Chapter 8 - The Shadow Syndicate
Elena stared at Silas, her mind connecting the terrifying dots.
If the ink was fresh, her father could not have written it.
Unless her father was still alive.
She thanked Silas, grabbed the forged letter, and ran back into the rainy night.
She needed to find Alex and show him the proof before he ruined both of their lives.
She arrived at Alex’s corporate headquarters and bypassed the front desk.
She rode the private elevator to his penthouse office, bursting through the doors.
The office was completely trashed.
Desks were overturned, glass partitions were shattered, and blood stained the expensive Persian rug.
Elena gasped, covering her mouth in horror.
Alex’s phone lay abandoned on the floor, the screen cracked and flashing with missed calls.
Suddenly, a burner phone resting on the shattered desk began to ring.
Elena slowly picked it up and answered.
“Hello, sister,” Julian’s chilling voice echoed through the speaker.
“Where is he?” Elena demanded, her voice shaking with rage.
“Mr. Sterling is currently enjoying the hospitality of my associates,” Julian mocked.
He sent a live video link to the burner phone.
Elena clicked it and saw Alex tied to a chair in a dark, concrete warehouse.
His face was bruised, and a masked man was holding a gun to the back of his head.
“Alex is a loose end, just like you,” Julian said casually.
Elena felt a fierce, protective instinct ignite inside her.
She realized, in that terrifying moment, that she had fallen in love with her arrogant rival.
“What do you want, Julian?” she asked coldly.
“Bring the physical master deed of the hotel to the old shipping docks in one hour.”
Julian chuckled darkly.
“If you call the cops, or if you are one minute late, I will paint the walls with his brains.”
Elena hung up the phone and sprinted out of the building.
She retrieved the master deed from a hidden safe deposit box at a 24-hour bank.
She drove recklessly through the slick streets, arriving at the desolate shipping docks.
She walked into the towering warehouse, holding the document high in the air.
Julian stepped out of the shadows, clapping slowly.
He snatched the deed from her hand and signaled his men to untie Alex.
Alex looked at Elena, his eyes wide with shock at her sacrifice.
May you like
Julian smiled, pulled out his own gun, and aimed it directly at Elena’s heart.
“Did you really think I was going to let either of you walk away?”
