All Chapters of HIS REGRET MY REVENGE: Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

72 Chapters

CHAPTER 39 : The aftermath

Nobody was hit. Somehow. By some miracle. By the grace of God or luck or blind chance. Nobody was hit. The bullets had found cars and windows and concrete, but they had not found flesh. Not this time. Julian found me behind the car. His hands were shaking as he pulled me to my feet. His face was pale. His eyes were wide. "Are you okay?" "I'm fine." "You're not fine." His voice cracked. "You almost died." "So did you." He pulled me into a hug. Tight. Desperate. The kind of hug that said everything words couldn't. "Don't ever do that again," he whispered into my hair. "I can't promise that." "I know." He pulled back. His eyes were wet. "But I can ask." Detective Ross was on the phone with the police dispatcher, her voice sharp and professional. The officers were securing the scene, taking photographs, collecting evidence. Damian walked out of the hotel. His face was calm. Too calm. The kind of calm that comes after a storm. "He got away," Damian said. "He got away." "We

CHAPTER 40 : The hunter becomes the hunted

Detective Ross called the next morning at 8 AM. "We found Marcus." I grabbed Julian's arm. "Where?" "His apartment. He's been there the whole time. Two blocks from the hotel where Damian set the trap." Two blocks. He had been two blocks away. Hiding in plain sight. Living in an apartment with thin walls and noisy neighbors, just like everyone else. "Is he there now?" "No. But we have a team watching. Twenty-four seven. When he comes back, we grab him." "What do you want us to do?" "Stay home. Stay safe. Let us handle it." I agreed. But I didn't mean it. That afternoon, Julian and I drove to Marcus's apartment. It was a rundown building on a quiet street. Laundry hung from windows. Kids played on the sidewalk. A woman yelled at her husband from a third-floor balcony. Nobody looked at us twice. "We shouldn't be here," Julian said. "I know." "Then why are we here?" "Because I need to see where he lives. I need to understand him." "Why?" "Because understanding your enem

CHAPTER 41 : The clock is ticking

Marcus died on the way to the hospital. Cole survived. Barely. He was in a coma, hooked up to machines, surrounded by beeping monitors and whispering doctors. Two police officers guarded his door. "When he wakes up," Detective Ross said, "we'll have answers." "And if he doesn't wake up?" "Then we keep looking." Julian and I sat in the hospital waiting room. The lights were too bright. The chairs were too hard. The coffee from the vending machine tasted like burnt dirt. "We need to tell Damian," I said. "I already did." Julian showed me his phone. Text messages. Damian was sending cars to the house. Guards. Weapons. Everything he had. "He's turning our home into a fortress." "Will it be enough?" Julian didn't answer. "Victor is desperate," I said. "That's why he sent Cole. He's running out of options." "Desperate people do desperate things." "Yes." "Like coming after us themselves?" I looked at him. "Victor is in prison. He can't come after us." "Victor has money. Victo

CHAPTER 42 : The safe house

The safe house was hidden in the mountains. Three hours north of the city. No neighbors for miles. Just trees and rocks and a winding dirt road that ended at a gate with a keypad and cameras. Julian's mother had bought the property thirty years ago, before she died. She had wanted a place to escape from Victor. A place where he couldn't find her. A place where she could breathe. She never got to use it. Now we would. The house was small but sturdy. Stone walls. A fireplace. A kitchen with old appliances and a wooden table that had seen decades of meals. Upstairs, three bedrooms with lumpy beds and windows that faced the forest. Lily ran from room to room, her footsteps echoing on the hardwood floors. "This is like a castle!" "It's a cabin, baby." "It's a castle." We unpacked. Clothes in closets. Food in the refrigerator. Toys in a basket by the fireplace. Books on the shelves that Julian's mother had left behind. Damian and Chloe had the bedroom next to ours. The security t

CHAPTER 43 : The call

Cole woke up on a Thursday. Detective Ross called at 7 AM. Julian answered on the first ring. I could hear Ross's voice through the speaker, crackling and urgent. "He's awake," Ross said. "And he's talking." "About what?" "About Victor. About Marcus. About everything." Julian put the phone on speaker. We gathered around the kitchen table. Damian. Chloe. Me. The coffee was cold. Nobody cared. "He says Victor has a second list," Ross continued. "A list of people he wants dead if he can't get out of prison. He calls it his 'insurance policy.'" My blood went cold. "Who's on the list?" "Julian. Elara. Lily. Damian. Chloe. And four others. People who testified against him at trial. People who worked with the FBI. People who turned on him." "That's nine people." "Nine people he wants dead." The kitchen was silent. The refrigerator hummed. The wind blew outside. "Does Victor know where we are?" Julian asked. "Not yet. But Cole says Victor has someone on the outside. Someone insi

CHAPTER 44 : The road

We drove for twelve hours. North. Then west. Then north again. Through mountains and valleys and towns with names we couldn't pronounce. Through rain and fog and patches of sunlight that lasted only minutes. Julian drove. I navigated. Damian and Chloe followed in the car behind us. The security team had stayed behind to watch the safe house, to make it look like we were still there. We had told them to leave after three days. To go home. To pretend they had never met us. "Where are we going?" Lily asked from the back seat. "Somewhere new." "Will there be snow?" "I hope so." She fell asleep. Her head rested against her stuffed unicorn. Her mouth was open. She looked peaceful. Julian reached over and took my hand. His palm was warm. "Are you okay?" "I'm tired." "I know." "I'm tired of running." "We're not running. We're strategizing." "It feels like running." He squeezed my hand. "I know." We stopped at a motel at midnight. One room. Two beds. Lily in one. Julian and me

CHAPTER 45 : The ocean

The ocean was gray and cold and beautiful. I had never seen it before. Growing up, my family didn't take vacations. We didn't have the money. We didn't have the time. The ocean was something I saw in movies and read about in books. Now it was here. Real. Vast. Endless. Lily ran toward the waves, her shoes in her hands, her laughter carried away by the wind. The water rushed up to meet her, then retreated, then rushed again. Chloe ran after her, her own shoes discarded on the sand. Damian followed, his phone in his pocket, his eyes scanning the beach for threats that, for once, weren't there. Julian and I stood at the edge of the water. The sand was cold beneath our bare feet. "We made it," he said. "We made it." "Now what?" "Now we live." We walked into the water. It was freezing. The cold shot up my legs, took my breath away. But I didn't stop. Neither did Julian. Lily splashed us. Water droplets sparkled in the weak sunlight. "Mommy! Daddy! You're in the water!" "We're

CHAPTER 46 : The message

The message came at dawn. A text message. Unknown number. No name. No signature. "Found you." Julian's phone buzzed on the nightstand. He grabbed it. His face went white. "What is it?" He showed me the screen. Three words. No explanation. No threat. Just a statement. "Found you." "That's not possible," I said. "Nobody knows where we are." "Somebody knows." "Victor?" "Victor. Or one of his people. Someone he paid. Someone with resources." "How?" "I don't know." "Get Lily," I said. "Now." I ran to Lily's room. She was still asleep, her unicorn tucked under her arm, her mouth open, her hair a mess. "Baby, wake up." "What?" Her voice was thick with sleep. "We have to go." "Where?" "Away." I grabbed her. I ran. Julian was already on the phone with Damian. "He found us. Get the car." "How?" Damian's voice was crackling through the speaker. I could hear Chloe in the background, asking questions. "I don't know. But he found us." We ran to the car. The sun was rising

CHAPTER 47 : The airport

The airport was crowded. Too crowded. Bodies pressed against bodies. Suitcases blocked every aisle. Announcements blared from overhead speakers in languages I didn't understand. Every face looked like a threat. Every shadow looked like a hiding place. Every sudden movement made my heart jump. Julian kept Lily close, his hand wrapped around hers so tightly that his knuckles were white. I kept my hand on his arm, feeling the tension in his muscles. Damian and Chloe walked ahead of us, scanning the crowd with eyes that missed nothing. "Flight 742 to London now boarding at gate C12," the announcement said. A woman's voice. Calm. Professional. As if our lives weren't hanging in the balance. London. Then Paris. Then a small town in Switzerland where Victor had no friends and no influence. At least, that's what we hoped. That's what we had been told. That's what we had paid a lot of money to arrange. "Do we have everything?" Julian asked. His voice was low. Tight. "Passports. Tickets.

CHAPTER 48 : The safe house returns

The safe house looked different in the daylight. Smaller. Older. More vulnerable. The stone walls that had seemed so sturdy in the dark now looked like they could be breached by a determined push. The windows that had seemed so hidden now looked like eyes watching the woods. Victor's people had found it once. They could find it again. "We need to change everything," Damian said. He was pacing the living room, his phone pressed to his ear. "Security codes. Locks. Cameras. Everything." "How long will that take?" Julian asked. "A day. Maybe two." "We don't have two days." "Then we make time." We worked through the night. Julian reprogrammed the keypads. Damian installed new cameras on every corner of the property. Chloe cooked — pasta, sauce from a jar, garlic bread from the freezer — and left plates on the table for when we had a moment to eat. I watched Lily. She was sitting on the floor of her new bedroom, drawing a picture with crayons that had been left behind by Julian's

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