All Chapters of Owned By My Father's Rival: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

Chapter 11: The First ThreatI didn't sleep.Again.The photograph of my father's grave was burned into the back of my eyelids. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw it. The fresh dirt. The carved word. The way the light hit the stone just right, like whoever took the photo wanted me to see every detail.LIAR.I'd texted the number back a dozen times. No response. I'd called. It went straight to a generic voicemail message. No name. No identifying information. Just a robot voice telling me the mailbox hadn't been set up yet.Someone had planned this.Someone had been waiting.---Lucien showed up at my penthouse at 7 AM.I hadn't invited him. The doorman must have let him through. Or maybe he still had keys from when he'd owned the building. I didn't ask.He took one look at me and said, "You didn't sleep.""You look terrible, too."He was holding a paper bag. Coffee, probably. And something from a bakery, based on the smell. He set it on the kitchen counter without asking where to put i

Chapter 13: The Safe HouseThe hotel was called The Morrison.Not a chain. Not fancy. Just a brick building wedged between a laundromat and a pawn shop, with a neon sign that flickered like it was dying. The kind of place you drove past without noticing. The kind of place where no one asked questions.Lucien paid cash.Three nights. Two rooms. No names.The clerk—a woman with tired eyes and a gold tooth—didn't even look at us. Just slid the keys across the counter and went back to her crossword puzzle."This way," Lucien said.We walked up three flights of stairs. The carpet was stained. The walls smelled like cigarette smoke and regret. Room 307 had a deadbolt that looked like it had been installed in the nineties. Room 309, next door, was identical."Take 307," he said. "I'll be next door if you need me.""What if someone comes through the window?""It's three stories up.""What if they come through the wall?"Lucien almost smiled. "Then scream. I'll hear you."I unlocked my door. S

Chapter 15: The ConfessionLucien found me on the bathroom floor an hour later.I don't remember crawling there. I don't remember the cold tile against my cheek or the way the fluorescent light buzzed overhead like an angry insect. Just the floor. The wall. The small, dark space where I'd curled myself into a ball and tried to stop existing."Elena." His voice was soft. Careful. Like I was a wounded animal he didn't want to scare. "Come back.""I can't.""You can."He didn't touch me. Just sat on the floor a few feet away, back against the tub, legs stretched out in front of him. Waiting.The bathroom smelled like bleach and old soap. A crack ran across the mirror above the sink. The shower curtain had mold at the bottom. Everything about this place was broken, and somehow that made it easier. I didn't have to pretend here."My mother didn't die of cancer," I said. My voice came out flat. Dead."I know.""She found out the truth. About my father. About William. About all of it.""I kn

Chapter 17: The TrapThe call ended.I stared at the phone. Daniel's voice still echoed in my ears—low, calm, the kind of calm that came from knowing you held all the cards.I won't be nearly as gentle as your father was with your mother.My mother.Dying in a hospital bed while my father watched. Signing papers she didn't understand. Swallowing pills that were probably killing her faster than whatever disease they'd told her she had."He's baiting you," Lucien said."I know.""Don't take it.""I won't."He looked at me. Really looked. The way he did when he was trying to figure out if I was lying."You're lying," he said."I'm not.""Elena.""I said I'm not." I stood up. Walked to the window. The brick wall stared back at me, same as before. No answers. No escape. Just brick and mortar and the slow creep of morning light.Lucien came up behind me. Didn't touch. Just stood there, close enough that I could feel his body heat, far enough that I could pretend I was alone."We need to mov

Chapter 19: The CounterstrikeThe warehouse basement held its breath after Daniel left.I stood frozen, my ears straining for the sound of his footsteps on the stairs, the creak of the door, the growl of his engine pulling away. Nothing. Just silence. Just Lucien's ragged breathing and the slow drip of water from a pipe somewhere in the dark."He's gone," Lucien said."He'll be back.""Probably." He holstered the gun. Ran a hand through his hair. "But not tonight. Tonight, he's done enough."I looked around the basement. Concrete walls. A floor stained with something I didn't want to identify. A single light bulb hanging from a wire, casting shadows that seemed to move on their own."What is this place?" I asked."A reminder." Lucien walked to the far wall. Ran his fingers along a crack in the concrete. "My father brought me here after my mother died. Told me this was where he was going to keep her killer. Before he found out the killer was himself.""Your father was sick.""My father