Chapter 5 Until Our Next Round
Watching her mother get struck a second time snapped the last of Audrey's sanity.
"Mom! Call the police—call—AHHHH!"
Her threat dissolved into an animalistic scream. The crystal heel pressing into her side suddenly drove down with lethal force.
Snap.
A rib fractured cleanly. Audrey’s face drained of all color, her scream echoing down the grand staircase and freezing the servants in the foyer below.
Grace steadied herself against the wall, her composure entirely gone. "Elena Ashford! Stop!"
"Stop?" Elena blinked, feigning innocent confusion. "Mrs. Ansel, I haven't even used my hands."
To demonstrate, her heel pressed down harder.
Snap.
The second rib gave way.
"You're insane!" Audrey spat, trembling violently as she slapped uselessly at Elena's ankle. But the pain hollowed her out. She had no strength left.
Grace’s chest tightened. Audrey had been raised like porcelain. Pampered. Untouched by the world's cruelty. And now, she was being broken under a stranger's heel inside her own home.
Grace had assumed Elena would duel her with corporate strategy. Not raw brutality.
Her eyes hardened. Fine. If Elena refused restraint, so would she.
Grace snatched a heavy porcelain vase from the console table and hurled it directly at Elena's head.
Elena moved before the vase even reached the peak of its arc. She lifted her foot off Audrey and, in one fluid, blurring motion, drove a devastating kick straight into Grace's abdomen.
Grace never even saw it coming. She flew backward, vase and all, collapsing into a heap on the marble floor.
Elena calmly stepped forward and placed her heel right back onto Audrey's broken ribs. She looked down at the two women as if observing insects.
"Mrs. Ansel," Elena said quietly, the temperature in the hallway dropping to absolute zero. "Do you remember the mountain estate seventeen years ago?"
Grace’s body stiffened on the floor. Audrey suddenly stopped crying.
"Your precious daughter accused me of stealing her toy," Elena murmured, her eyes drifting toward the dying sunset in the window. "She pinned me down just like this. Let her friends pour freezing water over me. And you stood there and watched."
The memory held no emotion. She recounted it like a coroner.
"As winter settled in, my clothes froze to my skin. I begged them to stop. They laughed. They locked me in an abandoned storage room for the night. By the time they opened the door the next afternoon, I was unconscious."
That was the night she developed severe claustrophobia.
"Pneumonia. Myocarditis. Two days of a lethal fever." A soft smile touched her lips as she looked down at Audrey. "So breaking two ribs doesn't really seem excessive, does it?"
Grace pushed herself upright, clutching her stomach, her face dark with fury. "Elena Ashford. Don't forget where you are. This is the Ansel estate."
Audrey, clutching her side, found her voice again. "You disgusting bastard! Why didn't you just die out there? If you have the guts, kill me right now. Otherwise, I'll make you kneel and beg!"
Elena laughed. It was a sound of genuine, terrifying amusement.
She removed her heel, bent down, grabbed Audrey by the hair, and wrenched her head back. She studied the pain and hatred twisting the girl's face.
"How interesting," Elena whispered. "I would absolutely love to see how you make me kneel."
She released her grip. Audrey collapsed at Grace's feet like discarded trash.
"The game has officially started," Elena said lightly, straightening her skirt. "Too foolish, and you'll be eliminated."
She turned and walked toward the elevator. Elegant. Unhurried. Leaving behind a scent of dark perfume and blood.
Before the doors opened, she paused and looked back with a radiant smile.
"Oh. And elimination only has one outcome. Death. Until our next round."
The elevator doors closed. Instantly, the smile vanished, leaving her face a blank, terrifying slate. She pulled out her phone and dialed.
"Intercept the Ansel shipment passing through the South Sea. Now."
Upstairs, Audrey trembled with fury. "Who does she think she is? Just wait—"
"Enough," Grace cut her off, her voice shaking. She snatched Audrey's phone and dialed for an ambulance.
—
Night had fallen by the time Elena reached the ground floor. The chandelier glowed like a suspended constellation, and the smell of dinner made her stomach growl softly. She hadn't eaten all day.
She quickened her pace toward the exit—and nearly collided with a middle-aged man in a dark, tailored suit.
Victor Ansel.
He changed into his indoor shoes, looking up. For a split second, he froze.
Lillian?
His expression hardened instantly as reality set in.
"Good evening, Mr. Ansel," Elena smiled, greeting him like a distant acquaintance. "It's been a long time."
Victor examined her with clinical detachment. No paternal warmth. No shock of reunion. He only cared about one thing: the broken alliance. Julian Kade had walked away, and it was going to cost him billions.
He gave a curt nod and walked past her toward the stairs.
"Victor Ansel is just as detestable as ever," Elena remarked casually to his back.
Victor paused. Turned slightly. Did she just—
Before his brain could process the insult, his phone rang. He answered it. One minute later, the call ended, and his face contorted into pure, violent fury.
"That wretched girl! Bring her back! Drag her back here!"
It had been her. Convincing Audrey to flee. Leaking the scandal. Destroying the Kade alliance and dragging the Ansel name through the mud.
The house security rushed out the front doors.
Too late.
Elena was already pulling out of the estate, flanked by a convoy of black tactical vehicles. At the exact same moment, an ambulance wailed past them, turning into the Ansel gates.
The real war had begun.
