Chapter 78: The Edge of Betrayal

The smoke was thick, a suffocating cloud of confusion and chaos. It blurred the lines between reality and nightmare. I could hear Dominic shouting over the sirens, his voice a fierce command cutting through the haze. But all I could focus on was the sound of my own pulse, beating wildly in my ears.

Run.

The word echoed in my head like a mantra I couldn’t escape. But where would I go? To whom could I turn? The life I had known, the family I had trusted, was crumbling at my feet.

Dominic’s hand was gripping mine so tightly that I could feel the strength of his determination in every movement. He didn’t let go, even when the smoke stung my eyes, even when the world felt like it was spinning off its axis.

“We need to move,” he said, his voice hard with urgency. “Now.”

I nodded, though my mind was still struggling to catch up. Every instinct told me to run—to escape—but I couldn’t bring myself to leave Dominic. Not when the people who had been pulling the strings for so long were finally making their move. I had never felt more exposed in my life.

Dominic dragged me toward the back of the penthouse, where the emergency staircase spiraled down into the darkness below. But before we could even take a step, a sharp noise cut through the air—a bullet. It whizzed past us, too close for comfort.

“Move!” Dominic barked, pulling me down the stairs with a force that left no room for argument.

I couldn’t think. I couldn’t breathe. I could only follow him, my mind racing. Why hadn’t we been more careful? Why hadn’t we seen this coming? Whoever was behind this attack knew too much. They knew where to hit us.

We made it to the ground level and into the parking garage, where Dominic’s black SUV was waiting, engine running. The door was flung open, and I scrambled inside, trying to ignore the panic swelling in my chest. The screech of tires against concrete echoed in the garage as Dominic slammed the gas pedal to the floor, careening out of the parking lot.

I glanced at him, my breath shallow. “Who are they, Dominic? Who’s behind this?”

He didn’t answer right away. His jaw was clenched, his eyes locked on the road ahead. The tension in his body was palpable, every muscle taut with the weight of the danger we were in.

“I don’t know,” he finally said, voice low and tight. “But I’m going to find out.”

The night was dark, and the city felt empty in a way that made my skin crawl. As we drove, I couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was watching us—tracking our every move. It was the same feeling I’d gotten when I first started digging into Caldwell Enterprises. Like the truth was just out of reach, but every time I thought I had it, it slipped away.

We pulled into an underground safe house that Dominic had kept hidden for moments like these. The doors closed behind us with a heavy thud, sealing us inside.

I exhaled slowly as I stepped out of the car, still shaken. “What the hell just happened, Dominic? We were supposed to be safe.”

He didn’t look at me as he approached the control panel by the door. His fingers moved with quick precision, typing in codes I couldn’t decipher. “You’re right,” he said, voice hollow. “We should have been.”

The door clicked open, and we stepped inside the stark, cold walls of the safe house. It was functional, not meant for comfort, and that suited me just fine. In times like these, comfort was a luxury neither of us could afford.

Dominic moved toward the center of the room, pacing again. His eyes darted between the security screens, flicking through various camera feeds, and then landing on the one he wanted: a live feed of the front of the penthouse.

The smoke was gone, but the destruction was clear. The building had been evacuated, but the remnants of the attack were still visible—broken windows, shattered glass, and the chaotic aftermath of a carefully executed strike.

“This wasn’t random,” he muttered. “This was planned.”

I leaned against the wall, trying to steady my breathing. The attack, the threat… it all pointed to one thing. The League was making its move, and they were sending a message.

“What do they want?” I asked, my voice strained. “What did we do to provoke this?”

Dominic turned to face me, his eyes full of fire, but his expression was hard. “It’s not what we did. It’s what we might do. If we expose them, if we tear down the empire they’ve built, we’re not just threatening them. We’re threatening everything they’ve ever worked for.”

His gaze softened for a split second, and something flickered in his eyes—a trace of vulnerability. “And that’s why they’ll stop at nothing to take us down. You and me, Elena… we’re too dangerous.”

Dangerous. The word rang in my ears like a warning bell. Was I ready for this? Was I ready for whatever game I had been dragged into? My mind raced with questions, but one stood out above all: How much more of myself was I willing to lose to bring down the people who’d ruined everything?

I stepped forward, meeting his gaze. “We need to find out who’s behind this. We can’t just sit here.”

Dominic’s lips twisted into a grim smile. “You’re not wrong. But we need to be careful. The League is watching. And I think they’ve got someone close to us on the inside.”

My stomach sank. “Someone close? Who?”

He didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he turned to the screens again, his eyes narrowed as if searching for something hidden in plain sight.

“We’re going to need help,” he said, voice steady. “But it’s going to have to be someone we can trust. Someone who won’t hesitate to fight dirty.”

By the time we got the call, it was nearly dawn.

The phone buzzed with an encrypted message that Dominic recognized immediately. His eyes flicked to me before he answered, his voice barely above a whisper.

“Talk to me.”

The voice on the other end was strained, urgent. “They know. They’ve been watching you for weeks. They’re coming for you, Dominic. You need to leave the city now.”

I could hear the panic in the voice, the fear. But what struck me the most was the sense of urgency.

Dominic’s face tightened. “Who are you working with?”

But the line went dead.

“Shit.” Dominic swore under his breath, tossing the phone onto the table.

“What is it?” I asked, my heart racing again.

“Their inside man just made contact,” he said, eyes hard. “And they’re moving faster than I thought.”

“So what’s our next move?” I demanded.

His gaze locked onto mine, fire burning in his eyes. “We find them. Before they find us.”

We were already playing with fire. But now, I realized, it wasn’t just my life on the line.

It was Dominic’s.

And, somehow, that made the stakes all the more terrifying.