Chapter 5 - The Woman Who Wouldn’t Run
By sunrise, Rowan House looked like the aftermath of a storm.
Broken glass covered sections of the gallery.
A chandelier hung crooked.
Dark marks scarred the walls.
The Persian rug Elise had fought with during the attack lay rolled against the baseboard.
Three attackers were dead.
One was wounded and unconscious.
Two had escaped.
Adrian Rowan was alive.
Caleb refused to leave.
“The house is compromised,” Jonah argued.
“So we fix it.”
“We have other properties.”
“And whoever planned this knows them.”
“Caleb—”
“No.”
Elise watched from the library doorway.
“You should leave.”
Both men turned.
Caleb's eyebrows rose.
Elise crossed her arms.
“You're telling everybody else what to do. I'm telling you.”
Jonah looked entertained.
Caleb didn't.
“This is my home.”
“That doesn't make the walls bulletproof.”
“They nearly are.”
“Nearly was very impressive last night.”
Jonah coughed to hide a laugh.
Caleb glared at him.
“Get out.”
Jonah happily obeyed.
Elise began to follow.
“Not you.”
“Of course.”
Caleb rolled toward the window.
“You're leaving today.”
She stopped.
“What?”
“I've arranged transportation.”
“Where?”
“Somewhere safe.”
“You mean somewhere you control.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
His patience visibly thinned.
“Elise.”
“I have an apartment.”
“You have an apartment Victor knows about.”
“I'll stay with a friend.”
“Victor will find out.”
“You can't lock me somewhere.”
“I can protect you.”
“Those are different things.”
Caleb turned sharply.
“You almost died because of me.”
“I almost died because Victor shot at your house.”
“He used you to get to me.”
“He threatened me before he knew you cared.”
Caleb stopped.
Neither of them addressed the word cared.
Elise continued.
“I noticed his plan. That's why I'm a target.”
“Then all the more reason—”
“No.”
He looked furious.
She remained.
Eventually his voice lowered.
“What do you want?”
It was the same question he had asked at the marble floor.
Not what are you doing.
Not who do you think you are.
What do you want?
Elise sat opposite him.
“I want to make decisions about my own life.”
“Fine.”
“I want my apartment.”
“It's unsafe.”
“I didn't say I want to sleep there tonight.”
He waited.
“I want my things collected. I want my landlord paid what I actually owe, not ten times more because you feel guilty.”
“That can be arranged.”
“And I want the four-thousand-dollar bonus.”
His brow rose.
“You've been here three days.”
“I stopped an assassination and dragged your arrogant backside through gunfire.”
Caleb's mouth twitched.
“You believe that qualifies?”
“I think Martha should give me employee of the month.”
He laughed.
A real laugh.
It surprised both of them.
Then he became serious again.
“Done.”
Elise leaned back.
“That easy?”
“You earned considerably more.”
“I don't want more.”
“I know.”
He studied her.
“That is becoming irritating.”
She smiled despite herself.
Later that afternoon, she sat outside Adrian's medical room.
He had two fractured ribs and a concussion.
When Caleb entered, Adrian looked furious.
“You think I did this?”
Caleb remained near the doorway.
“I think your company paid Elise's landlord.”
Adrian stared at her.
“What?”
“Elise Parker.”
“I know her name.”
“Apparently.”
Adrian pushed himself upright.
“I've never paid her landlord.”
“Delmore Holdings.”
Recognition flickered.
Elise noticed.
Caleb did too.
“You know it.”
Adrian sighed.
“It was one of your father's companies.”
“My father has been dead nine years.”
“I know.”
“Who controls it?”
“I thought it was dissolved.”
“You thought?”
“Caleb, there are hundreds of old structures.”
“Victor?”
Adrian looked genuinely shaken.
“I don't know.”
Elise watched his hands.
People lied with mouths.
Hands often forgot.
Adrian's fingers were trembling.
But when Caleb mentioned Victor, the trembling stopped.
Interesting.
“Were you working with him?” Caleb asked.
“No.”
“Why was plaster dust on your cuff?”
Adrian looked confused.
“What?”
“Upstairs. Near the security panel.”
“I leaned against the wall when someone hit me.”
Elise frowned.
“Where?”
“West landing.”
That was possible.
The compromised panel was nearby.
“What about the blue fiber?” she asked.
Adrian looked at her.
“What blue fiber?”
She hadn't told him.
Neither had Caleb.
His face changed.
Elise stood.
“You knew there was a blue fiber.”
Adrian's mouth opened.
Caleb's voice went dangerously quiet.
“Explain.”
Adrian stared at them.
Then cursed.
“Because I saw the man.”
“What man?”
“The one who attacked me.”
Everyone went still.
“He wore an old Harrow Construction jacket. Blue.”
Caleb moved closer.
“Why didn't you say this before?”
“Because when I saw the jacket, I knew what it meant.”
“Victor.”
Adrian nodded.
“And?”
“There are things you don't know.”
Caleb's face hardened.
“Start talking.”
Adrian looked toward Elise.
“Not in front of her.”
Caleb didn't hesitate.
“She stays.”
Something moved through Elise.
Adrian noticed.
He laughed bitterly.
“So Victor was right.”
Caleb's voice sharpened.
“About what?”
“You finally found something you can't afford to lose.”
Elise stood.
“I'll leave.”
Caleb caught her wrist.
Gently.
“Don't.”
It was only one word.
But not a command.
A request.
She remained.
Adrian looked away.
“After your accident, Victor contacted me.”
Caleb froze.
“You told me he was gone.”
“I thought he was.”
“What did he want?”
“Information.”
“About?”
“You.”
Caleb became perfectly still.
“What did you give him?”
“Nothing important.”
Caleb's voice turned ice-cold.
“Choose your next words carefully.”
Adrian swallowed.
“Schedules. Doctors. Renovation plans.”
Elise's stomach dropped.
“The plans.”
Adrian nodded.
“I didn't know he was trying to kill you. He said he wanted leverage.”
Caleb stared at his cousin as though seeing a stranger.
“You gave him blueprints to my house.”
“I was twenty-five. I owed money.”
“To Victor?”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“Enough.”
Caleb looked away.
For the first time Elise saw genuine pain beneath his anger.
Adrian continued.
“I stopped. Years ago.”
“Did you?”
“Yes.”
“Then why is Delmore paying her landlord?”
“I don't know!”
The door opened.
Jonah entered carrying a clear evidence bag.
“Caleb.”
Inside was a phone.
“Recovered from one of the shooters.”
“What is it?”
“We broke the lock.”
Jonah displayed a message thread.
Many texts were encrypted or deleted.
One remained.
HOUSEKEEPER MUST SURVIVE FIRST CONTACT.
Elise frowned.
“Why?”
Jonah scrolled.
The next message:
ROWAN WILL PULL HER CLOSE. WAIT UNTIL HE DOES.
Caleb's face changed.
Victor hadn't simply predicted Caleb would care.
He had engineered circumstances to make it happen.
The assassination attempt.
The threat.
Possibly even Elise's hiring.
Elise felt sick.
“Check the staffing agency.”
Jonah looked at her.
She continued.
“How did my application reach this house?”
Martha appeared at the doorway.
“The agency called me directly.”
“Did you request temporary staff?”
Martha's expression changed.
“No.”
Everyone froze.
Elise whispered, “Then why was I sent here?”
Martha looked horrified.
“They said you had been specially recommended.”
“By who?”
“They wouldn't say.”
Elise sat slowly.
Her debt.
Her eviction.
The four-thousand-dollar bonus.
The impossible one-week placement.
What if none of it had been coincidence?
Caleb understood at the same moment.
“Victor didn't choose you after you saved me.”
Elise looked at him.
“No.”
“He chose you before you entered this house.”
A cold silence filled the room.
The question was no longer why Victor wanted Elise dead.
It was why he had wanted her beside Caleb in the first place.
May you like
And somewhere inside that answer was a secret neither of them had yet discovered.
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