Chapter 1: The Night Everything Died

Five years ago...

The city never slept, but that night, it bled.

Thunder cracked across the Manhattan skyline as rain pounded the windows of the penthouse suite like angry fists. Elena Monroe stood in the middle of the marble-floored bedroom, her body trembling as lightning flashed behind her. Her silk dress clung to her skin, soaked through from the storm she had just walked through. Her heels were gone. Her pride, shattered.

And the man she loved... the man whom she thought loved her back, stood before her in a tailored suit, eyes cold as the empire he ruled.

"Say it again," she whispered, her voice breaking. "Say it to my face, Grayson."

Grayson Wolfe didn't flinch. He didn't blink. He just stood with that perfect posture and that godforsaken calm that used to make her melt. Now it made her sick.

"I'm marrying Ava Harrington. The engagement will be announced tomorrow." He responded.

Elena stared at him like she didn't recognize the man in front of her. Just hours ago, they'd been wrapped around each other, tangled in sheets and promises. She remembered his words –You're all I want, Elena. You're mine.

Lies. Every single one of them.

"Why?" Her voice was a whisper, a broken thing. "You said you loved me."

His jaw tightened.

For a moment, something flickered in his eyes. Guilt? Maybe, regret? But it vanished just as fast.

"This has nothing to do with love. It's business. Ava's father is merging Harrington Holdings with Wolfe Enterprises." He responded.

"So I was just a distraction? A warm body to fill your bed while you arranged your future with someone else?" Elena asked.

She didn't expect him to answer.

He did.

"You knew what this was."

The slap came before she knew she'd moved. Her palm stung. His face turned slightly but he didn't react. He didn't even blink.

That was the moment something inside her died.

Elena backed away, heart shattering inside her chest. She wanted to scream, to curse him, to beg him to say this was all a mistake. But she wouldn't give him the satisfaction. Not anymore.

Her hand went to her stomach instinctively. She hadn't told him yet. She had found out just two days ago. She was carrying his child.

And now she would raise this baby alone.

No... she would survive. She would rise. And one day, Grayson Wolfe would regret ever betraying her.

She walked past him, rainwater pooling beneath her bare feet. At the door, she paused.

"One day," she said quietly, her voice steady now, colder than he'd ever heard it. "I'll make you pay for this. You won't see me coming, Grayson. But when I do… I'll ruin you."

Then she was gone.

And Grayson Wolfe, the man who built an empire with ice in his veins, stood alone in silence, heart thudding in a way he didn't understand.

Present Day...

"Ma'am, we're landing in ten." Announced the flight attentant.

Elena opened her eyes as the jet descended, the lights of New York glowing below. It looked the same. But she was not the same woman who had run away five years ago.

She wore power now like a second skin. Her tailored black suit molded to her curves, her lips painted a sharp red, her hair sleek and pinned. The little girl asleep beside her –Sophie– curled against her side with the same midnight eyes as the man she'd once loved.

Elena kissed her daughter's forehead softly. "Time to go home, baby."

This time, she wasn't coming back to beg.

She was coming to destroy him.