Page 45 of Fated By Fire

“I’m coming!” I yell, my voice hoarse from sleep. I yank open the door, and there he is—Caleb Craven, looking every inch the billionaire CEO he is, except for the wildness in his eyes and the tension in his jaw.

He’s dressed in another one of his immaculate suits, this one charcoal gray, but his tie is loosened, and his hair is slightly disheveled, as if he’s been running his hands through it. He looks… agitated. More than that, actually. He looksangry.

“What the hell do you want?” I snap, crossing my arms over my chest. “How did you find out where I live?”

He doesn’t answer right away. Instead, he steps inside without waiting for an invitation, his presence filling the small space of my loft. He glances around briefly, taking in the cluttered desk, the worn furniture, the Polaroid of my mom on the corkboard. His gaze lingers there for a moment before he turns back to me.

“How did you get into the vault?” he demands, his voice taut with urgency.

I blink at him, caught off guard. “What?”

“The vault,” he repeats, stepping closer. “How did you bypass the biometric scanners? The retinal scan? The security protocols?”

“I… I don’t know,” I stammer, backing up a step as he advances. “I just… I walked up, and they let me in. The scanners must’ve been faulty.”

“Faulty?” His eyes narrow, and I can see the disbelief in them. “Do you have any idea how secure that system is? It’s not just a random lock and key, Elena. It’s state-of-the-art. It doesn’t justmalfunction.”

“Well, it did,” I shoot back, my own frustration bubbling to the surface. “I don’t know what to tell you, Caleb. I didn’t hack into it, if that’s what you’re insinuating. I just walked in.”

He studies me for a long moment, his eyes searching mine as if trying to find some hidden truth. I hold his gaze, refusing to back down, even though my stomach is doing flips.

Finally, he lets out a low breath and steps back, running a hand through his hair. “You’re lying,” he says flatly.

“Excuse me?”

“You’re lying,” he repeats, his voice sharper this time. “You know something you’re not telling me. And if you think I’m going to let this slide, you’re dead wrong.”

I grit my teeth, my hands clenching into fists at my sides. “You don’t get to come in here and accuse me of lying, Caleb. Not again! Not after everything that’s happened. Not after what I saw last night. That man… Malakai.”

His eyes darken at the mention of the name, and I see a flash of emotion—anger, maybe, or guilt—cross his face. But he doesn’t respond. Instead, he turns away, prowling the length of the room, agitated.

“This is all about the money, isn’t it?” He pivots to me. “Women like you are… you’re feral. You’ll do anything to survive, including threatening other people’s livelihoods. Do you know how many people I’m responsible for? How many families Craven Industries supports? What you dug up yesterday could bring that crashing to the ground.”

His unexpected accusation makes the blood rise to my cheeks. “I have no intention of destroying your company, Caleb. Although, if you’re doing something dirty, that’s not on me. It’s on you.”

“People like you will justify anything if the check is big enough,” he sneers. “For some reason, I thought better of you. God knows why.” He runs a hand over his hair, ruffling it more. “I don’t even fucking know you, goddammit!”

“It wasn’t just about the money!” I suddenly hear myself saying. I don’t know what motivates me. Perhaps it’s thecontempt in his eyes. Though really, I shouldn’t care less. “I… I did it for my mother.” The words are out before I can stop them.

“Your mother?” He faces me. “What does your mother have to do with this?”

Shit. Why did I even raise this? He’s going to think I’m pouring out some sort of sob story.

“Elena… What does your mother have to do with my company?” he presses.

“She… she disappeared when I was eight,” I say finally, my voice trembling with the effort to keep it steady. “She told me she was going out one day, but she never came back. Just left me with some food and… and vanished.” My voice breaks. “When Blackthorn said…” I stop.

Caleb’s eyes narrow, and he takes a step closer. “Blackthorn said she was connected to Craven Industries?”

I nod, my throat tight. “Yeah. They said she knew the significance of the assignment. But I don’t know what that means. I don’t know anything about her connection to your company.”

He doesn’t respond right away. Instead, he studies me with that same intense gaze, as if he’s trying to piece together a puzzle.

“There’s a photo,” I add on impulse. “In your archives. A group of men—your great-grandfather, I think, and other executives. And there’s a woman standing with them. She looks just like my mom.”

He freezes, his expression hardening. “What are you implying?”

“I don’t know,” I say, my voice rising. “All I know is that there was a link between my family and yours somehow. And that means there’s something going on here that you’re not telling me. Something about Craven Industries—about your family—that’s connected to my mom.”

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