CHAPTER TEN
1338 Words
Elena’s POV
The grenade blinked red, once, twice and my brain froze.
“ELENA!” Ethan shouted.
Before I could move, he tackled me to the floor. Davis in return flipped the heavy glass table over us just as the grenade exploded. The blast shook the entire apartment and the sound was deafening. Heat rushed past my face as glass shattered everywhere.
For a few seconds, all I could hear was ringing, as smoke filled the room. My ears buzzed.
I blinked rapidly, trying to understand if I was alive.
“Are you hurt?” Ethan’s voice came urgently.
His body was still shielding mine.
I shook my head weakly.
“I…..I think I’m okay.” I stuttered
He exhaled sharply, relief flashing in his eyes.
Davis shoved the table aside and stood quickly, already pulling a gun from inside his jacket.
“That wasn’t meant to kill us,” Davis muttered.
“What?” I whispered.
Ethan’s jaw tightened.
“He’s right.”
I stared at them both.
“What do you mean?”
Ethan helped me to my feet.
“If Victor wanted us dead,” he said quietly, “he wouldn’t send a grenade through a window.”
My stomach dropped.
“Then what was that?”
Davis walked toward the broken window carefully and looked outside.
“A message.”
Suddenly, a voice spoke from the darkness beyond the shattered glass.
“Actually…”
“…it was a warning.”
A man stepped through the smoke, tall and broad-shouldered, wearing a dark coat and sharp eyes.
He is Marcus Hale.
Marcus Hale’s POV
Two guns pointed at me instantly, it was Ethan and Davis. Both are ready to shoot and I raised my hands slightly.
“Relax.”
Ethan’s voice was cold.
“You have three seconds to explain why you’re in my penthouse.”
I stepped further into the room, and glass crunched under my boots.
“Elena was about to die,” I said calmly.
Ethan’s eyes narrowed.
“You threw the grenade.”
“Yes.”
Davis scoffed.
“Then how exactly were you saving her?”
I nodded toward the window.
“Look down.”
Ethan didn’t take his eyes off me.
“Davis.”
Davis leaned slightly out the shattered window.
His face changed immediately.
“Damn.”
Elena stepped closer.
“What is it?”
Davis pointed downward.
“A sniper.”
Ethan’s head snapped toward the street below.
Hidden on the rooftop across the road, a sniper rifle was aimed directly at this penthouse.
I sighed.
“That grenade forced you to hit the floor.”
I glanced at Elena.
“If you had been standing when the sniper fired…”
“…you’d already be dead.”
Silence filled the room. Elena stared at me.
“You saved me?” she asked
I shrugged slightly.
“Technically.”
Ethan’s gun didn’t lower.
“Why?”
It was a fair question.
But the answer wasn’t simple.
Ethan’s POV
Marcus Hale was lying, or telling the truth. And both possibilities were dangerous.
“You work for Victor Kane,” I said.
Marcus tilted his head slightly.
“I do.”
“And yet you’re claiming you just saved my wife.”
“Also correct.”
Davis shook his head.
“This guy is insane.”
Marcus smiled faintly.
“No.”
“I’m practical.”
Elena spoke softly.
“What does that mean?”
Marcus looked at her.
“For now…it means you’re alive.”
Something about the way he said it made the room colder. I stepped closer.
“Start explaining.”
Marcus studied me carefully.
Then he said something I absolutely did not expect.
“Victor Kane doesn’t actually want Elena dead.”
Elena froze.
“What?”
Davis frowned.
“Then why the attacks?”
Marcus sighed.
“Because Victor isn’t the real problem.”
The room went silent.
I felt something dangerous stir in my chest.
“Explain.”
Marcus looked directly at Elena.
“Your cousin.”
Elena whispered,
“Vanessa?”
Marcus nodded slowly.
“Yes.”
Then he dropped the bomb.
“She’s the one running this war.”
Elena’s POV
My heart stopped.
“No,” I said
Marcus’s expression didn’t change.
“Yes.”
I shook my head immediately.
“That’s impossible.”
Marcus looked at Ethan.
“Tell her.”
Ethan’s silence said everything, my chest tightened.
“You already knew?”
“Not completely,” Ethan said quietly.
“But the signs were there.”
Davis pulled the surveillance photos back out of the folder and spread them across the table.
“Vanessa’s been meeting Victor privately for months.”
Marcus added calmly,
“And transferring company assets.”
I stared at the photos. With different thoughts on my mind, my cousin, and my own family. Planning all of this.
“Why?” I whispered.
Marcus answered without hesitation.
“Your husband’s empire.”
Ethan’s businesses, his money, his influence, Vanessa wanted it.
Marcus crossed his arms.
“She plans to remove Ethan from power.”
My stomach twisted.
“How?” I asked.
Marcus looked straight at me.
“By destroying him.”
Davis Whitmore’s POV
The situation had just become far more dangerous.
“Victor is just the weapon,” Marcus continued.
“Vanessa is the one pulling the trigger.”
Ethan looked furious, but calm.
“Then where is she?” Ethan asked.
Marcus smiled faintly.
“That’s the interesting part.”
He pulled a small phone from his pocket and tossed it onto the table.
“Because she just invited all of us to meet her.”
Elena blinked.
“What?”
Davis picked up the phone.
A message was displayed on the screen.
One simple sentence.
“Come alone if you want the truth.”
Below it was an address.
I looked up slowly.
“That building belongs to one of Ethan’s companies.”
Marcus nodded.
“Yes.”
“Your largest investment tower.”
Ethan’s voice turned icy.
“She wants me to walk into my own building.”
Marcus shrugged.
“Technically…”
“…she wants Elena.”
The room went still.
Elena whispered,
“Me?”
Marcus nodded.
“Yes.”
Then he said the part that changed everything.
“Because Vanessa believes you’re the only person Ethan would risk everything to save.”
Ethan didn’t deny it.
That silence said more than words.
Elena’s POV
My heart was pounding, Vanessa wanted me, as bait, as leverage.
But suddenly something inside me hardened.
All this time, I had been reacting, running, surviving but no more.
I looked at Ethan.
“We go.”
Both men turned to me immediately.
“No,” Ethan said.
“Yes.”
“You’re not walking into a trap.”
“I already am the trap.”
Marcus watched us quietly.
Davis looked uncertain.
I took a deep breath.
“Vanessa thinks she’s manipulating everyone.”
My voice steadied.
“Let’s prove her wrong.”
Ethan studied me carefully.
“You realize this could get you killed.”
I met his eyes.
“Then you’d better make sure it doesn’t.”
For a moment he didn’t move, then something dangerous flickered in his gaze.
“Fine.”
Davis sighed.
“This is a terrible idea.”
Marcus smirked slightly.
“Actually…”
“It might be brilliant.”
But a thought still struck me;
If Vanessa is planning to sacrificeme to seize Ethan’s empire… why does Marcus Hale seem determined to keep me alive?
Vanessa’s POV
I was Miles away, inside the top floor of Ethan Carter’s corporate tower, and watched the city lights through the glass walls.
Victor Kane stood behind me.
“Do you really think Ethan will come?” Victor asked.
I smiled slowly.
“Oh, he will.”
I lifted a glass of champagne.
“Because Elena is finally becoming exactly what I needed.”
Victor frowned.
“What’s that?” he asked
My smile darkened.
“The perfect sacrifice.”
- Writer
