جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 140

Christian Harper had broken every speed limit in the city before. Tonight, he didn’t care if he broke every law. Rain hammered relentlessly against the windshield as his Aston Martin tore through the wet streets, the powerful engine roaring like a beast beneath him. His fingers gripped the steering wheel so tightly that his knuckles turned white, his jaw locked in a rigid line. Every muscle in his body screamed with unbearable tension.Something was wrong. He couldn’t explain it, but he simply knew. The moment Daniella had answered the phone, he had heard it in her breathing — that slight tremble she tried so desperately to hide. He knew every rhythm of her voice, every pause, every tiny crack in her composure. She had been running. Someone had frightened her. And whoever had done it had just made the biggest mistake of their life.His phone rang through the Bluetooth system. “Marcus.”His head of security answered immediately. “Mr. Harper.”“I want every camera with

The drive back to the mansion was unusually quiet. Rain tapped softly against the windshield as Christian kept both hands firmly on the steering wheel, his jaw tight with concentration. Beside him, Daniella stared out the window, but she wasn’t really seeing the passing buildings. Her mind remained trapped in Marcus’s office, replaying those photographs over and over again.Someone had followed her. Not once. Not twice. For days. Every move she had made had been documented with frightening precision.Christian finally broke the silence. “You’ve been blaming yourself.”She turned to look at him. “I should have been more careful. I shouldn’t have gone after Angela alone.”Christian shook his head. “You weren’t careless. They were prepared.”Daniella sighed heavily. “It still doesn’t change the fact that I walked straight into their trap.”Christian reached across the console and intertwined his fingers with hers, his grip warm and steady. “They wanted informati

Chapter 136TOO LATEMarcus didn’t wait another second.“We have to move.”Christian was already halfway to the door before the sentence was finished.“Daniella.”He reached for her hand instinctively.“Stay close.”The urgency in his voice sent a chill through her body.Within moments they were back inside the SUV, tires screeching across the gravel driveway as Marcus sped toward the city. The atmosphere inside the vehicle was suffocating.No one spoke.The only sounds were the engine roaring and the rain beginning to fall once again against the windshield.Daniella’s fingers tightened around the seatbelt.“Do we know who attacked the safe house?”Marcus kept his eyes on the road.“No.”“Our surveillance cameras went offline three minutes before the alarm.”Christian cursed under his breath.“They cut the power.”

Christian couldn’t move.The old letter lay open in his trembling hands, the paper soft and yellowed at the edges from years of careful folding. The room had gone completely still. Even the usual low hum of the city beyond the glass seemed to hold its breath.Marcus was the first to speak.“What else does it say?”Christian lowered his eyes back to the page. When he spoke, his voice was quieter than anyone in the room had ever heard it.“My father…” He swallowed. “He knew they would come after Harper Global one day.”Mr. Bennett nodded once, the movement slow and heavy.“He spent years preparing.”Christian continued reading, the words scraping against something raw in his chest.“If you’re reading this, it means I’ve failed to keep them away.”Daniella watched him carefully. This was no longer just another corporate conspiracy. This was something Christian’s father had anticipated years before his death—something he had tried, and ultimately failed, to shield his son from.Christian’

Rain drummed steadily against the windshield as Daniella tightened her fingers around the steering wheel, Marcus’s SUV remaining several cars behind her exactly as they had agreed, close enough that she could feel the quiet certainty of his presence yet far enough that no watching eye would mark him as anything more than another vehicle on the wet road. Christian had argued with her for nearly thirty minutes before finally allowing her to leave, and even then he had only surrendered because Marcus swore he would never let her slip beyond his sight; she could still feel the reluctant press of his lips against her forehead and the way his arms had held her a fraction longer than usual, as though some deep instinct had already begun to warn him that this afternoon would not end the way either of them hoped.The abandoned warehouse district waited on the city’s forgotten edge where old factories had been left to rot after newer developments claimed the better land, their walls stain