Chapter 43: Hunted

The world went black.

The lights cut out all at once, swallowing the estate in a suffocating, absolute darkness. The hum of electricity died. The screens snapped off. Even the faint glow from the drive in Lena’s hand dimmed as her fingers clenched around it.

For a second, no one moved.

Then chaos erupted.

“Stay with me,” Alexander snapped, reaching for her.

But the floor suddenly vibrated with the heavy thunk of steel locking into place — hidden doors, shutters, and barriers sealing the estate from the inside. The old Knight lockdown system activating, burying them all in a concrete cage.

“Backup power should’ve kicked in,” Mrs. Ward whispered, panic rising in her voice. “It always does.”

“It won’t,” Elias’s voice echoed in the dark. Calm. Controlled. “I shut it off.”

Lena’s heart slammed against her ribs.

“You planned this,” Alexander growled.

“Of course I did,” Elias replied. “You’re predictable, Alex. You always bring your problems home.”

“Where are you?” Alexander demanded.

Silence.

Lena reached blindly for Alexander and found his hand. His grip closed around hers instantly, strong and warm and shaking.

“Lena,” he said, his voice low and very close, “whatever happens, don’t let go of that drive. Don’t trust anything he says.”

Her throat tightened. “I won’t.”

Somewhere to their right, Victoria hissed in pain. “If you two are done being sentimental, we should move before he does.”

Mrs. Ward’s voice came from farther away than before. “I—I’m trying to reach the panic door—”

A loud clanging crash cut her off — metal slamming shut.

“Access to the panic room is gone,” Elias said from the dark. “Try to keep up.”

“Coward!” Alexander shouted. “Come out and face me!”

“You’re not my target,” Elias replied. “You never were.”

His words slid straight under Lena’s skin.

Her fingers tightened around the capsule. “You want me.”

“Yes,” Elias said simply. “But not for the reason you think.”

Lena took a step back, bumping into a wall. Alexander moved with her, placing himself in front of her again.

Victoria’s voice grew sharper, breathing uneven. “He doesn’t care about you, girl. He cares about what you’re carrying.”

“Oh, spare me,” Elias said. “Coming from the woman who used her lover’s daughter as a shield.”

Victoria snarled, “I am the only reason she stayed alive this long!”

“Enough!” Lena cried, voice cracking.

The echoes of her shout bounced back at her from the hallway. For a moment, the house itself felt alive — listening.

She drew a shaky breath. “I’m done being pulled between all of you. This ends now.”

“Agreed,” Elias said. “So listen carefully, Lena. I’m going to give you a choice.”

Alexander scoffed. “You don’t get to—”

“Be quiet, Alex,” Elias snapped, his calm thinning for the first time. “This isn’t about you.”

Lena forced herself to speak, though her voice trembled. “What choice?”

“You can give me the drive,” Elias said. “I disappear. You never see me again. The Circle never sees you again. You go back to your life. Or…”

He paused.

“Or you keep it. You open it again. You use it. And you become the Circle’s most wanted enemy — with me, Victoria, and Alexander as your only shields. And we all know how well that worked out for your mother.”

Lena’s stomach twisted.

Alexander’s grip on her hand grew almost painful. “You’re not taking it, Elias. Over my dead body.”

“That can be arranged,” Elias said quietly.

Something moved to their left — the soft scrape of a shoe on polished floor.

Alexander pulled Lena aside sharply. “He’s circling.”

“Of course I am,” Elias said mildly. “This is a hunt.”

Mrs. Ward suddenly cried out somewhere in the dark. “Ah—!”

“Mrs. Ward!” Lena tried to move toward the sound, but Alexander held her back.

“Stay with me.”

“She’s hurt!” Lena protested.

“She’s not his target,” Alexander said through clenched teeth. “You are.”

Victoria’s voice, faint but edged with steel, cut through the darkness. “Lena.”

Lena swallowed. “What?”

“You want to survive this?” Victoria said. “Then learn from your mother’s mistake: don’t face the Circle alone. Use what you have.”

Lena looked down—pointlessly. She couldn’t see it, but she could feel the capsule in her palm.

Her mother’s last weapon.

“What do I do?” she whispered.

“Hide it,” Victoria said. “Somewhere even you can’t reveal under pressure.”

Elias chuckled. “She always did love dramatic plans.”

Metal scraped again — closer.

Lena’s heart hammered faster, but something else stirred inside her too.

Anger.

Not at Elias.

Not at Victoria.

Not even at Alexander.

At the Circle.

At the way they had warped all of their lives. Twisting love into power, loyalty into leverage, family into weapons.

No more.

She lifted her chin even though no one could see it.

“I’m not giving it to you,” she said into the dark. “I’m not running. Not this time.”

A silence followed.

Then, softly:

“I expected more self-preservation,” Elias murmured. “You really are your mother’s daughter.”

Another step. Closer.

Alexander moved in front of her, shielding her with his body. His voice was low, almost a growl. “You’ll have to go through me.”

“I already did,” Elias replied. “You just haven’t realized it yet.”

Before Alexander could respond, a small, cold hand grabbed Lena’s wrist.

Not Alexander’s.

Not Victoria’s.

Lena gasped as she was yanked sideways, her fingers slipping from Alexander’s.

“LENA!” he shouted.

In the darkness, she stumbled through a narrow passage — someone pulling her through a hidden side door she hadn’t even known existed. The panel slid shut behind her with a soft hydraulic hiss.

The noise of the others cut off instantly.

Silence enveloped them.

She tried to wrench her arm free. “Let go of me!”

“Calm down, child,” a familiar voice whispered urgently. “It’s me.”

Mrs. Ward.

Lena froze. “Mrs. Ward?”

The faintest glimmer of emergency strip lights flickered on along the hidden corridor, bathing her and Mrs. Ward in a dull, reddish glow.

Mrs. Ward’s face was pale, lined with fear and guilt. Her hands still trembled.

“I had to get you away from them,” she said. “From him. From all of them.”

Lena pulled her hand back. “You helped Elias. You opened the gates.”

“I thought I was helping you,” Mrs. Ward whispered. “I thought he wanted to protect what your mother left behind. I didn’t know who he’d become.”

Lena shook her head. “How can I trust you now?”

“You can’t,” a new voice said.

Lena spun.

Elias stood at the far end of the corridor, blocking the exit. The dim red light made his features look sharper, more predatory.

He raised a gun.

“Step away from her, Martha.”

Mrs. Ward moved in front of Lena, arms outstretched. “You’ll have to shoot me.”

Elias’s eyes flickered — something like regret passing through them. “Don’t make me.”

“Then don’t,” she said, voice shaking but firm. “You want the Circle’s weapon? She decides. Not you. Not your father. Not Adrian. Not Marcus. Not Victoria.”

She glanced back at Lena, eyes wet.

“Your mother wanted you to choose, child. Not to be used.”

Lena’s chest squeezed.

Elias sighed softly.

“You’re right,” he said.

Then he aimed the gun.

And pulled the trigger.