VICTIM OF LOVE

CHAPTER 8

Elena

I hadn't planned on confronting her. Not today, anyway. But the moment I walked into the apartment, the storm inside me was already raging. I didn't need to look around at the luxurious, minimalist decor to know she was here. The place reeked of her—polished surfaces, an air of effortless elegance, a perfect mask for the woman who had torn my life apart.

"Elena," my mother's voice drifted from the living room, low and controlled, just like her. "You came."

I stood at the threshold of the living room, glaring at Isabel. Her platinum-blonde hair was still as immaculate as ever, her outfit—an expensive designer dress that looked as though it were made for someone else—did nothing to hide her unshakable presence. I knew how this would go. She would stand tall, looking at me with those cold, calculating eyes, as if she held all the power in the world. She would speak softly, gently, as if the destruction of everything I once held dear hadn't been at her command.

I wasn't a little girl anymore. I didn't need her to manipulate me. And yet, as she rose from her chair, her eyes locking with mine, I felt a wave of suffocating emotion. Anger. Pain. Betrayal.

I was tired of running away from it all.

"Why did you do it?" My voice cracked slightly as I asked the question that had been burning in my chest for years. The question that, for so long, I had been too afraid to ask. "Why did you betray me? Why did you let them use me?"

Isabel's lips twisted into a faint smile, almost amused by the accusation. "I didn't betray you, darling," she said, walking toward me with a slow, calculated grace. "I did what was necessary. What you couldn't see then, you understand now, don't you?"

I shook my head. I didn't want to hear her words. Not anymore. I had spent too many years listening to her excuses, to the poison she fed me, convincing me that everything I thought I knew was wrong. That the people I loved were simply pawns in a bigger game, one I wasn't fit to understand.

"You used me," I said, my voice stronger this time. "You put me in the middle of all of this, knowing what it would cost. And I fell for it. I fell for everything."

She was close now—so close that I could see the flicker of something behind her carefully composed facade. Guilt? Regret? No. It was something darker, more manipulative.

"You think I wanted this for you?" Her voice dropped to a whisper, the softness of it almost terrifying. "You think I wanted you to suffer, Elena? Everything I've done, I did for you. To protect you."

I scoffed, stepping back, my chest tight with the sting of her words. "Protect me? By ruining everything I ever cared about? By destroying the only family I had left?"

Her eyes darkened. The mask slipped for just a moment, and I saw something cold. Something distant, like a predator that knew it had you cornered.

"You don't understand, and I don't expect you to. I never have," she said, her voice almost too calm. "But the truth is, you were never meant to live in the shadows of your father. You were always meant for something bigger."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "Bigger? You took everything from me for your own selfish plans, and now you're trying to justify it?"

"You always were too emotional, Elena," she said, as if discussing something trivial. "But emotions don't win wars. They never have. You'll learn that, in time. You'll see that I've only done what was necessary."

I shook my head, her words cutting through me like knives. "You don't get it, do you? I loved you. I believed in you. And you used me. All this time, I was nothing but a tool for your ambitions."

For the first time, something flickered in her eyes—regret, perhaps, but quickly masked by the cool, calculated mask she had perfected over the years.

"You were never just a tool to me," Isabel said, her voice lower now, more careful. "You were always my daughter. But you can't be both. You can't be my daughter and expect to be an innocent bystander. Not in this world. I taught you everything you need to know. It's time to start acting like it."

The air in the room felt thick, like I was suffocating. I wanted to scream, to shout at her, to break through the walls she'd built around herself. But I knew better than to waste my breath on someone who would never truly understand.

"You've always been the one pulling the strings, haven't you?" I said, my voice laced with bitterness. "You never once thought of me as your equal. I was just a pawn in your little game."

Isabel's gaze was cold, but there was something almost imperceptible in her expression, like a flicker of something she wasn't willing to admit.

"Perhaps I was wrong," she said quietly. "Perhaps I underestimated you. But you're not ready for the consequences of your own decisions. You think you've got the power now, but you don't. You're not ready, Elena."

I couldn't breathe. The weight of her words, the realization that I had never truly known her, hit me like a freight train. "And you think you're ready? You think you can keep playing this game, using everyone around you like pawns, and never face the consequences?"

She looked at me, her face unreadable. "The game has already been decided, my dear. You just haven't realized it yet."

My stomach churned. I had spent my life trying to make sense of the world she had forced me to navigate, trying to find some semblance of normalcy in the midst of the chaos. But now, in this moment, I understood what she was saying. The game was rigged. And I had been nothing but a piece to be moved around, discarded when it no longer served her purpose.

I turned my back on her, the rage bubbling up, raw and unstoppable.

"Maybe you're right," I said through gritted teeth. "Maybe I'm not ready. But I'll never be a part of your world again. Not after everything."

I walked toward the door, my body trembling with the weight of the finality of it all. Isabel didn't stop me, didn't try to manipulate me into staying. But as I opened the door, I heard her voice one last time.

"You'll come back, Elena. You always do."

I didn't look back as I stepped out of her apartment. I didn't need to. The door clicked shut behind me, and for the first time in years, I felt free.

Marcus

I had been waiting for her call.

It had been hours since Elena stormed out, and every minute felt like an eternity. My phone sat silent on the desk, mocking me with its stillness. I had made my move—talked to her, tried to reason with her—but it was like speaking to a brick wall. She was more determined than ever to keep me at arm's length.

I couldn't blame her. The betrayal I had caused—both of us—was far from something you could easily forgive. The walls she had built around herself were high, and they weren't coming down anytime soon.

But I wasn't about to give up. I couldn't. Not with everything at stake.

I leaned back in my chair, glancing out the window of my office at the skyline, the city buzzing beneath me. I had seen it all—the power, the wealth, the control—but none of it mattered anymore.

Elena was the only thing that mattered now.

I grabbed my phone and scrolled through my contacts until I found Avery's name. It was time for a new strategy. A more direct one. I needed her. I needed Elena.

The phone rang three times before she picked up.

"Marcus," Avery's voice came through, calm, but I could tell she was on edge. "I've got news."

"Not now," I said, my frustration breaking through. "I need to talk to you about Elena."

Avery paused, her tone shifting. "I take it things didn't go well?"

"She's not coming back, Avery. Not now, not ever. I need a different plan."

"You'll need to move fast, Marcus," Avery warned. "Elena's not going to be easy to manipulate this time. She's got allies you didn't see coming."

I took a deep breath, the weight of it all pressing down on me. "Then I'll make her see reason. I'll get to her, one way or another."

Elena

As I walked through the darkened streets, the night felt suffocating, the weight of everything I had just learned crashing down on me. My mother's words echoed in my mind, a haunting refrain that wouldn't leave me. You'll come back. You always do.

But this time, I wouldn't. This time, I would make sure that no matter what, I wouldn't be a pawn in anyone's game.

The stakes were higher now. There was no turning back.