The billionaire revenge marriage

chapter 8: Garage

Three locks. That’s what stood between me and the garage.

I counted them. Thumbprint. Code. Deadbolt. Ares set them before he left.

Then I unlocked them.

Stupid. Reckless. Clause five said I couldn’t run. Didn’t say I couldn’t follow.

The elevator needed his fingerprint. The stairs didn’t.

Fifty-five floors down. Barefoot. Still in the red dress. Scalpel in my palm.

I wasn’t Elena. I didn’t wait to drown.

Garage Level B2 smelled like oil and concrete. Fluorescents hummed. Ares’ car sat under P-01. Black. Bulletproof. Empty.

Voices came from the far corner. Low. Angry.

I pressed against a pillar. Looked around.

Three men. Two in security black. One on his knees. Hands zip-tied. Face bloody.

Ares stood over him. Jacket off. Sleeves rolled. Gun on the hood. He didn’t hold it. Didn’t need to.

“Who sent you?” Ares asked. Calm. Doctor voice.

The man spat blood. “f**k you.”

Ares nodded. A guard hit him. Clean. Professional. Ribs, not face. No marks for cameras.

“I’ll ask once more,” Ares said. “Then I let Leo ask. You don’t want Leo to ask.”

Leo smiled. It wasn’t nice.

“Richard,” the man gasped. “Richard Callahan. Said to plant the tracker. Follow the wife.”

Ares went still. “What else?”

The man hesitated.

Leo stepped forward.

“Wait!” The man flinched. “If she’s alone for more than an hour. If you’re not with her. Then—”

“Then what?” Ares’ voice dropped.

“Accident. Like the last one.”

The air got colder.

I stepped out. “He means Elena.”

All three heads snapped to me.

Ares’ face went blank. Then furious. “What did I say about the door?”

“To not open it for anyone but you.” I lifted the scalpel. “You didn’t say I couldn’t come to you.”

Leo and the other guard looked at Ares. Waiting.

“Take him upstairs,” Ares said. Voice like ice. “Basement level. Room three. Don’t kill him. Yet.”

They hauled the man up. Dragged him toward the elevator.

Then it was just us. And the gun on the hood.

“You walked fifty-five floors,” Ares said. “In that dress.”

“I was worried.”

“About me?”

“About Rosa. About you getting killed and the contract breaking and her dying anyway.”

He walked to me. Stopped a foot away. Looked at the scalpel. Then at my bare feet. Cut on my heel.

“You’re bleeding.”

“It’s nothing.”

He crouched. His hand was on my ankle. Thumb brushing the cut. Clinical. Gentle.

“Rule four,” he said, looking up. “_Wife does not leave Penthouse without security._”

“Arrest me.”

His mouth twitched. “Garage has cameras. Richard will see this by morning. He’ll see you came for me.”

“Good?” He stood. We were close now. “He’ll think it’s real.”

“It is real.” The words slipped out. “The threat. The danger. My sister. My life. It’s all real, Ares.”

He searched my face. “The kiss?”

I didn’t answer.

He nodded once. “Go back upstairs. Now. With Leo. I’ll be up when I’m done.”

“Done with what?”

“Making sure there’s never a next Mrs. Callahan.”

He picked up the gun. Checked the chamber. Slid it under his jacket.

“Give me the scalpel,” he said.

“No.”

“Mia.”

“No. You have a gun. I have this. We’re even.”

He stared for three seconds. Then turned away. “Leo will take you up. If you fight him, I’ll fire him. Then you have no security. Choose.”

Leo appeared by the elevator.

I went.

At the penthouse door, Leo keyed me in. “He’ll be an hour. Maybe two. Depends how much the guy talks.”

“Does he usually talk?”

“Everyone talks to Dr. Callahan.” Leo left.

I locked the door. All three locks.

My phone buzzed.

_Unknown Number: Red is your color. Looks good on camera. Especially when you run. -R_

He had garage footage. Already.

I sent it to Ares.

Then I cleaned my foot. Bandaged it. Put the scalpel under my pillow.

And waited.

Because Elena waited too.

And I wasn’t Elena.