Chapter 44: The Price of Protection

The gunshot shattered the narrow corridor.

The blast echoed off the stone walls, vibrating through Lena’s bones. She flinched, stumbling backward, hands flying to her ears. The smell of gunpowder filled the enclosed space.

When she opened her eyes—

Mrs. Ward was still standing.

For one impossible heartbeat, Lena thought maybe Elias had missed.

But then Mrs. Ward exhaled softly…

and collapsed to her knees.

“Mrs. Ward!” Lena cried, catching her before she hit the ground.

Blood spread quickly across the older woman’s cardigan, warm and terrifying. The bullet had hit her high in the chest.

“No—no, no, stay with me—” Lena begged.

Mrs. Ward touched Lena’s cheek with shaking fingers. “Child… don’t… cry…”

Elias lowered the gun, face tight, not with anger—

but with something close to anguish.

“I told you,” he said quietly, “don’t make me do this.”

Lena pressed her hands against Mrs. Ward’s wound, trying to stop the bleeding. “Why did you shoot her?! WHY?!”

Mrs. Ward coughed, gripping Lena’s wrist. “He… he wasn’t aiming to kill…”

“What?” Lena whispered.

Elias stepped closer, expression strained. “If I wanted her dead, she would be. It’s a warning shot. She’ll live if you move now.”

“Don’t touch her!” Lena snapped.

Mrs. Ward struggled to speak. “Lena… listen… he… he’s right… you must… run…”

“No!” Lena shouted, tears spilling. “I’m not leaving you!”

“You must,” Mrs. Ward whispered. “Your mother… trusted me to protect you. I can’t… I can’t do that anymore. Not now.”

Elias’s voice deepened, sharp with urgency. “Lena. You have two choices. Stay here and bleed with her—”

“Or come with you?” Lena spat. “Never.”

Elias shook his head. “No. Or run. Now. Before the Circle arrives.”

Lena froze.

“What?”

He looked straight into her eyes.

“You opened that file,” he said. “The Circle felt it. The moment the biometric lock engaged, their system registered it. They know exactly where you are.”

Lena’s blood ran cold.

“They’re on their way,” Elias continued. “Kill teams. Not hunters. Not spies. Killers.”

Mrs. Ward coughed again, weaker this time. “Child… he… he isn’t lying…”

Elias holstered his gun. “If you stay in this house, you die. All of you do.”

Lena stared at him, disbelief twisting inside her. “Then why help me at all? You stalked me. Terrorized me. Shot your way into the estate—”

“To keep the file out of EVERYONE’S hands,” Elias said. “Victoria’s. Alexander’s. The Circle’s. My father’s.”

“And yours?” Lena whispered.

Elias’s expression shadowed.

“I’m not supposed to have it either.”

Mrs. Ward gasped, “Elias… tell her. Tell her why.”

He hesitated.

Lena’s heart slammed. “Tell me.”

Elias met her gaze.

“Because,” he said quietly, “your mother made me swear never to touch it.”

Lena’s breath stopped.

“My mother… trusted you?” she whispered.

“Yes,” Elias said. His voice wasn’t hard now. It was something else—broken, almost haunted. “More than she trusted anyone else in the Circle. More than she trusted my father. She said that if something happened to her… I was to protect the file. And protect you.”

Lena’s throat tightened painfully. “But you didn’t. You let her die.”

Elias flinched.

Actually flinched.

“I failed her,” he said. “And I’ve been trying to make up for that failure ever since.”

Lena swallowed a sob. “By stalking me? By hurting people around me?”

“To keep the Circle from getting to you first,” Elias said. “They wanted you alive at first. Then they wanted you dead. Then they wanted leverage. They always change.”

Mrs. Ward clutched Lena’s wrist again, her voice weak. “Elias… he’s been trying… to keep them… at bay.”

Lena shook her head, trembling. “I don’t know what to believe.”

Elias stepped closer—not threateningly, but with purpose.

“I promised your mother,” he said quietly, “that I would do whatever it took to keep the file safe. Even if you hated me for it.”

His voice cracked, almost imperceptibly.

“Especially if you hated me for it.”

Lena’s vision blurred with fresh tears.

Behind Elias, a distant sound echoed through the estate—

engines.

Doors.

Footsteps.

Lots of them.

Elias’s voice hardened. “The Circle is here.”

He extended his hand to her.

“Come with me. I’ll get you out.”

Lena stared at him.

Alexander was somewhere in the house, searching for her.

Victoria was bleeding and dangerous.

Mrs. Ward lay dying in her arms.

And the Split Circle—the people who killed her mother—were at the gates.

Elias’s hand remained steady.

“I won’t hurt you,” he said softly. “This time, you choose.”

Lena’s heart pounded. “And Alexander?”

Elias hesitated.

Then he answered truthfully:

“He won’t survive if you stay.”

Lena froze.

Mrs. Ward squeezed her arm one last time. “Run… child… run …”

Her eyes fluttered closed.

Lena’s breath shattered.

Outside, footsteps grew closer—dozens of them.

Elias whispered, “Choose now.”