Chapter 1 - I RAN INTO THE DEVIL’S CLUB TO SURVIVE
The first thing I heard was Marcus locking the apartment door behind me.
The second thing I heard was him saying:
“You really thought you could leave me?”
My entire body froze.
For three years, I had convinced myself that Marcus Blake was the man who loved me.
The successful attorney.
The charming man who remembered my favorite coffee order.
The boyfriend who promised me that no one would ever hurt me again.
I was wrong.
The man standing in front of me was not the person I fell in love with.
He was the person I should have feared from the beginning.
Rain slammed against the windows of our Manhattan apartment as I backed away from him.
“Marcus, please,” I whispered. “Just let me go.”
He laughed.
A cold, empty laugh.
“Let you go?”
He stepped closer.
“You found something you weren’t supposed to find, Lena.”
My heart dropped.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Yes, you do.”
His eyes narrowed.
“You opened the old box in my office.”
I stopped breathing.
The box.
The one hidden behind his bookshelf.
The one containing documents with my name written on them.
Documents that made no sense.
Documents connecting my childhood to people I had never heard of.
“I saw your file,” Marcus continued.
“You weren’t supposed to.”
My hands started shaking.
“What file?”
He smiled.
“The one that proves your entire life is a lie.”
A cold feeling moved through my chest.
“What did you do?”
His expression changed.
The fake kindness disappeared.
“You should have trusted me.”
I slowly reached for my phone.
Marcus noticed.
His hand moved faster.
The phone hit the floor.
“Don’t make this harder than it has to be.”
The fear I had been trying to ignore for months finally became real.
This wasn’t an argument.
This wasn’t a bad night.
This was survival.
When he grabbed my arm, something inside me snapped.
I pushed him.
Hard.
He stumbled backward.
For one second, we both froze.
Then Marcus looked at me differently.
Like he had finally stopped pretending.
“You’re going to regret that.”
I didn’t wait.
I ran.
I ran through the rain barefoot.
I didn’t feel the broken glass cutting my feet.
I didn’t feel the cold.
I only felt one thing.
Fear.
Behind me, Marcus was shouting my name.
“LENA!”
People walked past me on the street.
Nobody stopped.
Nobody knew that a woman running through Manhattan at midnight wasn’t running from the rain.
She was running from death.
Then I saw the golden lights.
A black building stood at the end of the street.
A place I had only heard rumors about.
The Velvet Crown.
The most exclusive private club in New York.
A place where politicians, billionaires, and criminals sat at the same tables.
A place controlled by one man.
Adrien Viscari.
The mafia boss everyone feared.
I didn’t think.
I didn’t plan.
I just pushed open the doors.
The entire room went silent.
Hundreds of expensive conversations stopped.
A woman wearing diamonds looked at my blood-covered feet.
A businessman lowered his glass.
A judge stared at the bruises on my arms.
Nobody moved.
Then a voice came from above.
“What happened to her?”
I looked up.
A man stood at the top of the staircase.
Black suit.
Cold eyes.
Absolute control.
Adrien Viscari.
The man whose name made powerful people nervous.
He looked at me.
Not with disgust.
Not with anger.
With something much more dangerous.
Rage.
Not at me.
For me.
Before I could speak, the doors behind me exploded open.
Marcus walked inside.
His expensive clothes were soaked from the rain.
His face was twisted with anger.
“There you are.”
He looked at everyone.
“She’s confused. She’s unstable. I’m taking her home.”
Then his eyes found Adrien.
The confidence disappeared.
Adrien slowly walked down the stairs.
Every person in the room became silent.
He stopped in front of me.
Removed his jacket.
Placed it over my shoulders.
The warmth almost broke me.
“She belongs with me,” Marcus said.
Adrien looked at him.
A dangerous calm filled his voice.
“No.”
A pause.
“She doesn’t.”
Marcus laughed nervously.
“You have no idea who you’re dealing with.”
Adrien’s eyes turned colder.
“I know exactly who you are.”
He stepped closer.
“Marcus Blake. Senior attorney. Two sealed harassment complaints. One woman who ended up in the hospital after your so-called accident.”
Marcus’s face changed.
Adrien continued.
“And a father whose gambling debts disappeared right before you started dating Lena.”
My stomach twisted.
I had never told anyone that.
Marcus stared at him.
“How do you know that?”
Adrien answered quietly.
“I investigate threats.”
Then he looked at my wrists.
At the bruises.
And everyone in the room understood.
Marcus was no longer in control.
Adrien turned back to him.
“You will never touch her again.”
Marcus smiled.
“You think you can protect her?”
Adrien smiled back.
“No.”
He glanced at me.
“I know I can.”
Then Marcus said the one thing that changed everything.
“She doesn’t even know who she really is.”
My blood ran cold.
Adrien looked at him.
“What did you say?”
Marcus smiled.
“Ask her about her mother.”
My lips parted.
“My mother died when I was seven.”
Marcus shook his head.
“That’s the story they gave you.”
Before I could answer, the room spun.
My knees collapsed.
Adrien caught me.
“Marco,” he ordered.
“Call Dr. Bell.”
May you like
The last thing I remembered was Adrien carrying me away.
And Marcus watching me like he knew something I didn’t.
