A Night With The Ruthless Billionaire

The night air was thick with the scent of rain, the kind that lingers in the city before a downpour. I should have been at the hospital, but I couldn't stay there—not when my mother was unconscious, barely clinging to life. The sterile smell of the hospital had suffocated me, the beeping of machines ringing in my ears like a countdown to something worse. Victoria scaring me with her presence.

So, I left.

I shouldn't have, I knew that. But I couldn't breathe with my mother lying there, motionless, a reminder of everything I was afraid of losing. What about my health too. My health is deteriorating.

The world outside was a different kind of cold. New York's lights danced like distant stars, their glow barely penetrating the darkness around me. As I walked, I tried to calm my racing thoughts. I had no idea where I was going or what I would do. The adrenaline was still coursing through my veins from the shock of everything that had happened over the past few days—learning I was pregnant, discovering Alex's lies, and the dangerous world he was wrapped up in.

I wasn't supposed to be here. None of this was supposed to happen.

But now, standing on the edge of the city, I was about to be dragged into a nightmare I couldn't escape.

A black SUV screeched to a halt behind me, its tires biting into the wet asphalt with an almost predatory urgency. I froze. There was no mistaking the sound—the same sleek, powerful vehicles that had tailed Alex before.

I turned quickly, my heart thudding in my chest. The doors of the SUV flung open with a metallic hiss, and dark figures spilled out like shadows. The world seemed to hold its breath.

"Stay behind me," Alex's voice cut through the night, low and deadly. He appeared like a ghost, stepping out of the darkness, his face a mask of cold determination.

But even with him, I couldn't shake the growing sense of dread.

Damien was right next to him, moving with the calculated ease of a man who was always ready for a fight. The tension between them was thick, but there was no time for whatever unspoken history they shared. The men who had stepped from the SUV weren't here to chat.

One of them, tall and imposing, took a step forward. His smile was a twisted thing, full of arrogance and malice. "Hand her over," he growled, his voice like gravel grinding beneath the weight of centuries of bad blood.

I could feel my stomach tighten. I had no idea who these men were or what they wanted, but the threat in their words was clear.

Alex didn't flinch. His eyes were ice-cold as he faced the man, but there was a tension in his jaw that told me he knew exactly how dangerous this moment was. And he knew what they want.

"Not happening," Damien growled, stepping forward with a low snarl. "She's not going anywhere."

The other men moved, taking up positions around us, forming a silent circle of intimidation. I could sense the chaos building, the way each muscle in their bodies tensed in preparation. It was like a storm on the verge of breaking.

But the man with the smirk was the one who spoke again. His voice was sharp and mocking. "You really think you can protect her?" he sneered, his gaze flickering to me.

My heart skipped a beat, and the words sent a chill racing down my spine. I wasn't just some innocent bystander in this game. They knew about me, and that meant I was already too deep.

I tried to take a step back, but Alex's hand shot out to grip mine, firm and unyielding. The touch sent a jolt through me—part fear, part something else I couldn't name. He wasn't going to let me go. But I wasn't sure I wanted him to anymore.

The air pulsed with electricity, a promise of violence just waiting to spill over. The silence between breaths stretched, the world holding its breath for the next move.

Damien's voice broke the tension, low and sharp. "Get out of here, now. This isn't your fight."

But the man with the smirk just laughed, his eyes narrowing as he shifted his stance. "You think I'm afraid of you?" He flicked his hand, a signal, and the two men flanking him surged forward.

Before I could even process what was happening, the world exploded into chaos.

Damien moved first. It was like watching a predator spring into action—fast, brutal, and decisive. His fists hit one of the men in the chest, sending him crashing to the ground with a sickening thud. The other men rushed in, but Damien was a blur of motion, his fists connecting with jaw and ribs, forcing them back with every strike.

But there were too many of them. Too many for one man to fight off alone.

I didn't know what to do. Every instinct told me to run, to get as far away from this madness as possible. But my legs wouldn't move. My feet felt glued to the cold, unforgiving pavement.

And then the sound of a gunshot cracked through the night.

Everything seemed to stop. The world held its breath as the echo of the shot ricocheted in the alley, but it wasn't me who'd been hit. I turned, my eyes searching frantically.

Alex was holding a gun—his expression hard and unreadable. The man with the smirk had been knocked back, clutching his shoulder, blood seeping through his fingers.

My eyes widened.

"What... what are you doing with that?" I asked, my voice shaking more than I'd like to admit. It was a question that had been bubbling in my chest ever since the first moment I saw him pull it out. Why did Alex have a gun?

For the first time that night, I saw a flicker of hesitation in his eyes. It was quick, almost imperceptible, but it was there. A momentary crack in his otherwise impenetrable facade. Then, he turned his gaze to me, his jaw clenched.

"It's not what you think," he said, his voice tight with something I couldn't quite place.

And as I stood there, watching him, my mind began to swirl with doubts. What kind of man was Alex Cardwell? The man who could be both so tender and yet so dangerous? Was he the protector I thought him to be, or was he someone el

The cold pavement beneath my feet seemed to numb my senses, but it couldn't stop the questions swirling in my mind.

How had everything escalated so quickly? One moment, I was living a quiet life—simple, uncomplicated—and now, everything had changed. I wasn't just pregnant. I wasn't just caught in the chaos of Alex Cardwell's world of power and betrayal. I was in too deep. And I didn't know how to pull myself out.

I could still feel the weight of his touch from earlier, the way his hand had gripped mine when he told me to stay behind him. Alex, always so composed, so ruthless, had a way of making me feel both safe and afraid at the same time. But something had changed in him. Something darker.

"Don't ever threaten her again," Alex's voice was low, controlled, like the promise of a storm ready to break.

Damien was still fighting, his body moving with lethal grace, but the fight wasn't over. The man who had been shot was still conscious, still glaring at us with a deadly promise in his eyes.

Another figure stepped forward from the shadows. I hadn't noticed him before, but now, I could feel his presence like a dark cloud. He was tall, with sharp features and an air of authority that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.

"Enough," the man said, his voice cold and commanding. He didn't raise a hand, but the men surrounding us seemed to obey, stepping back, retreating into the shadows like animals slinking away from their prey.

Alex's grip on my hand tightened as the silence fell over the scene, broken only by the sound of distant sirens. "You're with me now," he said, his voice firm, but there was something else in it—a trace of fear? Concern?

The world felt off balance as the man in the shadows stepped closer, his gaze fixed on me. His eyes were dark, unreadable. "You have no idea what you've walked into, Emma."

And then, with that, everything seemed to snap.

But the words the man had spoken to me lingered, echoing in my mind.

What had I walked into? What was Alex really hiding?

I didn't have answers, but I knew one thing: I was deeper into this than I could have ever imagined. And getting out was going to cost me more than I was ready to pay.

The man in the shadows stepped closer to me, his gaze piercing, as if he could see straight through the walls I'd built. "You should never have left the hospital, Emma." His voice was laced with a cold promise. "They're coming for you. And there's nothing Alex can do to stop them."

The air grew heavy with the weight of his words, and I felt the ground shift beneath me as if the world itself was about to crumble.