Chapter 6 - The Tiger in a Cage"I'm right where you said you wouldn't notice if I left, Elias," I replied, my voice calm, clear, and utterly devoid of the submissive warmth he was used to. "Life goes on, remember?"
On the other end of the line, the sound of shattering glass echoed through the speaker. Elias had clearly just put his fist through something expensive—likely a mahogany desk or a crystal decanter in his penthouse office.
“You think you can play games with me?” Elias growled, his voice dropping into a lethal register. “You took my ring. You accessed accounts that don't belong to you. And according to my security team, you’ve shacked up with Adrian Vale. Do you have any idea what kind of grave you’re digging yourself?”
"Digging?" I let out a cold, sharp laugh. "Elias, I spent three years buried alive in your mansion while you treated me like a piece of furniture. What you call a grave, I call freedom."
“Chloe. Listen to me very carefully.” His voice suddenly shifted, dropping the roaring fury for a chilling, hypnotic calm—the tone he used right before destroying a business rival. “Come back to Chicago. Tonight. We will sit down, we will wipe the slate clean, and I will pretend none of this childish rebellion ever happened. If you push me any further, I will hunt down every single person who helped you, I will crush Adrian Vale’s company into dust, and I will make sure you never see daylight again.”
"Is that a threat, husband?" I asked softly, resting a hand over my flat stomach where my baby rested safely away from his claws. "Because it sounds an awful lot like panic."
“It’s a promise.”
"Then let me make a promise of my own," I said, my voice hardening like steel. "Look in your top right dresser drawer, Elias. Right beneath the false bottom. You'll find what I left you. And when you realize what you’ve lost, remember that you’re the one who told the room you could live without me."
I hung up the phone before he could reply, powering it down instantly and tossing it into a metal wastebasket.
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Adrian watched me, a slow, appreciative smile spreading across his face. "Did you tell him about the baby?"
"No," I said, looking up at him. "Let him find the ultrasound first. Let him tear his own world apart looking for the answer. When he finally figures it out, I want him to know it’s already too late."
