Chapter 4 - The Safe House
The ride away from the Cole estate was made in absolute silence inside Dominic’s heavy armored SUV.
Matteo drove, his knuckles white against the leather steering wheel. Gabriel sat in the front passenger seat, his fingers flying across his laptop keyboard as he finalized the financial execution of Cole Global. Nico sat in the back with Luca and me, gently applying a cooling antiseptic salve to the raw skin on my wrists.
"It's going to sting for a minute, El," Nico said softly, his usual sarcastic tone completely gone. "The doctor is waiting at Dominic's house."
"I'm fine, Nico," I murmured, staring out the tinted window at the passing city lights.
"You're not fine," Dominic said from the front seat, turning his head slightly. His voice was thick with suppressed rage. "You stayed with that bastard for three years, Elena. You hid everything from us. Why?"
I let out a long, shuddering breath. "Because after Mom and Dad died, all five of you spent your lives fighting, building empires, and putting yourselves in danger to protect me. You gave up your youth so I could have a normal, quiet life. I wanted so badly to prove that I could build a normal family on my own."
"By letting a pathetic, insecure weakling walk all over you?" Matteo growled from the driver's seat.
"I didn't know who he was when I met him, Matteo," I said quietly. "At first, Adrian was sweet. He seemed attentive. It was only after the wedding that the walls started closing in. His mother began controlling my schedule. His father threatened to destroy my reputation if I ever tried to leave. And Adrian... Adrian realized he could take his own failures out on me because I didn't fight back."
"Why didn't you call us six months ago?" Luca asked, turning to look at me.
"Because I was gathering evidence," I revealed, pulling a small silver USB drive from my coat pocket and handing it to Gabriel. "Every shell company Richard Cole set up. Every bribe Adrian paid to city inspectors for defective steel in their high-rise projects. Every threat Margaret made against me. I put it all on that drive."
Gabriel plugged the drive into his laptop. His eyes widened as files loaded across his screen. "Jesus, Elena... this isn't just tax evasion. This is structural fraud on municipal contracts. They used substandard concrete on the new city bridge project."
"I knew if I just walked away with a normal divorce, their lawyers would drag me through the mud for years and cover up their crimes," I explained, my voice hardening. "I waited until I had everything. Tonight was supposed to be the night I served him with divorce papers in front of his board members."
"And then he pulled that stunt with the wine," Dominic said, his jaw tightening.
"He thought he could break me before I could speak," I said, looking down at my bandaged wrists. "He miscalculated."
We pulled into the security gates of Dominic's private estate on the outskirts of the city. The property was a fortress—surrounded by high stone walls, security cameras, and private guards.
Inside, a female physician was waiting in the medical wing of the house. She spent thirty minutes treating the whip marks across my back, applying specialized burn ointments and bandaging the wounded skin.
When she finished, I changed into a soft silk robe and walked into the grand library, where my five brothers were sitting around a heavy mahogany table. Maps, legal documents, and financial monitors covered every surface.
"What's the status?" I asked, sitting down in the large leather chair at the head of the table.
Gabriel looked up from his screen with a cold, satisfied grin. "As of twenty minutes ago, the FBI executed three arrest warrants at the Cole estate. Richard Cole, Adrian Cole, and Vanessa Hart are currently in federal custody. The state police sealed the mansion as a crime scene."
Luca pushed a thick folder across the table toward me. "And here are your final divorce papers, Elena. Drafted, filed, and signed by an emergency judge two hours ago. You are officially no longer a Cole."
I looked at the documents, touching my name printed at the bottom: Elena Moretti.
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For three years, I had carried a name that was used to cage me. Now, I finally had my own back.
"This is just the beginning," Dominic said, setting a glass of warm water in front of me. "They tried to destroy you, Elena. Now we make sure they never rise again."
