Chapter 31: Blood and Betrayal

The room crackled with tension, thick enough to choke on.

Thomas didn’t flinch. He kept the gun pointed at me, his finger hovering above the trigger. His smirk remained intact, like this was just another game to him. Another power play.

Dominic’s gun never wavered. He stepped into the room, calm and lethal, like a predator that had stalked this moment for years.

“I said drop it,” Dominic growled.

Thomas tilted his head, amused. “Dominic. Always the knight in tarnished armor. But you’re too late. She came to me, remember? Looking for answers you didn’t have the guts to give her.”

My heart hammered in my chest. I stood frozen between two men whose hatred for each other ran deeper than bloodlines.

“Let her go,” Dominic said again, this time colder. “You’ve made your move. It’s over.”

Thomas chuckled. “Over? No, Dominic. This is where it really begins.”

Then he did something I didn’t expect—he lowered the gun.

Not all the way. Just enough to look like he was considering surrender.

Dominic’s eyes narrowed. “What are you playing at?”

Thomas backed up slowly, placing the gun on the desk. “You think I don’t know how this ends? I’ve played every angle, and I knew this would happen eventually. The girl would go digging. You’d follow her. And here we are—your perfect little confrontation.”

“Then why give up?” I asked, my voice sharp. “Why not pull the trigger?”

Thomas looked at me, and for the first time, something cold and unsettling passed through his expression. “Because I already won.”

Before I could react, he hit a button beneath the desk.

A hidden panel in the wall slid open—and two armed men stepped out.

Dominic cursed, seizing my wrist and pulling me down just as the first gunshot echoed. We ducked behind the desk as bullets shattered the windows behind us. Wood splintered and glass flew everywhere. I screamed while Dominic shielded me, his body curled protectively over mine. 

"Stay down!" he yelled. 

He popped up just long enough to return fire. One of the guards yelled out and fell. The other fired wildly at the desk, bullets tearing through the wood inches from my face. 

My ears rang and my lungs burned, but I reached into my purse and retrieved the small taser I always carried. 

Dominic glanced at it and gave a grim smirk. "That’s cute." 

"Shut up and cover me," I retorted. 

I dashed out from behind the desk, ducking low as the second man aimed his gun at me. Dominic shot just in time, distracting the guy. I lunged forward, driving the taser into his ribs. Electricity surged through him, causing him to convulse and fall to the ground. 

I barely had a moment to breathe before realizing Thomas—the slippery bastard—had vanished. 

Dominic stood, his chest rising and falling rapidly. "He’s getting away." 

We sprinted after him, through the back exit he had slipped through. The stairwell was dim, our footsteps echoing ominously. When we burst onto the rooftop, the wind howled as if it were trying to warn us. 

Thomas stood at the edge, a briefcase in one hand, his expression frantic. 

"Don’t come any closer!" he shouted. 

"Drop the case!" Dominic commanded. 

"This case is my insurance!" Thomas yelled. "Evidence. Blackmail. The keys to every secret in your precious family feud. You think I didn’t prepare for this?" 

I stepped forward. "You destroyed lives just to save your own skin." 

Thomas’s eyes locked onto mine. "I built power, Elena. I forged it from chaos. Your father and Dominic’s? They were merely pawns. And now, you’re the queen standing between them. That makes you a threat." 

"Then why not eliminate me?" I asked, taking another step closer.

Dominic’s hand darted out. “Elena, don’t—”

But I wasn’t stopping. Not this time.

“Because you need me,” I said to Thomas. “You always have. You knew I’d expose the truth, and you needed a villain to blame when the house of cards collapsed.”

Thomas laughed bitterly. “You think you understand me?”

“I do,” I said. “You’re not a mastermind. You’re scared. The moment those files are made public, you’re finished. All your leverage gone. And you’re too much of a coward to jump.”

He glanced down at the ledge beneath him.

“You’re bluffing,” Dominic added. “You won’t destroy the files. They’re all you have left.”

Thomas hesitated.

That was all we needed.

Dominic moved first—fast, fluid—and tackled him. The briefcase flew from Thomas’s grip, skidding across the rooftop. I ran after it, grabbing it before it could teeter over the edge.

Behind me, Dominic and Thomas wrestled on the gravel. Fists flew. Blood splattered. It was savage and personal—years of betrayal boiling over.

But Dominic was stronger. Smarter. Angrier.

He pinned Thomas to the ground and landed a brutal punch that left the man dazed.

“Tell me who else was involved,” Dominic demanded, voice ragged.

Thomas laughed, spitting blood. “You’re still playing hero? Don’t you get it? This game has always been bigger than me. Bigger than you.”

“Who?” I asked, stepping closer.

“Ask your father,” Thomas said, grinning up at me through split lips. “Ask him what happened in Geneva. Ask him about Project Zephyr.”

The name hit me like a slap.

Project Zephyr.

I’d seen it once—buried in a restricted file my father had locked away. I’d never gotten into it.

Until now.

Dominic grabbed his collar. “You’re done talking. You’re going to prison.”

Thomas’s grin didn’t fade. “You really think prison can hold me?”

And then I saw it—he’d slipped a ring from his finger and crushed it against the rooftop.

A beacon.

Seconds later, sirens wailed in the distance. 

Dominic cursed under his breath. “He called reinforcements.”

“We have to move,” I said, holding up the briefcase. “This—this is everything. Let’s go before they wipe it clean.”

Dominic hauled Thomas to his feet and dragged him toward the exit. I followed, blood still pounding in my ears.

As we descended the stairs, I knew one thing for certain.

This wasn’t the end.

It was just the beginning of a war we barely understood.

And the truth?

The truth hadn’t even scratched the surface yet.