Semua Bab Revenge is Best Served Cold: Bab 41 - Bab 50

Marcus' POV I woke up to the taste of blood in my mouth and the feeling of cold leather on my wrists.The world came back to me slowly, like swimming up from the bottom of a deep, dark pool. First the pain. It was a sharp, throbbing pain in my head where someone had hit me. Then the smell came to me. There was definitely an antiseptic smell but it was mixed with another bad smell.Fear.I tried to move and immediately realized I was strapped down. Thick leather restraints held my wrists and ankles to what was definitely a metal table. The surface beneath me was cold and hard, like the table I woke up in during the autopsy.But this was feeling much worse than that.I forced my eyes open and immediately wished I hadn't.I was in what looked like an operating room, but not the kind you'd find in any legitimate hospital. The walls were bare concrete, stained with things I didn't want to think about. There were no windows, no decorations, nothing that suggested this place existed in the

Elena's POV I sat at my kitchen table with my laptop open, staring at numbers that still didn't feel real. $5,200,000.00 The money Marcus had loaned from Victor. The money he thought would buy him a new life with Sophia. The money that was now mine. It was sitting in an account in an offshore account. Safe, untraceable and clean. I took a sip of my coffee and opened another window on my computer. Time to put this money to good use. For the past three hours, I had been reading through Marcus' old business files. All the deals he had made. All the clients he had stolen from. All the companies he had helped destroy with his terrible advice. Marcus thought he was smart. He thought he understood business and money and how to make both work for him. But he was wrong about everything. He was just making uninformed investment decisions for clients like a gambler. I could see it clearly now. Every mistake he had made. Every opportunity he had missed. Every client he had failed becaus

Elena's POV I stood in front of the government building, holding a folder full of papers that would change my life forever.Inside that folder was everything I needed to become someone new and have a new future.Elena Martinez was dead. She had died the night Marcus betrayed her for the last time.Today, Elena Thompson was reborn again.The name felt strange in my mouth when I said it to the clerk behind the counter. But it was my maiden name, the name I had before I made the mistake of trusting Marcus Martinez with my heart and my life."Phoenix Advisory," I told the clerk when she asked for my company name.I chose the name Phoenix, like the bird that rises from ashes. Like something beautiful growing from something destroyed.It was perfect.The paperwork took two hours. There were so many forms to fill out, fees to pay and questions to answer about what kind of business I was starting."Financial consulting," I explained to every official who asked. "Helping small businesses avoi

Elena's POV I sat across from Maria Santos in her restaurant office yet again, watching her face as she read the final report. Her hands shook as she turned each page, her eyes getting wider with every number."Two hundred thousand dollars," she whispered. "David stole two hundred thousand dollars from me.""Actually, it's worse than that," I said gently. "That's just the cash he took directly. He also set up fake vendor accounts, inflated your insurance premiums, and charged you for services you never received."Maria looked up at me with tears in her eyes. "How much total?""Close to three hundred thousand," I replied. "But the good news is, we can get most of it back."I opened my laptop and showed Maria the evidence we had gathered over the past two weeks. Bank records, forged documents, email chains that proved David Kingston had been systematically stealing from her restaurant for over two years."The police arrested him this morning," I continued. "His assets are frozen, and t

Isabella's POV "Isabella," Marcus said slowly, "do you ever think about Elena?"I thought about the black BMW. About those cold eyes staring at me through the windshield."All the time," I said."Do you think she planned all this?" Marcus asked. "Do you think she knew exactly what would happen to us?""Yes," I said without hesitation. "I have no idea how she did it but I'm sure Elena planned everything. She knew Victor would come for us. She knew we would end up here. She probably knew we would be standing on this corner having this conversation."Marcus was quiet for a few moments. "I underestimated her," he said finally."We all did," I replied. "We thought she was weak. We thought she was stupid. We thought we could use her and throw her away.""And now she's free while we're slaves," Marcus said bitterly."Actually," I said, "I think I saw her today."Marcus looked up at me with tired eyes. "What do you mean?""A black BMW drove by about an hour ago. Elena was inside, looking rig