All Chapters of Her Dark Obsession : Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

The police station smelled like burnt coffee and fluorescent lights and too many bodies in too small a space. Anna sat in Interview Room 3, staring at her hands. Someone else's blood still crusted under her fingernails. Sebastian's? Tony's? She couldn't remember. The night was already fragmenting in her memory—sharp pieces of glass she couldn't fit back together. "Ms. Adams?" Detective Chen sat across from her. Mid-forties, tired eyes, wedding ring worn thin. "I need you to walk me through it again. From the beginning." Again. This was the third time. Or fourth? Anna had lost count. "I received a threatening text message. A photo of Elena Richardson in her hospital bed, taken from inside her room. Instructions to come alone to a warehouse address or they would kill her." Her voice sounded flat. Dead. Like someone else was speaking through her mouth. "And you didn't call the police." "The message said if I told anyone, they would kill her. I believed them." Anna looked up. Met hi

Dawn came too quickly. Anna stood at her bedroom window watching news vans multiply like viruses outside her gates. Three at midnight. Seven by three AM. Now, as gray light bled across the sky, she counted twelve. Helicopters circled overhead. The whup-whup-whup of blades had become white noise. Her phone lit up again. Another notification. She'd stopped reading them hours ago when the number hit four digits. Behind her, Bianca slept. Finally. She'd fought it until her body simply shut down around four AM, collapsing into Anna's bed with tear-stained cheeks and trembling hands. Anna hadn't slept at all. She pulled up the news on her tablet. The headlines made her stomach twist. Fashion Mogul's Dark Secret: Inside Anna Adams's BDSM Empire Luxe Noir CEO Accused of Exploiting Young Women Through 'Lifestyle Contracts' Former Employee Claims: "She Preyed on Desperate Women" That last one made Anna's hands shake. Former employee. Someone she'd worked with. Trusted. Turned on her t

The IT director arrived at Anna's estate at six in the morning with a laptop and a grim expression.David Park was fifty-something, balding, and had worked for Luxe Noir since the beginning. Anna trusted him more than most people. Which meant very little these days."Show me everything," Anna said.They sat in her office. Bianca in the corner, silent. Elena had gone back to the hospital yesterday—kidney levels fluctuating, stress making everything worse. So it was just the three of them. Staring at evidence of betrayal.David pulled up file logs. "The breach started six months ago. Small at first. Single files. Then it escalated. Whole folders. Design portfolios. Client lists. Financial data.""How many people have access to these servers?" Anna's voice was ice."Fifteen. All executive level or senior design staff." David scrolled through the list. Names Anna recognized. People she'd hired. Promoted. Trusted.Any one of them could be the mole."Can you tell who accessed what?" Bianca

Anna's lawyer arrived at nine AM with a briefcase full of bad news.Rebecca Shaw was fifty, sharp, and had never lost a criminal case in twenty years. She sat across from Anna in the living room and delivered the verdict with clinical precision."They're going to arrest you. Today. Tomorrow at the latest."Anna felt the words land but could not process them. "For what exactly?""Murder. Or at minimum, manslaughter. Sebastian Harts died from complications of the gunshot wound. Internal bleeding that went undetected until it was too late." Rebecca pulled out documents. Police reports. Medical examiner findings. "The DA is building a case that you orchestrated his death.""Elena pulled the trigger.""Under duress, protecting her daughter. She'll likely face no charges. But you?" Rebecca spread the papers across the coffee table. "You paid for the security team. You planned the rescue operation. You were recorded threatening to kill Sebastian multiple times.""I said that after he kidnapp

They made it to the hospital in fifteen minutes. Should have taken thirty.Marcus ignored red lights. Traffic laws. Everything. Just drove like their lives depended on it.Because Elena's did.Anna burst through the ICU doors with Bianca right behind her. Nurses looked up, startled."Elena Richardson," Anna demanded. "Where is she?""Room seven. But you cannot—"They were already running.Room seven. Door closed. Medical equipment beeping. Through the window, Anna could see Elena in the bed, tubes and wires everywhere, looking small and fragile and wrong.Dr. Martinez stepped out. His face grim."What happened?" Bianca grabbed his arm. "She was fine this morning. You said she was recovering perfectly.""I know. That is what makes this so strange." Dr. Martinez looked at his tablet. At numbers that clearly did not make sense. "Her kidney function crashed. Blood pressure spiked. It is like her body is rejecting the transplant all at once. But that should not be possible. Not after four