Chapter 85 Morgan's Bad Plan

Chapter 85 Morgan's Bad Plan
"You're ignoring your assistant again, Ángel," Elijah whispered, his low, husky baritone voice sending subtle flutters that instantly melted Elena's concentration.

Elena smiled widely, resting the back of her head on Elijah's solid shoulder with a dependence that increasingly locked their fate together.

"Elijah, look at this. I'm using the Gothic architecture concept you mentioned last night. I'm blending it with all my childhood memories with Grandfather. What do you think?"

Elijah stared at the digital sketch draft on the main computer screen. The corner of his lips curled into a very sexy, yet veiledly satisfied lopsided grin.

The sketch was a perfect replica of ancient elegance that would surely make his mother, Victoria Blackwood, kneel in awe within the next month.

"This is a truly beautiful masterpiece, my Employer," Elijah said sincerely, gently kissing the pulse point on Elena's neck with tenderness full of absolute ownership.

"The Blackwood clan will never have the right to reject the magnificence of your fingers."

Elena turned her body slightly, gazing into Elijah's clear sapphire blue eyes with a sweet, guilty glint.

"Elijah... if the Blackwood clan officially becomes our protector later, you won't need to work late nights like yesterday for your Wall Street client anymore. I'll make sure of it."

Elijah suppressed a low laugh in his chest, tightening his embrace around Elena's slender waist while glancing briefly at his smartwatch, which once again displayed a private notification from Marcus under the table.

\[Young Master, Uncle Silas Blackwood just sold his remaining port shares at total loss to cover our cyber sanctions this morning. The SoHo perimeter cleanup scenario is running one hundred percent sterile.\]

"Of course, dear. I will always obey every law you make in this New York," Elijah whispered with his most charming predator's smile, bending down again to capture Elena's full lips in a deep, demanding kiss, locking his charade neatly from behind Manhattan's lower luxury.

Elijah's kiss this time felt far slower, as if every pressure of his lips was an absolute promise to bury all the anxiety that had burned in Elena's chest. His strong arms held Elena's slender waist tightly, lifting the woman slightly from her designer work chair so she pressed seamlessly against his warm broad chest. Elena clutched the shoulders of Elijah's red plaid flannel shirt, letting the masculine scent of sandalwood mixed with espresso coffee essence melt away the remnants of her vigilance.

When Elijah finally released his kiss with his trademark sexy lopsided grin, Elena could only lean with soft, gasping breaths against her contract lover's solid shoulder. Her brown eyes stared dreamily at the main computer screen still displaying the initial draft, "Memory's Crown."

"If you keep arranging it like this, this draft won't be finished in a month, Ángel," Elijah whispered, his low, husky baritone voice sounding so captivating right in front of Elena's ear. His long fingers moved gently, tidying a few strands of Elena's hair that had become messy from his earlier touch.

Elena looked up, squinting her eyes in feigned annoyance, though the blush on her cheeks was undeniable.

"This is all because my IT assistant doesn't know the right time and place to ask for attention. Now, back to your bar counter, Elijah. I need to finish the Gothic arch details on this pink diamond's support structure before evening."

Elijah chuckled lowly, a sexy laugh vibrating in his chest as he slowly released his embrace. He stepped back with the calm of an absolute predator, very satisfied to have trapped his prey in a golden cage.

"Very well, my Employer. I will watch your perimeter from behind the server system."

Meanwhile, across the ocean, the darkness of London's night felt deeply oppressive inside Morgan Valdez's Mayfair office.

The man stood stiffly in front of his large glass window with an extinguished cigar between his fingers.

For a year now, Morgan had been forced to hold back his fangs and rot in London due to Apex Sovereign's cyber threats, which locked all his physical movements to New York.

His desire to reclaim Elena and cash in Grandfather Maximillian's inheritance was hindered by the shadow of the silver-masked man rumored to be the Blackwood clan's crown prince.

Morgan's private digital device suddenly vibrated violently on the marble table. The screen displayed an encrypted caller name from New York: Silas Blackwood.

Morgan quickly slid the green button, the veins in his neck tensing with calculation.

"Mr. Silas. How is the situation in SoHo? Did the tiara draft sabotage plan succeed?"

"The plan is completely destroyed, Valdez!" Silas Blackwood hissed from across the ocean, his voice very sharp, trembling violently between thick anger and deep terror.

"Our field rat, Julian Cross, disappeared without a trace last night! And this morning Apex Sovereign hacked the entire international port network belonging to my branch family! I was forced to sell my remaining shares at a total loss of trillions just to prevent mass bankruptcy!"

Morgan Valdez recoiled, his usually cunning face now turning extremely pale.

"Impossible, so he really is your nephew, Elijah? And that man truly destroyed your shares just because of that woman's little studio?!"

"He's no longer a nephew, he's a monster!" Silas roared with ragged, frustrated breaths.

"That damn man has made Elena the highest law in New York! Even Vivian Sterling, sent by Alaric to arrange a marriage with him, is currently locked in her hotel without any financial access! We can no longer use corporate or cyber methods to touch their perimeter, Morgan!"

Morgan Valdez clenched his left fist until his knuckles turned completely white. The burning vengeance of the past year suddenly exploded into a new madness in his mind.

"If legal and cyber methods can't penetrate Apex Sovereign, then we must use the dirtiest methods available on the black market, Silas."

"What do you mean, Valdez?" Silas narrowed his eyes on the other end of the line.

"Two more years is too long to wait for Elena's thirtieth birthday," Morgan whispered with his most disgusting parasitic smile.

"I still have connections with the Red Viper mercenary syndicate in Eastern Europe. We don't need to send people to steal that tiara draft again."

"We'll send a long-range professional assassin to eliminate Elijah Blackwood from his commoner charade! Once that damn man is dead, Elena Vance won't have any shield left in Manhattan!"

The call ended, leaving Morgan in London's night silence, thick with deadly conspiracy.

Back in the SoHo district the next day. The snowstorm had subsided, leaving piles of ice glittering under the morning sun. Inside the second floor of Elena Vance Atelier, Elena was holding the raw ten-carat pink diamond using special titanium tweezers.