Chapter 28: THE SHADOW WITH HER NA
Elena’s breath caught in her throat.
For a mont, the hospital room felt too small, too quiet, as Lydia’s trembling confession hung heavily in the air.
"W–what do you an soone is hunting ?" Elena whispered.
Lydia’s fingers tightened weakly around her wrist. "I heard them, Elena... the n who attacked us. I wasn’t fully conscious, but I rember the voices... one of them kept repeating your na."
Elena felt her entire chest tighten.
"My na?"
Lydia nodded slowly. "Yes. They kept saying, ’She must not survive. Bring the girl to the boss.’ They didn’t care about . They didn’t even care about Marcus. They were after you."
Elena’s pulse hamred violently.
A cold wave washed through her bones.
"Why ?" she whispered.
Lydia shook her head. "I don’t know. But one thing was clear—they had been watching you."
Elena’s stomach twisted painfully.
Watching her.
Tracking her.
Hunting her.
And she had no idea who or why.
"Did you... hear anything else?" Elena asked, voice barely stable.
Lydia frowned, trying to rember. "One of them ntioned a na... sothing like a codena. I think it was ’Viper.’ Or ’The Viper.’"
Elena’s blood turned to ice.
Viper.
A na she had never heard before.
A threat she could not see.
"Why would anyone—" she started, but Lydia cut her off.
"Elena... this is beyond anything random or normal. Whoever this Viper person is... they want you specifically. And they were willing to kill anyone around you to get to you."
Elena felt her knees weaken.
Her vision blurred with fear and confusion.
She had always known her life wasn’t perfect, but targeted? Hunted?
That was sothing out of a nightmare.
Lydia squeezed her hand again.
"You need to be careful. You need to stay with Adrian. Don’t go anywhere alone."
Elena nodded slowly, her throat too tight to speak.
The door opened gently, and Adrian stepped inside.
Lydia imdiately went silent, wiping her tears with her uninjured hand.
Adrian scanned Elena’s face instantly—he saw everything, even the fear she tried to hide.
"What happened?" he asked, voice low, controlled, but deadly calm.
Elena swallowed, shaking her head slightly. "We’ll... talk later."
Adrian’s jaw clenched.
He didn’t push. Not here. Not in front of Lydia.
Instead, he looked at Lydia and said, "Get so rest. You’re safe now."
Lydia nodded weakly.
As Adrian guided Elena out of the room, his hand rested firmly on the small of her back—gentle, but possessively protective, as if he could sense the danger she had not yet spoken about.
---
IN THE CAR
The mont the car doors closed, the silence between them thickened.
Elena stared out the window, hands clenched on her lap.
Adrian didn’t start the engine.
He simply watched her.
"Elena," he said quietly. "Talk to ."
She closed her eyes, trying not to panic, trying to breathe normally.
"Lydia said the attack wasn’t random," she whispered. "She said... the n were after ."
Adrian’s body went rigid.
"She heard them say my na," Elena continued, voice trembling. "They wanted . They said soone wants dead."
Adrian’s fists tightened on the steering wheel.
"And there was another thing," she added shakily. "A na. A codena."
"What na?" Adrian asked, his voice like steel.
"Viper."
Adrian’s expression changed instantly.
Not confusion.
Not surprise.
But recognition.
Elena’s breath hitched. "You know that na."
Adrian looked away for a mont, jaw tense, breaths slow and heavy.
"Elena..." he murmured. "Viper isn’t a na you just hear. It’s not soone you stumble across by accident."
Her heart pounded wildly.
"Who is he?"
Adrian finally t her eyes—dark, intense, and full of sothing she had never seen before.
"Viper," he said quietly, "is the most dangerous broker of illegal intelligence in Europe. A ghost. A snake in the criminal underworld. No one knows his real na, or what he truly looks like. But everyone knows one thing—he never misses the person he’s hunting."
Elena felt her whole world tilt.
"And now," Adrian continued, voice icy, "he’s hunting my wife."
Her breath broke.
Her hands trembled.
But Adrian moved quickly, gripping her chin gently and lifting her face toward him.
"Elena," he said firmly, "look at ."
She did.
"You are not dying," he said. "Not while I’m breathing. Not while I’m alive."
Her eyes filled with tears.
"You don’t understand," she whispered. "Why would soone like him want ?"
Adrian exhaled deeply, slowly.
"There’s sothing else," he admitted. "Sothing I didn’t want to say until I was sure."
Elena’s heartbeat stuttered. "What?"
Adrian hesitated.
He rarely hesitated.
"Elena... your na didn’t only appear in my father’s investigation."
"What do you an?" she whispered.
Adrian took her hand, holding it tightly.
"My father wasn’t the only one who looked into your background. Soone else investigated you years ago. Soone with resources."
Her breath caught.
"Who?" she asked.
Adrian brushed a thumb over her hand, grounding her.
"The sa person Lydia heard about," he murmured.
Elena’s heart nearly stopped.
"Viper has been looking into you for years."
She felt the world go silent.
Completely, terrifyingly silent.
"But why?" she whispered.
Adrian shook his head slowly. "I don’t know yet. But I will find out. And I will end this."
Elena’s body trembled as Adrian leaned closer, his forehead resting gently against hers, his voice softer than she had ever heard it.
"I am not losing you," he murmured. "Even if the whole world cos for you."
Her tears fell silently.
And for the first ti... she was truly afraid not just for herself—
But for Adrian too.
Because whoever Viper was...
He was already too close.
---
ENd of Chapter 28
User Comments
0 comments from readers