Chapter 2 - THE MAN OUTSIDE THE GATES|
Ryan Mercer had always possessed a talent for making other people feel as though they owed him something.
He had met Elena two years earlier, shortly after her mother’s death. At first, he had appeared to be the answer to every problem she faced. He brought groceries when Elena was working double shifts, offered to repair the broken heater in their apartment, and promised Sophie he would help pay for nursing school.
Then the favors became debts.
The debts became demands.
And the demands became threats.
Now Ryan stood beyond Alessandro Moretti’s iron gates wearing an expensive coat that Elena knew he could not afford. He looked directly into the security camera and smiled.
“Tell Mr. Moretti I’m here for my girlfriend.”
Inside the mansion, Alessandro watched the live feed on his phone.
“Is he your boyfriend?” he asked.
Elena shook her head.
“He says he is.”
“That wasn't my question.”
“No.” Her voice trembled. “He used to be. I ended it six months ago.”
Alessandro's jaw tightened.
“Why is he looking for you?”
“Money.”
“How much?”
“I don't know anymore.”
That answer made him look at her more carefully.
Elena stared at her hands. She had spent months hiding the truth because she feared Ryan would hurt Sophie if she spoke. He knew where they lived, where Sophie studied, and which bus she took home at night.
“He says I owe him for everything he did for us,” Elena whispered. “He has messages, receipts, things he can twist to make me look ungrateful. He keeps saying nobody will believe me.”
“Did he give you money?”
“Sometimes. For groceries. Once for my mother's medicine.”
“And you paid him back?”
“Most of it. But he keeps adding more.”
Alessandro turned toward Marco Bellini, his head of security.
“Get a recording of everything he says at the gate. No one touches him unless he becomes a direct threat.”
Marco nodded.
Elena stared at Alessandro.
“You're not going to send your men after him?”
“Not because you have a bruise.”
She blinked.
“What?”
“I won't turn your pain into an excuse to do whatever I want.” He placed his phone on the table. “But I will not let him walk into my house and frighten you.”
Outside, Ryan raised his voice.
“ELENA! I KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE!”
She flinched so violently that her chair scraped the floor.
Alessandro noticed.
“Would you like to leave through another entrance?”
“And go where?”
The question escaped before she could stop it.
For a moment, neither spoke.
Then Alessandro said, “You can stay here while we work out a safe plan. Or you can leave with someone you trust. You decide.”
“Why would you help me?”
He looked toward the gate.
“Because a man who believes he owns another person becomes dangerous when he discovers he doesn't.”
Ryan suddenly stepped closer to the camera and held up a small black object.
Elena recognized it immediately.
Her phone.
The phone she had lost outside her apartment three nights earlier.
Ryan smiled at the camera.
“Ask your boss what happens when he learns what she's been hiding.”
Alessandro's expression hardened.
Marco leaned toward the screen.
“Sir, that's not just her phone.”
“What do you mean?”
Marco enlarged the image.
A tiny red light blinked beside the camera lens.
“There's a tracker attached to it.”
Elena felt the blood drain from her face.
Ryan had not found her by accident.
He had followed her here.
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And if he had been tracking her movements for days, he might already know something even Elena had forgotten to protect.
Sophie.
