THE MAN WHO BURNED BRIDGE

Cole didn't sleep.Not even for a second.

He stayed on the balcony till the sun broke over the New York skyline, and when it did, he was still gripping the phone like it was a loaded gun.

The voice from last night kept echoing in his head.

"You owe us… and you're running out of time."

He had tried to clean up his life, tried to start again. But the past wasn't finished with him.

And now?

They were targeting her.

Inside, Elena stirred, half-awake. She reached out on the bed, but it was cold. Empty.

Cole was gone. Again.

By 8:00 AM, Cole walked into an old office complex in SoHo that used to belong to him before everything crashed. It was now owned by one of his former partners, Johnson Smith,

a sharper knife always hidden behind his back. The receptionist flinched when she saw Cole. She whispered into the intercom.

A few seconds later, the glass doors opened, and Johnson stepped out like a lion returning to his kill.

"Cole Kingston," Johnson said, slow and cruel. "The phoenix who never rose."

"I'm not here to fight," Cole replied, holding his voice steady. "I'm here to make peace."

Johnson's laugh was dry. "Peace? With you? After what you did?"

"I didn't steal the investors' money. You did. And you pinned it on me."

Johnson's eyes narrowed. "And yet you're the one who fell. Why reopen the wound?"

"Because someone sent a threat to Elena," Cole said, taking a step forward. "And I know it came from your camp."

Johnson didn't flinch. "The girl is smart. Talented. But she made one mistake, taking in a man the world has already buried."

"I'm warning you," Cole said. "Leave her out of this."

But Johnson just smiled. "Or what? You'll ruin me with what money? With what power?"

Cole's fists clenched, but he walked away. Because this wasn't about revenge anymore. It was about protection.

Meanwhile, Elena was trying to breathe through her anxiety.

She hadn't heard from Cole since the night before. Her boutique's launch event was coming in days. She was juggling fabric orders, influencer collaborations, and trying to ignore the paranoia building inside her.

Then, just before noon, something worse than fear arrived.

A woman. Tall. Slender. Dark lipstick. Designer bag. Confident.She walked straight into the boutique like she owned the place.

"Good afternoon," the lady said smoothly to Elena. "I'm looking for Cole."

Elena frowned. "He's not here. Who are you?"

The woman smiled like a secret."I'm his fiancée."

Elena blinked. "Excuse me?"

"Well, ex-fiancée. I left him just before his empire crumbled," she added with a fake sigh. "But now that he's crawling out of the dust, I thought I'd say hi."

"Why?" Elena asked, trying to keep her voice steady.

The woman looked around the boutique, unimpressed. "To warn you, darling. He's very good at winning women over when he's desperate. Just be careful you're not his comeback project."

Then she left. No name. No contact. Just poison in Elena's veins.

When Cole returned later that day, Elena didn't say anything. She just looked at him. Really looked. His face was tired. His eyes carried new weight.

And somewhere, under all that, she saw the man again, the one who had once stood on magazine covers, who had once made the world bend to his vision.

But she also saw a man drowning in secrets.

"Where were you?" she asked quietly.

He rubbed his face. "Handling it."

"Your ex-fiancée came here."

That got his attention.

He turned slowly. "What?"

"She said you're good at making women believe things when you need them."

He looked hurt. "Do you believe her?"

Elena's voice cracked. "I don't know what to believe anymore."

Cole stepped closer. "Believe what I do, not what people say. I'm not here for pity. I'm not using you. I'm here because when I was at my lowest, you treated me like I was still someone. You gave me air when I was drowning."

"But you're not telling me everything," Elena whispered. "And I can't protect myself from what I can't see."

There was silence between them. Then Cole said the words he hadn't said since he fell:

"Let me tell you everything."

Flashback Sequence:

He told her about Johnson, the betrayal, the illegal offshore accounts, the investors who were actually laundering money, and the day he realized that if he didn't take the fall, someone would end up dead.

He chose exile.

But now, they were back, because his silence had expired. By the time he finished, Elena's hands were shaking.

"Why didn't you go to the police?"

He looked down. "Because they were in on it."

She stood up. Walked to the window. Everything in her life was about to change. Then, she turned back and said:

"If I go down with you, Cole… just promise me I won't regret it."

He stood too. Took her hand.

"You won't."

But both of them knew...This wasn't the end of the war.

It was only the beginning.