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Home / Romance / IN LOVE WITH HIS ENEMY / Kabanata 31 - Kabanata 40

Lahat ng Kabanata ng IN LOVE WITH HIS ENEMY: Kabanata 31 - Kabanata 40

78 Kabanata

CHAPTER 31

Eliza's POVTwo weeks.That's how long it took Adam to find him.Two weeks of digging through layers of shell companies, offshore accounts, and dead ends designed to hide one man from the world. Two weeks of watching me pace, of holding me when the frustration became too much, of promising that we were getting closer.And then, finally: an address.Silas Vane lived in a penthouse overlooking the city. Not the flashy kind—no rooftop parties, no paparazzi, no public appearances. The kind of wealth that didn't need to announce itself. The kind of power that operated in shadows.I stood across the street from his building now, watching the lights in the windows, feeling the weight of the name in my pocket.Silas Vane.The man who'd killed my father."Eliza." Adam's voice in my ear, through the earpiece I'd reluctantly agreed to wear. "You don't have to do this alone.""I'm not alone. You're ri

CHAPTER 32

Eliza's POVThe warehouse was in the industrial district—a part of the city that existed for work, not for show. Crumbling buildings, empty streets, the distant hum of machinery. No cameras. No witnesses. The perfect place for secrets.I arrived at 7:45, fifteen minutes early. Adam was parked three blocks away, monitoring my signal, ready to move at the first sign of trouble. We'd argued about this—he wanted to be closer, to have eyes on me at all times. But Mira had been clear: if anyone followed me, the deal was off.The Collective has eyes everywhere, she'd said. If they see anyone suspicious, they'll assume I'm compromised. And then we're all dead.So I went alone. Adam waited. And I tried not to think about the baby growing inside me, the life I was risking, the future that hung in the balance.The warehouse door was unlocked. I pushed it open and stepped inside.---The space was cavernous—old machinery draped

CHAPTER 33

Adam's POVI'd spent my whole life reading people.It was a survival skill, learned young. My father's moods shifted like weather—sunny one moment, violent the next. I learned to watch for the signs. The tightening of his jaw. The way his eyes went flat. The seconds of silence before the storm.By the time I was ten, I could predict his rages before he felt them coming.That skill had served me well in business. I could spot a lie before it left someone's mouth. Could read a room's dynamics in seconds. Could tell you who was trustworthy and who was playing a game, just by watching.So when Eliza started lying to me, I knew immediately.---It was small things at first. The way she'd pause before answering where she'd been. The way her phone was always face-down now, screen hidden. The way she'd disappear for hours and come back with explanations that were just a little too detailed, a little too rehearsed.

CHAPTER 34

Eliza's POVThe apartment was quiet when we got home.Too quiet. The kind of silence that pressed against your ears and made every breath feel loud. Adam moved through the living room like a ghost, his back to me, his shoulders tight with something I couldn't name.I knew that posture. Had seen it before, in the early days, when he was still deciding whether to trust me."Adam."He didn't turn."Adam, talk to me.""I'm thinking.""About what?"He turned then. His face was careful, controlled—the mask he wore when emotions ran too close to the surface. I'd learned to read beneath it. The tightness around his eyes. The way his jaw worked slightly, like he was holding words back."About what happens next," he said. "About what you're planning. About how I'm supposed to watch you walk into a room full of killers and just... wait.""You won't be waiting. You'll be close. Monitoring. Re

CHAPTER 35

Eliza's POVThe federal building was gray and imposing, the kind of place designed to make you feel small. I'd been here before—during the trial, during Scott's arrest—but never like this. Never walking into a room where the people inside didn't know whether I was victim or asset or something in between.Reyes met us in the lobby. She looked the same as always—sharp suit, sharper eyes, the kind of face that had seen too much to be surprised by anything. But when she looked at me, something flickered. Respect? Concern? Both?"You're really doing this.""I'm really doing this."She nodded once. "Then let's go upstairs. The team's waiting."---The conference room was windowless, fluorescent-lit, filled with the kind of people who'd spent their careers chasing shadows. Five of them, plus Reyes. Faces I didn't know, names I'd forget, all of them watching me like I was either their best hope or their biggest liability.

CHAPTER 36

Adam's POVI walked for hours.The city stretched around me, indifferent to my turmoil. Streets I'd known my whole life felt foreign now, like I was seeing them through someone else's eyes. The man I'd been this morning—the one who thought he understood love, loyalty, sacrifice—had evaporated. In his place was someone raw, bleeding, uncertain.She's going to do it anyway.That was the thought that wouldn't leave. The one that circled back no matter how many times I tried to push it away. Eliza had made up her mind. She was going to walk into Silas Vane's world, into the lion's den, with or without my blessing. My approval wasn't a requirement. It wasn't even a factor.I should have been furious. Part of me was.But underneath the anger, something else stirred. Something I didn't want to name.Respect.She wasn't the woman who'd gotten into my car that night at the plaza—broken, desperate, running on fumes.

CHAPTER 38

Eliza's POVDawn was breaking over the city when I finally walked through the apartment door.Adam was waiting. He always was. Three steps and I was in his arms, breathing in the familiar scent of him, letting the steady beat of his heart slow the racing of my own."You're shaking," he murmured against my hair."I know.""Tell me."I pulled back. Reached into my pocket. Pulled out the device Chloe had given me."She gave me this. Evidence. Names, dates, locations. Everything she's gathered since being inside."Adam took it carefully, like it might explode. "This is—""Everything. Maybe." I sank onto the couch. "But that's not the worst part."He sat beside me. Waited."Chloe said Silas is planning something. Bigger than the Collective. Something with a timeline—before the year ends. She didn't know what, but she saw him meeting with people she didn't recognize. Military types. Gov

CHAPTER 39

Adam's POVI stood in the doorway, frozen.Eliza was sitting up in bed, hair tousled, eyes still heavy with sleep. She looked beautiful. She looked trusting. She looked exactly like the woman I'd fallen in love with.And now I didn't know if any of it was real."Adam?" She patted the bed beside her. "Come back to sleep. It's early.""I'll be there in a minute." My voice sounded strange to my own ears. "Just need to check something."I turned before she could respond. Walked back to my office on legs that felt like they belonged to someone else.The messages were still on my phone. Still glowing. Still accusing.She's playing you too.I pulled up the files Chloe had given Eliza. Checked the metadata the way the text had suggested. Creation dates, modification dates, access logs.My stomach dropped.The files had been created three days ago. Not months ago, not years—three days. The

CHAPTER 40

Adam's POVThree days.That's how long Eliza had been inside.Three days of silence. Three days of watching my phone for messages that never came. Three days of pacing this apartment like a caged animal, running through every scenario, every possibility, every worst-case outcome my brain could conjure.Reyes called twice a day with updates that weren't updates. The task force had eyes on the estate, but couldn't get close. Silas's security was too tight, too sophisticated. They knew someone was watching. They wanted us to know they knew.Mira was silent. Chloe was silent. Everyone was silent.And Eliza was somewhere in that fortress of glass and steel, playing a game where one wrong move meant death.I was losing my mind.---Day four, I couldn't take it anymore.I drove to the task force's field office, a nondescript building in an industrial park, and demanded to see Reyes. The agent at

CHAPTER 37

Eliza's POVThe estate sat on fifty acres of prime coastal land, hidden behind gates that cost more than most people's homes. I'd driven past similar properties before—the playgrounds of the ultra-rich, the ones who'd made their fortunes in ways that didn't bear examining. But this was different. This was the heart of darkness.Silas Vane's world.I parked where I'd been instructed, in a lot filled with cars that cost six figures and up. A valet in a perfect suit opened my door, his face betraying nothing. I stepped out into the cool evening air and tried to ignore the way my heart was trying to escape my chest.You're Eliza Sterling. You belong here. You're curious about joining. You're exactly who they expect you to be.The mantra repeated in my head as I walked toward the house. Massive, modern, all glass and steel and sharp angles—the kind of architecture that said I have nothing to hide while hiding everything. Lights blazed fro

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