All Chapters of The CEO Beautiful Regret : Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

*Vivienne*The helicopter blades screamed over the tablet’s speaker, a deafening background roar to my mother’s calm, terrifying smile."Mother," I choked out, my fingers digging into the edges of the screen. "Put the scalpel down. Whatever Marcus or Thomas promised you, Julian can double it.""This isn't about a payout anymore, Vivienne," my mother said, her voice chillingly steady as she adjusted the blade against Clara’s trembling neck. "Your father was a fool who thought he controlled this family. I let him take the blame for everything while I built my own security net. The Chief Justice was my partner long before Julian bought into Vance Global."Julian didn't shout. He leaned into the camera’s view, his slate-gray eyes locking onto hers with a lethal focus. "You're flying into restricted airspace, Eleanor. I’ve already flagged the tail number. You won't land that chopper.""I don't need to land it, Julian," she whispered. "The medical extraction team is already on board. We ar

*Vivienne*The cold, unforgiving metal of the handcuffs clicked tightly against my wrists, sending a sharp jolt of reality straight through my veins."Vivienne!"Dominic stepped forward, his structural corporate composure shattering in a single, volatile second. His slate-gray eyes flashed with a wild, feral fury I had never seen in him before. For a brief moment, the calculated CEO persona vanished, replaced entirely by the lethal, unpredictable shadow operator hiding beneath the tailored suit. He reached for me, his large hand cutting through the air."Stand back, Mr. Vance!" the lead federal marshal barked, his hand dropping instinctively to the holster at his hip. Two other armed agents immediately stepped into the space between Dominic and me, their boots slamming against the marble floor. "Miss Sterling's mother survived the plunge into the Macau harbor. She is currently in federal custody, and her legal team just dumped a heavily encrypted drive containing the entire digital tr

*Vivienne*"Get behind the pillar!" Dominic shouted, shoving me hard toward a rusted iron support beam at the edge of the pier.Before I could even move, the side door of the hovering helicopter slid open. A man leaned out, but he didn’t have a rifle. He was holding a heavy megaphone."Dominic! Vivienne!" The voice boomed over the engine roar, echoing off the abandoned warehouses. "Don't bother running. The pier is entirely surrounded by private security watercraft. Step into the light where we can see your hands."Dominic pulled me behind the rusted iron beam, shielding my shivering body with his own. His hand was on his ankle holster, but a tactical knife wasn't going to bring down a chopper. His slate-gray eyes scanned the dark water behind us. Two high-speed black boats were idling just fifty yards out, their searchlights cutting through the river mist.We were completely boxed in."We can't swim out of this one," I whispered, my teeth clicking together from the freezing cold. My

*Vivienne*The grip on Dominic’s ankle was absolute. Through the open hatch, I saw the tactical mask of Lucas’s diver break the surface of the black water, his gloved fingers digging into the fabric of Dominic's pants with terrifying strength. The current from the turbine below was pulling them both down, the dark water frothing violently around Dominic’s chest."Vivienne, go!" Dominic roared, his fingers slipping against the wet edge of the iron hatch frame.I didn't run. I couldn't.I lunged forward, dropping to my knees on the cold concrete of the utility room. Ignoring the sharp pain in my scraped hands, I grabbed the collar of Dominic’s wet shirt, anchoring my weight against the floor.Below us, the diver pulled a short, serrated diving knife from his chest rig. He wasn't trying to capture Dominic anymore; he was going to cut his achilles tendon to let the turbine current do the rest of the work.Dominic didn't wait for the blade to drop. He smashed his free boot downward, using

*Vivienne*I could barely hear anything over the loud scream of metal as our boots slipped on the wet railway tracks. The bright light rushing toward us wasn't from a normal subway train. It was a large yellow maintenance locomotive, built for carrying heavy equipment. It was speeding through the abandoned Atlantic tunnel without slowing down."Down!" Dominic shouted.He grabbed my arm and pulled me off the tracks just in time. We crashed into the narrow space between the damp brick wall and a row of rusty iron pillars. I pressed myself tightly against the wall as the huge train thundered past us. The powerful wind hit my face, filling the air with dust, diesel fumes, and freezing cold. My hair whipped wildly around me, and for a moment I couldn't even breathe. The deafening noise shook the entire tunnel.As the train rushed by, I looked across the tracks.Marcus was still standing there.Instead of running for safety, he raised his gun and aimed at the train. He fired three quick sho