Elara turned immediately and saw Ziva kneeling close to her while holding onto her shoulders weakly. There was already a bruise forming across her forehead and her whole body was trembling badly.

Seeing that, Elara immediately reached for the coat around herself intending to place it over Ziva instead.

But Ziva quickly grabbed her hands and stopped her. "It’s alright," she muttered weakly. "You’re shivering too."

Before Elara could argue, Ziva suddenly gestured forward with her chin. Elara followed her line of sight and her heart almost stopped for a reason herself couldn’t even name.

A familiar figure stood beside a black car a short distance away, rain falling heavily around him. Because of the darkness and rain, she couldn’t see his expression clearly.

"Mr. Vale," Ziva muttered softly. "He came not long after Carris arrived."

Elara stayed completely still, part of her waiting to see what Adrian would do after seeing her in such a state.

But instead, his gaze slowly moved away from her and shifted toward Carris who was still raining punches onto the unconscious man. Then without saying a single word, he turned around and entered the car calmly.

The door shut with a loud thud and seconds later, the black vehicle disappeared into the rain.

Almost immediately after his car left, several heavily guarded police vehicles stormed into the area with flashing lights. In no time, officers had spread across the scene quickly.

Some moved toward the men lying in the small puddle near the fallen electric pole while others rushed toward Carris. Even from the distance, Elara could hear some of their voices clearly.

"They’re gone already."

"Cause of death looks electrical."

Then her attention shifted back toward Carris. Several men had already surrounded him cautiously.

"Sir, that’s enough."

Carris didn’t respond. It was as if he hadn’t heard them.

Another officer stepped forward carefully. "Sir, step away from him. He’s losing consciousness."

Still, he gave no response.

Elara stared at him quietly as a warmth slowly spread through her chest. "Carris," she called in a barely audible voice but his fist still stopped instantly midair.

"That’s enough," she added weakly.

Silence followed her words.

Then after what looked like a painful amount of self control, he finally released the man’s collar slowly before standing upright.

Rain poured around him as he stared down silently at the unconscious body lying at his feet, his fists clenched tightly at his sides...

–

Relanie’s eyes slowly opened as the loud ringing of the doorbell rang through the apartment.

She straightened up with a tired sigh. Only then did she realize that she had fallen asleep on the sofa while waiting for Reine to return the previous night.

Her eyes drifted toward the clock nearby.

Six ten a.m.

Why was Reine only returning by this time?

She pushed herself up from the soft couch and walked toward the door. Still feeling slightly sleepy, she unlocked it and pulled it open.

Before she could even properly see who was outside, a hand suddenly grabbed her shoulders firmly.

"What the fuck? Who are you?" Relanie snapped instantly as she looked up at the person in front of her.

It wasn’t Reine.

Standing before her was a man dressed in a dark uniform. And behind him stood two more men dressed the same way.

"We apologize for disturbing your morning Miss Relanie," the man said calmly. "But we’ve been instructed to bring you with us."

"Go bring your mothers instead," Relanie replied coldly while immediately struggling against his hold. "Let go of me."

The moment the men realized she had no intention of cooperating peacefully, one of them suddenly stepped forward, bent a little, and lifted her over his shoulder with ease.

"Let go of me!" Relanie screamed furiously, hitting her fists against the man’s back as he carried her away from the apartment to a car waiting outside.

How did they even get inside without her knowing?

Before she could even process the thought, the man had opened the back door and dumped her inside like a sack of flour.

Her eyes widened in disbelief as the car pulled away almost instantly and sped into the quiet morning roads.

Not long after, it turned into the premises of a low modern building before finally coming to a stop.

Relanie’s heart slowly began sinking.

Who exactly were these men?

And how dare they abduct her by this time of the morning? They didn’t even seem to care that she was still wearing her nightgown.

Did they even know who she was?

And if they did... how could they still dare to do this?

That realization gave her a very bad feeling.

The men dragged her forcefully out of the car and toward the building entrance. The place looked more like a private company property than anything illegal, which somehow made the situation even stranger.

"Do you idiots even know what you’re doing?" Relanie snapped angrily as she struggled against them again. "You seriously think you’ll get away wi..."

Her words suddenly died in her throat.

The men had pushed open the door to one of the rooms and thrown her roughly onto the floor inside. She looked up. And she froze almost instantly.

Adrian.

Her breathing hitched sharply the second her eyes landed on him. For a long moment, she could not even process the scene in front of her.

He was sitting calmly on a sofa at the center of the room, one leg crossed over the other. Harris stood straight beside him.

Adrian was slowly wiping his hands with a white handkerchief. He didn’t even raise his head to acknowledge the men who had brought her in. Neither did he spare her a single glance.

Relanie’s lips pressed tightly together as she forced herself not to lose composure. She couldn’t believe he would actually do something like this to her. For no reason at all.

Why would he send people to drag her here like some criminal? Had she truly become that insignificant to him?

Slowly, she pushed herself upright, her eyes fixed on him. That was when she caught sight of the table in front of him.

Her brows furrowed instantly.

There were blood stained cotton pads scattered across the table beside bottles of disinfectant and ointment.

Did something happen to him? Was he injured?

A trace of worry flashed through her face. But before she could even speak, the sound of another door opening interrupted her thoughts.

Another uniformed man walked in dragging someone roughly behind him. After reaching the center of the room, he shoved the person down onto the floor directly in front of Adrian.

Relanie’s eyes widened the moment she recognized the face.

"Reine?"

She immediately turned toward Adrian, panic flashing across her expression. "Why did you bring her here? Release her right now."

But Adrian acted as though he hadn’t even heard her. Still seated calmly, he only continued staring at his palm. Yet somehow, the temperature in the room seemed to drop several degrees colder.

Relanie quickly looked back at Reine again. "Reine, what happened? How did you..."

Her words slowly trailed off as she didn’t even know what to say anymore.

Reine sat motionless on the floor, her jaw clenched tightly as she stared downward in silence.

Finally, Adrian tossed the handkerchief in his hand onto the table. Then he slowly lifted his eyes toward Relanie.

The coldness inside them made her heart skip painfully.

"Your assistant," he said quietly, his voice terrifyingly calm, "sent men after Elara."