Chapter 4 - The Truth About Serena
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The first gunshot destroyed the glass above Elena’s shoulder.
The second struck the wooden frame of the front door.
Adrian pushed her to the floor, covering her body with his own as shattered glass rained across the entryway.
“Elena, stay down,” he ordered.
She could hear the violence in his voice.
Not panic.
Not fear.
Control.
It was the voice of the man Adrian had always tried to hide from her.
Outside, tires screeched. Someone shouted. Another gunshot cracked through the afternoon air.
Elena’s ears rang.
Her hands were shaking so badly that she could barely hold onto Adrian’s coat.
“Baby,” she whispered.
Adrian’s face changed instantly.
He looked at her stomach, then back into her eyes.
“Are you hurt?”
“I don’t know.”
He pressed his hand gently against her side, checking for blood.
“There’s no blood.”
The relief on his face was so raw that it nearly broke her.
Then Marcus came through the back door with two armed men behind him.
“Vehicle is gone,” Marcus said. “We have one license plate, but it’s probably stolen.”
Adrian stood slowly and helped Elena to her feet.
His hands remained on her arms a second longer than necessary.
“Elena, you can’t stay here.”
“I’m not going back to your house.”
“You can’t stay alone.”
“I won’t be alone. Claire—”
“Claire is not equipped for this.”
Elena pulled away from him. “Stop talking about me like I’m a problem to be managed.”
Adrian closed his eyes briefly.
“You’re right.”
Marcus looked between them, clearly deciding whether to interrupt.
Then he held up Adrian’s phone.
“It’s Serena.”
Adrian’s expression hardened.
“Put it on speaker.”
Serena’s voice came through immediately, breathless and dramatic.
“Adrian, thank God. I heard there was an attack. Are you okay?”
“You heard?” Adrian asked.
There was a pause.
“I have people who tell me things.”
“Who?”
“Adrian, this isn’t the time.”
“No,” he said coldly. “This is exactly the time.”
Elena watched him carefully.
She had heard Adrian speak to Serena dozens of times over the years. His voice had always softened for her. Even when he sounded annoyed, there was an intimacy there that Elena hated herself for noticing.
But now there was none.
Only ice.
“Did you tell Moretti where Elena was?” Adrian asked.
“What?” Serena gasped. “Of course not.”
“Did you mention her pregnancy?”
“No.”
“Did you offer Moretti information about my family in exchange for protection?”
Silence.
Marcus’s eyes narrowed.
Elena felt a chill move through her body.
“Adrian,” Serena said finally, her voice quieter now, “you don’t understand what you’re dealing with.”
“Then explain it.”
“You were supposed to choose me.”
The room went silent.
Even Marcus looked shocked.
Serena continued, and now there was no hysteria in her voice. No performance. Just bitterness.
“Your father promised my father that you would look after me. He said I would always have a place in your life. And I did. Until she came along.”
Elena stared at the phone.
“You were married,” Serena said, directing the words toward Elena. “But I knew you would never love her the way you loved me.”
Adrian’s face went pale.
“Elena,” he said, but she raised a hand.
No.
Not yet.
“You thought I was competing with you?” Elena asked.
Serena gave a soft, humorless laugh. “You were always competing with me.”
“No,” Elena replied. “I was married to him.”
Something in her own voice surprised Elena.
It was not weak.
It was not pleading.
It was the voice of a woman who had finally stopped apologizing for taking up space.
Serena’s breathing sharpened.
“You don’t know what Adrian is.”
Elena looked directly at Adrian.
“I know exactly what he is.”
Adrian did not look away.
“I know he’s dangerous,” Elena continued. “I know he has done things I don’t want to know about. But the biggest mistake he made wasn’t being loyal to you.”
Her eyes stayed on Adrian.
“It was making me feel like I had to accept less than I deserved.”
Adrian’s jaw tightened with pain.
“Serena,” he said, his voice low, “if you had anything to do with today, I will find out.”
“You would destroy me?”
“I would protect my wife and child.”
Serena laughed again, but this time it sounded broken.
“She left you.”
“I gave her reasons to.”
The call ended.
For a moment, nobody spoke.
Then Marcus received a message on his phone. His expression darkened.
“Moretti’s people intercepted Serena an hour ago,” he said. “She’s missing.”
Adrian swore under his breath.
Elena looked at him. “You think she betrayed you, but now you’re worried about her?”
“I’m worried about what she knows.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
Adrian looked exhausted.
“No,” he said quietly. “I don’t love Serena.”
Elena’s throat tightened.
“I never did.”
“But you made room for her.”
“Yes.”
“And there was never room for me.”
“That isn’t true.”
“It felt true.”
Adrian took a step closer, but he did not touch her.
“That is the worst thing I have ever done to you,” he said. “I made you feel alone in a marriage where you should have felt safest.”
Elena wanted to believe him.
But trust was not rebuilt by beautiful sentences.
It was rebuilt by choices.
Marcus cleared his throat.
“We need to move. Moretti will try again.”
Elena looked around the damaged house.
Her safe place had been shattered in under sixty seconds.
But as Adrian waited for her answer, she realized something important.
She was no longer the woman who followed him because she was afraid to be alone.
This time, if she went with him, it would be because she chose to.
“For now,” Elena said, “I’ll accept protection.”
Adrian nodded once.
“For now is enough.”
But neither of them knew that Serena’s disappearance was only the beginning.
Because Vincent Moretti had not taken Serena to punish Adrian.
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He had taken her because she held the one secret capable of destroying the Vale empire forever.
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