Chapter 195: Plot twist.

Elena Steel was not an easy woman to shake.

She had spent too many years in the field, too many years learning how to lock down emotions, how to compartmentalize, how to separate what was personal from what was necessary.

But standing here, with Dominic Hale so close she could feel the heat radiating from him, staring at her like he was waiting for an answer she wasn’t sure she could give—

She felt something crack.

Just slightly.

Just enough for him to notice.

And Dominic?

Dominic never missed a damn thing.

"You want answers?" Elena said, her voice steady despite the storm brewing inside her.

Dominic didn’t blink. "Yeah."

Elena exhaled, rolling her shoulders back, forcing herself to keep control.

"You think I left because I wanted to," she murmured. "Because it was easy. Because I didn’t care."

Dominic’s jaw ticked.

"Didn’t you?"

Elena huffed a quiet laugh, but there was no humor in it.

"You always did see things in absolutes," she muttered. "Black and white. Right and wrong."

Dominic narrowed his eyes. "You gonna tell me I was wrong?"

Elena was silent for a long moment.

Then—

"I’m gonna tell you," she said, "that there was no version of this where I got to stay."

Dominic stilled.

Something about the way she said it—**like it was a fact, not a choice—**made his stomach tighten.

He had spent years believing she had walked away because she had wanted something else.

That she had chosen to leave.

But now?

Now, for the first time, he wasn’t so sure.

And he hated that.

Because if it hadn’t been her choice—

Then that meant he had spent years being angry at the wrong thing.

"You think he’s gonna punch a hole in the wall?" Zayn muttered, arms crossed as he leaned against the opposite wall, watching through the slightly open office door.

Liam snorted. "Nah. If anyone’s punching anything, it’s Elena."

Seraphina sighed, rubbing her temples. "We are not doing this again."

Damon chuckled beside her. "Oh, we absolutely are."

James grinned, sipping his coffee. "This is the best thing to happen since we stopped doing fieldwork."

Seraphina shot him a look. "We run a professional organization."

James raised a brow. "And yet, here we are."

Seraphina huffed but didn’t move.

Because, honestly?

She wanted to see how this ended, too.

Dominic exhaled slowly, hands resting on his hips.

"Then tell me," he muttered. "What really happened?"

Elena hesitated.

Just for a second.

Just long enough for him to notice.

Then, finally, she sighed.

"It’s not that simple, Dominic."

Dominic’s gaze hardened.

"Try me."

Elena closed her eyes briefly before looking at him again, something guarded behind the steel of her expression.

"I was given a choice," she admitted. "Stay with you… or keep you alive."

Dominic froze.

His heart slowed, then kicked up again—hard, fast, sharp.

"What?"

Elena inhaled, finally saying the thing she had never told him.

"The only way to keep you from being a target was to disappear," she said, voice even. "To make them think I didn’t care. That I had walked away."

Dominic felt his world shift.

Because that?

That was not what he had thought happened.

Not even close.

And now?

Now he didn’t know what the hell to do with that information.

Liam blinked. "Well, shit."

Zayn smirked. "Plot twist."

James chuckled. "Knew there was more to it."

Seraphina sighed. "This is about to get worse, isn’t it?"

Damon, watching the way Dominic’s entire body had gone tense inside the office, just exhaled.

"Definitely."

Because Dominic Hale was not a man who handled revelations well.

And this?

This was about to change everything.