The Billionaire Infiltrator

Chapter 4: Spark's Shadow

Elloise’s POV

The car ride back to the estate was suffocating.

I sat in the backseat, staring out the tinted window as the city buildings gave way to tree-lined highways. My hands were resting on my lap, but my fingers were still trembling.

In front of me, Colton’s face was reflected in the rearview mirror. He looked completely unbothered. His jaw was set, his hands held the steering wheel at ten and two, and his eyes never stopped checking the surrounding traffic.

He had just threatened Capo Kaelen—a man who had ordered executions over simple insults—and he looked like he had done nothing more than step on a bug.

I leaned forward, placing my elbows on my knees. "Are you insane?"

Colton didn't glance back at me through the mirror. "You'll need to be more specific, Miss Eclipse."

"You grabbed Kaelen's arm," I whispered, keeping my voice low so it didn't carry past the front seats. "He is my father’s top lieutenant. He has twenty armed men waiting for his call at any given moment. If his guards had drawn their guns—"

"They wouldn't have cleared their holsters in time," Colton interrupted smoothly. His voice was flat, carrying zero doubt. "And if they tried, they wouldn't be breathing right now."

I stared at the back of his head, a chill tracing down my spine. The way he said it wasn't arrogant. It wasn't a boast from a street fighter trying to act tough. It was a simple statement of fact.

"Who are you?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.

This time, his dark eyes met mine in the glass. "I'm the man your father pays to keep you safe."

"No," I said, shaking my head. "My father hires killers, thugs, and ex-convicts. I’ve grown up around men like that my entire life. They glare, they swell their chests, and they yell when they want to scare someone. You don't do any of that. You just step into a room and the temperature drops."

Colton didn't answer. He simply turned the steering wheel, taking the long turn up the driveway toward the estate's iron gates.

"Kaelen mentioned a betrothal," I continued, watching his expression carefully. "He said my father agreed to give me to him to cement a business deal. You heard him."

"I heard," Colton murmured.

"Does that mean anything to you?" I asked, testing him. "Or do you just stand there and watch as I get handed over to a predator?"

The car slowed down near the front steps of the main house. Colton put the gear in park, pulled the handbrake, and turned off the engine. The silence inside the vehicle suddenly felt twice as heavy.

He unbuckled his seatbelt, turned around in his seat, and looked at me directly. His broad shoulders seemed to block out the light from the front windshield.

"Your father can make whatever promises he wants," Colton said softly, his voice dropping into a register that sent a shiver through my stomach. "My job is to protect you. No one touches you while I'm on duty. Not Kaelen. Not anyone."

I held his gaze, my pulse hammering in my throat. I wanted to hate him. I wanted to push him away because his presence made my secret plan ten times harder. But standing up to Kaelen was something no one in my life had ever done for me.

"You're going to get yourself killed, bodyguard," I whispered.

"Let me worry about that," he replied, opening his driver's side door and stepping out.

He walked around to my side, opened the passenger door, and held out his hand. I looked at his large palm, seeing the faint pale lines of old scars running along his skin. I hesitated for a fraction of a second before stepping out on my own, intentionally ignoring his hand.

A faint ghost of a smile touched his lips, but he closed the door behind me without a word.

I walked up the grand steps into the quiet foyer. The house was empty except for two guards standing near the basement entrance. My father was likely locked in his office down below, finalizing details for his next shipment.

I headed straight up the stairs to my room, locking the door the second I crossed the threshold.

I kicked off my heels, collapsed onto the edge of my bed, and pressed my hands over my face. My mind was spinning.

If Kaelen and my father were already talking about a forced marriage, my timeline was shattered. I couldn't wait two weeks to steal the final ledgers. Kaelen was ruthless, and once a contract like that was signed in the mafia, there was no backing out. I would be locked in his estate before the month ended.

I had to move tonight.

I stood up, walked over to my closet, and pulled up the loose floorboard. I reached down into the dark gap and pulled out the small metal USB drive, clutching it tight in my fist.

My father always kept his primary master ledger on a offline hard drive in his private study on the third floor. He usually left his keys on his desk when he went down to the basement server room at midnight. I had ten minutes to get inside, plug in my drive, download the files, and get back to my room.

The only real obstacle was Colton.

He slept in the guest quarters across the courtyard, but he ran perimeter checks every two hours. If I could time my entry right after his two-in-the-morning check, I would have a tiny window of opportunity.

I spent the rest of the evening sitting by my window, pretending to read a book while keeping my eyes on the courtyard below.

At one in the morning, the lights in the main house went out.

At two in the morning, I watched Colton’s dark figure step out of the guest house. He walked the path along the garden wall, his flashlight sweeping across the grass. He paused near the fountain, looked up at my dark window for a long ten seconds, and then continued around the corner toward the back garage.

He was moving away from the main building. This was my only chance.

I slid the USB drive into my pocket, unlatched my bedroom door, and stepped out into the quiet hallway.

The house was cold, wrapped in total shadow. I moved like a ghost, keeping my weight on the balls of my feet as I headed up the narrow carpeted stairs leading to the third floor. My heart was beating so hard against my ribs I was terrified the guards downstairs would hear it.

I reached my father's study. The heavy oak door was shut tight. I reached into my pocket, pulled out a thin piece of metal I had taken from a broken hairpin weeks ago, and inserted it into the keyhole.

Click.

The lock gave way. I slipped inside, closing the door behind me until it rested against the frame.

The study smelled of old leather and tobacco smoke. Moonlight spilled through the massive glass windows, throwing pale light across the heavy mahogany desk.

I didn't turn on a lamp. I hurried around the desk, opened the bottom drawer, and found the silver external hard drive sitting right where he always kept it. My hands were shaking as I pulled out my USB, connected the transfer cable, and watched the tiny blue light on the drive start to blink.

Ten percent. Twenty percent.

The progress bar on the small screen flickered slowly.

Fifty percent.

I squeezed my eyes shut, silently praying for the bar to fill faster.

Eighty percent. One hundred percent.

A quiet tone beeped as the transfer completed. I snatched my drive, disconnected the cable, and shoved everything back into the drawer, shutting it carefully.

I let out a shaky breath, relief washing through my veins so fast I almost felt lightheaded. I had it. Everything I needed to burn my father’s life to the ground was sitting in my pocket.

I turned around, reaching for the door handle—and froze.

Standing right inside the dark doorway, his massive frame blocking my only exit, was Colton.

He hadn't made a sound. He stood in the moonlight, his arms crossed over his black t-shirt, his dark eyes locked onto mine with a cold, terrifying intensity.

"Searching for something, Elloise?" he asked softly.