Chapter 197: Chapter 197: Little Kitten
Chapter 197: Little Kitten
Something happened that Yvonne had not expected.
Liora Voss did not flinch, smirk, or ask the obvious question. She gave Yvonne a small nod instead, almost polite, and the faint curve at her lips looked perfectly at home on her face.
In her hand was a phone.
Yvonne’s eyes dropped to the lit screen before Liora turned it away.
Little Kitten.
Yvonne did not know, at least not officially, who that contact name belonged to. But Elias’s phone had been vibrating in his pocket the entire time, again and again, so steadily that even the stall door had failed to hide it.
There was no real mystery.
Little Kitten.
Painfully fitting.
After everything Elias had done tonight, after the way he had pushed, teased, bitten, coaxed, and offered himself up with that bright-eyed shamelessness, the name landed with unpleasant accuracy. He was exactly like a stray cat pretending to be tame. Sweet when it suited him. Clawed when bored. Unashamed about rubbing against whichever hand he had decided to use.
The thought should have disgusted her.
Instead, Yvonne realized she had included herself in the comparison without resistance.
A doctor. A woman who had built her life on control. A surgeon whose hands could steady over a body opened beneath bright light.
And yet she had still lowered herself into the same animal logic, lured by the promise of the forbidden thing inside Elias Kane.
Pandora’s box was a childish phrase, almost too dramatic for someone like her.
It was also accurate.
She knew what he was. She knew the danger of opening him. Still, some part of her did not want to close the lid.
Behind her, the stall door clicked.
Elias stepped out.
He glanced at the two women by the entrance, and surprise crossed his face so quickly most people would have missed it. It was clean, immediate, and convincing. Even Yvonne, who had watched him build expressions like weapons, almost believed he had not known Liora was there.
[System Theta: Wow...]
System Theta sounded faintly stunned.
Elias had known Liora was there. System Theta had told him. He had known, and yet the reaction appeared at the perfect moment, not too large, not too practiced, not theatrical enough to seem false.
It was no longer only skill.
It had become instinct.
Elias recovered at once. He did not greet either of them. He did not explain. He walked past them as if he were alone and went to the sinks.
The faucet came on with a clean rush of water. He washed his hands slowly, rubbing each finger as if he had all the time in the world. Then he bent closer to the mirror, cupped one wet hand, and dragged it hard across his mouth.
Too hard.
The motion deepened the color of his lips instead of cleaning anything away. They were already a shade too red, faintly swollen, and the rough wipe only made them look worse. Brighter. Softer. More guilty.
Liora noticed.
Her gaze paused on his mouth, and the smile on her lips thinned by a fraction.
Yvonne caught the look.
So she is not as calm as she pretends.
Liora lifted her eyes to Yvonne again. This time, something in the exchange sharpened.
Yvonne understood the question without hearing it.
What did you do to him?
Elias finished arranging himself. He looked at his reflection once, then turned toward the exit.
Liora still stood in the doorway.
Elias said nothing. He only lifted one hand and made a careless little motion through the air.
Move.
The gesture was lazy, dismissive, and openly rude. The kind of motion a woman might use on a dog blocking a hallway.
Anyone else would have felt insulted.
Liora did not so much as blink.
She stepped aside.
Elias’s mouth curved.
There it was. That small flare of pleasure he did not bother to hide.
He took one step forward, then stopped. His eyes slid back to Liora, and he raised one finger.
He curled it once.
Come here.
No softness. No request. No room for her pride.
This was not flirting in any ordinary sense. It was a command given in front of another woman, with the humiliation left visible on purpose.
Yvonne watched with the stillness of a clinician studying a symptom.
She knew she would not have gone.
That was the thought in her head when Liora walked to him.
No delay. No argument. No flicker of rebellion.
She went to Elias like a creature already trained to recognize the sound of its leash.
Yvonne’s gaze cooled behind her glasses.
Elias rose slightly onto his toes and kissed Liora hard on the mouth.
It was not tender. It was not romantic. It held no promise.
It was a reward.
A treat for behaving. A payment for keeping the door. A mark placed where Yvonne could see it.
When he broke the kiss, he did it without gentleness.
"Thanks for watching the door," Elias said, smiling.
Then he walked out of the restroom.
Liora stayed where she was.
Her fingers lifted to her mouth and touched the place he had kissed.
There was no strange taste there. No filth. Nothing that should not have been there. Elias had made sure of that.
Even so, she had seen his mouth.
She had seen the swollen red of it. She had heard the sounds from the stall. She had watched him come out and wash himself with the smug, careless composure of someone who knew exactly what conclusion she would reach.
Her brows shifted, almost drawing together.
Then she laughed under her breath.
So that was it.
A nasty little prank.
A kiss given clean, after forcing her to imagine everything dirty.
Liora lowered her hand and looked back at Yvonne. The faint smile disappeared. In its place came something more direct, more serious than her usual amused poise.
"What did you two do in there?"
Yvonne did not answer.
She moved to the sink and washed her hands. The water ran over her fingers, clear and cold. She watched it glide across her knuckles, under her nails, over the lines of her palms, until there was nothing left to clean.
Only then did she turn off the faucet.
She took one paper towel, dried her hands, and walked toward the exit.
As she passed Liora, Liora spoke softly enough that it did not echo.
"If you’re willing to listen, then here’s the advice: don’t fall too deep."
Yvonne stopped.
She turned her head.
Liora’s face held no smile now. She looked calm, almost bored, but the warning had been too measured to be casual.
Yvonne understood the words.
Elias was a deep place. Beautiful from the edge. Fatal after the first step. The farther down a person went, the worse the fall would be.
Reasonable advice.
The only question was whether Liora meant it as kindness, or as a warning to stay away from something she had already decided was hers.
Yvonne smiled.
It was the flawless, warm smile she wore in consultation rooms, in hospital corridors, in front of patients who trusted her because they did not know what lived beneath her composure.
"Thank you for the reminder."
She took one more step, then paused again.
"And here."
Yvonne lifted a finger and touched the corner of her own mouth.
Liora’s eyes narrowed by the smallest amount.
She raised her hand to her lips.
Only then did she feel it, the dampness Elias had left behind. A thin trace of water had slid lower while they spoke, nearly reaching her chin.
Yvonne left.
Liora stood there for a moment, looking toward the empty doorway.
Was that meant to tell her Yvonne was not as elegant as she looked?
Or that Elias had already made a mess of both of them?
Liora’s expression stilled.
No woman Elias chose was simple.
She lowered her eyes, then smiled to herself.
Too short.
Even that kiss had been too short. Elias had kissed her deeply enough to make his point, but to Liora, it still felt like a brush of wings across water. A touch that vanished the second she reached for it.
Missing him had only made it worse.
Outside the restroom building, Giselle saw Elias walking toward her.
She opened her arms without thinking.
Elias came into them and tucked himself against her, but he refused to lift his head. He held on as if the night air had turned sharp, as if she were the only warm thing left.
Giselle’s brows drew together.
She had seen something.
Only a glimpse.
Only enough to make her blood chill.
Her voice stayed gentle. "Why were you gone so long?"
Elias slowly raised his head.
"I... I just..."
The words tangled at once.
Giselle saw his mouth fully now.
The color was wrong. Deep red, too vivid, and the shape carried the unmistakable trace of force. As if someone had handled him roughly, then let him wash away every useful piece of evidence except the damage.
Her eyes went cold.
A hard anger rose in her chest before she could name it.
"Did she do something to you again?"
She did not need to say Serena’s name.
Elias shook his head at once, too fast.
"No. Giselle, listen to me. It wasn’t like that. I fell. I hit my mouth on..."
The lie was so poor it hurt to hear.
Giselle’s voice dropped.
"Shut up."
