I Was Not His Victim Anymore

I watched the video again. Nora was tied to a chair, and Victor stood behind her, and though my best friend looked frightened, she was still alive, and that alone was enough to make me want to run straight to the Marlowe Group without thinking twice.

Adrian stopped me before I could move. “You are not going there alone.”

“I know.”

“You need to listen to me.”

“I am listening.”

“This is a trap.”

“I know that too.”

He looked genuinely surprised by how calm I sounded. “Then why are you so calm about this?”

I looked at the screen a moment longer before answering. “Because Victor expects the woman he broke to come running after him.” I raised my eyes to meet Adrian’s. “But that woman is gone now.”

He studied me carefully. “You have a plan.”

“Yes.”

“What is it?”

I turned to Jonathan. “Can you access the company’s security system?”

Jonathan nodded. “Yes.”

“Can you see the cameras inside the building?”

“Yes.”

“Then we don’t go in blindly.”

Adrian smiled at that. “That is the woman I have been waiting to see.”

I frowned. “What woman?”

“The woman who stopped asking permission to fight for herself.”

His words made my heart warm despite everything, and I turned away before he could catch me smiling.

Jonathan quickly pulled up the building’s security system, and several camera feeds appeared on the screen in front of us. We saw Victor standing inside the main office, Nora still tied to the chair, and two men guarding the doors nearby. I watched the screen carefully, studying every detail.

“Wait,” I said suddenly.

Jonathan paused the feed. “What?”

“Zoom in on that man.”

He did, and I looked closely at the figure standing beside Victor. My heart stopped. I recognized him. He was one of the men who had been watching my grandmother’s house.

“He’s part of this,” I said.

Adrian nodded grimly. “There are probably more of them.”

I looked at the screen again and watched Victor walk toward Nora. I couldn’t hear what he was saying to her, but she shook her head firmly in response, and after a moment he walked away from her.

I turned to Adrian. “We need to get Nora out without giving Victor what he wants.”

“What does he want?”

“The company.”

Adrian shook his head. “No.”

I looked at him, confused. “He wants more than that?”

“What, then?”

“He wants me to sign over control.”

Jonathan nodded slowly. “Your father prepared for that possibility too.” He opened another file on the table. “If Victor forces you to sign anything under duress, it won’t be legally valid.”

I looked at him. “Then why would he even bother doing this?”

“Because he doesn’t know that.”

Understanding settled over me. “He thinks he can control me.”

Adrian looked at me steadily. “Then let him keep thinking that.”

I turned toward him. “What are you suggesting?”

“We let him believe you’re going to surrender.”

I shook my head. “That sounds dangerous.”

“It is.”

“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you.”

He smiled slightly. “I’m enjoying watching you become stronger.”

I looked at him for a long moment. “You are impossible.”

“And you are stubborn.”

“I learned from the best,” I said, and he laughed softly at that. For one brief moment the fear disappeared entirely. Then I looked at the screen again and remembered why we were there in the first place.

“Nora needs us,” I said.

Adrian nodded. “Then we’re going.”

We arrived at the Marlowe Group twenty minutes later. The building was dark except for the upper floors, and I looked at the entrance for a long moment before moving. I had walked through those doors many times before as Victor’s partner, but now I was entering as the rightful owner of everything my father had left behind. Adrian stayed close beside me while Jonathan remained in the car, monitoring the security feed.

We entered through the main doors, and the building was completely silent around us.

“Where is everyone?” I whispered.

“They were probably sent home for the night.”

We walked toward the elevators, and the doors opened before either of us pressed a button. I glanced at Adrian. “This is too easy.”

“I know.”

We stepped inside, and the doors closed behind us as the elevator began climbing upward. When it reached the executive floor, the doors opened again, and Victor was standing there waiting, entirely alone.

I stepped out first. “Where is Nora?”

Victor smiled. “She’s safe.”

“Let me see her.”

“You will.”

He looked past me at Adrian. “I told you to come alone.”

Adrian stepped forward anyway, and Victor immediately raised a gun. My heart stopped cold. “Adrian,” I said, and he stopped moving at once.

Victor looked at me. “You always choose the wrong men.”

I stared back at him without flinching. “No. I chose myself.”

His smile disappeared. “You think you’re powerful now?”

“No,” I said, stepping closer despite the gun. “I know I am.”

Victor laughed, though there was no real humor in it. “You have no idea what’s waiting for you.”

“I know exactly what’s waiting for me.”

“What?”

“The truth.”

His expression shifted, and I knew I had touched something real underneath all his composure. “You’re afraid of me,” I said quietly.

“I am not afraid of you.”

“Then why are you holding Nora hostage?”

He said nothing.

“Why are you threatening me at all?”

Still nothing.

“You could have taken the company without doing any of this.”

“You don’t understand.”

“I understand perfectly.” I walked closer, ignoring the gun entirely now. “You never loved me.”

His eyes hardened. “You’re wrong.”

“You loved what you could get from me.”

“That isn’t true.”

“You wanted my father’s company.” He looked away from me. “You wanted my identity.” His jaw tightened visibly. “You wanted my future.” When he looked back at me, I finished the thought. “And now you want my fear.”

I took another step toward him. “But I don’t have it anymore.”

Victor raised the gun slightly higher. “You should be careful.”

I looked directly into his eyes without backing down. “I am.”

Then a voice came from behind me. “Drop the weapon.”

Victor froze in place. Several police officers moved in from the side hallway, and Adrian reacted instantly, pushing the gun away from Victor’s hand before the officers surrounded him completely. Victor tried to run, but they caught him within seconds.

I stood there watching it all unfold. For years I had imagined what it would feel like to finally see Victor face the consequences of everything he had done to me. I had expected satisfaction. Instead I felt strangely empty inside, and I wondered if that was simply because I had already let him go long before this moment.

Adrian rushed toward me. “Are you okay?”

I nodded. “Where is Nora?”

The police found her in a nearby office moments later, and the instant she saw me, she ran into my arms. I held her tightly against me.

“I’m sorry,” I said.

“You didn’t do this to me.”

“I should have protected you better.”

“You came for me,” she said. “That’s what matters.”

Tears filled my eyes. “I would always come for you.”

Nora pulled back slightly and studied my face. “You really have changed.”

I smiled through the tears. “I think I finally met myself.”

She laughed, still crying a little herself. “You even sound different.”

“I feel different.”

Adrian stood nearby the whole time, watching us quietly. After Nora was taken somewhere safe, I walked over to him.

“You saved me,” I said.

He shook his head. “You saved yourself.”

I smiled at that. “Maybe we saved each other.”

He looked at me for several long seconds without speaking. Then he took my hand in his. “I think I’m falling in love with you.”

My heart stopped for an entirely different reason this time. “Adrian.”

“I know the timing is terrible.”

I laughed softly despite myself. “It really is.”

“But it’s true anyway.”

I squeezed his hand tighter. “I think I’m falling in love with you too.”

He smiled, and for the first time in what felt like years, my heart finally felt at peace.

Then Jonathan came running toward us, breathless. “Elena.”

I turned to face him. “What happened?”

He held up his phone. “We found the original records.”

I stared at him in disbelief. “Where?”

His expression was deadly serious. “Inside your father’s private account.”

“Then we finally have the evidence we need.”

Jonathan shook his head. “No.” He glanced at Adrian before continuing. “We have something much bigger than that.”

My smile faded instantly. “What is it?”

He lowered his voice. “The records contain the name of the person who ordered your father’s death.”

My heart began pounding hard again. “Who?”

Jonathan looked at me with something like dread in his eyes. “It’s someone you never suspected at all.”

“Tell me,” I said.

He hesitated for a long moment. Then he said the name aloud, and the world seemed to disappear beneath my feet entirely. Because the person who had ordered my father’s death was not Victor after all. It was someone I had trusted with my entire life.