Chapter 25: Betrayals in the Shadows.

Chapter 25: Betrayals in the Shadows.
The walls of Enzo's private security hub down in Tokyo were lined with monitors and shadows. Now they have two matters to investigate: trash, solving and reporting immediately. Their first encounter was the car crash they had heard about long ago, and they had been working on the case before encounter was the car crash they had heard about long ago, and they had been working on the case before the present physical attack was launched.
Bright city footage flickered across the screens of traffic cams, street views, and elevator feeds, but none of it made Sherry feel safer.
Because someone inside this very network wanted her dead.
I stood behind Enzo as he leaned over a desk inside my private hospital room, sleeves rolled to his forearms, tension vibrating through every inch of his body. His eyes flicked between two frozen frames, side-by-side shots of the rooftop figure from the crash video.
One showed the man walking away. The other zoom showed the lapel pin again. Security badge. Custom design. Limited only to his core team.
Ethan's team or a very close associate who has worked closely in hand with him...
"You think it's him or someone else?" I asked, my voice tight.
Enzo didn't look at me. "I don't think so. Not yet."
"But you don't trust him."
"I don't trust anyone right now."
My heart ached at the hoarse edge of his voice. This wasn't just a man furious with betrayal. This was a man unraveling from the inside and still, he was controlling it. Because losing control would mean admitting this wasn't just business anymore. That I was more than collateral damage.
That I mattered.
"Victoria was seen at the Tokyo harbor two nights ago," Ethan said as he stepped into my private hospital room. His voice was flat and unreadable, but his eyes told a different story. "She met with someone from the Singapore trade firm."
Enzo's spine straightened. Slowly. "The one people say is a front for Gray?"
Ethan nodded once. "That's the one."
My stomach clenched. A cold, sharp knot started forming in my chest. "Are you saying Victoria is part of this now?"
"Not for sure," Ethan said, but his jaw tightened like he didn't believe his own words.
Enzo didn't wait. "Put a trace on her private line. And pull every encrypted file she's accessed in the past three weeks."
Ethan looked like he had swallowed something bitter. "You want me to tap our own head of operations?"
"She is not ours anymore," Enzo said, his voice low and firm. "She is working for herself now."
Silence followed.
It wasn't the kind of silence that settled a room. It was the kind that made your skin itch. The kind that fills the air with questions no one wants to ask out loud.
Ethan turned toward me then. His eyes searched. "Do you still trust him?"
I didn't even flinch. "I trust that someone wants both of us dead," I said. "And I trust that if Enzo thought, even for a second, that I would be safer without him... he would already be gone."
For a moment, something flickered in Ethan's face. Just a split-second crack in his calm. I saw it. And it told me everything I needed to know.
Something was wrong.
Not just with Victoria. With this whole damn thing. The pieces didn't fit cleanly. The timing. The people involved. The way, we were always one step behind.
And suddenly, I realized I was done being on the outside of this.
I wasn't going to be another pawn. Not in their power plays, not in their silent wars. I was done letting the men around me treat my life like it was part of some bigger plan I didn't get to see.
If they were going to play games, then so was I.
And this time, I wouldn't be asking for permission.
"I want to be in on the investigation," I said firmly.
Enzo's head snapped toward me. "No."
"I'm not asking."
His voice dropped to a dangerous pitch. "You will stay out of it, Sherry. I won't say it again."
"No, you'll just make decisions for me. Like yanking all my meetings, hiding the video until you had to show it."
"I was protecting you."
"No, you were controlling me."
He slammed a hand on the desk, sending a pen clattering to the floor. Everyone froze. Ethan cleared his throat and stepped out. We were alone now.
Enzo crossed the room in one slow, dangerous step, like a storm about to break. His voice was low, shaking with something he barely held back.
"You really think this is about control?" he asked, eyes burning into mine. 
"Do you even understand what it did to me watching you bleed? Hearing your scream? Feeling that impact like it was my own body hitting the ground?" I swallowed hard, but I didn't look away.
"I'm not a child."
"No," he said. "You're worse. You're a threat. To yourself. To me. To every wall, I spent my whole damn life building." His breath hit my face hot, fast, full of rage and something else I didn't want to name. We were too close. Way too close.
I shoved at his chest, needing space. "Then stop pretending this is just business."
He grabbed me swiftly before I managed a step backward. Rough and certain hands clamped around my waist, and he lifted me onto the edge of a long conference table. Papers slid silently onto the floor, but neither of us bothered looking down. 
His eyes locked very intensely onto mine with a wild, dark gaze. "You want honesty?" he asked, voice rough. "Fine."
He stepped between my thighs, and I felt his dick, hard and unyielding, pressing against my honey pot. He asked with a roughened voice, Do you actually crave brutal candor?
But something inside him did. I could feel it, that pull and that war. I didn't speak. Not because I was afraid, but because I already knew what he'd say next would change everything.
His mouth crashed into mine, and the kiss wasn't soft. It was brutal. Demanding. Every pent-up emotion channeled into the harsh scrape of his teeth against my lip.
"I hate how you undo me," he growled. "How you make me reckless."
"Then stop pretending you don't want me."
He shoved my dress up around my hips, tearing the thin lace of my thong with a single rip. The sound echoed in the silence.
"I never pretended," he said roughly. "I fucking warned you."
I didn't resist. I didn't want it to be soft. I wanted war. Because war was the only thing between us that ever led to truth.
He slammed into me in one violent stroke, and I gasped, head thrown back, hands braced on the glass behind me.
"Yes," I moaned, clenching around him, wrapping my legs around his waist. "Harder."
He gripped my throat lightly, just enough to force my eyes open. "Say it."
"No."
"Say you need me."
"I don't beg."
He thrust deeper, each motion dragging a whimper from my lips until I couldn't speak at all.
"You will," he said against my ear. "Before I'm done with you."
He fucked me like he needed to erase the world. My body bounced against the wood of the table with each stroke, and I couldn't tell where pain ended and pleasure began. My climax hit like a wave, violent and bright. I screamed into his mouth, breaking against him. He came seconds later, thrust buried deep, jaw clenched, eyes locked to mine and when we stilled, when the world came rushing back, I was breathless, but not broken. He leaned over me, panting. "This isn't business."
"No," I whispered. "It's an obsession."
We stayed like that. Bodies tangled, sweat cooling. Until my phone buzzed. I reached for it blindly. Unknown number. I clicked Accept. A woman's voice. Soft. Dangerous.
"He's lying to you."
I froze.
"Who is this?"
"Ask him about Paris."
Click... The line went dead.
"I just received a chilling call," I said.
I looked up slowly. Enzo was already watching me, lips slightly parted. My voice trembled. "Who the hell is she?" Enzo was silent.  His silence was not in denial. This is a door slamming shut around a truth that she's not ready for.