Chapter 4 - The Man Elena Thought She Knew
Elena stopped breathing.
Marcelo looked at Tomas.
Tomas drew his weapon.
“Stay here.”
Elena grabbed his sleeve.
“No.”
Marcelo looked at her.
“You wanted proof he’s alive.”
“I want to see him.”
“That may be exactly what he wants.”
“He was my fiancé.”
Marcelo’s expression stayed cold.
“He also appears in a ledger connecting him to trafficking payments.”
“I need to hear him explain.”
Marcelo considered it.
Then nodded.
“Behind me.”
They left the vault.
Ethan Cross stood in the bank’s private reception room.
He was in his mid-thirties, tall, clean-cut, wearing a dark jacket over a bloodstained shirt.
One side of his face was bruised.
When he saw Elena, relief crossed his features.
“Elena.”
She froze.
Ethan stepped toward her.
Marcelo moved between them.
“Stop.”
Ethan looked at him.
“Castellane.”
“You know me.”
“Everyone knows you.”
Marcelo’s gaze dropped to the blood on Ethan’s shirt.
“Yours?”
“Some.”
“Whose is the rest?”
Ethan gave a humorless smile.
“Men who wanted me dead.”
Elena spoke from behind Marcelo.
“You hurt me.”
Ethan’s expression changed.
“I know.”
“That’s all you’re going to say?”
“I was trying to scare you.”
“You dislocated my shoulder.”
“I didn’t mean to.”
Marcelo’s jaw tightened.
Elena stepped around him.
“I thought you loved me.”
“I did.”
“Did?”
Ethan looked at the floor.
Then at Marcelo.
“We don’t have time.”
Marcelo almost laughed.
“People keep telling me that today.”
Ethan lowered his voice.
“Renato knows the vault is open.”
“We know.”
“He knows you have the ledger.”
“We know that too.”
Ethan looked surprised.
Marcelo continued.
“What you’re going to explain is why your name is inside it.”
Ethan became still.
Elena watched him.
“Ethan?”
He exhaled.
“I worked for Renato.”
Her face fell.
“For how long?”
“Four years.”
“While we were together?”
“Yes.”
Elena’s eyes filled.
“You lied to me every day.”
“I kept you alive.”
“You broke my shoulder.”
“I panicked.”
Marcelo’s voice turned sharp.
“Choose your next words carefully.”
Ethan looked at him.
“You think I’m proud of it?”
“I don’t care how you feel about it.”
Ethan’s mouth tightened.
“I was supposed to watch Elena.”
“Why?”
“Because Vale noticed she was asking questions.”
Elena stared at him.
“So our relationship—”
“Started as an assignment.”
She flinched.
Ethan took a step forward.
“But it changed.”
Marcelo blocked him again.
Ethan looked frustrated.
“I fell in love with her.”
Elena laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
“You assaulted me because you loved me?”
“No.”
“Then stop using that word.”
Ethan looked down.
Marcelo respected Elena for that.
She was still afraid.
Still hurt.
But she did not let him turn cruelty into romance.
“What happened three nights ago?” Marcelo asked.
Ethan rubbed his jaw.
“Vale found out Elena copied the financial archive.”
“He sent you.”
“Yes.”
“To retrieve it.”
“Yes.”
“And you attacked her.”
Ethan’s face tightened.
“Yes.”
“Then what?”
“She escaped.”
“How?”
“She hit me with a lamp.”
Elena almost smiled.
Marcelo glanced at her.
“Good.”
Ethan looked annoyed.
Marcelo continued.
“Why are you here?”
“Because Renato is cleaning house.”
“Meaning?”
“Everyone tied to the ledger is being eliminated.”
Tomas stepped closer.
“Vale too?”
“Yes.”
Marcelo frowned.
“Vale was outside my estate two hours ago.”
“He won’t be alive by morning.”
“How do you know?”
“Because Renato called me.”
Ethan pulled out a phone.
Tomas took it.
A voicemail.
Renato’s voice:
Find Elena. Find Marcelo. Recover the ledger. Then disappear.
Marcelo looked at Ethan.
“You came here to warn us?”
“I came to get Elena out.”
“She doesn’t need you.”
Ethan ignored him.
“Elena, Daniel is safe for now.”
Her eyes widened.
“You know?”
“I helped Paolo find the warehouse.”
Marcelo studied him.
That could explain the dead guards.
“You killed Vale’s men.”
“Two.”
“And the third?”
Ethan hesitated.
“Already dead.”
Marcelo filed that away.
“Where is Daniel now?”
“Your men have him.”
Elena closed her eyes in relief.
Ethan stepped closer.
“Come with me.”
She looked at him.
“No.”
His expression broke.
“Elena.”
“No.”
“Renato will kill you.”
“He’ll kill you too.”
“I deserve that.”
“Yes.”
Ethan looked as though she had struck him.
Marcelo said nothing.
Elena’s voice remained steady.
“You don’t get to hurt me and then decide protecting me erases it.”
“I know.”
“No. You don’t.”
She turned away.
Ethan stared at her back.
Marcelo gestured to Tomas.
“Take him.”
Ethan looked alarmed.
“What?”
“You admitted working for Renato.”
“I’m helping you.”
“That buys you a chair and water instead of a cell floor.”
“Marcelo—”
“Take him.”
Tomas escorted Ethan away.
Elena stood by the window.
Marcelo gave her space.
After a while she said, “I hate that part of me still wanted him to have an explanation.”
“That’s normal.”
She looked at him.
“You don’t strike me as someone who says things are normal.”
“My mother taught me something useful.”
“What?”
“People can hurt you and still be people you loved.”
Marcelo looked away.
“Both can be true.”
Elena stared at him.
For the first time, she saw the man behind the reputation.
Not softness.
Something more complicated.
A man who had learned control because chaos had once controlled him.
Tomas returned.
“Paolo is bringing Daniel here.”
Elena’s eyes brightened.
“How long?”
“Twenty minutes.”
Marcelo looked at the ledger.
“We leave afterward.”
“Where?”
“The villa.”
Elena shook her head.
“Renato knows where you live.”
“Yes.”
“Then why go back?”
“Because he expects us to run.”
Marcelo closed the case.
“And because if Renato wants the ledger, he will come to me.”
Tomas frowned.
“You want him to attack the estate?”
“I want him where I control the ground.”
Elena understood.
“You’re setting a trap.”
Marcelo met her eyes.
“Yes.”
Daniel arrived seventeen minutes later.
He was fifteen, skinny, dark-haired, and trying hard not to cry.
The moment Elena saw him, she ran.
Daniel collided with her.
They held each other tightly.
Marcelo looked away.
Some reunions were private even in public rooms.
Daniel whispered, “I thought they killed you.”
Elena kissed the top of his head.
“I’m here.”
Daniel noticed Marcelo.
Fear entered his face.
Elena immediately said, “He helped me.”
Daniel looked skeptical.
Marcelo almost smiled.
Smart boy.
“You’re the mafia guy,” Daniel said.
Tomas coughed.
Elena looked horrified.
“Daniel.”
Marcelo lifted one eyebrow.
“That is one description.”
“Are you going to kill us?”
“No.”
“Okay.”
Daniel seemed satisfied.
Marcelo glanced at Elena.
She covered her face briefly.
It was the first moment all day that felt almost normal.
It lasted less than a minute.
The receptionist entered.
“Mr. Castellane?”
“Yes?”
“A courier left something.”
Tomas immediately moved between her and Marcelo.
“What?”
She held a small white box.
“No return address.”
Marcelo looked at it.
“Put it down.”
She did.
Tomas scanned it.
No explosive trigger.
No wires.
Marcelo opened it.
Inside was a black velvet pouch.
And a photograph.
The photograph showed Villa Castellane.
Taken that afternoon.
From inside the estate.
Marcelo turned it over.
Four words were written on the back.
YOU LOCKED THE WRONG GATES.
Marcelo looked at Tomas.
Tomas’s face changed.
Someone inside the villa was working for Renato.
Then Marcelo’s phone rang.
Sofia.
He answered.
No one spoke.
He heard breathing.
Then Renato’s voice.
“Hello, nephew.”
Marcelo went cold.
“Where is Sofia?”
May you like
Renato laughed softly.
“Come home and find out.”
