All Chapters of DANGEROUS LIAISONS: Chapter 111 - Chapter 117

FORT’S POVThere were very few things capable of genuinely unsettling me, but “The Circle” was one of them.Rain pelted relentlessly against the dockyard, drowning out the usual sounds of the night as I watched Elijah struggle for breath inside the confined space of the car. His face was pale, as if the life was seeping out of him with each labored gasp.Beside me, Elon noticed the shift in my expression almost instantly, his brow furrowing with concern and curiosity.“What,” he said, his voice laced with caution, “was that look?”I chose to ignore his question, focusing instead on the matter at hand.“Elijah,” I said sharply, forcing my voice to cut through the cacophony of the rain, “who in The Circle authorized this operation?”His trembling fingers tightened weakly around my sleeve, a feeble attempt to anchor himself to reality.“I never met them directly,” he managed to whisper, his voice trembling like a fragile leaf in the wind.Not useful.“Then who did?” I pressed, urgency cr

FORT’S POVI disliked fear.Not because it made people weak.Because it made them irrational.And irrational people made mistakes.The problem was that The Circle understood leverage exceptionally well.Which meant the phone in my hand was not a bluff.By the time we returned to the penthouse, the rain had become violent enough to drown the city in silver.Elijah was in surgery under federal protection.Police had flooded the Harbor District.And somewhere in the middle of the chaos, Nathaniel Hale had vanished completely.Convenient.Very convenient.The elevator ride upstairs passed in tense silence.Elon stood beside me watching carefully without asking questions for once.Adrian remained near the back wall, expression unreadable.Still thinking.Still calculating.The moment the penthouse doors opened, I walked directly toward my private office.“Elon,” I said calmly, “go to bed.”He stared at me.“You cannot possibly think I’m going to sleep right now.”“Yes.”“That’s actually in

ELON’S POVThere were certain sentences capable of ruining an entire evening instantly.“We found Nathaniel” was apparently one of them.“In Evelyn Vale’s old house.”That part somehow made it significantly worse.The atmosphere inside the penthouse changed so fast it felt physically violent.One second Fort had me pinned against the edge of the table kissing me like he was trying to forget the world existed.The next—every trace of warmth disappeared from him completely.It was honestly terrifying how quickly he could become cold again.“Mara,” Fort said calmly beside me, which was impressive considering his expression looked one inconvenience away from homicide, “how exactly did Nathaniel gain access to that property?”Her voice crackled faintly through the speaker.“The security system was manually overridden from inside the residence.”Silence.Oh, good.That sounded deeply horrifying.Fort held my gaze for one brief second before taking the phone from my hand.“Is he still there

ELON’S POV The gunshot thundered through the mansion; my ears immediately started to ring. For a split second, everything froze. Then Fort yanked me backward by the arm just as another shot sounded from upstairs and glass shattered somewhere in the darkness. “Down,” he commanded. We dropped behind the staircase in one fluid motion. My heart pounded against my ribs while thunder cracked outside, illuminating the pitch-black rooms with each jagged flash. “What the hell is happening?” I whispered. No one replied. Footsteps pounded overhead—fast, running. I heard Nathaniel curse in the gloom. Then Evelyn’s sharp voice cut through the darkness: “They found us.” My stomach clenched at her words. Another gunshot cracked overhead, splintering wood near the railing. Fort was already moving, calmly drawing a pistol from inside his coat. “You had a gun this whole time?” I blurted. “Elon,” he said coolly. “Right. Bad timing.” Somebody slammed into a hallway wall upstairs, shak