Chapter 3 Shadows of the Past

The Bentley purred as it weaved through the city streets, Elara sitting stiffly in the passenger seat. Rain slicked the windows, casting blurry reflections of neon signs and forgotten memories.

Adrian hadn't spoken since they left the rooftop. He just drove-calm, calculated, unreadable.

She hated that she still noticed the way his hand gripped the wheel, the faint scar on his knuckle, the scent of him-familiar, like cedarwood and cold winters.

Finally, the car pulled into a hidden underground garage beneath a luxury apartment complex she didn't recognize. Private. Secure. Dangerous.

"You live here now?" she asked.

He glanced at her. "It's not a home. It's a safehouse."

Her stomach tightened. "Safe from what, Adrian?"

He held the door open for her. "From the people who wanted me dead."

Inside, the penthouse was minimalist and dark-shades of steel and glass. The kind of place you couldn't relax in, only survive.

He handed her a flash drive. "I need you to see something."

She plugged it into the flat-screen. The video flickered. Surveillance footage. A boardroom. Time-stamped the day before their wedding.

Adrian. Marcus Vale. Savannah.

"...You disappear, Adrian," Savannah said in the footage, "and everything falls into place. Your company, your shares, the Monroe girl-all of it. One vanishing act, and you're free."

The screen went black.

Elara's mouth went dry. "They... plotted it?"

Adrian nodded slowly. "I never meant to leave you, Elara. I was taken. Blackmailed. That was the price of your safety."

She backed away. "No. No, this is just some twisted attempt to win me back."

"Elara-"

"You're lying," she snapped. "Savannah's my best friend. She wouldn't-"

But even as she said it, she remembered. The way Savannah smiled too easily. How she lingered around Adrian. How she vanished minutes before the wedding collapsed.

Everything shifted.

"I didn't come back to win you," Adrian said. "I came back to finish this. And you're already part of it whether you like it or not."

Suddenly, the glass shattered again-another shot. Adrian tackled her to the floor.

"Stay down!" he barked, pulling a hidden gun from beneath the table.

But this time, he was bleeding.

Badly.

"Elara..." he gasped, voice shaking. "Don't trust anyone. Not even yourself."

Adrian is wounded, the betrayal is deeper than she imagined, and Elara is now a target. But can she handle the truth she's about to uncover-or will it destroy her first?