Chapter 5 - BETRAYAL IN THE BLOOD
"The closer you are to the truth, the deadlier the lie."
The gunshot was muffled, but the impact was deafening.
Matthew had thrown himself in front of Elena.
The bullet tore into his shoulder, and he let out a low groan, stumbling back against the wall. Blood quickly began to seep through his white shirt, turning the fabric a gruesome crimson.
"Matthew!" Elena screamed.
The assassin raised the gun again, but Marcus appeared from the side corridor, firing two quick shots. The assassin collapsed to the ground, lifeless.
"Sir! We need to move, now!" Marcus yelled, supporting Matthew as they rushed toward the waiting car in the basement.
An hour later, they were back at the estate. A private doctor was stitching Matthew up in his bedroom. Elena paced outside the door, her hands covered in Matthew's blood from holding the compress in the car. Her heart was in her throat. She realized, with a terrifying certainty, that she didn't want him to die. She had fallen in love with her captor.
When the doctor finally left, Elena rushed into the room.
Matthew was sitting up in bed, his shoulder bandaged, looking pale but alert. He looked at her, his expression softening just a fraction when he saw the worry in her eyes.
"I am fine, Elena," he said, his voice weaker than usual. "It was just a flesh wound."
"You almost died for me," she whispered, walking to the side of his bed. "Why? Why protect me like this if I’m just a business transaction to you?"
Matthew reached out with his uninjured arm, grabbing her hand and pulling her down to sit on the edge of the bed. "Because you are not just a transaction, Elena. I knew your father. He was a good man. And when he died, I promised myself I would destroy the woman who did it. But when I saw you in the rain that night... it stopped being about Julian. It became about you."
Elena felt a tear slip down her cheek. She leaned forward, and for the first time, she initiated the contact, pressing her lips to his. The kiss was desperate, passionate, and filled with the unspoken fear of what was to come. Matthew pulled her closer, his touch possessive and fierce.
But the moment was shattered when Matthew’s phone vibrated on the nightstand.
Elena reached over to silence it, but her eyes caught the preview of a text message from an unknown number.
“The girl doesn’t know. The certificates are hidden in her father's old study, behind the portrait of her mother. Let's finish this tonight, Matthew.”
Elena’s hand froze.
The sender’s number was one she recognized. It was the private investigator she had hired months ago—the one who had suddenly vanished.
Elena looked at Matthew, her eyes wide with shock and betrayal. "You... you knew where the certificates were all along. You didn't need me to find them. You just needed me to sign the contract so you could legally claim the company."
Matthew’s face closed up, the warmth instantly vanishing. "Elena, it's not what you think—"
"You lied to me!" she screamed, backing away from the bed. "You’re no better than Isabel! You used me as a pawn to get my father’s empire!"
May you like
"Elena, wait!" Matthew tried to get up, but the strain on his shoulder caused him to grimace and fall back.
Elena didn't listen. She turned and ran out of the room, her heart shattered. She had to get to her father's old mansion. She had to get the certificates before Matthew, or Isabel, could use them to destroy her life completely.
