Chapter 12: The Hunt

"Get your hands off me!" Lucian roared, his voice echoing off the sterile hospital walls.

I stood frozen, my hands flying to my mouth, as the three police officers swarmed the bed.

"Lucian Black, you are under arrest for the attempted murder of Elena Black," the lead officer repeated, grabbing Lucian's arm.

"He didn't do it!" I screamed, snapping out of my shock. I lunged forward, trying to push the officer away. "She did this to herself! She planted the bomb! He almost died trying to save me!"

"Ma'am, step back!" a second officer ordered, shoving me roughly away from the bed.

"Don't you dare touch her!" Lucian snarled.

He struggled against them, the veins in his neck bulging. The white bandages on his chest were completely soaked in red now. He looked like a wounded, furious lion fighting against a cage.

"Let me go!" Lucian growled, throwing one of the officers back.

"Stop resisting, Mr. Black, or we will use force!" the lead officer yelled, pulling out a pair of heavy metal handcuffs.

"Lucian, please!" I cried, tears streaming down my face. "Stop fighting them! You're going to bleed out!"

Lucian froze. He stopped struggling.

He turned his head, his gray eyes finding mine in the chaos. The rage in his gaze melted away, replaced by a desperate, agonizing intensity.

"Seraphina," he said, his voice suddenly calm.

The officer snapped the cold metal handcuffs onto his wrists, but Lucian didn't even look at him. His eyes were locked entirely on me.

"I don't care about the tape," he said, his voice echoing in the silent room. "I don't care what they say I did. I want you to listen to me."

I nodded, sobbing.

"I meant what I said," Lucian said, his voice thick with possessive emotion. "You are mine. And I will burn this entire city to the ground before I let them take you from me. Do you understand?"

"I understand," I whispered.

The officers yanked him off the bed. He groaned in pain, stumbling on his feet, but he kept his eyes on me until they dragged him out of the room.

The door slammed shut.

I collapsed to my knees on the floor, my chest heaving with violent sobs. He was gone. They had taken him.

Are you for real right now? I thought, my mind spiraling. How did Elena survive? Why is she blaming him?

I knew Vivienne was behind this. She was trying to destroy him, to take his company, and now she was trying to put him in prison.

I sat on the cold floor for a minute, letting the tears fall. But then, a cold, hard determination settled in my chest.

I wasn't going to let her win.

I wiped my tears, pushed myself up, and grabbed my purse. I rushed over to the small table where the officers had left their evidence bag. They had confiscated the tape recorder Vivienne dropped.

I looked around. The hallway was empty. I grabbed the tape recorder from the bag and shoved it into my purse.

I pulled out my phone and dialed a number.

"Leo?" I said when the line picked up. "It's Seraphina. I need your help. I have an audio file that has been manipulated, and I need you to prove it. It's life or death."

An hour later, I was standing in a dark, cluttered tech repair shop downtown.

Leo, a brilliant hacker I had gone to high school with, was hunched over a computer, analyzing the tape.

"Okay, I see what they did," Leo muttered, typing furiously. "They took your voice from an old phone call you had with Julian and spliced it together with a generic text-to-speech program. It's a very good fake, but they left a digital footprint."

"Can you prove it in court?" I asked, my heart in my throat.

"I can do better," Leo said, turning to me with a grin. "I can trace where the file was created. It came from a computer at the Prescott Estate."

Vivienne. I knew it.

"Send the proof to the police," I said. "And send a copy to Lucian's lawyer."

Leo nodded and started typing.

I felt a surge of hope. We had her. We had the proof. I pulled out my phone to call Helena, Lucian's lawyer.

But before I could dial, the bell above the shop door chimed.

I looked up.

My blood ran completely cold.

Elena Black was standing in the doorway.

She was wearing a black trench coat, her blonde hair perfectly styled. She didn't look like she had just survived a bombing. She looked like a predator.

"Hello, Seraphina," Elena smiled, a cruel, twisted smile. "I told you I wasn't the only one who wanted you dead. But it seems my brother isn't here to protect you anymore."

"How are you out of the hospital?" I whispered, stepping back.

"I checked myself out," Elena said, stepping into the shop. "I have a lot of work to do. And it starts with making sure Lucian stays in jail."

Behind me, Leo gasped. I saw two men in black suits grab him and drag him into the back room.

"Leo!" I screamed.

"Don't worry about him," Elena purred. "Worry about yourself."

She pulled a small, silver gun from her coat pocket and pointed it directly at my chest.

"Lucian took my life," Elena said, her eyes flashing with madness. "So I'm going to take the only thing he actually cares about."

I backed up against the counter, my heart hammering.

"Please," I whispered.

Elena cocked the gun.

"Goodbye, Seraphina."

A gunshot rang out.

I squeezed my eyes shut, waiting for the pain.

But it never came.

I opened my eyes.

Elena was on the floor, clutching her shoulder and screaming in pain. The gun had been knocked out of her hand.

Standing in the doorway, holding a police-issue revolver, was Julian Sterling.

"Get away from her," Julian said, his voice shaking.