Chapter 4 - The File
Niko took the memory card to a secure facility.
I wanted to go with him.
He refused.
Naturally, I followed.
He found me sitting in the passenger seat.
"Elena."
"What?"
"You disobeyed me."
"Yes."
"You could have been killed."
"So could you."
He stared at me.
Then shook his head.
"You're impossible."
"You married me."
"Apparently I have terrible judgment."
I smiled.
He tried not to.
The facility was underground.
Three computers.
No internet connection.
Niko inserted the card.
Files appeared.
Hundreds.
Names.
Dates.
Payments.
Photographs.
And one folder marked:
PROJECT SAINT
Niko opened it.
His face changed.
"What?"
He turned the screen toward me.
There was a photograph of Gabriel.
Alive.
Taken three days before his supposed accident.
Standing beside Marco.
I stared.
"Your brother knew."
"Yes."
"About the records?"
"Yes."
Another file contained financial transfers.
Marco had been moving money through political campaigns for years.
Including my father's.
Then we found something worse.
A document dated two weeks before Gabriel died.
ELIMINATION AUTHORIZATION.
My blood ran cold.
"Niko..."
He closed his eyes.
For the first time, I saw something break inside him.
"My brother was murdered."
I reached for his hand.
He let me.
Then an alarm sounded.
Niko pulled me behind him.
Men rushed into the room.
Gunfire erupted.
Glass shattered.
Niko dragged me toward a steel door.
"Run!"
We ran.
Down a narrow corridor.
Behind us, footsteps thundered.
Niko shoved me into a storage room.
"Stay here."
"No."
"Elena."
"You're not going alone."
He stared.
Then nodded.
The fight was over in minutes.
Two attackers escaped.
One was captured.
Niko returned with blood on his shirt.
"Are you hurt?"
"No."
He touched my face.
"Good."
I realized he was trembling.
"You were scared."
"For you."
The words hit me harder than the gunfire.
That night, we returned to the penthouse.
Neither of us spoke.
I changed clothes.
When I came out, Niko was standing by the window.
"Thank you."
"For what?"
"For trusting me."
"I don't know if I do."
He nodded.
"Fair."
I walked closer.
"But I'm beginning to."
He looked at me.
The silence between us changed.
He lifted his hand.
Stopped.
"May I?"
I nodded.
His fingers touched my cheek.
Slowly.
Carefully.
No pressure.
No demand.
Just warmth.
He kissed my forehead.
Then stepped back.
"Goodnight, Elena."
I watched him walk away.
My heart was pounding.
Not from fear.
From something far more dangerous.
Hope.
The next morning, my father disappeared.
His security detail found his car abandoned near the East River.
His phone was inside.
No body.
No message.
Niko became furious.
"We're finding him."
"What if Marco has him?"
"Then Marco just made the biggest mistake of his life."
We spent the day searching.
Hospitals.
Police stations.
Private properties.
Nothing.
Then, at midnight, a package arrived.
Inside was my father's watch.
Broken.
And a note.
Bring the memory card to Pier 17 tomorrow at midnight.
Niko read it.
"No."
"I'm going."
"Absolutely not."
"That's my father."
"It's a trap."
"I know."
"Then why would you go?"
I looked at him.
"Because if we don't, they kill him."
Niko's jaw tightened.
He understood.
"Then I'm coming."
"No."
He stared.
"What?"
"If they want me, they won't expect you."
His expression became dangerously calm.
"You really think I'm letting my wife walk into an ambush?"
"I think you're forgetting that I can make my own decisions."
He stepped closer.
"And I think you're forgetting that I'm already in love with you."
Silence.
My heart stopped.
Niko looked almost surprised by his own words.
Neither of us moved.
Then he whispered:
"I didn't mean to say that."
I smiled sadly.
May you like
"Maybe you did."
And for the first time, the marriage neither of us had chosen began to feel like something we might actually choose.
