Chapter 4
1024 Words
Chloe rushed in from the hallway behind them, panic written all over her face as she grabbed the woman's arm. "Uncle, Auntie! Why are you here...?"
"If we hadn't come, Master Damon would've been completely fooled!" the woman snapped. She shoved Chloe aside and slapped the papers down on the desk. "These are her sentencing records from Prison 4! She just got out. Someone like her sneaking into the academy is obviously up to no good!"
The infirmary fell silent.
Damon, sitting on the bed with fresh burn ointment spread across his back, frowned at the old records.
Selena remained leaning against the wall, utterly unbothered. She glanced at the photos, reached into her windbreaker, pulled out a document, and tossed it onto the desk, covering the old files completely.
The crimson steel seal of the Sterling Consortium gleamed across the top.
"Look closely at the seal," Selena said evenly. "I'm Lena, not whoever you think you're talking about. So if you come in here waving scrap paper and causing a scene... are you accusing Madam Elara of forging my identity?"
The middle-aged man choked on his own words, his mouth hanging open.
Selena took a step forward and stared the couple down.
"It's my first day here, and you were able to get your hands on prison records and show up right at the medical office, calling out my name. What is it — are you that fixated on an old Exile Zone case? Or is there something in it you're afraid might come out?"
At the word "afraid", all the color drained from Chloe's face.
She was terrified her fake parents might say too much, and even more terrified Damon might actually start digging into what had happened three years ago.
"I'm so sorry!" Chloe burst out at once, grabbing both of them by the arms and trying to pull them back. "Lena, I'm sorry... My aunt and uncle made a mistake. I've been hurt before by someone who was released from the Exile Zone. They just heard the rumors out there and got too worried about me. It was a misunderstanding."
She kept her head bowed, tears dripping onto the floor, offering no further explanation.
Damon watched the scene with cold eyes.
He had just suffered chemical burns, and now Chloe's so-called adoptive parents had stormed into the infirmary with prison records prepared in advance. Selena had said one sentence, and Chloe folded instantly.
It was obvious that Chloe had done this.
He owed her a great debt for saving his life, but that didn't mean he had no sense of right and wrong. Chloe sending people to harass Lena was unacceptable.
"Enough," Damon said coldly.
Chloe stiffened.
"Take your people and get out."
She bit her lip so hard it nearly bled. Not daring to even look at him, she dragged her bewildered fake parents out of the room.
Half an hour later. A secluded alley behind the academy.
Chloe slapped the man's hand away.
"Are you insane?!" she hissed. "Who told you to go start trouble at the infirmary! I told you to take it up with the school faculty!"
"We just didn't want her to blow your cover! She's the true person who saved Damon's life!" the man snapped back.
The woman gave a nervous laugh and rubbed her hands together. "Don't be mad. Good daughter, you know things have been expensive lately. Your brother wants a new car..."
Chloe ground her teeth and glared at them. "Over the past three years, how many antiques and jewels have I smuggled out of the Damon family vault for you to fence on the black market? Is it still not enough?"
"Then get us more money," the man said, dropping the act entirely. "Otherwise, we're done keeping your secret for you. Once people find out that you're just a girl from the slums who's been playing the part of a lady for three years, do you really think you'll still be able to stay next to Damon?"
Trapped, Chloe had no choice but to agree.
Once they had secured a promise of another wire transfer, the couple finally left, muttering curses under their breath.
Chloe leaned against the cold brick wall and pressed her fingers to her throbbing temples.
For three years, she had walked a knife's edge, playing the gentle, understanding savior for Damon. Every smile had been calculated. And now, on the very first day, Selena had crushed her with security footage and registry logs, forcing Damon to tell her to get out.
Chloe's nails dug into her palms. If she didn't destroy Selena completely, the money, the status, and Damon would all be ripped away from her. She had already crossed the point of no return. For the sake of the money, for those lavish clothes and designer bags, she had to make Lena vanish!
4:00 PM.
Sitting in a sedan parked at a street corner, Chloe opened a hidden black-market app on her phone.
She found an account with a knife-scarred face as its avatar and posted a bounty: "I want this female student killed. Make her disappear from this world completely! Send me photo proof once it's done."
She transferred a deposit of one hundred thousand euros.
Evening.
Lena was walking along the tree-lined path leaving the academy when the phone in her outdoor jacket pocket buzzed.
She pulled it out and glanced at the screen. It was an email from a teacher.
"West District Scrap Yard. There's a batch of freshly dismantled equipment parts. Lena, please come help transport them."
She'd only been here a few days. Why would a teacher send her to a scrap yard to haul equipment? Was the hitman Chloe hired really this amateur?
It was far too obvious.
But this was exactly what she needed. She could use this incident to force Chloe into revealing more of her weaknesses.
Lena looked at the screen and typed a single character in reply.
"OK."
She tucked the phone back into her pocket and rode her motorcycle toward the scrap yard.
As she left, several male figures quietly fell in behind her.
- Writer
