CHAPTER FIVE
1206 Words
Elena’s POV
The ride back from Carter Global was quiet, but the silence felt different now.
Before tonight, Ethan had only been my mysterious husband, the quiet man everyone underestimated.
Now I knew the truth.
Men in expensive suits stood when he entered a room. Powerful executives spoke to him with careful respect. Security guards treated him like someone they were sworn to protect.
Ethan Carter wasn’t just wealthy. He was powerful. And somehow, I had married him.
I stared out the car window, watching the city lights blur past.
“You’re very quiet,” Ethan said suddenly.
His voice was calm, but I could hear the tension beneath it.
“What do you expect me to say?” I replied.
He glanced at me briefly before focusing back on the road.
“Anything.”
I let out a soft laugh, though there was no humor in it.
“How about this,” I said. “My husband is secretly one of the most powerful billionaires in the city, and now someone dangerous is apparently hunting me. Does that sound normal to you?”
Ethan didn’t answer.
But his hand tightened slightly on the steering wheel.
That silence told me everything. I looked at him again.
“You knew this could happen, didn’t you?”
His jaw flexed.
“Yes.”
The honesty surprised me.
“And you still married me?” I whispered.
Ethan finally looked at me, his gray eyes dark in the dim glow of the streetlights.
“I didn’t expect them to move this quickly.”
A chill ran through me. Before I could respond, my phone buzzed again. Another message from an unknown number. It read;
“You didn’t come alone. That was a mistake.”
My breath caught.
“What does that mean?” I whispered.
Ethan pulled the car to the side of the road immediately.
His expression changed in an instant.
Gone was the calm man I knew. Now he looked dangerous.
Ethan’s POV
Someone was watching us. I scanned the street carefully. Two cars passed. A man walked his dog on the opposite sidewalk. Everything looked normal.
But my instincts were screaming.
“They know where we are,” Elena said quietly beside me.
“Yes.”
Her voice trembled slightly.
“So what do we do?”
I turned toward her.
“Stay close to me.”
She frowned.
“Why?”
I didn’t answer.
Instead, I stepped out of the car and walked around to open her door.
“Elena,” I said calmly, “come with me.”
She stepped out, clearly confused.
We had only taken a few steps down the sidewalk when it happened.
A black van screeched to a halt beside us. Three men jumped out. Everything moved fast. Too fast.
Elena’s POV
My heart slammed into my ribs as one of the men grabbed my arm.
“Let go!” I shouted.
But his grip tightened painfully.
Another man moved toward Ethan.
“What do you want?” Ethan asked calmly.
Even though they had just tried to kidnap his wife.
The tallest man smirked.
“You already know.”
And then he pulled out a gun. My stomach dropped.
“Don’t move,” the man said.
But Ethan didn’t even flinch. Instead, he stepped forward slowly.
“You’re making a mistake,” he said quietly.
The man laughed.
“Oh yeah? And what are you going to—”
The sentence never finished. Because Ethan moved fast. Faster than I could even follow.
In one swift motion, he grabbed the man’s wrist, twisted the gun away, and slammed him against the van. The other two men lunged forward.
But Ethan fought like someone who had done this before.
Within seconds, all three men were on the ground, groaning and unconscious. I stared at him in shock.
My husband. The quiet man everyone called worthless. Had just taken down three armed attackers like it was nothing. Ethan turned to me, breathing steadily.
“Are you hurt?”
I shook my head slowly.
“No.”
My voice came out barely above a whisper.
“You… you can fight.”
He looked at the unconscious men briefly.
“Yes,” he answered
“Why didn’t you ever tell me?”
His expression softened slightly.
“You never asked.”
I almost laughed.
But before I could say anything, one of the attackers groaned and rolled over. A phone fell from his pocket. The screen lit up and Ethan picked it up. His expression darkened.
“What is it?” I asked nervously.
He turned the screen toward me. My stomach twisted when I saw the message. It read;
“Target confirmed. Elena Hart.”
My name.
Someone had sent them specifically for me.
Vanessa’s POV
I sat comfortably in the dimly lit restaurant, swirling the wine in my glass as I watched the live camera feed on my tablet. The men had failed, so pathetic.
But I hadn’t expected them to succeed anyway.
Not against Ethan.
Watching Elena cling nervously to him made something ugly twist inside my chest. She didn’t deserve him. She never had.
I leaned back in my chair as my phone buzzed.
A new message appeared. And it read;
“Phase one complete.”
Good.
Everything was unfolding exactly as planned. Soon Elena would realize something painful. The man she trusted most in the world? The man she had always admired? He wasn’t the hero of this story.
And when that truth finally shattered her. Then she would come running back to the only person who had always understood her.
Me.
I smiled slowly.
Poor Elena.
She still had no idea who the real enemy was.
Elena’s POV
Ethan finished speaking with someone on his phone before turning back to me.
“We need to leave,” he said.
His tone had changed again, it was more serious. and urgent.
“Why?” I asked
“Because this isn’t random.”
I already knew that.
“They knew my name,” I whispered.
“Yes.”
My stomach twisted with dread.
“Ethan… who would want to hurt me?”
He hesitated.
That hesitation scared me more than anything else tonight.
Finally, he spoke.
“There’s only one person who might try something like this.”
My heart pounded.
“Who?”
He looked straight into my eyes. And said a name I never expected.
“Vanessa.”
Everything inside me froze.
“My cousin?” I whispered.
“That’s impossible.”
Ethan didn’t answer.
But the silence between us suddenly felt heavier than the night air.
Because deep down, I remembered something. Vanessa had been the one who convinced me to marry Ethan. Vanessa had arranged everything.
She had insisted it was the only way to save my mother.
A horrible realization crept slowly into my mind.
“What if…” I whispered.
My voice trembled.
“What if this whole thing was planned from the beginning?”
Ethan’s gaze hardened.
“That’s exactly what I’m starting to think.”
If Vanessa was the one who pushed me into this marriage… did she secretly know my “worthless” husband was a powerful billionaire all along?
- Writer
