Chapter 1 - The Descent from the CloudsThe roar of the helicopter blades deafened the screaming wind of Rocky Mountain National Park, but nothing could drown out the hum of absolute terror and cold fury vibrating through my veins.
"Hold on to me," the stranger shouted over the deafening aviation turbine.
His name—or at least the name embroidered on the tactical gear strapped across his massive chest—was Dmitri Sokolov. But to the underworld, to the international syndicates spanning from Eastern Europe to the shadows of Manhattan, he was known simply as The Phantom.
I had never met him. I had never spoken his name until forty-eight hours ago.
As the winch lifted us higher into the freezing cabin, the warmth of the heater hit my frostbitten skin like needles. Dmitri unclipped the harness with practiced, surgical precision, sweeping me into his arms as if I weighed nothing at all. He eased me onto the leather bench and immediately ripped off his own heavy wool coat, wrapping it around my shivering shoulders.
I looked down at my swollen abdomen. Through the pain of my shattered wrist and bruised ribs, a tiny, defiant movement pressed against my palm.
Kick.
"She's... she's alive," I choked out, tears finally breaking free, mixing with the dried blood on my cheeks. "My baby is still fighting."
Dmitri’s gray eyes, cold as arctic steel, softened for a fraction of a second as he looked down at my stomach. Then, his jaw tightened until the muscles corded. He reached into his tactical vest, pulled out a satellite communicator, and pressed a single button.
"Doctor is secured," Dmitri spoke into the receiver, his voice a low, gravelly baritone that commanded absolute obedience. "Prepare the trauma suite at the private estate. And notify our legal team. The timer on Michael Carter's nightmare just started."
I shivered, clutching his coat tighter. "Who... who are you? Why were you looking for me?"
Dmitri turned his gaze back to me, the scar across his jaw stretching slightly as a dark, dangerous smirk touched his lips.
"Your husband hired a very expensive insurance broker to make sure you vanished, Elena," Dmitri said softly, pulling a sleek tablet from his bag and turning it toward me. "He forgot that before you married a corporate rat, you signed a confidentiality agreement with a family that owns half the global shipping ports. You thought you were hiding your background from him. But when my scouts found out Michael Carter took out a fifty-million-dollar double-indemnity policy on a pregnant woman... I didn't wait for an invitation to come collect what belongs to me."
On the screen was a live security feed of an upscale suburban home.
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Inside, Michael Carter was pouring two glasses of expensive champagne, laughing brightly with Ashley.
The countdown to destruction had begun.
