Chapter 6 - The Sister's Secret
I stared at the glowing laptop screen, completely unable to process the horrific truth flashing before my eyes.
Serena, my beautiful, delicate, perfectly innocent younger sister, had paid millions of dollars to have me and Nikolai assassinated.
"She wanted us both dead," Nikolai said softly, emerging from the shadows of the hallway with his gun drawn.
I spun around, tears of absolute betrayal blurring my vision.
"Why would she do this?" I cried, my voice breaking under the crushing weight of the revelation.
Nikolai walked over and gently closed the laptop, wrapping a heavy blanket around my shivering shoulders.
"Julian manipulated her, Evelyn."
He pulled me into his chest, holding me tightly as the last remnants of my old life shattered completely.
"Julian knows he cannot defeat me in a direct war, so he convinced your sister to use her inheritance to hire the Rossi family."
"But she stole my fiancé, isn't that enough for her?" I sobbed, gripping his shirt.
"Julian probably promised her that if we die, she becomes the sole heiress to the entire combined family empire."
I pulled away, a new, terrifying emotion slowly replacing my grief and sorrow.
It was pure, unadulterated anger.
I had spent twenty-four years protecting Serena, hiding her mistakes, and taking the blame for her failures.
I was done being the victim in my own family's twisted narrative.
"I want to go back to Chicago," I stated firmly, wiping the tears aggressively from my face.
Nikolai looked at me, entirely surprised by the sudden, cold resolve in my eyes.
"It is a warzone right now, Evelyn, you are much safer hidden away here."
"I did not marry a king to hide in a concrete box," I replied, lifting my chin with absolute defiance.
A slow, proud smile spread across Nikolai's handsome face, his dark eyes gleaming with dangerous approval.
"Then we go back and we burn Julian's faction to the ground," he agreed.
We spent the next hour loading the SUV with every single weapon and piece of tactical gear stored in the cabin.
As we drove back toward the glowing city skyline of Chicago, Nikolai's encrypted phone buzzed in the cup holder.
He answered it, listening for only a few seconds before his face turned into a mask of pure, lethal fury.
"What is it?" I asked, my heart dropping at the terrifying look in his eyes.
Nikolai hung up the phone and gripped the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles turned completely white.
"Julian just kidnapped your best friend, Penny."
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He pressed harder on the accelerator, the powerful engine roaring aggressively in the dark night.
"He sent a message to the council, claiming he will execute Penny at dawn unless you surrender yourself to him."
