Chapter 6 – Bound by Enemies

The city didn't sleep, not in their world.

Not when secrets were currency, and danger walked in polished shoes and designer cologne.

Amelia sat in the back of the armored SUV, arms crossed, jaw locked. Her phone buzzed every few seconds, flooding with panicked messages from her board. The missing shipment had ignited chaos, and the vultures were already circling.

Next to her, Leo was maddeningly calm. One leg crossed, an espresso in hand, and a glint in his eyes that suggested he was enjoying the storm.

"You look like you're about to set fire to something," he said without looking at her.

"I might," Amelia snapped. "This isn't just a minor breach. That shipment was worth millions."

"And the public doesn't know... yet," Leo replied. "Which means we still have time to spin this."

Amelia glared at him. "Spin this? Someone hit my docks, took my containers, and made it look like an inside job. There's no spin, Vance, that's arson in business form."

Leo finally turned his head, smile razor-sharp. "Then let's burn them back."

The car rolled to a stop.

"Where are we?" she asked.

Leo's smile widened. "Neutral ground."

They stepped out into the soft glow of a private underground club marble floors, velvet walls, and murmurs of illicit deals floating like smoke.

Amelia narrowed her eyes. "You brought me to The Echelon?"

"It's the only place both your people and mine won't shoot on sight."

A waitress glided over with a crystal decanter and two glasses. Leo poured them both a drink.

"You want to catch whoever did this?" Leo asked.

Amelia raised an eyebrow. "Obviously."

"Then we do it together."

She laughed, a sharp, humorless sound. "You want me to team up with you?"

He clinked his glass against hers. "Temporarily."

"And why would I trust you?"

"You won't."

Their eyes locked the silence simmering.

Leo leaned in. "But you do want to win, don't you?"

Amelia's throat tightened.

"Fine," she said finally. "But this isn't a partnership. It's war."

Leo smiled like a wolf. "Darling, war is where we shine."

The investigation had begun quietly, ruthlessly.

Leo's team swept the ports, hacking into encrypted logs. Amelia's contacts traced the missing containers through dummy shell corporations.

Somewhere between late-night calls, shadow deals, and whispered threats, the two of them began to... click.

Not emotionally. Not yet.

But strategically? They were fire and gasoline.

At 2:47 a.m., in Leo's penthouse, Amelia collapsed into a leather chair, laptop glowing.

"I found the access point," she said. "It was an inside breach. And whoever did it... knew my system better than I do."

Leo leaned over her shoulder, the heat of his body too close, his breath brushing her neck.

"That's because they've been inside longer than you think."

She turned to face him fast, breath short.

"How do you know that?"

Leo's smile faded. "Because it's not just your company they've hit."

Her stomach dropped.

"And there it is," he murmured. "Our enemies? They're the same."

She stared at him.

And for the first time despite everything they weren't just two heirs caught in an ancient war.

They were two predators being hunted.

Together.

The scent of espresso and ozone lingered in the air. Rain battered the glass walls of Leo's penthouse in rhythmic defiance as if the city itself was challenging their uneasy truce.

Amelia paced near the fireplace, the flames casting long shadows over her sharp silhouette. Her blazer was tossed carelessly over the back of a chair, sleeves of her silk blouse rolled to the elbows, revealing pale skin and fire in her veins.

Leo, still seated at the bar with a tumbler in hand, watched her with amusement and something else far more dangerous.

"You're walking holes into my carpet," he murmured.

Amelia spun. "I'm not used to losing control."

"Then you're going to hate what's coming next," Leo said. He stood, glass forgotten, and crossed the room in slow, predatory strides. "Because control? That's the first thing our enemies took from us."

She stopped pacing. "You think I don't know that?"

"No," Leo said, stopping just short of her. "I think you haven't accepted it."

Their gazes locked. Tension snapped like a live wire.

"Admit it," he said softly. "You need me."

Her lips parted.

"You hate needing me."

She should slap him. She should tell him to go to hell.

Instead

Amelia stepped forward until there was barely a breath between them. "You're the last person I need," she whispered.

Leo tilted his head. "Yet here you are."

Her heart thundered. Her hands clenched at her sides.

"You play games," she said.

"So do you."

She swallowed hard. "What's your angle, Vance?"

"Revenge." His eyes darkened. "But maybe, just maybe" His fingers lifted to brush a lock of hair from her cheek. "Yours is becoming mine, too."

She hated the way her breath caught.

"You shouldn't say things like that," she said.

Leo leaned in, lips near her ear. "Why? Afraid I might mean it?"

Amelia's pulse kicked hard.

"You think you're charming, don't you?"

Leo stepped back with a wicked grin. "No. I know I am."

She rolled her eyes, masking the way her knees nearly buckled.

"Focus, Leo," she said, voice sharper than she felt. "If they've hit you too, then that means this goes beyond corporate sabotage."

Leo's smile dropped. "It's a war. And they want to wipe us both off the map."

"And we're supposed to just... join forces like some twisted power couple?"

Leo's gaze held hers. "Not a couple. Just a temporary alliance with chemistry."

"You're insufferable."

"You're intoxicating."

Amelia turned toward the window, hiding the traitorous curl of her lips. "You have a plan?"

Leo stepped beside her. His reflection shimmered next to hers in the glass.

"Yes," he said. "We leak false intel and set a trap using the last asset they haven't touched."

Amelia's eyes narrowed. "The overseas account."

He nodded.

"And when they bite?"

Leo's eyes gleamed. "We follow the trail to whoever's stupid enough to think they can play us."

She folded her arms. "And when we find them?"

Leo looked at her, truly looked at her.

"Then we do what we do best," he said softly. "We destroy them."

It was nearly 4 a.m. when Amelia finally let herself sink into the plush chair in Leo's study, her fortress of poise cracking ever so slightly under the weight of the night.

Leo returned with two cups of black coffee, the silence between them now companionable instead of hostile. He handed one to her without a word.

"Thanks," she murmured.

"For the coffee or the company?"

She looked up at him, one brow raised. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves."

He smirked but said nothing.

The screens on the wall lit up again files, maps, financial trails all connected by blinking red lines. One name stood at the center, pulsing: VALMONT INDUSTRIES.

Amelia sat up straighter. "That's... impossible."

Leo sipped his coffee. "You know them?"

"They were my father's biggest rivals before the ceasefire. A ghost company now liquidated years ago after he died. No one's heard of them since."

Leo's jaw tightened. "Well, they're back. And they've been quietly buying up shell companies tied to both our empires."

Amelia's fingers clenched the mug. "This isn't about business anymore. This is legacy warfare."

Leo nodded. "And they're using our fathers' sins as blueprints."

Silence stretched between them like a blade.

Then Amelia whispered, "He used to say this would happen."

Leo turned. "Your father?"

She nodded. "He told me the old wars would never die. Only mutate."

"And now we're left with the fallout."

They stared at the screen in tandem, enemies by blood, allies by necessity.

"I never wanted this," Amelia said quietly.

Leo looked at her, really looked. "Neither did I."

Their eyes met no flirtation, no games this time.

Just understanding.

"I guess," Amelia said softly, "we're the last ones standing."

"Then let's make sure we don't fall."

Across town, in a darkened room humming with surveillance feeds, a woman watched them on screen.

She sipped her wine, a wicked smile playing at her lips.

"How poetic," she whispered. "Children cleaning up their fathers' messes."

A voice crackled through the earpiece in her ear. "Target Alpha and Bravo have joined forces."

"Perfect," she purred. "Let them think they're in control. It'll make the fall more fun."

She turned to the man behind her.

"Initiate Phase Two."