The moonlight felt like ice against Emily's skin.
The warmth of Alexander's embrace was still on her clothes, but her heart had already turned to stone.
Don't trust the man standing next to you.
The note felt like it was burning a hole in her palm.
Alexander took a step toward her, his hand reaching out.
"Emily? What is it?"
She stepped back.
The movement was instinctive. Sharp. Fearful.
Alexander's hand froze in mid-air.
His brow furrowed, a flicker of hurt crossing his handsome features before his professional mask slid back into place.
"You're shaking," he said softly. "Give me the drive. I'll have my team analyze it."
Give it to him?
Her mother's warning echoed in her head.
The needle was only the beginning.
Emily gripped the USB drive tighter, hiding it in the folds of her ruined dress.
"No," she whispered.
Alexander's eyes darkened.
The protective lover was gone. The billionaire CEO, the man who controlled empires and kept secrets for a living, was standing in his place.
"Emily, that drive could be dangerous. It could be a trap from Voss."
"Or it could be the truth," Emily snapped.
Daniel stepped between them, looking back and forth with a worried expression.
"Hey, we're all on the same side here, remember? We just crawled out of a hole in the ground."
Emily looked at Daniel. Then back at Alexander.
She realized with a jolt of terror that she didn't know either of them. Not really.
Alexander had found her. He had protected her. He had married her.
But he was also the man who had the resources to build a facility like the one that just collapsed.
"Did you know my mother?" she asked suddenly.
The silence that followed was deafening.
The wind hissed through the trees.
Alexander didn't blink. He didn't flinch.
But his silence was an answer in itself.
"Alexander?" her voice trembled. "Did you know her?"
"It's complicated, Emily."
"Yes or no!"
"I knew of her," he said, his voice dropping to a dangerous, low velvet. "She was a brilliant scientist. One of the best in her field."
"A field that involved injecting children with experimental serum?"
Emily's voice rose to a scream.
The energy inside her flickered.
A nearby branch snapped loudly, though no one had touched it.
Alexander stepped forward, ignoring the warning signs.
"I was trying to protect you from the parts of your past that would destroy you."
"You lied to me," she breathed. "Every kiss... every promise... was it all just to keep the 'experiment' under control?"
"Emily, look at me."
He grabbed her shoulders. His grip was firm, but his eyes were pleading.
"I love you. That is the only truth that matters."
Emily looked into those deep, dark eyes. For a moment, she wanted to believe him.
But then, she saw it.
Parked just down the forest path was a black SUV.
The headlights flickered twice. A signal.
Alexander didn't turn around. He already knew it was there.
"Who is that?" Emily asked, her voice cold.
"Extraction," Alexander said. "We need to get you to a safe house."
Emily looked at the car. Then she looked at the woods.
She felt the USB drive in her pocket. The weight of her mother's secret.
"I'm not going with you," she said.
Alexander's expression turned deadly serious.
"You don't have a choice, Emily. You aren't safe."
"I'm not safe with you."
Before he could react, Emily turned and bolted into the darkness of the trees.
"Emily! Stop!"
She heard the heavy thud of boots behind her.
She ran until her lungs burned.
She reached the edge of a steep ravine.
She pulled out the drive one last time.
She noticed a small logo etched into the plastic. A logo she recognized.
It wasn't Voss's company.
It was the logo of the Blackwood Group.
Alexander's family company.
Everything—the kidnapping, the facility, the "accidental" marriage—it wasn't a rescue.
It was a recovery.
Suddenly, a flashlight beam cut through the woods, landing directly on her.
"Emily," Alexander's voice came from the shadows, closer than before. "Don't make me do this the hard way."
She looked down into the dark water of the river below.
Then she looked at the man she loved—the man who might be her greatest enemy.
"Goodbye, Alexander," she whispered.
And she jumped.