Chapter five; The Husband Who Betrayed Me
1103 Words
My entire body went numb after Marcus’ words.
Because your husband was the one who told me where to find you.
I slowly turned toward Adrian while my heartbeat pounded painfully inside my chest. For a second, I genuinely hoped Marcus was lying just to turn me against him, but Adrian’s silence immediately destroyed that hope.
“You told him?” I whispered.
“Elena, listen to me first.”
I laughed bitterly and stepped away from him. “No way.”
“It’s not what you think.”
“That’s exactly what guilty people say.”
Marcus watched us quietly before speaking again. “He contacted me two weeks ago after someone inside Knight Corporation started searching for the surviving Vale heir.”
Confusion mixed with anger inside me immediately. “Surviving heir?”
Marcus nodded slowly. “You.”
I looked back at Adrian again. “Why would you contact him without telling me anything?”
Adrian exhaled heavily and rubbed his forehead like the entire night was exhausting him. “Because I was trying to keep you alive.”
“You divorced me.”
“I needed people to think you no longer mattered to me.”
The words stunned me for a second.
Marcus laughed coldly. “Interesting excuse.”
Adrian ignored him completely and kept his eyes on me. “Someone inside the company leaked your real identity. Once I found out, I contacted Marcus because he’s been hiding from the same people for years.”
I stared at him while trying to process everything. Nothing about tonight felt real anymore.
“You’re saying this divorce was fake?”
His jaw tightened slightly. “No.”
That answer hurt more than expected.
“The divorce is real,” he continued quietly. “But the timing wasn’t a coincidence.”
Pain spread through my chest again, but before I could respond, police sirens suddenly grew louder nearby.
Marcus looked toward the street immediately. “We need to leave.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you,” Adrian said coldly.
Marcus smirked slightly. “You don’t get to decide that anymore.”
Tension thickened instantly between both men while I stood there feeling completely lost. Then headlights suddenly appeared near the front gate.
Adrian reacted immediately. “Get down.”
He grabbed my arm and pulled me behind one of the parked cars seconds before several black SUVs stopped outside the mansion. My stomach tighten nervously after armed men stepped out.
Marcus cursed quietly under his breath. “They found us too fast.”
“Who are they?” I whispered.
Nobody answered immediately. That terrified me more.
One of the men near the gate suddenly shouted, “Bring the girl alive!”
Fear crawled through me instantly.
The girl.
Me.
Gunshots suddenly echoed again.
Adrian immediately pulled me lower while Marcus fired back toward the gate. Chaos exploded around us within seconds. Bullets shattered nearby windows while guards from inside the mansion started shooting back too. I covered my ears shakily while trying not to panic completely.
“This is insane,” I whispered.
Adrian looked at Marcus sharply. “Take her through the back road.”
Marcus frowned immediately. “What?”
“They’re targeting Elena.”
“You think I don’t know that?”
Another gunshot echoed dangerously close to us.
Adrian cursed and grabbed my shoulders tightly. “Listen carefully.”
My eyes locked onto his instantly.
“There’s a safe house outside the city. Marcus knows where it is.”
I stared at him in disbelief. “You’re not coming?”
His expression hardened slightly. “I’ll slow them down.”
“No.”
The answer escaped immediately before I could stop it. Despite everything that happened tonight, fear still exploded inside me after realizing he planned to stay behind.
Marcus looked annoyed already. “We don’t have time for emotional conversations.”
“I’m not leaving him.”
Both men looked surprised after hearing that. Honestly, i surprised myself too.
Adrian’s expression softened slightly for the first time tonight, but it disappeared quickly after another SUV arrived outside the mansion.
“There are too many of them now,” Marcus muttered.
Gunfire erupted again.
Adrian suddenly pushed car keys into Marcus’ hand. “Take her and go.”
Marcus grabbed the keys reluctantly. “If you betray her again, I’ll kill you myself.”
Adrian didn’t even react to the threat.
Instead, he looked directly at me again.
“Elena.”
The way he said my name made my chest ache painfully.
“You need to trust me one last time.”
Trust.
That word again.
I almost laughed because trusting Adrian Knight already ruined my entire life once. Still, my feet refused to move. Adrian noticed immediately then without warning, he stepped closer and touched my face gentle.
The small gesture completely caught me off guard because Adrian rarely showed affection, even during our marriage.
His gray eyes stayed locked onto mine. “I know you hate me right now.”
I swallowed painfully.
“But I swear I never wanted any of this to happen to you.”
Emotion tightened my throat instantly because for the first time tonight, Adrian sounded genuinely broken. Not cold, not distant. Broken.
Another explosion suddenly echoed near the front gate, making all of us flinch.
Marcus grabbed my arm immediately. “We’re leaving now.”
I looked at Adrian desperately. “Come with us.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
His expression darkened slightly before answering. “Because somebody inside Knight Corporation is helping them.”
Fear crept into my chest again.
“You know who it is?”
Adrian stayed silent for one second too long. Then realization suddenly hit me.
“No way.”
Marcus looked confused. “What?”
I slowly turned toward the mansion. Vivian, the timing, the leaked files, the security system failure. Everything suddenly connected inside my head at once. Adrian noticed my expression immediately.
“Elena.”
“She knew,” I whispered.
Neither man answered. That silence confirmed it.
Rage exploded through me instantly. “You knew she was involved and still brought her into our house?”
“It’s complicated.”
I laughed bitterly through my anger. “Everybody keeps saying that tonight.”
Suddenly, a terrified scream echoed from inside the mansion.
Vivian.
All three of us froze instantly. Then a man's voice shouted loudly from inside.
“We found the woman!”
Marcus frowned immediately. “That’s not Elena.”
Adrian’s face lost color instantly.
Because they had taken the wrong woman.
- Writer
