Chapter 5 - Shadows from the Past
While the Blackwood estate felt like a sanctuary, a storm was brewing in the city.
Serena Vance was not a woman who accepted defeat gracefully.
Stripped of her luxurious lifestyle and humiliated in elite circles, she was consumed by vengeance.
She sat in a dingy motel room, a far cry from the penthouses she was used to, glaring at photos of Victor and me that a private investigator had snapped from afar.
“Look at them,” she sneered, tossing a photo of us laughing in the garden onto the table. “He replaced me with the help.”
The burly man standing across from her crossed his arms.
“You paid me to dig up dirt on the girl, Serena. I found something better than dirt. I found a vulnerability.”
Serena raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”
“Clara’s brother, Tommy. He owes a lot of money to some very bad people in the underground gambling scene. He’s desperate.”
A wicked smile spread across Serena’s face.
She opened her remaining secret bank account on her phone.
“Buy his debt,” she ordered. “And then tell him that if he wants to live, he needs to do his older sister a little visit.”
Back at the mansion, I was completely unaware of the approaching danger.
I was busy helping Ethan with a finger-painting project.
Victor had joined us, much to Ethan's delight, resulting in the billionaire getting green paint all over his expensive white shirt.
“You look terrible, Victor,” I teased, wiping a smudge of blue from his nose.
He caught my hand, holding it against his cheek for a fraction of a second longer than necessary.
“I’ve never felt better,” he replied softly.
The moment was broken by a frantic knock on the door.
One of the security guards stepped in, looking tense.
May you like
“Sir. There’s a young man at the front gate. He’s battered, bleeding, and claiming to be Clara’s brother.”
My heart stopped. Tommy.
