CHAPTER SEVEN
1358 Words
Elena’s POV
The city felt different after Victor Kane appeared. Every shadow looked suspicious, and every passing car made my heart race.
I sat in the passenger seat beside Ethan as we drove through the quiet streets. The tension between us wasn’t the uncomfortable silence we used to share. This one was heavier and filled with questions neither of us had answers to yet.
“Are you scared?” Ethan asked suddenly.
His voice was calm, but something softer lay beneath it. I looked at him.
“Yes,” I admitted honestly.
He nodded once, as if he expected that answer.
“Good.”
I frowned.
“Good?”
“Fear keeps you alert,” he said. “And right now, we can’t afford mistakes.”
My fingers tightened in my lap.
“Ethan… this man, Victor, he’s really going to come after me, isn’t he?”
He didn’t lie.
“Yes.”
The word landed like a stone in my chest.
“But you’re not alone in this,” he added quietly.
For a moment, neither of us spoke. Then something strange happened. Ethan reached over and took my hand. The gesture was sudden, almost instinctive.
His hand was warm, firm, steady. My heart skipped.
“You’re under my protection now,” he said.
I didn’t know why those words made my chest tighten. Maybe it was the way he said them. Like a promise and a vow.
And suddenly the dangerous billionaire I had accidentally married didn’t feel like a stranger anymore.
Ethan’s POV
Victor showing himself meant the war had officially started. But something about tonight didn’t sit right with me.
Victor Kane never made unnecessary moves, because everything he did had a purpose. Which meant approaching us personally wasn’t just intimidation. It was a message.
The question was: what message?
I pulled the car into the underground garage of the apartment building.
“Elena,” I said.
“Yes?”
“From now on, you don’t go anywhere alone.”
She looked like she wanted to argue, but then she remembered the gun earlier.
“…Okay,” she answered.
We stepped out of the car. The elevator doors slid open. Just as we stepped inside, my phone buzzed.
A message from Daniel and it read;
“We need to talk immediately.”
Daniel’s POV
Marriage to Vanessa Marshall had always been complicated. At first, I believed she was just ambitious, driven, and someone who understood power.
But tonight I discovered something that made my blood run cold. I stood in my office staring at the documents spread across my desk. It had financial transfers, hidden accounts, and encrypted communications, and all of them linked to one name.
“Victor Kane”.
My jaw tightened.
Vanessa had been communicating with him. Not once, or twice but dozens of times.
And the dates?
They started long before Elena married Ethan. My phone rang. It was Ethan. I answered immediately.
“You found something,” he said.
“Yes,” I replied.
“And you’re not going to like it.”
Elena’s POV
When we entered the apartment, Ethan’s expression had already changed again. It was focused, and dangerously calm.
“Daniel found something,” he told me.
“About Victor?”
“Yes.”
We sat down as Ethan placed the call on speaker. Daniel’s voice filled the room.
“Ethan, I ran a trace on the accounts funding Victor’s new operations.”
“And?”
Daniel hesitated.
Then he said something that made the room feel suddenly colder.
“They’re connected to Vanessa.”
My breath caught.
“No,” I whispered.
“That’s not possible.”
Daniel continued.
“I checked three different times to be sure.”
Ethan leaned forward.
“How deep is the connection?”
“Deep enough that I believe she’s been helping Victor rebuild his network.”
My heart felt like it was cracking apart.
Vanessa?
The cousin who cried with me when my mother got sick, who convinced me this marriage would save my family.
“You’re wrong,” I said weakly.
Daniel’s voice softened slightly.
“I wish I were.”
Ethan’s POV
The pieces were starting to fit together. Vanessa is pushing Elena into the marriage. Victor is returning now. The sudden attacks. It wasn’t a coincidence, it was a strategy.
Vanessa must have believed that marrying Elena to me would give her some advantage. Before I could think further, Daniel spoke again.
“There’s more.”
My attention sharpened.
“What?”
Daniel took a breath.
“I believe Vanessa didn’t just help Victor.”
Elena looked up slowly.
“What do you mean?”
Daniel’s next words changed everything.
“I think she’s the one who told Victor about Elena.”
Silence filled the room. Elena’s face turned pale.
“You mean, she gave him my name?”
“Yes.”
Her voice trembled.
“But why would she do that?”
None of us had the answer yet.
Marcus Hale’s POV
Across the city, I leaned against the railing of a rooftop terrace, watching the glittering skyline. I am a man most people never notice. Which was exactly the way I liked it. Physically I am tall and broad-shouldered, with dark hair and sharp eyes that missed nothing. And I worked in the shadows of powerful men.
And tonight, I received a very interesting order.
My phone buzzed.
A new message appeared. And it reads;
“Target confirmed. Elena Hart.”
I frowned slightly.
Though I had expected the assignment.
But not the identity.
Elena Hart. The wife of Ethan Carter.
Which meant the situation was far more dangerous than my employer had implied.
I sighed.
“Great,”
Because if Ethan Carter discovered who was hunting his wife……
This entire city might burn.
Elena’s POV
I felt numb as the conversation ended. Vanessa’s name echoed over and over inside my head. It didn’t make sense, or I couldn’t make sense out of it.
“She wouldn’t betray me,” I whispered.
Ethan watched me carefully.
“People change when power becomes involved.”
I shook my head.
“No. You don’t understand.”
“Then help me understand,” he said quietly.
Tears burned behind my eyes.
“Vanessa helped pay for my mother’s treatments when we couldn’t afford them.
Ethan frowned.
“She paid?”
“Yes.”
“From where?”
My breath caught. I had never asked that question before. A terrible thought slowly formed.
“What if…” I whispered.
Ethan leaned closer.
“What?”
“What if that money came from Victor?”
His expression darkened immediately.
If that was true…then everything had been planned from the beginning. This involved my marriage, the attacks, and the war. Everything.
And suddenly I realized something even more terrifying. If Vanessa had helped Victor once, she might still be helping him now.
Daniel’s POV
I stared at the empty office after the call ended. Vanessa still wasn’t home. Which wasn’t unusual.
But tonight felt different. My phone vibrated.
A message from an unknown number, and I opened it. And immediately felt my stomach drop. It was a photo.
A live photo of Vanessa standing beside Victor Kane, smiling like they were allies.
Below the image was a single line of text.
“Your wife started this war.”
Elena’s POV
Ethan stood by the window, deep in thought. I could tell his mind was already moving ten steps ahead.
Planning, strategizing, and preparing.
“Ethan,” I said softly.
“Yes?”
“If Vanessa really did this…”
My voice shook.
“…then why would she help Victor destroy you?”
He turned toward me slowly and said something that made my heart skip.
“Because she doesn’t want to destroy me.”
“Then what does she want?”
His eyes darkened.
“She wants control.”
A chill ran through me.
“Of what?”
Ethan stepped closer.
“Of everything.”
If Vanessa secretly started this war between Ethan and Victor… what will happen when she finally reveals what she truly wants from me?
- Writer
