Chapter 6

He glanced at the screen and answered immediately. The moment he heard Allicent's voice, his tone softened.

“Jace, I'm frightened. I don't want to be here alone.”

“I'll come back,” he promised without hesitation. “Just stay where you are. I'll be there soon.”

He was already getting out of his chair when he suddenly remembered I was still in the room. He looked at me and sighed.

“Elena, you have me and the best doctors money can provide. Allicent has no one here. So stop making things harder for her.”

Then he walked out.

Just like that.

I lay in the hospital bed, staring at the ceiling. He had said I had him, but hadn't I lost him long ago?

For the next several days, Jace never returned. This time, I didn't wait for him either. I followed the doctor's instructions, took my medication, and concentrated on getting my strength back. Recovery was slow and painful, but eventually, I was well enough to leave the hospital.

I didn't even make it home.

I was summoned directly to the company for an emergency meeting.

The atmosphere inside the conference room was tense. Allicent stood at the center of the room with swollen, reddened eyes, looking as though she had spent hours crying.

“I honestly didn't mean for any of this to happen,” she said softly.

No one seemed convinced.

One board member after another accused her of leaking confidential company information to a business competitor. They told her she had crossed a line that could not simply be overlooked.

“That's enough.”

Jace's voice silenced the entire room.

“I don't believe Allicent deliberately did anything wrong,” he said firmly. “And regardless of what happened, none of you gets to decide her fate.”

A board member frowned. “Mr. Cole, this involves sensitive company information. We cannot simply ignore it. She needs to be removed.”

Jace didn't even pause.

“I've already transferred thirty-five percent of my shares to Allicent,” he announced. “She's no longer just an employee. She's a shareholder, and none of you has the authority to dismiss her.”

My mind went completely blank.

Thirty-five percent.

Do you know how long it had taken me to earn that much?

Ten years.

For a decade, I had stood beside Jace, worked with him, helped build the company, and watched Cole Group grow from almost nothing into the empire it had become.

Allicent received the same share in less than a month simply because Jace wanted to protect her.

He used to tell me that the company would always belong to the two of us.

Now there were three owners.

Just like there were three people in our marriage.

I lowered my eyes and let out a quiet, bitter laugh. I kept my expression calm, although my fingers were digging into my palm so hard that the pain nearly matched the ache in my ribs.

With Jace openly supporting Allicent, the board members had no choice but to back down. One after another, they left the room, clearly furious but unwilling to challenge him.

I stood as well. I had no desire to remain there any longer.

Before I could reach the door, it opened.

Two police officers entered.

“Good afternoon,” one of them said, looking around the room. “We've received a report concerning stolen and leaked trade secrets. The name Allicent has come up in connection with the investigation. Is she here?”

The room fell silent.

Allicent immediately moved behind Jace and nervously tugged at his sleeve.

Jace stared at her for several seconds before finally answering.

“She wasn't responsible.”

Everyone turned toward him.

“We investigated the matter ourselves,” he continued. His voice was calm, almost frighteningly so. “Allicent didn't leak anything. The person behind it was Elena.”

He pointed directly at me.

My heart stopped.

“What did you just say?”

I could barely recognize my own voice.

“Who did you say was responsible?”

Jace stepped toward me and caught my hand before I could move away. His grip was firm enough to hurt.

“If Allicent ended up with a criminal record, her career would be over and she'd have nowhere to go,” he said quietly. “But you have me. I'll make sure you're taken care of for the rest of your life. Don't worry. I'll get you out of this.”

Then he released me, walked over to the officers, and handed them a USB drive.

“This contains the evidence. Elena was responsible.”

My blood ran cold.

He had fabricated evidence.

There was no way for me to escape now.

I tore my hand away and stared at him through the tears burning my eyes. Ten years ago, he had promised to protect me and love me for the rest of his life.

So this was what his promise had become.

At the police station, I tried everything I could.

I repeatedly told them that I was innocent, that the evidence had been fabricated, and that Jace had deliberately framed me. Nobody believed me. Instead, they looked at me as though I were an inconvenience.

Then the lawyer arrived.

He calmly told them that I was emotionally unstable and under extreme stress, suggesting that I wasn't mentally capable of understanding what I was saying.

“Elena requires a psychological evaluation,” he said. “She's clearly showing signs of severe emotional distress. I believe treatment would be in her best interest.”

Treatment?

I almost laughed.

Before I could properly defend myself, the decision had already been made.

I wasn't sent to prison.

I was sent somewhere far worse.

A private psychiatric facility surrounded by tall walls and locked gates, where every corridor was spotless, silent, and completely devoid of warmth.

The moment I entered, I knew something was wrong.

The nurses barely looked at me, and the doctors seemed more interested in writing things down than listening to what I had to say.

“The patient is displaying resistance,” one of them remarked.

“I am not sick,” I insisted, my voice already hoarse. “You're making a mistake.”

Nobody listened.

They restrained me, and on the first day, they injected something into my arm. Within minutes, my limbs became heavy and my thoughts slowed until it felt as though I were sinking beneath deep water.

The following day, they kept me awake for hours beneath bright lights, repeating the same questions until I could barely think.

“Did you do it?”

“Just admit what you did.”

“Why are you refusing to cooperate?”

I denied everything every time.

They didn't like that.

By the third day, their methods became even worse. They repeatedly forced my head beneath cold water, keeping me there until panic overwhelmed me before pulling me back up. Then they did it again.

“You see?” one of them said coldly. “She's still refusing to cooperate.”

After three days, I could barely distinguish reality from nightmare. My hands wouldn't stop shaking, my chest constantly ached, and even walking felt like moving through a fog.

Those three days felt longer than death itself.

When they finally released me, my mind was sluggish and almost completely empty. I couldn't trust my own thoughts anymore, and I struggled to understand what was happening around me.

That's why I didn't realize the car I entered wasn't taking me somewhere safe.

The lawyer who claimed Jace had sent him wasn't actually working for Jace.

It had all been part of the setup.

Jace had pushed the wrong man too far. He had cornered one of his business partners, destroyed his company, and left him with nothing. Now that man was fighting back.

And somehow, Allicent and I had both been dragged into his revenge.

The car drove for what felt like hours. Nobody spoke. I rested my head against the window with my eyes half closed until the vehicle finally came to a stop.

The door opened.

Rough hands grabbed me and dragged me outside.

The first thing I noticed was the smell of the ocean.

Then I saw him.

“Aegon?”

My voice came out weak.

My chest tightened when I recognized him.

“President Strong, please. You don't have to do this. We can still talk about it. There has to be another way.”

He laughed, but there was no amusement in it.

“Talk?” he scoffed. “If talking could solve anything, your husband wouldn't have destroyed everything I worked for. He backed me into a corner, Elena. What exactly do you think I have left to lose?”

I swallowed hard.

“You people started this,” he continued, his expression filled with fury. “You stole secrets, destroyed my company, and now you expect me to sit down and negotiate? No. If I'm going down, I'm taking every one of you with me.”

He pulled out his phone and made a call.

The moment Jace answered, Aegon spoke.

“Jace, I've got both of your women here. You have one hour to bring me five hundred million in cash.”

His expression hardened.

“If you don't, I'll burn one of them alive and drown the other.”