s eyes narrowed slightly. "Why did you stop?"
Elias gave a cold snort. "Gross. I’m not eating anymore."
Serena’s brows threatened to tighten, then a small smile spread across her face instead.
"What?" she asked. "You’ve had less of my saliva than this?"
Elias stared at her.
Serena was smiling.
So he raised a stripped chicken bone from his plate and flicked it directly at her face.
"Pfft."
The bone hit Serena squarely.
Her expression froze.
Elias looked at her with icy satisfaction.
Eat my saliva, then.