Chapter 3 – Beneath the Mask
The morning sunlight filtered through the curtains, casting a warm glow across the wide bedroom. Elena woke with a dull ache behind her eyes. The night replayed in fragments—Adrian's voice, his warning, the cold shimmer in his gaze.
She sat up slowly, brushing a hand over her hair. The faint scent of his cologne still lingered on her dress from the gala, and she hated how it made her chest tighten.
Her phone buzzed on the nightstand. A message flashed on the screen from an unknown number:
"You have forty-eight hours to deliver the file, or the deal is off."
Elena's blood ran cold. The hacker who promised to decrypt the flash drive wasn't one for patience. She closed her eyes, steadying her breath. Forty-eight hours. I can't fail now.
---
Downstairs, the mansion buzzed quietly with movement. The house staff bowed as she passed, their eyes avoiding hers. In Adrian's world, everyone moved like shadows—obedient, silent, trained never to question.
In the dining room, Adrian sat at the long glass table, reviewing a report on his tablet. His black suit fit perfectly, his expression calm but unreadable. He looked up as she entered.
"Sleep well?"
Elena forced a faint smile. "Well enough."
He gestured toward the seat beside him. "Sit. We need to talk."
Her pulse skipped. "About what?"
He slid the tablet toward her. "About this."
On the screen was a photo—grainy, captured from last night's gala. It showed her standing near the man with glasses on the balcony.
Elena's fingers tightened around the edge of the table. "That was just a guest asking for an autograph. You know how people are."
Adrian leaned back, watching her with quiet intensity. "Funny. My head of security says he isn't on the guest list."
She laughed lightly. "Then maybe he crashed the party. You should really tighten your security, Mr. Kane."
His lips curved faintly, but his eyes didn't soften. "I already did."
The silence stretched, heavy and dangerous. Then he stood, adjusting his cufflinks with that effortless composure she'd begun to loathe. "I don't care who he is, Elena. But if you're hiding something from me, don't. I don't respond kindly to betrayal."
He left her alone with the tablet, his footsteps fading down the marble corridor.
Elena sat frozen. He's closing in.
---
Later that afternoon, she met Adrian's assistant, Claire, in the library to discuss her upcoming charity appearances. Claire was efficient, polite, and unreadable, her tone always professional.
"Elena," Claire said as she handed over a new schedule, "Mr. Kane asked me to confirm your attendance at the investors' dinner tomorrow night."
"Of course," Elena replied, glancing at the calendar. Her mind wasn't on the schedule. Tomorrow night. That gives me one more day.
When Claire left, Elena waited a few minutes, then slipped out the side door toward the garage. The chauffeur, accustomed to her quiet habits, opened the door without question.
"Mrs. Kane, are we going somewhere?"
"Just a short drive," she said. "No questions, please."
He nodded, and soon they were on the road, the city flashing by in streaks of glass and steel. She told him to stop near a small café downtown—a quiet place where she wouldn't be recognized.
Inside, a man sat alone at the corner table, a laptop open before him. He looked up as she approached.
"You're late," he said in a low voice.
"I had company," she replied, sitting down. "Can you open the files?"
He inserted the flash drive into his laptop and began typing rapidly. "The encryption is military-grade. Someone powerful is behind this. Whatever you're digging into, it's dangerous."
"I already know," she murmured. "Can you do it or not?"
He hesitated, then nodded. "I'll need a few hours. Come back tonight."
She stood, slipping her sunglasses back on. "If anyone asks, you never saw me."
"Trust me," he said, "I didn't."
---
When she returned to the mansion, Adrian was waiting in the foyer. His jacket was off, sleeves rolled to his elbows, the top button of his shirt undone. He looked calm—but his eyes said otherwise.
"Where were you?" he asked quietly.
"Shopping," she lied smoothly. "You don't want your wife looking dull at your precious dinner, do you?"
He walked toward her slowly, stopping just a breath away. "Strange. My driver says you asked to go alone."
Her heart skipped. "Are you tracking me now?"
He tilted his head. "Should I be?"
They stared at each other in tense silence. Then, unexpectedly, his tone softened. "You make this marriage harder than it has to be, Elena."
She blinked, startled. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means I don't want to fight every time I look at you." His hand lifted slightly, brushing against her chin, and she froze. "But you don't make it easy."
She turned her head away. "Maybe you should've married someone else."
"Maybe," he said softly. "But I didn't."
He stepped back, the moment breaking. "Be ready by seven tomorrow. And, Elena… stop lying to me."
He walked away, leaving her trembling in the silence of the grand hall.
---
That night, Elena slipped back out and returned to the café. The hacker was gone, but her flash drive sat on the table, wrapped in a napkin. A small note beside it read:
"He's watching you. Be careful."
Her stomach twisted. She grabbed the drive and hurried back to the car.
At home, she locked herself in her room and opened the files again. This time, they loaded completely. Pages and pages of data unfolded on the screen—bribes, property transfers, secret acquisitions. At the bottom of one page, she found an unfamiliar signature: Arthur Kane.
Her eyes widened. Adrian's father.
The dates matched the downfall of her own family's company. So it wasn't Adrian… it was his father.
She sat back, stunned. The revenge she had built her life around wasn't aimed at the right man.
A soft sound came from the doorway. She turned sharply—Adrian stood there, half in shadow, his expression unreadable.
"How long," he asked quietly, "were you planning to keep lying to me?"
Her blood went cold. "Adrian, I can explain—"
He stepped closer, eyes dark with something fierce and wounded. "Don't. I gave you every chance to tell me the truth."
"I didn't know!" she cried. "I thought it was you—your company—your signature on those contracts—"
He stared at her for a long moment, breathing hard. Then, to her surprise, his voice cracked with something raw. "You were never supposed to find that."
Her breath caught. "So you knew?"
"I knew what my father did," he said hoarsely. "I've spent years trying to fix it."
They stood there, both breathing fast, the truth hanging heavy between them.
Then he whispered, almost to himself, "And you married me to destroy me."
Elena's throat tightened. "I married you to make you pay. But now… I don't even know what's real anymore."
He turned away, his shoulders tense. "Then maybe it's time you find out."
---
That night, neither of them slept. The air in the mansion felt too still, too heavy. Beneath the surface of their silence, something was changing—shifting between hatred and something dangerously close to love.
And both of them knew: the game had only just begun.
---
End of Chapter 3