CHAPTER NIGHT
The rest stop lights buzzed like dying insects overhead. Elena kept the engine running, foot hovering over the gas pedal, ready to floor it as if those headlights turned back.
But the road stayed empty after the last car passed. Empty..except for the silence between her and Jax that felt heavier than the night.
"Eclipse," she said again, the word tasting like metal.
"Tell me now…No more half-truths. No more 'I was protecting you.' Just the truth."
Jax stared at the dashboard like it held answers he didn't want to give. When he finally spoke, his voice was low, almost mechanical.
"Eclipse was a side project..Not mine but Victoria's.
She pitched it to me two years ago…before you and I ever crossed paths. A contingency fund, she called it.
A way for high-profile talent to… disappear liabilities. Bad contracts, leaked tapes, scandals that could end careers.
Money moved through shell companies, cleaned through production budgets. My name was attached because I signed on early…stupidly for a quick payout when I was drowning in debt from my first flop.
I thought it was just accounting tricks then I saw the red folder."
He paused and swallowed hard.
"The red folder listed names, not just actors but executives,Investors and your father was on the list not as a participant, but as a target.
Victoria wanted leverage over his company to force a merger or a buyout. She needed someone inside to plant evidence, make it look like he was skimming funds.
That's when I walked away and told her I was out. She laughed and said walking away wasn't an option once you'd seen the folder."
Elena's grip on the steering wheel turned painful. "And you never told my father?"
"I tried anonymously… A burner email with enough details to make him look twice at his own books then he tightened security and changed auditors.
I thought that was enough until Victoria escalated and started using Eclipse money to fund the surveillance on you…The cameras,the leaks and when she got arrested, I assumed the accounts were frozen.
But someone else had access. Someone higher up the chain…"
"Who?"
"I don't know." Jax's voice cracked.
"But the woman on the balcony,the one who handed me the drive…she wasn't just an actress. She was a courier.
She told me the next handover would be the last. After that, Eclipse would be 'closed for good.' I believed her because I wanted to. I wanted it to be over so I could come back to you clean."
Elena felt something inside her shift…not forgiveness, but a cold clarity. "And the video tonight. You are handing over the drive. Smiling."
"I was smiling because I thought I was ending it. I thought giving them the last piece of dirt they wanted on you…fake emails, nothing real would make them back off not knowing i was wrong."
She looked at him then with a "really" look . The man who'd held her through nightmares, who'd stood in front of her father, who'd just admitted to feeding information to the people trying to ruin her life.
"You played both sides," she said quietly. "You didn't just lie to me. You lied to them too. And now we're both caught in the middle."
Jax nodded slowly. "Yeah."
The phone buzzed again in her lap.
She didn't flinch this time. She picked it up.
Another message..no photo,no video..just text.
Eclipse isn't closed… It's evolving. Your father's contingency transfer is already in motion.
Twenty-four hours until the board sees the red folder. Unless you deliver the original Eclipse ledger. The physical one. Jax knows where it is.
Midnight tomorrow. Old studio lot. Trailer 14. Come alone.
Bring the ledger. Leave your phone at home. No police,no Jax.
Or your father loses everything and you lose him.
Elena read it twice. Then she turned the screen toward Jax so he could see.
His face went gray.
"The ledger," he whispered. "It's real. Victoria kept a physical copy…black leather, red spine. She showed it to me once.
She said it was her insurance. I thought it burned when her office got raided."
"It didn't," Elena said. "Someone has it or knows where it is."
Jax met her eyes. "I don't have it. I swear."
"But you know where it might be."
He hesitated. Then nodded.
"Her old safe house…upstate.
A cabin she used for off-the-books meetings. I went there once. She opened the safe in front of me…bragging. If the ledger survived the arrest, that's where it would be."
Elena stared at the road ahead. The freeway stretched north, dark and endless.
"We're not going to your off-grid place anymore," she said.
Jax looked at her. "What are we doing?"
"We're going to find that ledger…tonight. Before they realize we're moving. If we get it first, we control the narrative.
We expose Eclipse ourselves…on our terms. No more waiting for the next photo…no more threats."
He searched her face. "You're asking me to walk into a trap with you."
"I'm not asking." Her voice was steel.
"I'm telling you. You started this mess by keeping secrets. You're finishing it by helping me end it."
Jax exhaled long and slow. "Okay."
She shifted into gear. The tires bit pavement as she pulled back onto the freeway, this time taking the next exit north…toward the upstate roads, toward the cabin.
They drove in silence for miles. No music. No small talk. Just the hum of the engine and the occasional flash of passing headlights.
An hour in, Jax spoke.
"If we find it… what then?"
"We don't hand it over," Elena said.
"We copy every page…we send it to every major outlet, every regulatory body, every lawyer who'll listen.
We make sure Eclipse dies publicly. And if they come for us after that…"
She didn't finish the sentence.
Jax did. "They'll come harder."
Elena nodded. "Then we'll be ready."
The cabin was another forty minutes away. A winding road through pine trees, no streetlights, just the car's beams cutting through the dark.
As they turned onto the final dirt track, the headlights caught something metallic glinting ahead.
A black SUV…parked across the road. Doors are opened…two figures standing in the beam, waiting.
Elena slammed the brakes.
The car skidded to a stop ten feet short.
One of the figures stepped forward into the light.
It was the woman from the balcony video.
She smiled…the same practiced smile Jax had worn in the footage.
In her hand…a black leather book with a red spine.
She lifted it slowly, like a trophy.
Then she spoke, voice carrying clear through the open window.
"You're late, Elena. We've been expecting you."
Behind her, the second figure raised a phone…recording.
And in the glow of the screen, Elena saw her own face reflected back…shock, fury, fear…all captured perfectly.
The woman tilted her head.
"Smile for the camera. This one's going live in twelve hours."
Jax's hand found Elena's on the gearshift…tight and steady.
But neither of them moved.
Because the trap wasn't waiting at the cabin.
It had driven right up to meet them.