Chapter 10 - A Protector Rewarded
Marcus stood alone beside the swimming pool, letting out a long, heavy breath that seemed to carry the weight of an entire decade.
He walked back over to his mother’s wheelchair and gently smoothed down the disheveled edges of her black velvet shawl.
Eleanor looked up at her son, her eyes clear and calm once more, though her frail chest still rose and fell with weary breaths.
She reached out and placed her soft, wrinkled hand over Elena’s trembling wrist.
Eleanor looked up at Marcus and spoke with the quiet authority that had once ruled their vast corporate empire.
She told Marcus that a house full of armed guards and expensive lawyers had failed to keep her safe from evil.
She said it was this young woman, armed with nothing but righteous courage and an empty apron, who had stood between her and death.
Marcus looked down at Elena, seeing the bloodied scrape upon her knuckles where the bat had grazed her skin.
He asked Elena if she had any family in the city to care for her.
Elena shook her head, explaining softly that she lived alone in a cramped studio, sending every surplus dollar home to her younger siblings.
Marcus pulled a master keycard from his coat and placed it directly into her weathered palm.
He declared that Elena was no longer an employee of the cleaning staff.
He offered her the role of Eleanor's personal estate manager and legal companion, complete with executive authority, full family residency, and an annual salary that surpassed any corporate vice president.
Elena gasped, tears finally spilling over her eyelids as she tried to comprehend the miracle unfolding before her.
Eleanor smiled, pulling the brave young woman into a warm, maternal embrace that sealed their new bond.
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Yet as Marcus looked past the garden gate where the police sirens faded into the distance, his phone vibrated violently in his palm.
An unknown number flashed across the screen with an encrypted text message warning him that Victoria was only the front for someone far more dangerous inside his own boardroom.
