005

Bella Hale

The presentation ended in silence.

I had delivered every number and projection without a single mistake. When I finished, Marcus looked at me with something close to surprise. He recovered quickly, of course. In front of the Kane brothers he smiled, placed a hand on the back of my chair, and said warmly,

“That’s my wife. Always brilliant under pressure.”

The brothers didn’t react. Their faces remained unreadable.

After the meeting, Marcus walked me out with his hand resting lightly on my lower back, the picture of a devoted husband. In the elevator he turned to me, eyes soft, and brushed a strand of hair behind my ear.

“You looked beautiful in there,” he said quietly. “I know things have been busy lately… but I’m proud of you.”

He leaned in and pressed a gentle kiss to my temple.

My skin crawled.

I kept my expression calm and gave him a small smile in return. He had no idea I had heard every disgusting word he spoke to Claire the night before. He still believed I was the same trusting wife who would never question him, never dig, never stop believing in the image he carefully maintained.

That was his first mistake.

I waited until Marcus was called away by an assistant before I turned back toward the elevators. I still needed to reach the archives. Those sealed documents were the only thing I had left that might give me any leverage. The papers my father had locked away years ago—the ones that proved the true ownership of the company, the ones Marcus had never been meant to control.

I almost made it.

“Mrs. Hale.”

The voice stopped me cold.

Claire stood a few steps away, holding a folder against her chest, wearing that polite, sweet smile she always used in public. She looked perfectly put together, as if the previous night had never happened. As if she hadn’t been in my husband’s arms while I stood outside the door listening to every word.

“You left so quickly after the meeting,” she said lightly. “I didn’t get the chance to say how impressive your presentation was. Marcus must be very proud.”

I didn’t answer. I simply moved to walk past her.

She shifted just enough to block my path.

“It’s amazing how well you handle pressure,” she continued, still smiling. “Some wives fall apart when things get difficult… but you stay so calm. Almost like nothing can touch you.”

The way she said it made my fingers curl into fists at my sides.

“I have somewhere to be,” I said evenly.

I stepped to the side.

Claire moved with me and, just as I passed, deliberately drove her shoulder into mine. The impact was sharp enough to make me stumble a step. I turned, ready to speak—

Then I saw her eyes flick past me.

Marcus was coming down the hallway.

In one smooth motion, Claire slapped her own cheek hard enough to leave a red mark, let out a small cry, and dropped to the floor as if I had struck her.

“Claire!”

Marcus reached us in seconds. He didn’t ask a single question. He didn’t look at me for an explanation. He only saw his secretary on the ground with a reddened cheek and his wife standing over her.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” he snapped at me, voice sharp with anger. “Have you lost your mind?”

He knelt down, helping Claire up with careful hands, his expression full of concern he had never shown me the night I cried alone in a bathroom. The night I sat on the cold tiles while he whispered soft promises to another woman in the next room.

“Are you alright?” he asked her softly.

Claire nodded weakly, leaning into him. “I’m fine… it was just a misunderstanding.”

Marcus shot me one last cold look, then guided her away down the hallway, one arm firmly around her shoulders, without even waiting for me to speak.

I stood there frozen.

After five years of marriage.

After everything I had given him—the company, the late nights, the quiet sacrifices, the years of putting his ambitions before my own.

He didn’t even ask for my side.

He just chose her.

Something in my chest cracked a little more.

I forced myself to turn away before anyone could see my face. My eyes burned, but I refused to let the tears fall here. I walked straight to the archives, jaw tight, heart heavy, and continued searching for the sealed documents my father had left behind.

The room was quiet and cold. Fluorescent lights hummed above the metal cabinets. I pulled open the drawer that had always held the heavy folder with the company seals and the old transfer papers. My hands moved faster when I didn’t find it. I checked the second drawer. The third. The locked cabinet in the corner. I even went through the older files my father used to keep for emergencies.

Nothing.

The documents were gone.

My stomach dropped. The last piece of leverage I had—the only proof that could have given me a way out without walking away empty-handed—had been removed. Someone had taken them.

And I knew exactly who.

I stepped back into the hallway, still trying to process the empty space where the only power I had left used to be.

“Bella!”

Marcus’s voice cut through the corridor like a whip.

I looked up. He was striding toward me, face tight with anger, Claire walking a few steps behind him with that same soft, injured expression. The red mark on her cheek still stood out under the hallway lights.

“Come here,” he ordered. “Right now.”

I didn’t move.

He stopped in front of me, eyes hard.

“You need to apologize to Claire. I don’t know why you’re being so difficult and rude when she’s been nothing but kind and helpful. She’s the one who’s been picking up the slack while you’ve been distant and cold. She’s the reason this department still functions.”

I stared at him.

He actually believed the words coming out of his mouth.

Or he wanted me to believe them.

Before I could answer, his hand closed around my wrist. He dragged me down the hallway and shoved me into his office. The door slammed shut behind us.

Claire was already inside, standing by the window with her arms loosely crossed, watching me with quiet satisfaction.

Marcus pointed at the floor in front of her.

“Kneel.”

I looked at him.

“What?”

“Kneel and apologize to Claire. Now.”

I let out a short, incredulous breath.

“Apologize to who?”

Claire stepped forward, voice gentle and almost pitying.

“Marcus, it’s alright. I know Bella didn’t mean to lose her temper. She’s under a lot of pressure… maybe we should just let it go.”

Marcus cut her off.

“Don’t be so kind to people who don’t deserve it.”

I scoffed.

The sound was low and bitter.

Without another word, I turned, yanked my wrist free from his grip, and walked straight out of the office. I didn’t look back. I didn’t give either of them the satisfaction of seeing my face.

I took the stairs two at a time, heart pounding against my ribs, and pushed through the glass doors into the lobby.

“Adrian!”

My voice echoed across the marble.

The three Kane brothers were standing near the entrance, clearly waiting for their own meeting to begin.

Adrian’s head turned first.

Dominic and Elias followed.

None of them moved.

None of them answered.

They simply looked at me—cold, unreadable—as if they already knew why I had come.

I didn’t wait for them to speak.

I turned and walked past them toward the elevators, already pulling out my phone. My hands were still shaking, but my mind was clear.

There was only one group of men powerful enough and ruthless enough to destroy him.

I contacted the Kane brothers.

They didn’t ask questions.

They simply sent an address and a time.

The private lounge was quiet and dimly lit. Soft amber light reflected off dark wood and leather.

Adrian sat in the center chair.

Dominic stood near the window with his hands in his pockets.

Elias leaned against the bar, a glass of whiskey untouched beside him.

None of them looked surprised to see me.

I stopped a few steps inside.

“I’ve lost everything,” I said. My voice came out steady even though my hands were trembling. “Marcus has control of the company, the properties, the inheritance… all of it. The documents my father left me are gone. If I try to leave him the normal way, I walk away with nothing.”

Silence.

Adrian’s gaze was cold and measuring.

“And?”

“I need your help.”

Elias gave a soft, humorless laugh.

Dominic remained still, watching me with that same quiet intensity he always had.

Adrian tilted his head slightly.

“We don’t help married women, Bella. Especially not ones who already chose the wrong man. You have nothing left to offer us.”

My throat tightened.

“Please.”

I hated the sound of the word.

“Please, Adrian. Elias… Dominic. I need to take it back. I need to make him pay for everything he’s done.”

Adrian rose slowly and walked toward me. The air in the room seemed to thin with every step he took.

He stopped close enough that I had to look up to meet his eyes.

“You asked for our help once before,” he said quietly. “We gave it. Then you disappeared and married him.”

His voice dropped, dangerous and possessive.

“Now you come back because he’s destroying you, and you expect us to fix it?”

“I’ll do whatever it takes.”

Something dark moved behind his eyes.

The three of them closed in around me.

Adrian reached out and caught my chin, tilting my face up with firm fingers. His thumb rested just below my lower lip.

“Then understand this clearly,” he said. “If we help you, you don’t get to walk away afterward. You belong to us. Completely. Your body. Your choices. Your future. No more running. No more choosing someone else.”

Elias’s voice came from my left, soft and final.

“We won’t share you. Not with him. Not with anyone.”

Dominic added from my right,

“Once you agree, you’re ours.”

Adrian’s thumb brushed slowly across my lower lip.

“So I’ll ask only once, Bella.”

His eyes locked on mine, dark and unyielding.

“Are you willing to belong to us… in exchange for everything he stole?”