CHAPTER 4

Chapter 4: The Hunt Begins

Elena stood by the window of the motel room, staring out at the darkened parking lot. Her fingers tightened around the burner phone in her hand. The silence on the other end was suffocating, filled with an unspoken threat.

Then came the voice. Smooth. Cold. Familiar.

"You've been busy, Elena."

Gabriel.

She felt her pulse spike but forced her voice to remain steady. "And you've been careless."

A low chuckle. "I let you think that."

Lies. He had underestimated her. That was his first mistake.

His sigh crackled through the phone. "Walk away from this, and I'll forget your betrayal. Stay, and I'll make sure you regret it."

A slow rage burned inside her, but she exhaled softly. Control. That was the key.

"You know me better than that," she whispered.

A pause. Then, a quiet, amused "I do."

The line went dead.

She tossed the phone onto the bed, her heart hammering. He knew. Maybe not everything, but enough to see her as a threat. That meant she had to move faster.

Luca leaned against the wall, arms crossed. "We need to leave. Now."

She shook her head. "Not yet."

"Elena—"

"I'm not running."

Luca cursed under his breath, but he knew better than to argue. Instead, he grabbed his bag and tossed something onto the bed beside her—another folder, thicker than the last.

"More intel?" she asked.

Luca hesitated. "Something worse."

Elena flipped it open. Her breath caught.

Photos. Surveillance shots of her. From weeks ago. Months. Even years.

Gabriel had been watching her long before she ever suspected him.

Her hands clenched into fists. "That son of a—"

"He was always ahead of us," Luca said quietly. "Now he's waiting."

Elena forced herself to breathe, to think. Gabriel wasn't just planning to destroy her. He had been playing the long game, setting the pieces in place before she even knew she was in a game.

But he had made a mistake.

He let her live long enough to learn how to fight back.

She closed the folder and met Luca's gaze. "It's time to take the fight to him."

Luca exhaled. "What's the plan?"

Elena smirked, a fire burning behind her eyes.

"We make him suffer."