Chapter 7 — The Wedding Trap
1756 Words
Elena stared at the message on the phone.
THE WEDDING MUST HAPPEN BEFORE MIDNIGHT.
Her heart pounded.
“What does that mean?”
Damian didn't answer immediately.
He picked up the phone and examined it.
The screen went black.
“Damian?”
“We're leaving.”
“Leaving where?”
“Somewhere secure.”
Elena shook her head.
“No.”
His eyes lifted to hers.
“No?”
“I've had enough of people giving me orders.”
“Someone broke into your bedroom tonight.”
“I know.”
“Someone entered this room.”
“I know that too.”
“Then you should understand why we need to move.”
“I understand that I'm being kept in the dark.”
Damian's expression tightened.
“You're safer when you know less.”
“No. I'm easier to control when I know less.”
The words silenced him.
Elena took the metal box from the desk.
“If my mother died protecting this, I deserve to know what's inside it.”
Damian stared at the box.
“You do.”
She wasn't expecting that answer.
“You agree?”
“Yes.”
“Then tell me.”
“I will.”
“When?”
“After the wedding.”
Elena laughed in disbelief.
“Of course.”
She turned away.
“Everything leads back to this wedding.”
Damian stepped closer.
“Because the wedding is more important than you realize.”
“Why?”
“Because your mother's documents contain information that could destroy several people.”
“Who?”
“I don't know yet.”
Elena turned around.
“You keep saying that.”
“Because I'm telling you the truth.”
He took a breath.
“There are three things we know.”
Elena waited.
“First, your mother was investigating someone before she died.”
“Second?”
“She believed your father was hiding something.”
“And third?”
Damian's gaze hardened.
“Someone is willing to kill you to find it.”
Elena looked down at the box.
“What if the information is inside this?”
“Then whoever wants it will come after us again.”
“Us?”
“Yes.”
She looked at him.
“Why you?”
“Because I'm protecting you.”
Elena frowned.
“Or because you need whatever is inside?”
Damian didn't answer.
That silence told her enough.
“You do want it.”
“I want the truth.”
“So do I.”
“Then we have the same goal.”
Elena shook her head.
“I'm not sure anymore.”
---
They left the blue room together.
Damian locked the door behind them.
“Why was this room abandoned?”
“My father sealed it after your mother's death.”
“Why?”
“I don't know.”
“You're telling me your father never searched it?”
“He did.”
“Then how did my mother hide the box?”
Damian looked at her.
“Maybe he never found it.”
“Or someone made sure he didn't.”
Damian stopped.
Elena noticed.
“What?”
“You're thinking like your mother.”
“What does that mean?”
“She noticed things other people ignored.”
Elena looked away.
“I barely remember her.”
“You remember more than you think.”
They continued down the hallway.
Suddenly, Damian's phone rang.
He answered.
“What?”
Cole's voice came through.
“Sir, we've found the guard who disappeared.”
“Where?”
“Outside the eastern gate.”
“Is he alive?”
“Yes.”
“Bring him to the basement.”
Elena stopped walking.
“Basement?”
Damian ended the call.
“Stay upstairs.”
“No.”
“Elena.”
“I want to hear what he says.”
“This isn't a negotiation.”
She glared at him.
“Then don't call it a marriage.”
Damian stared at her.
Something shifted in his expression.
Then he nodded.
“Fine.”
---
The basement was cold and dimly lit.
The security guard sat in a chair with his hands restrained.
His face was bruised.
Cole stood behind him.
Damian entered first.
Elena followed.
The guard looked at her.
His eyes widened.
“That is her.”
Damian immediately stepped forward.
“Who?”
The guard swallowed.
“The girl.”
Elena's stomach tightened.
“What girl?”
“You.”
Damian's expression darkened.
“Who sent you?”
“I didn't do anything.”
“You disabled the cameras.”
“I was paid.”
“By whom?”
The guard shook his head.
“I don't know.”
Damian placed a photograph on the table.
“Do you recognize him?”
The guard looked at it.
“No.”
Damian placed another photograph.
The guard's face changed.
Elena noticed.
“You know him.”
“No.”
“Tell the truth.”
“I don't know his name.”
“Then what do you know?”
The guard looked at Elena.
“They said she couldn't be allowed to leave.”
Elena's heart dropped.
“Who said that?”
“I never saw their faces.”
“Where did you meet them?”
“A warehouse.”
“Which warehouse?”
“North Harbor.”
Cole looked at Damian.
“We'll check it.”
The guard suddenly began trembling.
“There was something else.”
“What?”
“They said the wedding couldn't be delayed.”
Damian stepped closer.
“Why?”
“They said once she became your wife, the second part of the plan would begin.”
Elena felt cold.
“What second part?”
The guard looked at her.
“I don't know.”
“Then what do you know?”
He swallowed.
“They called you the key.”
Silence.
Elena stared at him.
“The key to what?”
“I don't know.”
Damian looked at Cole.
“Take him away.”
Two guards stepped forward.
Elena remained frozen.
“Damian.”
He turned.
“What?”
“What does ‘the key’ mean?”
“I don't know.”
“You're lying.”
“No.”
“Then why does everyone know something except me?”
Damian looked at her for a long moment.
“Because you're the person they're protecting the secret from.”
---
Later that evening, Elena returned to her room.
The metal box was on the bed.
She opened it again.
She had already examined the documents.
Most were financial records.
But one caught her attention.
It was an old bank statement.
The account belonged to her mother.
Elena frowned.
The balance was enormous.
Millions of dollars.
She stared at the date.
The account had been opened three days before her mother died.
Why would her mother suddenly open an account containing millions?
She looked at the attached transaction history.
There was only one deposit.
$12,000,000.
Elena's eyes widened.
Twelve million dollars.
The exact amount her father had once claimed he lost in a business deal.
She grabbed the next document.
It was a letter from a lawyer.
The name at the bottom made her heart stop.
Damian Cross.
Elena's hands began trembling.
Why had Damian's lawyer been handling her mother's money?
She quickly reached for her phone.
She was about to call Damian when she noticed another document beneath the bank statement.
It was a copy of an old marriage agreement.
Elena unfolded it.
Her eyes widened.
The document was dated twenty-five years ago.
Her mother's name appeared at the top.
So did Damian's father's name.
But there was something else.
A handwritten note had been added at the bottom.
If anything happens to me, the money belongs to Elena.
Elena's breathing became shallow.
She read it again.
Then she noticed a second sentence.
Damian must never know.
Her blood ran cold.
Someone had hidden twelve million dollars from Damian.
Her mother had wanted Elena to have it.
And suddenly, Elena understood why people were hunting her.
She wasn't just the daughter of a woman with secrets.
She was the person those secrets had been left to.
---
The bedroom door suddenly opened.
Elena spun around.
Damian stood there.
His eyes immediately fell on the papers in her hands.
“What did you find?”
Elena slowly stood.
“You tell me.”
She held up the bank statement.
“Why did my mother have twelve million dollars?”
Damian's face changed.
“What?”
“You heard me.”
He walked toward her.
“Where did you get that?”
“It was inside the box.”
Damian took the document.
His eyes scanned it.
For the first time, Elena saw genuine shock on his face.
“You didn't know?”
“No.”
“Then who knew?”
Damian looked at her.
“I don't know.”
Elena stepped closer.
“My mother hid twelve million dollars from your family.”
“Yes.”
“And she left it to me.”
“Yes.”
“She also wrote that you must never know.”
Damian's jaw tightened.
“Show me.”
Elena handed him the agreement.
He read it.
His expression became darker with every line.
Then he noticed the final sentence.
The money will only be released when Elena Hart becomes the legal wife of Damian Cross.
Both of them froze.
Elena looked at him.
“The wedding.”
Damian slowly raised his eyes.
“This is why.”
“What?”
“Your mother didn't just leave you the money.”
He pointed at the agreement.
“She made your inheritance dependent on our marriage.”
Elena's heart pounded.
“So whoever is after me knows about the money.”
“Yes.”
“And they want the wedding before midnight because—”
“Because once you become my wife, the inheritance becomes accessible.”
Elena stared at him.
“But who gets the money?”
Damian looked at the document again.
His face hardened.
“That's the problem.”
“What?”
“The money isn't going to you alone.”
He turned the paper toward her.
At the bottom was another name.
Damian Cross.
Elena's eyes widened.
The marriage wasn't only a trap for her.
It was the key to unlocking twelve million dollars that belonged to both of them.
And somewhere outside the mansion, someone was desperate to get their hands on it.
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