Chapter 6 - Bound by Scandal
1228 Words
The elevator hummed as it climbed. The mirrored walls threw our faces together, merging like ghosts.
“Who is ‘they’?” I asked.
“Veyron,” he said. “And the investors you humiliated tonight. They’re not businessmen. They’re predators.”
“Then why are you standing between me and them?”
“Because I used to be one of them,” he said softly.
The words struck like a punch. “You what?”
“I built my empire with their money,” he said. “But three years ago I tried to get out. That’s why I left you. They threatened to kill you if I didn’t disappear.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“Yes,” he said. “Because it’s the truth.”
I stared at him, the elevator walls closing in. “All this time I thought you chose power over me.”
“I chose you over power,” he said. “And lost both.”
I pressed my back to the glass. “Why tell me now?”
“Because you’re in the crosshairs now,” he said. “And I can’t protect you from the shadows anymore.”
I laughed bitterly. “Protect me? You just dragged me into a media hell.”
“They did that,” he said. “I’m trying to get you out.”
The elevator lurched to a stop. He swiped a card and the doors opened onto a poorly lit service hallway.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“To my suite,” he said. “It’s secure.”
“I’m not hiding with you,” I said.
“You don’t have a choice,” he said.
“I always have a choice,” I snapped.
He stepped closer until the air between us sparked. “Then choose survival,” he mumbled.
His smell filled my head. I hated the way my body still reacted.
“You think you can order me,” I whispered.
“No,” he said. “I think I can save you.”
“I don’t need saving,” I said.
“Everyone needs saving from something,” he mumbled.
We walked through the empty hall. My phone buzzed again. Another headline: “Auction Winner Exposed in Secret Affair.”
I shoved it into my clutch. “They’re winning,” I mumbled.
“They won’t,” he said. “Not if we get ahead of it.”
“How?”
He looked at me. “We make it public before they do.”
“What?”
“We announce a partnership. You and me. Business and personal. A united front.”
I stopped walking. “You’re insane.”
“It’s the only way to neutralize the scandal,” he said.
“You’re asking me to fake a relationship with you,” I said.
“Yes,” he said. “Publicly. While we hunt who’s behind this.”
“And privately?”
His eyes darkened. “Privately, I don’t fake anything.”
Heat shot through me. “You’re unbelievable.”
“I’m practical,” he said.
We reached a door at the end of the hallway. He unlocked it and ushered me inside. The room was sleek, all glass and shadow, Milan glittering below.
He poured a drink and gave it to me. “You’re shaking,” he said.
“I’m furious,” I said.
“Good,” he said. “Stay furious. It keeps you alive.”
“Stop acting like you own me,” I said.
“I don’t,” he said softly. “But I still want you.”
I set the glass down. “Why now? After everything?”
“Because they’ve left me no choice,” he said. “If you go down, I go down too.”
“Then you’re using me.”
“I’m using your story,” he said. “And you’re using mine. It’s mutual.”
“That doesn’t make it right,” I said.
“No,” he said. “It makes it necessary.”
I moved to the window. The city lights blurred like falling stars.
“You broke me once,” I said. “Do you know what that cost me?”
“Yes,” he said quietly. “I watched from the shadows while you rebuilt yourself. I hated myself for it.”
“Then why didn’t you come back?”
“I thought staying away kept you safe,” he said.
“Maybe it did,” I said. “But it also killed something inside me.”
Silence stretched between us. Then he said, “Say yes to this alliance. Let me fix what I broke.”
“I don’t trust you,” I said.
“Then trust your survival instinct,” he said. “Because right now, it’s telling you to stand with me.”
I turned. “And if I refuse?”
“They’ll destroy you,” he said.
The words hung in the air. He stepped closer, voice a low growl. “Work with me publicly, or they’ll destroy you,” he whispered.
My heart beat.
Mid-chapter twist
Before I could answer, my phone buzzed again. A new message: You and he die together.
I showed him. His face went white. “They’ve escalated,” he said.
“Who are they?” I asked.
He swallowed. “Not just Veyron. Someone above him. Someone who wants my business and your name as collateral.”
“Then tell me now,” I said.
“I can’t,” he said. “Not yet.”
“Then we’re already dead,” I whispered.
He grabbed my shoulders. “Listen. We’re not dead. Not if we’re smart. Tomorrow we go public. Tonight we plan. Together.”
“I’m not sure I can stand next to you without hating you,” I said.
“Then hate me in public,” he said. “But stand there anyway.”
The stress between us cracked like lightning. He brushed a strand of hair from my face, his fingers pausing. “I never stopped wanting you,” he mumbled.
I stepped back. “Stop confusing survival with desire,” I said.
“They’re the same thing when it comes to us,” he said.
I turned toward the door. “I need air,” I said.
“Stay,” he said. “It’s not safe out there.”
“Nothing’s safe,” I said.
“Isabella”
But I was already going.
I reached the hallway. Empty. Silent. I walked fast, my heels echoing. My phone buzzed again. Another shot. This time of me standing in the hallway now, taken from behind.
I froze.
A second message followed: We see you.
My blood ran cold.
I turned. He was in the doorway of the room, eyes searching the hall. “What’s wrong?” he called.
I showed him the screen.
He cursed. “Get back inside.”
“Who’s out here?” I whispered.
“I don’t know,” he said. “But they’re close.”
Down the hallway a shadow moved. A tall person stepped out of a nook, face hidden under a hood. In his hand something glinted, not a phone.
My breath caught.
“Inside. Now,” Adrian said.
The person raised the thing.
It wasn’t a phone. It was a gun.
- Writer
