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CHAPTER EIGHT—THE FIRST ATTACK

Penulis: BRIDGITTA Smiths
last update Terakhir Diperbarui: 2025-12-01 22:57:08

For a moment, Elara couldn’t move.

The words Kai had murmured were still hanging in the air, sharp and chilling, like the cold breath of a door left open in winter.

Target acquired.

Not protected.

Not escorted.

Not rescued.

Acquired.

Kai slipped the unmarked device back into his jacket as if nothing had happened. When he turned toward her, the shadows in the narrow hallway caught the angles of his face, and she couldn’t read a single thing in his expression.

He lifted a hand, not touching her, just gesturing.

“Inside. Now.”

Elara stepped back on instinct. “Who were you talking to?”

“Not here,” he said quietly.

That answer wasn’t good enough, and he knew it, but his eyes flicked past her shoulder, listening for something she couldn’t hear. She didn’t know if he was being cautious or hiding something, and that uncertainty made her skin crawl.

Another faint sound rolled through the house.

A scraping.

A floorboard shifting.

Slow. Deliberate.

Not Kai.

Not Valentina.

Not her.

Her pulse le
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  • THE BILLIONAIRE'S HIDDEN MISSION    CHAPTER FOURTEEN — THE GALA INCIDENT

    Kai didn’t answer the device.He stood there, still, rigid, every muscle pulled tight, while the words report her weaknesses hovered in the air like poison.Elara felt something inside her tilt. She couldn’t tell if it was fear, betrayal, or the shock of hearing a piece of Kai she’d never known existed. Agent Valez. That wasn’t a nickname. That wasn’t an accident. It was his real identity, spoken by someone who clearly owned it.Valentina was the first to find her voice. “Elara,” she whispered sharply, “step away from him.”But Elara didn’t move. Couldn’t move. She was studying Kai like he was a puzzle she suddenly realized she’d been assembling upside down.His thumb hovered over the device. A long second passed… then he pressed the screen and slipped it silently back into his jacket.He didn’t report anything.He didn’t speak a single word.For reasons she didn’t understand yet, that mattered.Kai turned to her. His expression had changed, not softer, not colder, but something in be

  • THE BILLIONAIRE'S HIDDEN MISSION    CHAPTER THIRTEEN—KAI SHOWS LOYALTY

    Elara didn’t realize she’d stopped breathing until her vision blurred around the edges.The folder in her hands felt heavier than paper should ever feel.ELARA: CLASSIFIED.Her name was printed like a warning label.She didn’t open it. She couldn’t. Not yet.Her fingers tightened around the file as footsteps approached from behind.“Elara,” Valentina said sharply, “step away from that drawer.”Too late.Valentina’s eyes had already landed on the open cabinet, the scattered documents, the glowing screen displaying Damon’s encrypted codes.And the suspicion on her face was icy enough to slice through bone.“What exactly are you doing in this room?” Valentina moved closer, smooth and slow, like someone approaching a ticking bomb. “This isn’t for you.”Elara straightened. “Maybe if Damon had treated me like a wife instead of a ghost, I wouldn’t need to find answers in locked rooms.”“That’s not an answer.”“No, Valentina. It’s the truth.”Before Valentina could respond, Kai stepped into t

  • THE BILLIONAIRE'S HIDDEN MISSION    CHAPTER TWELVE—DAMON’S SECRETS BEGIN TO UNRAVEL

    Elara stood frozen, the photographs trembling in her hands. Every image felt like a punch to her ribs. She knew Damon was private, secretive, even, but this was different. This was an obsession. Control. A cage she hadn’t realized she’d been living inside.Kai watched her carefully, his posture tense, as if waiting for something to break.“Elara,” he said quietly, “you need to put those back.”“No.” Her voice came out sharper than she expected. “No, I need answers.”“We don’t have time.”“I don’t care.” She shoved one of the photos toward him. “You knew he was tracking me like this? Recording me? Why?”Kai’s jaw tightened, but he didn’t look away. “Because Damon trusts no one. Not even his wife.” The words hit harder than the photos.Elara stepped back, her shoulder brushing the cold steel wall. “This isn’t normal. This isn’t… marriage. This is surveillance.”Kai exhaled, rubbing the back of his neck as though battling something inside himself. “You’re right. It isn’t normal. But you

  • THE BILLIONAIRE'S HIDDEN MISSION    CHAPTER ELEVEN—THE SAFE ROOM

    For a moment, the world outside the small room felt suspended, just the faint static in Kai’s earpiece and Elara’s own heartbeat pounding in her ears. She still hadn’t processed everything she’d seen, everything she now suspected. But the look on Kai’s face told her she wouldn’t get answers here.Not now.He adjusted the strap of the medical kit across his back and reached out a hand to her. Not touching, just offering.“Elara, we have to move.” His voice was firm again, steady, back in that controlled mode she was beginning to understand. “They’re sweeping the halls. If we stay here, we’re exposed.”She forced herself to stand. Her legs trembled, partly from exhaustion, partly from the weight of everything she had learned in just one hour. Every step toward him felt like stepping into deeper fog.“Where are you taking me?” she asked quietly.Kai hesitated, as though measuring how much truth she could handle. “Somewhere no one can reach you.”She didn’t know if she believed him. But t

  • THE BILLIONAIRE'S HIDDEN MISSION    CHAPTER TEN—UNEXPECTED SOFTNESS

    For a moment, no one spoke.Not Kai.Not Elara.Not even the hum of the dim room seemed willing to interrupt the tension stretching between them.Kai’s eyes stayed on the folder she held to her chest. They were unreadable again, but not empty. There was something simmering underneath, a tightness, a restraint she didn’t understand yet.“Elara,” he said quietly, “hand it over.”Her fingers tightened around the file. “Why? So you can hide more things from me?”Kai exhaled slowly, the kind of breath people take when they’re trying not to snap. He stepped toward her, not aggressively, just enough that she caught the faint scent of smoke on his clothes from the gunfire outside.“I’m not the threat here,” he said. “Put it down.”“You were reporting on me,” she whispered.His jaw flexed, and for the first time, a flicker of something like guilt crossed his face. But he didn’t confirm it. He didn’t deny it either. He only reached gently for the folder, and this time, she let him take it becau

  • THE BILLIONAIRE'S HIDDEN MISSION    CHAPTER NINE—WHO IS HE?

    The metal door sealed behind them with a soft hiss, swallowing the sounds of the chaotic mansion. Kai didn’t say a word as he guided Elara deeper into the narrow passage. His steps were precise, almost too controlled, as though he’d practiced this route a hundred times.Elara kept close but stole glances at him whenever she dared.She replayed the scene she had just witnessed, his voice low, almost intimate, speaking into a hidden device.Target acquired. The mission begins now.She tried to convince herself she’d misheard. But the tension in Kai’s jaw, the deliberate way he’d shielded the screen from her… Something wasn’t right.He wasn’t just security. And he definitely wasn’t there by accident. When they reached a small, dim room, Kai stepped aside.“You’ll stay here for now,” he said, tone even. “It’s safer.”That was all. No explanation about the gunshots. No follow-up about the intruders. No reaction to the fear trembling in her hands.It was as though he expected her to obe

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