Chapter 7
1498 Words
*CHAPTER 7: CODE BLACK*
The sirens weren’t outside yet. They were inside my head.
One minute Vanessa Langston was sipping my tea and telling me Damian was using me.
The next minute, my phone buzzed with Damian’s text.
And the next, Zara’s voice cut through the house: “Code Black. Lockdown. Now.”
“Stay behind me,” Damian said. His voice had dropped two octaves. CEO mode. Commander mode. But his hand was still locked around mine like if he let go, I’d disappear.
The contract said I was just a wife on paper.
My body didn’t get the memo.
Zara was already moving, headset in, barking orders. “Perimeter breach. North gate. Two guards down. Police ETA four minutes.”
“Four minutes is too long,” Damian muttered. He pulled me toward his office. Past the kitchen where my mug still sat. Past the hallway where Vanessa had stood ten minutes ago, smiling like a knife.
“Tolu,” I said, suddenly remembering. “Where’s Tolu?”
“Safe room,” Zara said without looking back. “Two guards with her. She’s fine.”
The word _fine_ didn’t feel fine.
We reached the office. Damian slammed the door and punched in a code. A section of the bookcase slid open with a hydraulic hiss. Panic room.
Inside it was cold. Steel walls. Monitors. A small fridge. A gun safe. Everything a billionaire needs when his brother tries to kill him.
Damian pushed me inside, then turned to the screens.
Screen 1: The front gate. Twisted. Open.
Screen 2: The driveway. Kunle’s car. And Vanessa’s. Still there.
Screen 3: The hallway cam. Empty. For now.
“Why is her car still here?” Damian asked. His jaw was tight.
“Because she set this up,” I said. My voice sounded braver than I felt. “She knew about the door. About the timing. She wanted me to find Page 9 before this happened.”
Damian closed his eyes for half a second. When he opened them, the hurt was gone. Replaced with something colder. “Call the police again. Tell them to move.”
Zara was already on it. “They’re three minutes out.”
Three minutes.
Kunle was already inside the house.
On the screen, he appeared. Walking through the front door like he owned it. Because once, he did.
He was wearing a navy suit. Hair neatly cut. He looked almost normal. Almost like the brother in the photo Damian kept in his drawer. Before prison. Before the accident. Before everything went wrong.
Kunle paused in the foyer. Looked up. Right at the camera.
And smiled.
“Damian,” his voice crackled through the intercom. Someone had turned it on. “Brother. I just want to talk.”
Damian didn’t answer.
“I know you’re in there,” Kunle continued. “With her. Adele Morgan. The contract wife.”
My blood went cold. How did he know my full name?
“You took everything from me,” Kunle said. He walked into the living room, ran a hand over the back of the couch. “The company. The name. Dad’s approval. Now you’re taking her too?”
“Don’t listen to him,” I whispered.
But Damian had gone still. Like a statue.
“Come out,” Kunle said. “We can do this civil. I don’t want to hurt her. She’s not part of this.”
He was lying. I could hear it.
“The merger,” Kunle said, almost conversationally. “Page 9, right? 180 days of public marriage and Langston gets 20%. Clever, Damian. Using a girl to save your company.”
Damian’s hand on the gun tightened.
“Is that true?” I asked quietly.
Damian didn’t look at me. “Adele—”
“Is it true?”
He finally turned. “Yes. But it was signed before—”
Before me. Before the kiss. Before the tea at 1am.
I nodded once. I didn’t trust myself to speak.
On screen, Kunle sighed. “You’re not answering, brother. That’s rude.”
_Bang._
He shot the front door lock. Once. Twice. It splintered.
Zara moved instantly, pulling me down behind the steel desk. “Stay low.”
“Police are two minutes out,” she said into her headset.
“Too late,” Damian said. He stood. Gun in hand. Face blank.
The office door shook. _Bang. Bang._
“Last chance,” Kunle called. “Give me 20% of Carter Group and I walk. No one else gets hurt. You can keep your little contract wife.”
Damian stepped forward. “You’re not getting anything.”
The door exploded inward.
Kunle stood there. Gun in one hand. Key in the other. The key he wasn’t supposed to have.
Behind him, chaos. Police lights flashing through the windows. Shouting.
And behind Kunle: Vanessa.
Gun drawn. Steady. Aimed at his back.
“Don’t move,” Vanessa said.
Everyone froze.
Kunle turned slowly. His smile didn’t drop. “Vanessa. Baby. You came.”
“I came to end this,” she said. “You used me. You used the merger. You used this house.”
“Vanessa, we had a deal—”
“The deal was off when you brought a gun into his home.” Her voice didn’t shake. “Police are here. It’s over.”
Kunle looked at Damian. Then at me, crouched behind the desk. His eyes were bright. Unhinged.
“You think this is over?” he said softly. “The clock’s already running, brother. 180 days. She’s been here 63. You lose either way. Even if you love her. Even if you don’t.”
He dropped his gun. Let it clatter to the floor.
Police poured in. Hands on him. Cuffs clicking.
As they dragged him past, he leaned in toward me. “See you in 117 days, Mrs. Carter.”
Then he was gone.
---
The room was too loud and too quiet at the same time.
Zara was talking to police. Vanessa was being questioned in the hall. Tolu was crying on a video call from the other safe room.
And Damian was staring at the empty doorway like he could will Kunle back just to finish what he started.
“Damian,” I said.
He turned. Slowly. Like he’d forgotten I was there.
And then he crossed the room in three steps and pulled me into his arms.
Not CEO. Not billionaire.
Just a man who was terrified he’d lost something.
“I’m sorry,” he said into my hair. His voice broke. “About Page 9. About not telling you. About all of it.”
I was crying. I hated that I was crying. “You said you’d choose me.”
“I am choosing you,” he said. He pulled back, hands on my face. Thumbs brushing tears away. “Tomorrow. First thing. I’m calling Langston. I’m tearing up the deal. I’ll pay whatever penalty. I don’t care.”
“You’ll lose billions.”
“I’ll lose you if I don’t.”
The words hit me harder than Kunle’s gunshot.
Vanessa appeared in the doorway. She looked smaller now. No heels. No smile.
“For what it’s worth,” she said quietly. “He means it.”
Damian didn’t look at her. “Get out, Vanessa.”
She nodded. Left without another word.
Zara followed, closing the door behind her.
Just us. And the sound of our breathing.
Damian’s forehead dropped to mine. “The contract started this. But I’m done with contracts, Adele.”
“Then what are we?” I whispered.
He kissed me.
Not the 3-second kiss from last week.
Not adrenaline. Not fear.
This was slow. Deliberate. Like he was memorizing me. His hands came up to my waist, pulling me closer until there was no space left between us.
When he pulled back, we were both breathing hard.
“We’re whatever you want us to be,” he said. “No rules. No clauses. No fine print.”
I nodded. Tears still falling. “Then I choose you too. Contract or no contract.”
He smiled. Small. Real. The first real one I’d seen.
“Good,” he said. “Because I was going to be very upset if you said no.”
A laugh bubbled out of me. Wet and shaky. “Billionaires are so arrogant.”
“Only when it comes to you,” he said.
The door opened. Zara. “Police need a statement. And Tolu wants to see you.”
Damian nodded. But he didn’t let go of my hand.
As we walked out, past the broken door, past the spot where Kunle had stood, Damian squeezed my fingers.
“Page 17,” he said quietly. “For better or worse.”
“Yeah,” I said. “For better.”
Outside, the sirens were finally fading.
Code Black was over.
But something new was just starting.
---
*END OF CHAPTER 7*
- Writer
