The fo
otsteps outside the apartment grew louder.
Every step felt like a countdown.
Vincent stood completely still.
For the first time since he entered my apartment, the powerful man everyone feared looked uncertain.
Not angry.
Not dangerous.
Confused.
Because the voice outside belonged to someone he had trusted more than anyone.
Ethan Cross.
His closest adviser.
His right hand.
The man who had stood beside him through every business deal, every crisis, every war.
The man Vincent believed would never betray him.
“Boss…”
Ethan’s voice came through the broken doorway.
“I finally found her.”
My body went cold.
Not because Ethan found me.
Because of the way he said it.
Like I was something to be captured.
Something that belonged to him.
Vincent slowly turned his head toward the entrance.
“Ethan.”
One word.
But the room changed.
I had never heard Vincent say a name like that before.
There was suspicion in it.
And for the first time, Ethan sounded nervous.
“Boss, you shouldn’t be here alone.”
Vincent looked at him.
“Why?”
A pause.
“Because she’s dangerous.”
I almost laughed.
The man who had been controlling everything from the shadows was calling me dangerous.
I looked at Vincent.
And I saw something shift in his eyes.
Because he heard it too.
The same accusation.
The same manipulation.
The same story everyone had been telling him for seven months.
But this time, he wasn’t blindly accepting it.
“Ethan,” Vincent said slowly.
“Why were you so sure she would be here?”
Silence.
A small question.
But it landed like a weapon.
Ethan didn’t answer immediately.
And that hesitation told Vincent everything.
“You told me she ran to another city.”
Vincent took a step forward.
“You told me she was working with Marcus.”
Another step.
“You told me she was trying to destroy everything I built.”
Ethan remained in the doorway.
“Because she was.”
Vincent’s eyes narrowed.
“Then how did you know where she was hiding?”
