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012: The Enemy Within
Fecha de publicación:
2026-07-09 15:48:20Elena's fingers tightened around the black envelope.
The photograph had been taken inside Damian's mansion. She was standing by the garden that afternoon, completely unaware that someone had been watching her. A chill ran down her spine. "This... this was taken today." Damian nodded, his face grim. "Yes." "Who could have done this?" "I don't know." His answer only made Elena more uneasy. If Damian Blackwood, a man surrounded by guards and advanced security systems, didn't know who had entered his estate, then whoever was behind this wasn't ordinary. The head of security hurried over. "Mr. Blackwood, we've searched the entire property. No one was found." Damian's jaw tightened. "What about the security cameras?" "They were disabled for exactly six minutes." "Six minutes?" "Yes, sir." Damian cursed under his breath. The culprit had planned everything well. They knew where the cameras were. They knew when the guards changed shifts. Most importantly... They knew Elena was here. Damian turned to Elena. "You're not leaving this mansion." She frowned. "I can't stay locked up forever." "I'm not asking." His voice was calm but firm. "I'm telling you." She looked away. "I don't like being treated like a prisoner." "You aren't a prisoner." "Then why can't I leave?" "Because someone wants you." His words echoed through the silent hallway. No one spoke. Damian rubbed his forehead before speaking again. "I'll double the security. Until I know who's behind this, you're safer here." Elena reluctantly nodded. She knew arguing wouldn't change his mind. Later that night, Damian called an emergency meeting in his study. His most trusted men gathered around the long table. "I want every employee investigated," Damian said. "No exceptions." One of his managers hesitated. "Even the senior staff?" Damian's icy gaze met his. "Especially the senior staff." The room fell silent. "There is a traitor among us," Damian continued. "And I'll find them before they reach Elena." Upstairs, Elena couldn't sleep. She kept staring at the photograph. Someone had followed her. Someone had entered the mansion. Someone knew exactly where she was. A soft knock interrupted her thoughts. "Come in." It was Mrs. Harper, the elderly housekeeper. "I thought you might need some tea." "Thank you." Mrs. Harper placed the cup on the table and then smiled. "Don't let fear control you, dear." "I'm trying." The older woman gently squeezed her shoulder. "Mr. Blackwood has never protected anyone the way he protects you." Elena looked up. "What do you mean?" Mrs. Harper smiled to herself. "I've worked here for over twenty years." "I've seen many people come and go." "But I've never seen him lose his composure over anyone." She paused. "Until you." Elena's cheeks warmed slightly. Before she could respond, Mrs. Harper excused herself and left. Elena stared at the closed door. Could that be true? The cold and distant Damian Blackwood... Was risking everything for her? Elsewhere in the city... Vanessa sat inside a dimly lit café. Across from her sat a man wearing a black cap. His face remained hidden. "You failed," Vanessa said coldly. "The guards reacted faster than expected." "You still left the message." The man nodded. "She looked terrified." Vanessa smiled. "Good." She leaned forward. "I don't want Elena dead." The man looked surprised. "I want her afraid." "So afraid that she starts making mistakes." He nodded slowly. "And Damian?" Vanessa's smile disappeared. "I'll deal with him myself." The mysterious man stood. Before leaving, he asked one question. "What if Adrian finds out?" Vanessa laughed softly. "He won't." "He still thinks I'm the only woman who truly loves him." The man walked away. Vanessa remained seated, her smile growing colder. Everything was moving exactly as she had planned. Or so she believed. She didn't know someone else had been watching her meeting from inside a parked car. The figure lowered a camera after taking several photographs. Then he made a phone call. "Sir." "I found Vanessa." There was a brief pause. "She isn't working alone." The voice on the other end replied calmly, "Keep watching." The caller ended the conversation. As the black car disappeared into the night, only one question remained... Who was watching the hunter?
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Too Late To Want Me Back 053: What the Dead Don't Spend
Her grandfather was waiting for her when she arrived, which told Elena everything before she'd said a word. He'd known this conversation was coming since the moment Damian's security team pulled that bank statement."You should sit," he said."I'd rather stand."He nodded, as though he'd expected that too, and folded his hands in his lap the way he always did before delivering news he didn't want to give."Katherine didn't die of her heart," he said. "Or not only that. It's complicated, and I've spent seven years telling myself complicated was close enough to a lie that it didn't count as one."Elena set the bank statement on the table between them. "Someone has been funding an account under her name for seven years. Paying Marcus Reyes. Explain that to me."Her grandfather looked at the paper like it was something that could still bite him."Katherine wasn't just your aunt," he said slowly. "She ran security for this family for almost a decade before you were born. Off the books, mos
Too Late To Want Me Back 052: Six Weeks
The doctor's office was quiet in the way expensive places always were — no waiting room chatter, no rushed appointments, just soft lighting and the faint hum of machines that were about to answer a question Elena had been avoiding for weeks.Damian sat beside her, his hand wrapped around hers, saying nothing because he understood, without being told, that she needed the silence more than reassurance right now."Six weeks along," Dr. Whitfield said, turning the monitor slightly so Elena could see. "Measurements are right on track."Six weeks.Elena did the math again, the way she'd done it a dozen times already in the privacy of her own head, and the number landed exactly where it had every other time. Six weeks put conception right around the week she'd been signed over to Damian. Not years ago, in a hotel room she'd spent seven years trying to forget.Now.Recently.The night she'd told herself, at the time, hadn't meant anything."Elena." Damian's voice was low, steady, meant only f
Too Late To Want Me Back 051: The Reckoning Begins
By the time Elena walked into the Vale Group's headquarters, the entire city already knew her name.Cameras lined the entrance. Reporters shouted questions she didn't answer. Analysts had spent the last three days rewriting projections for a company everyone thought had lost its heir seven years ago, and now here she was, stepping out of a car with Damian Blackwood's hand at the small of her back, dressed like a woman who had never once been anyone's collateral.She didn't flinch under the lights. She'd spent too long flinching."Ms. Vale." A board member met her at the door, older, cautious, testing the ground before he committed to a side. "We weren't expecting you so soon.""I've been gone seven years," Elena said. "I don't intend to waste a single day more."The boardroom fell silent when she entered.These were men who had run her father's company in her absence, who had built careers on the assumption she would never come back to claim what was hers. A few looked afraid. A few l
Too Late To Want Me Back 050: Following the Money
By morning, Damian's security team had a location.Not a home address — Marcus Reyes hadn't lived anywhere long enough to leave a paper trail worth following. But he had a habit of using the same private mail service every few weeks, a small storefront wedged between a dry cleaner and a shuttered bakery on the edge of the industrial district."It's not much," the head of security admitted, sliding a folder across Damian's desk. "But it's the only thread that's actually moved in three days."Elena reached for the folder before Damian could. "Then we pull it.""Elena—""I'm not asking you to let me go alone." She met his eyes. "I'm telling you I'm coming."Damian studied her for a long moment, the way he did when he was deciding whether to fight her or trust her. He chose trust. He usually did, these days."Fine," he said. "But we do this quietly. If Marcus knows we're looking, he disappears."The mail service was smaller than the photograph suggested, lit by a single flickering sign an
Too Late To Want Me Back 049: The Hotel
Damian didn't sit. He never did when the truth was about to cost him something."Seven years ago, I wasn't in that city by accident," he said. "I was there because my father had just died, and I'd inherited a company that was quietly bleeding out from a deal he'd made with your family."Elena's grip on his hand tightened. "My family?""The Vale Group had a controlling stake in a shipping consortium my father needed to survive. He'd borrowed against it without telling anyone — including me. When he died, I had ninety days to either renegotiate the terms or lose everything he'd spent thirty years building." Damian's jaw worked. "I flew in to meet with a Vale representative. Someone who could get me an audience with your father before the board found out how close we were to collapse.""And instead you met me.""I didn't know who you were. Not that night." He finally looked at her. "You told me your name was Ellie. You said you were in town for a wedding you didn't want to attend."Elena
Too Late To Want Me Back 048: What He Never Told Her
Damian's security team traced the call within thirty-six hours. A burner phone, purchased in cash, activated for eleven minutes and never used again. Untraceable, technically. But the store it came from sat two blocks from a building Damian recognized immediately — the old Sterling Holdings satellite office, the one Adrian had quietly shut down during the restructuring. "That doesn't mean Adrian's involved," Elena said, reading the report over Damian's shoulder. "I didn't say it did." He set the tablet down. "But someone who used to have access to that building did." "Marcus." Damian looked up. "You know that name?" "No." Elena frowned. "But Vanessa's been different this week. Distracted. My assistant mentioned she canceled two meetings and left the office early yesterday without telling anyone where she was going." "You're still keeping tabs on Vanessa." "I'm keeping tabs on the people who might hurt me. She qualifies." Elena crossed her arms. "She always has." Damia
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