Chapter 6 - Elias Grant
My final call of the night went to a number I hadn’t dialed in nearly a year. The phone rang three times before a deep, gravelly voice answered.
“Lena. It’s late for a social call.”
“It’s not a social call, Elias,” I replied.
Elias Grant was my late grandmother’s former director of security. He was an ex-intelligence officer who had spent two decades protecting my family’s substantial assets from corporate spies, grifters, and opportunistic relatives. More importantly, he was the man who had quietly taken me aside before my wedding and taught me how to document threats, hide financial trails, and never, ever confront an abuser before all the exits were firmly locked and secured.
“Where are you?” Elias asked, his tone instantly shifting from casual to tactical.
I told him everything. I told him about the freezing highway, the slush, Derek’s cruel words, and the hospital bed I was currently confined to.
I heard the sound of keys jingling on Elias’s end of the line. His voice sharpened into a lethal blade.
“Do you want me to pay him a visit tonight, Lena? Do you want him frightened?” Elias asked. I knew exactly what he meant. Elias could make a man like Derek wet himself in terror without leaving a single bruise.
“No,” I said firmly, staring out the dark hospital window into the snowy night. “If you frighten him, he’ll get defensive. He’ll call lawyers. He’ll hide money.”
“What do you want, then?”
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“I want him comfortable,” I said, a cold smile touching my lips. “I want him completely, undeniably certain that he has won. Because arrogant men don’t check their blind spots. I need you to gather the team, Elias. Tomorrow, we take the house.”
“Consider it done, boss,” Elias said, and the line went dead.
