The Carter mansion seemed to darken under a brewing thunderstorm, as if the sky reflected the battle raging inside its walls.
Helena stood on the terrace, wrapped in a blanket, watching the rain fall. She felt the crushing weight of her decisions, the fear that refused to let her sleep.
That's when Julian appeared—soaked, hair clinging to his forehead, but with that same determination that had always undone her.
"You're not alone," he said, taking her hands in his. "No matter what happens, I'm with you."
Helena rested her head against his chest, trying to calm the storm that consumed her.
"I'm scared," she confessed in a trembling voice. "Afraid of losing everything. Nathaniel, you… myself."
Julian squeezed her hands tightly.
"Losing you would be losing everything to me."
At that moment, the storm outside seemed to ease—but inside the house, the real storm was just beginning.
⸻
In the grand hall, Victoria Carter waited for Nathaniel with a ruthless expression. When he walked in, the tension was thick enough to slice.
"You've lost control, Nathaniel," she said coldly. "Are you sure ruining the engagement is your best move?"
Nathaniel met her gaze without flinching.
"I'm doing what's best for the family."
"Does that include destroying Helena?" Victoria stepped closer, fury burning in her eyes. "She's the key to maintaining the legacy. You can't destroy what you haven't even begun to understand."
"She's part of the game," Nathaniel replied. "And if she's not willing to play, she has no place here."
Victoria clenched her jaw.
"Don't underestimate me. No one knows how far I'll go to protect this family."
A heavy silence settled between them, thick with unspoken promises and veiled threats.
⸻
Back on the terrace, Helena and Julian clung to each other, fully aware that the battle had only just begun—and that in this game of power, love would be both their greatest weapon and their greatest risk.
The Secret Contract
Helena didn't return home that night.
Nor at dawn.
Not even the next day.
Julian drove through the city in his luxury car, his desperation masked by designer sunglasses. No one knew anything. Helena's phone was off. Even her assistant hadn't received instructions.
But Helena wasn't lost.
She was trapped in a glass-walled office, a world away from Julian. In front of her lay a contract on the table.
"What kind of deal is this?" she asked, her voice sharp.
Across the desk, Julian's father's lawyer—the true patriarch behind all of it—watched her coolly.
"One that can secure your future… or destroy it. You decide."
⸻
Twenty-four hours earlier, Helena had received a private invitation to dinner with Julian and Esteban's father. A man as elegant as he was lethal, with a smile capable of hiding threats behind promises.
"I know what's going on between you and Julian," he said, holding a glass of wine between his fingers. "And that, dear, could cost him his place in this family."
Helena swallowed hard.
"It's not what you think."
"Of course it is. But I didn't come to judge. I came to offer you an opportunity."
He then placed an envelope on the table. Inside were photographs… of her and Julian. Together. In the hotel room. In her apartment. Kissing in Esteban's car.
"You can sign this contract," he said, "and disappear from their lives with a million dollars in your account. No more problems. No more scandal. Or you can stay… and I'll personally make sure both of you are destroyed."
⸻
Helena held the pen between her fingers. She couldn't think clearly. She was afraid. She was furious. And yet, something unfamiliar—something fierce—was burning in her chest.
"What happens if I don't sign… and I don't leave either?"
The lawyer stared at her without blinking.
"Then prepare for war. Because that's what's coming."
⸻
That afternoon, Julian received a coded message from an anonymous account. It said only:
"She made a decision. But it's not the one they expected."
And attached to the message, a single photo:
Helena, on a private jet.
Headed toward a destination no one knew.