Married To My Ex's Powerful Billionaire Uncle

Elianna POV:

The sound of a key grinding in the lock was violent enough to wake the dead.

I gasped, shooting up from the pillows. My head throbbed with a dull, rhythmic ache, like a slapshot ringing against the boards inside my skull. I was in a bed. A strange bed. The sheets were gray silk, cool and slippery against my skin.

I looked down. My dress was rumpled, the strap hanging off one shoulder.

"Stay down," a voice commanded from the window.

I snapped my head around. Beckett was there, his wheelchair facing the door. He had his back to me, his posture rigid. He wasn't wearing his suit jacket anymore.

Before I could ask why, he whipped around, holding the tailored black jacket. He threw it at me with the precise accuracy of a former pro.

"Cover yourself."

I barely had time to clutch the jacket to my chest before the door burst open.

It wasn't just Kena. It was a full-blown media circus.

Flashes of light erupted like gunfire. Pop. Pop. Pop. The blinding white strobes from the sports paparazzi left spots in my vision. I screamed, pulling the jacket over my head, curling into a ball of shame.

"Oh my God!" Kena's voice was a theatrical shriek. "Elianna! How could you?"

She stood in the doorway, hand over her mouth, flanked by three men with cameras and a handful of "concerned" VIP guests who looked more like vultures circling a carcass.

"Get out!" Beckett roared.

The sound was so powerful it physically shook the room. The photographers hesitated, lowering their lenses for a split second. Beckett wheeled himself forward, placing his body between the mob and the bed.

"This is my private sanctuary," he snarled, his face twisted in a mask of fury. "Get your cameras out of my face before I break them."

"Beckett," Kena stepped forward, her eyes gleaming with triumph. "We were just looking for Elianna. Kenan was worried sick. And we find her... here? In your bed?"

"I... I don't remember," I sobbed, my voice cracking. "I felt sick. Someone brought me here."

"Likely story," one of the tabloid reporters muttered, snapping another picture over Beckett's broad shoulder.

"She was drunk," Kena declared, turning to the crowd. "Look at her. Disgraceful. Kenanis downstairs playing the heartbroken star captain, and she's up here throwing herself at his crippled uncle."

The word 'crippled' hung in the air, heavy and cruel—a sharp, deliberate jab at the man who used to own the ice.

Beckett's hands gripped the wheels of his chair so hard I thought the metal might bend. He looked at Kena, then back at me. His eyes were dark, unreadable pools. For a second, I saw something flicker there—calculation? Pity?

He turned back to Kena. "She didn't throw herself at me."

The room went silent.

Beckett looked down at his lap, his shoulders slumping in a performance of resignation that was terrifyingly convincing. "We have been seeing each other, Kena. For months."

My jaw dropped. "What? No, that's not—"

"Quiet, Elianna," Beckett snapped, though his eyes warned me to shut up. "She came to me because she couldn't stand the sight of your son anymore. She chose me. We thought we could keep it secret until after the franchise merger, but... clearly, we were careless."

Kena blinked. This wasn't part of her playbook. She wanted me to be the villain, the gold-digging puck bunny preying on a helpless invalid. But Beckett painting himself as the secret lover? It made Kenanlook like a fool who couldn't keep his fiancée in check, and it made the scandal a consensual, albeit messy, affair.

"You... you beast," Kena spat, recovering quickly. "You're disgusting. Stealing your nephew's fiancée?"

"I am what this family made me," Beckett said quietly. "Now get out."

Team security finally arrived, pushing the reporters back into the hallway. The door slammed shut, leaving us in a ringing silence.

I stared at Beckett's back. He was breathing heavily.

"Why?" I whispered. "Why did you say that?"

He turned his chair slowly. The vulnerability was gone. His face was a mask of stone again.

"Because if you were the seductress who drugged herself, Kenan would sue you for breach of contract and destroy your family," he said coldly. "If we are lovers, it's just a scandal. A mess they have to clean up to protect the franchise's stock price. I just bought you a lifeline."

"A lifeline?" I laughed hysterically, tears streaming down my face. "My life is over. Kenanwill never believe me."

"Kenan is the one who let this happen," Beckett said. "Get dressed. Harrison is waiting in the study. The execution begins now."