The Billionaire's Secret: His Enemy, His Heir

Elena's pov

The heavy crystal chandeliers of the family ballroom glowed brightly, but my entire world was crumbling into dark pieces.

One minute I was standing in a pretty silk dress, holding a glass of juice and smiling at the wealthy guests.

The next minute, two huge armed security guards grabbed my arms tightly. They dragged me away from the music and pushed me into a cold, dark holding room in the back of the estate.

"Let go of me! What are you doing?" I cried out as my voice shook.

They did not answer. They just shoved me inside and slammed the door shut.

On the glass table in front of me was a thick black folder. The head of security stepped forward and opened it revealing secret corporate files, financial blueprints, and private codes stolen from the company database.

"We found these hidden inside the bottom drawer of your bedroom dresser, Miss Vale," the security chief said in a hard voice. "You stole them."

I shook my head in complete horror, tears filling my eyes. "No! I didn't! I have never seen those papers in my life! Someone put them there to frame me! Please, you have to believe me!"

Nobody listened to me. The guards stood like stone walls, watching me cry.

Suddenly, the heavy wooden door swung open and Julian walked into the room.

My heart jumped at the sight of him.

Julian was the man I loved with every piece of my soul. He was the man I trusted more than anyone else in the world. I felt a small spark of hope in my chest.

I got up and rushed toward him, my hands shaking.

"Julian! Thank goodness!" I sobbed, reaching for his hand. "Tell them it's a mistake! Tell them I would never hurt you or your family! Please, Julian, save me!"

Julian did not reach back. He just stood there, tall in his dark suit, staring down at me.

His eyes, which used to look at me with warmth and soft affection, were now as cold as ice.

They were filled with pure hatred. Recent leaks had caused his family business to lose millions of dollars, and his anger had turned him completely blind.

He pulled his hand away as if my touch was poison.

"Don't touch me," Julian said. His voice was so quiet and cold it made me shiver.

"Julian, please!" I fell to my knees on the cold floor, wrapping my arms around my stomach. "Look at me! It's me, Elena! I love you! I didn't steal anything!"

"Enough already and stop lying!" Julian snapped, his voice suddenly exploding like thunder. "The files were in your room! Your name is on the digital signature! I gave you my heart, Elena. I trusted you with my family's legacy. And you sold us out to our enemies!"

"I didn't! I swear on my life, I didn't!" I begged, weeping so hard I could barely breathe.

"Please, just listen to me for one minute! Check the cameras! Ask anyone! I was with you all day!"

"I don't want to hear another word from your mouth," Julian said. He looked down at me with so much disgust that it felt like a physical blow to my chest. He turned his back to me and looked at the guards. "Take her away. Get this thief out of my sight."

"Julian, no! Please!" I screamed as the guards grabbed my shoulders and pulled me off the floor.

Julian stopped at the doorway. He didn't look back at me, but his final words sliced straight through my heart like a sharp blade.

"I wish I had never met you, Elena," he whispered cold-heartedly. "You mean nothing to me."

The guards dragged me down the long, dark hallway while I screamed his name. They pushed open the heavy back exit of the mansion and threw me out onto the hard pavement outside the tall metal gates.

Heavy rain began to pour from the sky. It soaked my hair, my face, and my dress within seconds. I had no shoes, no coat, no money, and nowhere to go. I was completely broken, deeply humiliated, and left all alone in the freezing dark.

I sat on the wet ground, my body shaking violently. I squeezed my eyes shut and sobbed until my throat burned. My entire life was over. The man I loved hated me. His family wanted to destroy me.

As I wiped the cold rainwater from my face, a sudden wave of dizziness hit me. A sharp, strange ache tightened deep inside my stomach.

I gasped, reaching down with trembling fingers to pull my small, wet clutch bag close to my chest. Inside that bag was a tiny plastic stick I had hidden just two hours before the party began. It was the test with two bright pink lines, the secret I had been so excited to share with Julian tonight.

I was pregnant with his baby, but I didn't get the chance to even tell him about it.

I shivered in the dark, holding my stomach tightly to keep the tiny life inside me safe.

Suddenly, the loud crunch of gravel echoed through the empty street. A pair of bright yellow headlights cut through the dark rain, stopping just a few feet away from where I sat on the ground. A heavy car door clicked open.

Footsteps slammed against the wet pavement, moving fast toward me.

"Elena!" a panicked voice called out through the storm.

It wasn't Julian. It was Adrian, Julian's younger brother, his face pale with absolute terror. He dropped to his knees in the mud beside me and grabbed my shoulders.

"You have to get up right now!" He shouted over the roaring thunder. "They aren't just trying to frame you, Elena! They're coming to kill you!"

Before I could even speak, a sudden, blinding flash of light lit up the night sky behind us, followed by a loud, deafening explosion that shook the ground under our feet.