Love Between Two Enemies Part Six

Taken

The silence after the call was unbearable.

Ethan stood frozen in the middle of his penthouse, the city lights outside blurring into meaningless streaks of gold and white. His phone was still pressed to his ear, even though the line had gone dead seconds ago.

“You chose love,” Luca had said.
“Now see what it costs.”

Ethan lowered the phone slowly.

Isabella was gone.

Not missing.
Not unreachable.

Taken.

His chest tightened violently, as if his lungs had forgotten how to work. Panic surged, hot and ruthless, but he forced it down. Panic was a luxury he couldn’t afford.

Not now.

He grabbed his jacket, keys, and laptop in one swift motion and left the apartment without another glance back. The elevator ride down felt endless, every second stretching like punishment.

By the time he reached the street, his mind had already shifted into something colder.

Strategic.

Predatory.


---

Isabella woke to darkness.

At first, she thought she was dreaming. Her head throbbed, her body felt heavy, disconnected. The smell of metal and oil filled her lungs as consciousness slowly returned.

Her wrists burned.

She tried to move.

Chains rattled.

Panic slammed into her chest.

“No,” she whispered hoarsely.

Her eyes adjusted gradually. She was sitting on a cold concrete floor, her back against a wall. A single bulb hung from the ceiling, casting weak, flickering light across a large, empty space.

A warehouse.

Her memory returned in jagged fragments.

The car ride home.
The sudden stop.
A hand over her mouth.
A needle.

Her breathing quickened.

“No,” she said louder, testing her voice. “No, no, no—”

Footsteps echoed.

Slow. Deliberate.

The door creaked open.

Luca DeSantis stepped inside.

Immaculate as ever.

“Good,” he said calmly. “You’re awake.”

Isabella’s heart slammed violently against her ribs. “You’re insane.”

He smiled slightly. “No. I’m prepared.”


---

Ethan didn’t go to the police.

Not yet.

He knew how this worked. The moment authorities were officially involved, Luca would vanish—or worse, Isabella would.

Instead, Ethan went somewhere he had never sworn to return.

Ashford Industries—after hours.

The building was quiet, stripped of its daytime arrogance. He bypassed security with codes he technically no longer had the right to use and headed straight for the executive floor.

There were things his father had buried.

And Ethan intended to dig them up.

He accessed restricted servers, files locked behind layers of legal firewalls. Transactions. Shell companies. Names that had never appeared on official documents.

Then he found it.

DE SANTIS HOLDINGS – UNDISCLOSED PARTNERSHIPS

His blood ran cold.

Luca wasn’t circling the war.

He had been financing it.


---

“Why?” Isabella demanded, her voice trembling despite her effort to sound strong. “What do you gain from this?”

Luca crouched in front of her, resting his elbows on his knees.

“Control,” he replied simply. “The thing your families never truly mastered.”

“You murdered Samuel Whitaker.”

He shrugged lightly. “He was a loose end.”

“You’re a monster,” she whispered.

Luca tilted his head. “Your father would have done the same. Mine too. Don’t confuse me for something new.”

Her stomach churned.

“You’re using me to silence Ethan,” she said.

“Yes,” he replied without hesitation. “And to remind him that courage has consequences.”

She lifted her chin. “He won’t give in.”

Luca smiled wider. “Everyone gives in.”


---

Ethan barely noticed the hour pass.

At 3 a.m., his phone buzzed.

Unknown Number.

A location pin appeared.

No message.

Just coordinates.

His jaw tightened.

He grabbed his coat and left.


---

The warehouse was located near the industrial outskirts of the city, far from traffic, far from witnesses. The air smelled of rust and saltwater. Ethan parked a block away and approached on foot.

Two guards stood near the entrance.

Ethan didn’t slow.

“I’m here,” he said evenly. “Alone. Like he asked.”

They checked him for weapons. Took his phone. Nodded once.

Inside, the air was cold and hollow.

And then he saw her.

Isabella sat chained to the wall, her hair disheveled, her face pale—but her eyes lifted instantly when she saw him.

“Ethan,” she whispered.

His chest tightened painfully.

“I’m here,” he said softly. “I’ve got you.”

Luca stepped forward from the shadows.

“How touching,” he said. “Love really does make people reckless.”

Ethan’s gaze never left Isabella. “Let her go.”

Luca laughed quietly. “Still making demands.”

“What do you want?” Ethan asked.

Luca’s expression hardened. “I want everything.”


---

The terms were simple.

Devastating.

Ethan would retract his statement.
He would publicly discredit the Riverside evidence.
He would return control of Ashford Industries to his father—and sign over future interests to DeSantis Holdings.

In exchange—

Isabella lived.

“You’re asking me to become what you are,” Ethan said.

Luca shrugged. “I’m asking you to choose.”

Ethan looked at Isabella.

Her eyes were glossy, filled with fear—and something else.

Resolve.

“No,” she mouthed silently.

Ethan’s heart shattered.

“I won’t be your currency,” she said aloud, her voice breaking but firm. “Don’t you dare.”

Luca turned sharply. “You don’t get a vote.”

Ethan stepped forward. “You’ll kill her anyway.”

Luca smiled thinly. “Only if you hesitate.”

Silence pressed down on them.

Then Ethan spoke.

“I agree.”

Isabella’s breath caught sharply.

“No,” she cried. “Ethan—no—”

He met her gaze.

“I promised I’d choose truth,” he said softly. “I didn’t say I wouldn’t pay for it.”


---

The release was brutal and sudden.

Chains unlocked. Guards moved fast. Isabella was pulled free and pushed toward Ethan.

The moment she collapsed into his arms, shaking, alive, breathing—Ethan knew he had crossed a line he could never uncross.

“You idiot,” she whispered through tears. “You absolute idiot.”

He held her tighter. “Worth it.”

Luca watched them with cool satisfaction.

“Pleasure doing business,” he said. “Enjoy what’s left of your conscience.”


---

They didn’t speak during the drive.

Isabella stared out the window, her hands trembling. Ethan kept both hands tight on the steering wheel, his face carved from stone.

When they reached her apartment, she turned to him.

“You just handed him everything.”

“Yes,” he said quietly.

“And when he destroys you?”

Ethan finally looked at her.

“Then I’ll destroy him first.”

Her breath caught.

This wasn’t over.

It had only changed shape.

In Part Seven: “The Cost of Saving Her”

Ethan becomes a hunted man.
Isabella learns the full price of his sacrifice.
And Luca makes a move so cruel it shatters the illusion of control…

Some rescues don’t end the war.
They rewrite it.