Chapter 3 - The Wolf in Silk Clothing
The morning sun did nothing to warm the sterile atmosphere of the hospital's VIP pavilion. Elena lay propped up against the pillows, her face still pale, but the sharp intelligence in her eyes had returned. Leo sat beside her, eating a bowl of fresh fruit, his small shoulders finally relaxed.
When Ethan walked through the door, Leo instinctively stood up, moving slightly in front of his mother. The protective gesture cut Ethan to the quick.
"It's alright, Leo," Elena whispered, her voice raspy but firm. "Mr. Vale is not here to hurt us."
Ethan stopped at the foot of the bed, feeling entirely out of place in his bespoke suit against the stark reality of their pain. "Elena... I have read the files. All of them. I know who you are, and I know what Cole and Vanessa have been doing."
Elena didn't look relieved; she looked wary. "Then you know that your fiancee has successfully funneled over twelve million dollars out of your charitable foundations over the last eighteen months. She used my signature stamps—forged, of course—to authorize the transfers. If the feds looked into it, I was meant to take the fall. A desperate maid stealing from a billionaire. A perfect story."
"I am so sorry," Ethan said, the words feeling utterly inadequate. "I was blind. I let my past blind me because I thought buying a massive estate meant I had made it. I didn't look at the people running it."
"Wealth makes people lazy, Mr. Vale," Elena said quietly, her gaze holding his without an ounce of fear. "You look at numbers on a screen, but you don't look at the dirt on the floor or the blood on the sheets. Vanessa knew that. She relied on your arrogance."
Before Ethan could answer, the heavy wooden doors of the private room burst open. Vanessa marched in, flanked by two private bodyguards, her face a mask of calculated outrage. She was dressed in an immaculate cream-colored Chanel suit, looking every bit the high-society queen she portrayed to the world.
"Ethan! Thank God," Vanessa gasped, feigning breathless anxiety as she rushed toward him, completely ignoring Elena and Leo. "The security team told me you were here. Darling, you cannot let this woman manipulate you. Cole just discovered that she has been stealing confidential financial data from your home office. She's a corporate spy, Ethan! She's trying to blackmail us!"
Leo shrank back, but Elena’s expression turned to ice.
Ethan didn't move an inch. He didn't reach out to comfort Vanessa, nor did he look angry. He simply stood like a stone wall between his fiancee and the hospital bed.
"Is that so, Vanessa?" Ethan asked, his voice deceptively calm. "A corporate spy who scrubs your floors and takes your abuse for six months just to get data?"
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"Yes! They are professional grifters, these people!" Vanessa cried, pointing a manicured finger at Elena. "She probably hurt herself on purpose just to sue you! We need to have her arrested immediately. I've already called the police. They are downstairs."
"Good," Ethan said, stepping aside to reveal Marcus standing in the doorway behind Vanessa. "Because the federal authorities are downstairs too. But they aren't here for Elena."
