Married To The Ruthless Billionaire For Revenge-Chapter 28: The Shadow With Her Name

Chapter 28: THE SHADOW WITH HER NAME

Elena’s breath caught in her throat.

For a moment, the hospital room felt too small, too quiet, as Lydia’s trembling confession hung heavily in the air.

"W–what do you mean someone is hunting me?" Elena whispered.

Lydia’s fingers tightened weakly around her wrist. "I heard them, Elena... the men who attacked us. I wasn’t fully conscious, but I remember the voices... one of them kept repeating your name."

Elena felt her entire chest tighten.

"My name?"

Lydia nodded slowly. "Yes. They kept saying, ’She must not survive. Bring the girl to the boss.’ They didn’t care about me. They didn’t even care about Marcus. They were after you."

Elena’s pulse hammered violently.

A cold wave washed through her bones.

"Why me?" she whispered.

Lydia shook her head. "I don’t know. But one thing was clear—they had been watching you."

Elena’s stomach twisted painfully.

Watching her.

Tracking her.

Hunting her.

And she had no idea who or why.

"Did you... hear anything else?" Elena asked, voice barely stable.

Lydia frowned, trying to remember. "One of them mentioned a name... something like a codename. I think it was ’Viper.’ Or ’The Viper.’"

Elena’s blood turned to ice.

Viper.

A name she had never heard before.

A threat she could not see.

"Why would anyone—" she started, but Lydia cut her off.

"Elena... this is beyond anything random or normal. Whoever this Viper person is... they want you specifically. And they were willing to kill anyone around you to get to you."

Elena felt her knees weaken.

Her vision blurred with fear and confusion.

She had always known her life wasn’t perfect, but targeted? Hunted?

That was something out of a nightmare.

Lydia squeezed her hand again.

"You need to be careful. You need to stay with Adrian. Don’t go anywhere alone."

Elena nodded slowly, her throat too tight to speak.

The door opened gently, and Adrian stepped inside.

Lydia immediately went silent, wiping her tears with her uninjured hand.

Adrian scanned Elena’s face instantly—he saw everything, even the fear she tried to hide.

"What happened?" he asked, voice low, controlled, but deadly calm.

Elena swallowed, shaking her head slightly. "We’ll... talk later."

Adrian’s jaw clenched.

He didn’t push. Not here. Not in front of Lydia.

Instead, he looked at Lydia and said, "Get some rest. You’re safe now."

Lydia nodded weakly.

As Adrian guided Elena out of the room, his hand rested firmly on the small of her back—gentle, but possessively protective, as if he could sense the danger she had not yet spoken about.

---

IN THE CAR

The moment the car doors closed, the silence between them thickened.

Elena stared out the window, hands clenched on her lap.

Adrian didn’t start the engine.

He simply watched her.

"Elena," he said quietly. "Talk to me."

She closed her eyes, trying not to panic, trying to breathe normally.

"Lydia said the attack wasn’t random," she whispered. "She said... the men were after me."

Adrian’s body went rigid.

"She heard them say my name," Elena continued, voice trembling. "They wanted me. They said someone wants me dead."

Adrian’s fists tightened on the steering wheel.

"And there was another thing," she added shakily. "A name. A codename."

"What name?" Adrian asked, his voice like steel.

"Viper."

Adrian’s expression changed instantly.

Not confusion.

Not surprise.

But recognition.

Elena’s breath hitched. "You know that name."

Adrian looked away for a moment, jaw tense, breaths slow and heavy.

"Elena..." he murmured. "Viper isn’t a name you just hear. It’s not someone you stumble across by accident."

Her heart pounded wildly.

"Who is he?"

Adrian finally met her eyes—dark, intense, and full of something she had never seen before.

"Viper," he said quietly, "is the most dangerous broker of illegal intelligence in Europe. A ghost. A snake in the criminal underworld. No one knows his real name, or what he truly looks like. But everyone knows one thing—he never misses the person he’s hunting."

Elena felt her whole world tilt.

"And now," Adrian continued, voice icy, "he’s hunting my wife."

Her breath broke.

Her hands trembled.

But Adrian moved quickly, gripping her chin gently and lifting her face toward him.

"Elena," he said firmly, "look at me."

She did.

"You are not dying," he said. "Not while I’m breathing. Not while I’m alive."

Her eyes filled with tears.

"You don’t understand," she whispered. "Why would someone like him want me?"

Adrian exhaled deeply, slowly.

"There’s something else," he admitted. "Something I didn’t want to say until I was sure."

Elena’s heartbeat stuttered. "What?"

Adrian hesitated.

He rarely hesitated.

"Elena... your name didn’t only appear in my father’s investigation."

"What do you mean?" she whispered.

Adrian took her hand, holding it tightly.

"My father wasn’t the only one who looked into your background. Someone else investigated you years ago. Someone with resources."

Her breath caught.

"Who?" she asked.

Adrian brushed a thumb over her hand, grounding her.

"The same person Lydia heard about," he murmured.

Elena’s heart nearly stopped.

"Viper has been looking into you for years."

She felt the world go silent.

Completely, terrifyingly silent.

"But why?" she whispered.

Adrian shook his head slowly. "I don’t know yet. But I will find out. And I will end this."

Elena’s body trembled as Adrian leaned closer, his forehead resting gently against hers, his voice softer than she had ever heard it.

"I am not losing you," he murmured. "Even if the whole world comes for you."

Her tears fell silently.

And for the first time... she was truly afraid not just for herself—

But for Adrian too.

Because whoever Viper was...

He was already too close.

---

ENd of Chapter 28