Chapter 32The alert from the guards all over my mansion disconnected the discussion I was having with Adrian. I jumped up on my feet and walked towards the window to see a brief moment of Elena looking at me, before she escapes into the shrubbery.

I didn’t wait for any report. Elena had already escaped. I was already leaving my office with Adrian following me closely. One of the guards met me halfway, his face pale, breathing hard.

“We found a guard outside of the room Elena was kept in. It seemed she attacked him, and now she’s gone.”

Even though I had seen Elena just escape. The word, Gone, hit me with the force of a wrecking ball. My teeth ground so hard.

“Gone?’ I snarled, “She knocked out a man and vanished from a locked room? Check the shrubbery. Check the property line. Lock the gate. Shoot her legs if she proves difficult.”

“Yes, boss.” The guard replies before leaving.

I didn’t care that she’d escaped. I cared that she was out there with a head full of leverage, possibly running straight into the hands of the people who killed my brother.

“What if she returns to Marco’s killer?” Adrian asks.

I hardened my face, “Then I have been played a fool.”

I reached the wrecked room and locked at the chaos Elena must have caused. There was the smear of blood where one of the guard’s head had met the floor.

One of the guards was shouting into the mic, “She went for the shrubbery. There’s a broken brick at the wall.”

“Adrian, get the CCTV footage from the perimeter fences immediately. I want eyes on every second from the moment that door opened.” I commanded.

“Sure, Damian.” Adrian replies, “But, if she just ran, why would someone be waiting- ?”

“Because nothing in this operation is an accident, Adrian” I cut him off, my voice shaking with a dangerous intensity.

I see Adrian press his lips into a thin line, “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have raised my voice at you.”

‘It’s fine. I can’t understand what you’re passing through, but this phase will be over, soon enough.” Adrian says calmly.

“Elena is either the worst pawn in history, or a terrifyingly good one. Make sure you find the CCTV footage before you get your ass off to whatever yacht you do pollute.” I smirk.

Adrian chuckles a bit before leaving the room.

Twenty minutes later, I am called to the security room. I am surrounded by monitors showing every inch of the estate grounds, inside and out. I arrived five minutes after Adrian and Nico.

“I fly in after you call me, and find your fortress breached and your witness slash prisoner slash maid gone. This just keeps getting better. The question now did she escape or did someone come for her?” Adrian narrows his eyes at the footage playing on the monitor.

“No one has ever escaped me. I guess I underestimated her because she’s a woman. She broke a table, screamed and knocked out Tyga. Then she jumped over a wall. She keeps surprising me.” I cross my arms.

“Knocked out Tyga? The six-foot-four lump of muscle? God, I knew she had fire, but I didn’t know she had that much rage packed into her thighs. Maybe you should have kept her in the gym instead of the kitchen.”

“Focus, Adrian. If she escaped, she’s loose. If someone came for her, they know where she was, which means we have a severe problem.”

Adrian leaned close to the monitor, his expression finally settling into something serious. We watched my security team fan out, and the wall Elena jumped over. I narrow my eyes.

“There she is. Who picked her up?” Adrian crosses his arms.

Then Elena stumbled into the dark asphalt. She moved with an obvious limp. She was heading toward the woods just across the street. And then, it happened.

A car appeared from the right, moving too fast. The impact sent her small body flying upward, tumbling over the hood before slamming down on to the road.

Adrian cursed, sharp and sudden, “Jesus Christ.”

My breath hitched, trapped in my lungs. My entire body went cold, the rage replaced by a paralyzing shock. I watched as the woman who knew the secret to my brother’s dead laid on the ground, bleeding, unconscious.

But then, the car screeched to a halt almost instantly. A man jumped out from the car. A stranger he has not seen before. He rested his hands on his head down to his chest. He looked shocked. However, he grabbed Elena’s lifeless body and hauled into the back seat. Then he slammed the door.

He just drove off very fast.

“Well, Dami,” Adrian said, “That answers question. She escaped but was met with a wicked fate.”

My jaw felt locked. I finally found my voice, “This wasn’t planned. It was an opportunity that went horribly wrong. I want that car traced. I want a name in not more than two days. Use whatever resources to find her”

It took a day and some hours. My men were terrifyingly good at brute force data retrieval.

“The car is registered to an address about two miles away. The driver’s face was cross-referenced with DMV and the name that came back was Victor Raphael. His record is clean. He has no charges or criminal records.” Nico explained professionally with a stoic expression.

“He’ll know where Elena is. Get the car ready. We’re going to visit Victor Raphael.”

I didn’t bother with the bell. I slammed my fist against the oak door of the suburban house. The door was eventually open by a man with nervous eyes, dressed in an expensive sweater.

“Victor?” My voice was dangerously low. I didn’t wait for an answer, shoving the man back inside the hallway, “Where the hell did you take her? Where is Elena?”

Nico steps in, closing the door behind them.

The man, clearly shaken by the sheer force, stumbled back a step.

“I don’t know who you mean, sir.” He stammered, holding up his hands, “Who is Elena?”

“Don’t lie to me. The girl you hit with your car. Where is she?”

Victor realizes who I am talking about. He swallowed hard, “Oh! You mean Helena. I thought that was what she told me when I was rushing her to the hospital. I didn’t know she meant Elena.”

“What’s the name of the hospital she’s at?” I demand.

“She’s at St. Jude’s Emergency. I took her straight there myself. I’m so sorry for what I did to her. I’ve been going to the hospital to visit every day, but she’s been unconscious. They tried to call her emergency contacts, but they said her family couldn’t be contacted at all.”

Victor’s phone vibrates. He fumbled it out of his pocket. He answers, “Hello. Yes. This is Victor. Oh my God, really? That’s wonderful news. Thank you so much.”

Jude cuts the call. “She’s woken up.” He breathed out, relief washing over him.