Chapter 273 Your Weakness Is in My Hands
Chapter 273 Your Weakness Is in My Hands
Tony.
Such a simple name, yet it seemed to make even the wind on the balcony pause.
Rufus's hand, still holding the cigarette, froze in midair.
The ember flickered on and off, throwing light over his suddenly rigid profile.
Rufus slowly turned his head. The eyes that were tender only for Cecilia now held nothing but coldness.
He stared at Elodie, studying this woman he had never truly looked at before.
"What... do you mean?"
His voice was low, carrying the heavy stillness before a storm.
Elodie smiled.
Meeting his murderous gaze, she did not back down. Instead, she took a step forward.
"Rufus, have you forgotten?"
"Tony, that loyal, capable bodyguard of yours."
With malicious amusement, she reminded him slowly, "The scarred-faced one who has been by your side for years."
Rufus's jawline tightened sharply.
Of course, he knew who Tony was.
But he could not understand why that name was coming out of Elodie's mouth.
"I'm a bit curious, Rufus."
Elodie was savoring his expression right now—the look of a man whose absolute control was starting to crack.
"The day Stefan got into trouble, why did you call Tony into the study alone?"
Murderous intent began to gather in Rufus's eyes.
"You also gave him a key card to Room 1503 at Blue Bay Apartments."
"Oh, and a small glass vial containing a clear liquid."
Each word Elodie spoke was like a nail being driven into Rufus's mind.
His carefully planned, perfect loop, his supposedly flawless scheme, had been seen through completely by this woman he had always treated as a puppet.
"You had him set up the scene in advance."
"You had him pour what was in the vial into that bottle of red wine."
"You also told him that after it was done, he had to clean up the scene and absolutely could not leave any trace."
Elodie's pace was not fast, but every word was crystal clear.
When the last sentence fell, all the pretense on Rufus's face shattered, leaving only the most primitive, most terrifying killing intent.
He finally understood—he had been keeping a viper by his side.
"How did you know?"
Yet even now, Rufus's voice betrayed no emotion; it was terrifyingly calm.
"How I know does not matter."
Elodie pulled her phone from her pocket, its dim screen light illuminating her triumphant, crazed face.
She did not open anything, just waved the phone lightly between them.
"What matters is, that secret meeting between you and Tony in the study, I have..."
She deliberately drew out the last syllable, the corners of her mouth curving higher and higher.
"A complete video recording of it."
A video recording?
These words snapped the last of Rufus's self-control.
"You're dead!"
He exploded without warning. His iron grip closed around Elodie's throat, lifting her off her feet and slamming her hard against the cold railing.
A dull thud of bone against metal followed.
Air vanished from Elodie's lungs in an instant. Her face quickly turned red, her feet kicking helplessly in the air.
Rufus's fingers kept tightening, blood-red fury churning in his eyes.
He wanted to snap her neck right there.
But even at the edge of death, Elodie's face still wore a strange, victorious smile.
She used all her remaining strength to squeeze out broken words from her throat.
"Kill... kill me..."
"You won't... have... a good ending either..."
"That video... I've already... set it... to send automatically."
Rufus's hand around her neck suddenly paused.
"If... within twelve hours... I don't cancel it."
Elodie's eyes were starting to roll back, but she still used her last breath to spit out the name that would decide victory or defeat.
"It will automatically... send to Dione!"
Dione. Dione.
Rufus's body froze.
He could almost see it—the second after he strangled Elodie, that video capable of destroying him forever would appear on Dione's phone.
By then, Stefan would be released without any charges.
And he, Rufus, would take Stefan's current place as the mastermind.
All his schemes, all his plans, would become blades pointed at himself.
This damned woman!
This damned bitch he'd been toying with all along!
She dared!
"You think I can't find it?" Rufus said through gritted teeth, each word ice-cold.
"You... can try..." Elodie smiled even brighter, though the smile was distorted from lack of oxygen. "Foreign... encrypted cloud... password... only I... know..."
Rufus stared at her intently.
The rage in his eyes could almost burn her to ashes, yet the hand around her neck was trembling violently.
Finally, Rufus suddenly released his grip.
Elodie slid down the railing to the ground.
She clutched her aching throat, coughing violently, greedily gulping the cold air. Tears and saliva covered her face—utterly wretched.
But in her heart rose an unprecedented sense of vengeful satisfaction.
It was over.
Those days of being manipulated, of living in someone else's shadow, were completely over.
From the moment she recorded that video, she was no longer a chess piece.
She was the one moving the pieces.
After a long while, Rufus lit another cigarette and took a deep drag.
Through the swirling smoke, the murderous look on his face gradually faded, and he became once again that aloof, unreadable CEO of Chapman Group.
"Tell me, what do you want?"
He looked down at Elodie, still gasping on the ground, his tone full of undisguised contempt.
"A hundred million dollars? A villa by the sea? Or do you want me to promote you, make you the next international superstar?"
In his view, women like Elodie, who gambled with their lives, could only want these things.
Anything that could be solved with money was not a problem.
However, Elodie slowly climbed up from the ground.
She wiped the mess from her face, straightened her disheveled clothes, and stood up straight again.
She raised her head, meeting Rufus's disdainful gaze, and slowly, clearly enunciating each word, said, "I don't want money, and I don't want fame."
She looked at Rufus, her eyes burning with a fire he had never seen before—ambition.
"I only want one thing. A child. Your child and mine."