Chapter 10 - Elena's Last TrickVincent took Elena underground.
Everyone agreed on that.
Elena still insisted.
Patrick recreated the ledger with altered data.
Nicholas embedded trackers in the binding.
Damian arranged hidden teams around the abandoned Cole shipyard.
Anthony, still hospitalized, provided everything he knew about Vincent's habits.
Elena had one task.
Stay beside Damian.
Damian hated that part most.
At 10:30 p.m., they waited inside a safe house overlooking the Hudson.
Elena wore a black dress because Vincent had demanded she appear unarmed and without body armor.
Damian walked into the room.
Stopped.
For several seconds he forgot why they were there.
Elena raised an eyebrow.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“That's obviously a lie.”
“You look…”
She waited.
He gave up.
“Beautiful.”
Her expression softened.
“You look terrified.”
“I am.”
She hadn't expected that answer.
Damian approached.
“I don't want you coming.”
“We've covered this.”
“I know.”
“Then why say it again?”
“Because I spent my entire life believing fear was something you eliminated.”
His gaze held hers.
“Then you got shot.”
Elena became still.
“And suddenly fear became a person.”
Her heart stumbled.
“Damian…”
“When I saw you on that floor, I understood why my father ran. Why my mother lied. Why Anthony betrayed me.”
He swallowed.
“It doesn't make them right.”
“No.”
“But I understand.”
Elena touched his face.
Damian closed his eyes briefly against her palm.
“I can't promise you normal,” he whispered.
“I wasn't asking.”
“I can't promise safe.”
“I'm noticing.”
“I can promise something else.”
“What?”
“No lies.”
Elena stared at him.
“No disappearing to protect me?”
“No.”
“No deciding my life for me?”
His mouth tightened.
“I'll struggle with that one.”
She laughed.
“Damian.”
“I'll try.”
“Acceptable.”
He looked at her.
“I love you.”
The room became very quiet.
Elena's breath caught.
Damian Cole looked almost irritated with himself.
“I've apparently loved you long enough that five bullets made me publicly humiliate myself.”
“By crying?”
“People are still discussing it.”
“They should.”
“I may fire all of them.”
“You can't fire your entire criminal organization because they saw emotions.”
“I can restructure.”
Elena laughed.
Then her eyes filled.
“I love you too.”
Damian stared.
“Say that again.”
“No.”
“Elena.”
“You heard me.”
“I want confirmation.”
She kissed him.
Softly at first.
Then with everything neither had said for six months.
When they separated, Damian rested his forehead against hers.
“If we survive tonight—”
“When.”
His mouth lifted.
“When we survive tonight, I'm taking you somewhere that doesn't have armed guards.”
“Does such a place exist in your life?”
“I'll build one.”
They arrived at the shipyard at midnight.
Margaret sat tied to a chair beneath warehouse lights.
Vincent stood beside her.
Twenty armed men surrounded him.
Damian and Elena entered alone.
“The ledger,” Vincent said.
Damian held it up.
“My mother first.”
Vincent laughed.
“You're negotiating from sentiment.”
“I'm negotiating because if she dies, you die before you open that book.”
Vincent smiled.
“Still dramatic.”
Elena looked at Margaret.
She appeared frightened but unharmed.
Vincent's attention shifted.
“Elena.”
She stared at him.
“You have your father's eyes.”
“You have terrible taste in suits.”
Vincent's smile disappeared.
Damian almost laughed.
“Bring her here.”
“No,” Damian said.
Vincent aimed a gun at Margaret.
Elena moved.
Damian caught her wrist.
She looked at him.
Trust me.
He released her.
Elena crossed the warehouse.
Vincent grabbed her arm.
“Ledger.”
Damian tossed it.
Vincent handed it to a technician.
“Verify.”
The man opened the book.
Connected a scanner.
Twenty seconds.
Then looked up.
“It appears authentic.”
Vincent smiled.
“Finally.”
He turned toward Elena.
“Now we need the second key.”
He touched the scar beneath her collarbone.
Damian's entire body tensed.
“If you touch her again—”
Vincent smiled.
“What? You'll cry?”
Several men laughed.
Damian didn't.
“Probably.”
Vincent blinked.
Damian continued.
“And then I'll kill you.”
The warehouse doors exploded inward.
Lights went out.
Nicholas's team entered.
Chaos erupted.
Damian moved toward Elena.
Vincent dragged her backward.
Margaret knocked her chair sideways into his legs.
Vincent stumbled.
Elena drove her elbow into his throat.
Damian reached them.
Vincent fired.
The bullet struck Damian's side.
Elena screamed.
Damian fell.
Vincent grabbed her again.
“Stop!”
The gun pressed against her head.
Everyone froze.
Damian lay bleeding.
Margaret sobbed.
Vincent dragged Elena toward a side exit.
“You've ruined everything.”
Elena kept her voice calm.
“No. You did.”
He shoved her into a vehicle.
They disappeared into the night.
Damian tried to stand.
Nicholas held him down.
“You're hit.”
“Get off me.”
“You'll bleed out.”
“Elena.”
“We have trackers.”
Damian stared at him.
Nicholas froze.
The ledger lay abandoned on the floor.
The tracker was inside the ledger.
Not Elena.
Vincent had left it behind.
They had no signal.
No location.
Nothing.
Damian looked at the empty doorway.
For the second time in his life, Elena Whitfield had vanished while bleeding surrounded him.
But this time, she wasn't dying.
May you like
She was in the hands of the man who had spent twenty years murdering anyone who knew his secrets.
And Damian knew exactly what Vincent would do when he discovered the code wasn't where he expected.
