All Chapters of HER LOVER - HER ENEMY: Chapter 1 - Chapter 9

The past never truly fades. It lingers like a scar, a shadow stretching long behind every step forward. Fifteen years had passed since that night—the night her world was drenched in blood and the sound of gunfire. Elena Carter had spent every single one of those years preparing for this moment. Studying and training her ass off to be here.Tonight, she was no longer that helpless little girl. Tonight, she was a detective. And she was going to bring the Mafia to its knees. **The Briefing Room** The Organized Crime Unit was exactly as she had imagined it—loud, chaotic, and filled with the scent of stale coffee and cigarette smoke that clung to the air like an old memory. Elena walked through the precinct, her polished boots clicking against the floor, her uniform perfectly pressed. She carried herself with confidence, but the murmurs still followed her. *"Carter’s daughter."* *"Think she’s ready for this?"* *"She won’t last a week."* She heard it all. But It

Elena stood before the mirror, fastening the delicate silver chain around her neck. The cool metal brushed against her collarbone, a stark contrast to the warmth of her skin. Her reflection stared back at her—sharp cheekbones, deep-set blue eyes, and a carefully neutral expression that she had perfected over the years. She smoothed out the imaginary wrinkles in her blouse, taking a deep breath. Today was important. Today, she would take the first real step into Moretti’s world.But first, she had to get through the morning.The apartment was eerily quiet, save for the distant hum of the city beyond the windows. Sunlight seeped through the sheer curtains, casting golden patterns across the wooden floor. The air was thick with the scent of lavender, a desperate attempt to cover the ever-present medicinal smell that clung to the walls.Elena turned away from the mirror, her heels clicking against the floor as she made her way down the short hallway. She paused outside a door—the only one

The street outside Inferno was slick with rain, the neon lights from the club's marquee casting an eerie red glow across the puddles. Elena hit the pavement hard, knees scraping, breath catching in her throat as the bouncers released her. The club doors slammed shut behind her, muffling the pulse of music and laughter within.She sat there for a moment, stunned—her coat twisted beneath her, palms burning from the rough landing. People on the street walked past without a second glance. Just another scene in a city that didn’t care.She wasn’t sure what stung more: the humiliation, or the sound of Adrian’s voice in her ears, cold and dismissive, echoing over and over. "We’ll get back to you."It wasn’t a maybe. It was a no. It was a never. And she had known it the moment he said it, but still—still—she had gone back, begging.Elena pushed herself to her feet, her knees aching, hair falling into her face. She brushed it away and kept walking. The chill in the air seeped through her coat

The kettle screamed from the kitchen, but Marissa Carter didn’t move.She sat curled on the living room couch, staring at the dusty photograph on the mantle—Carter’s arm around her shoulders, Elena nestled between them, grinning with missing teeth. A different time. A different life. Before the blood. Before the silence.Her fingers trembled as she reached for the edges of the knit shawl wrapped around her frail body. The room was cold. Or maybe it wasn’t. Maybe the cold lived inside her now—burrowed into her chest the day they brought Elena home with blood on her hands and her husband's badge in a plastic bag.She had been folding laundry when the knock came. A young officer stood there, face pale, hat clutched tight in nervous fingers. Behind him, Elena—eight years old, shivering, wrapped in a too-large jacket. Her daughter’s eyes were blank. Hollow.That was the last clear thing Marissa remembered before her world went black.The doctors said it was shock. Her body had simply… shut