Chapter 5: A Devil's Bargain

Elara barely made it three blocks from the Moretti building before her phone started buzzing with an unknown number. She ignored it, her mind still reeling from everything Julian had revealed. Helena Moretti was J.D. Harrow. The book was real. And she'd just walked into the lion's den and lived to tell about it.

The phone kept ringing.

Finally, standing at the corner of 42nd and Broadway with tourists streaming around her like she was a rock in a river, she answered.

"Ms. Vance." Julian's voice was different now—less cold, more urgent. "Where are you?"

"Why does it matter?"

"Because you need to come back. Now."

Elara looked back toward the gleaming tower she'd just escaped from. "I think I've learned enough for one day, thanks."

"No, you haven't. You've learned just enough to get yourself killed." There was something in his voice that made her stop walking. "My uncle Vincent just called. He knows you were here. He knows what we discussed."

The busy street around her seemed to fade into background noise. "Your uncle?"

"The head of the family. The one who's been having your favorite book rewritten." Julian's voice was tight. "He's not as patient as I am, and he doesn't share my appreciation for determined women with more courage than sense."

Despite everything, Elara felt a flutter of something that might have been attraction at his backhanded compliment. She ruthlessly suppressed it. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that walking away isn't an option anymore. You've already drawn too much attention, asked too many questions. The only way you survive this is if you're under my protection."

"Your protection?" Elara laughed, but it came out shaky. "Ten minutes ago you were threatening me yourself."

"Ten minutes ago I was trying to scare you away from a situation you couldn't handle. Now that ship has sailed." She could hear movement in the background, the sound of drawers opening, papers rustling. "Come back to my office. We need to talk about a deal."

"What kind of deal?"

"The kind that keeps you breathing."

Twenty minutes later, Elara found herself back in Julian's office, but this time the dynamic had completely shifted. He wasn't sitting behind his massive desk like a corporate king anymore. Instead, he was standing by the windows, his suit jacket discarded, his sleeves rolled up to reveal surprisingly muscular forearms. There was an energy about him now that hadn't been there before—something restless and dangerous that made the air in the room feel charged.

"You want the real story," he said without turning around. "The unedited version of my grandparents' love affair."

"Yes."

"And you're willing to risk everything for it. Your business, your safety, your life."

Elara thought about the blog comments, the readers who'd reached out to share their own stories of beloved books being changed without warning, the systematic erasure of literary history happening right under everyone's noses.

"Yes."

Julian turned to face her, and the intensity in his dark eyes made her breath catch. "Then I'll make you a deal. I'll show you the real story—all of it. The parts that didn't make it into even the original version of Eterno. The letters, the photographs, the documents that prove everything you suspected and more."

"In exchange for what?"

"You abandon your public crusade. Delete the blog posts, stop the #SaveOurStories campaign, make it all go away." He moved closer, and Elara caught a hint of expensive cologne mixed with something uniquely masculine. "And you follow my rules."

"What rules?"

"First rule: you come with me. Now. Today. You don't go home, you don't pack a bag, you don't tell anyone where you're going."

Elara's pulse jumped. "That's kidnapping."

"That's protection. My uncle has already put people on you, Ms. Vance. They're watching your apartment, your bookstore. The only safe place for you right now is wherever I decide to put you."

The words should have terrified her. Instead, she felt a thrill of something that was dangerously close to excitement. This was insane. She was standing in a billionaire's office being offered a deal that sounded like it came straight out of one of her favorite dark romance novels.

"Why would you help me? What's in it for you?"

Julian was quiet for a long moment, studying her face like he was trying to solve a puzzle. "My grandmother spent forty years terrified that someone would discover her secret. She died without ever knowing that her book had touched thousands of people, that her love story had inspired others to believe in something bigger than themselves."

He walked to his desk and picked up the leather-bound book she'd noticed earlier. This close, she could see that it was ancient, the cover worn smooth by countless hands.

"She kept a journal," he said quietly. "Every day for fifty years. Her thoughts, her fears, her dreams. The real story of what it was like to love a man the world would call a monster." His eyes met hers. "You've spent your life believing in the power of stories. Here's your chance to experience one firsthand."

Elara stared at the journal in his hands. This was it—the holy grail she'd been searching for without even knowing it existed. Not just the original Eterno, but the source material, the raw truth that had inspired it.

"What's the second rule?"

A ghost of a smile touched Julian's lips. "You do exactly what I tell you, when I tell you, without question. My world isn't like your bookstore, Ms. Vance. It's not safe, it's not predictable, and it doesn't forgive mistakes."

"And if I break the rules?"

"Then our deal is over, and you're on your own with whatever consequences follow."

Elara looked around his office one more time—the floor-to-ceiling windows, the view of a city that suddenly felt dangerous and full of secrets, the man standing before her who looked like he'd stepped out of her favorite fantasy and into her chaotic reality.

She thought about her quiet life, her struggling bookstore, her safe routine of books and tea and blog posts that nobody really noticed. Then she thought about Helena Moretti, a woman brave enough to write her truth even when it could have destroyed her.

"There's a third rule," she said.

Julian raised an eyebrow. "You're not in a position to negotiate."

"I am if you want my cooperation." Elara lifted her chin, channeling every ounce of stubborn determination she possessed. "I want to write about this. Not a blog post, not an exposé—a book. A real book about Helena's life, her courage, her love story. Something that honors what she did without destroying your family's privacy."

"Absolutely not."

"Then we don't have a deal." Elara turned toward the door. "I'll take my chances with your uncle."

"Wait."

She stopped but didn't turn around.

"You're insane," Julian said, but there was something in his voice that might have been admiration. "You're about to walk into a situation that could get you killed, and you're trying to negotiate publication rights."

"I'm trying to make sure Helena's story gets told the way it deserves to be told. By someone who understands what it means."

The silence stretched between them for what felt like an eternity. Finally, Julian spoke.

"If you survive the next week, we'll discuss it."

Elara turned back to face him. "Is that a yes?"

"That's a maybe, contingent on you proving you can handle the truth when you find it." Julian grabbed his jacket from the back of his chair and shrugged into it. The movement was fluid, predatory, and suddenly he looked less like a CEO and more like exactly what he was—a dangerous man from a dangerous family.

"So," Elara said, her heart pounding with a mixture of terror and excitement, "where are we going?"

Julian's smile was sharp and completely without warmth. "To meet the family."

As they walked toward the elevator, Elara clutched her copy of Eterno and tried to process what she'd just agreed to. She was leaving her entire life behind to chase a story with a man who'd basically admitted his family had connections to organized crime. She was trusting her safety to someone she'd met an hour ago, someone who looked at her like she was either the most fascinating or the most foolish person he'd ever encountered.

It was reckless. It was stupid. It was exactly the kind of impulsive decision that had gotten her into trouble her entire life.

It was also the most alive she'd felt since she was seventeen years old, reading Eterno for the first time and believing that love could be worth any risk.

As the elevator doors closed and they descended toward whatever came next, Julian glanced at her sideways.

"Any second thoughts?"

Elara thought about Helena Moretti, writing her dangerous truth in secret. She thought about all the readers whose favorite books had been sanitized without their knowledge. She thought about the story that was waiting to be told, if she was brave enough to chase it.

"No," she said. "No second thoughts."

Julian nodded once, sharp and satisfied. "Good. Because there's no going back now."

The elevator reached the ground floor, and as the doors opened, Elara stepped forward into whatever came next, clutching a book that had already changed her life and following a man who was about to change it again.

Behind them, the Moretti building rose into the Manhattan sky like a monument to power and secrets, and somewhere in its shadows, people were already making phone calls, already setting plans in motion that would test exactly how much Elara Vance was willing to sacrifice for the truth.