Chapter 76

Elena was looking through the menu.

It was the kind of menu designed to match the club itself: thick leather cover, polished food photography, and descriptions printed in two languages.

"Ms. Hayes."

The former rally driver spoke quietly, drawing her attention behind her.

Elena turned slightly.

A young man in a dark casual suit was walking toward their table with a cup in one hand, taking his time as if he had every right to be there.

She had already noticed Victoria across the restaurant. Elena had hoped they could simply eat their own lunches and leave each other alone.

Apparently not.

The man wasn't heading toward any of the other tables. His path was too deliberate.

Elena didn't know him, but she knew that look. There was something about the malicious excitement in his eyes that reminded her of Charlotte whenever she was about to start trouble.

Elena set down the menu and quietly adjusted her chair, giving herself more room to move. At the same time, she sent a quick message telling the security team downstairs to come up.

Across from her, the former rally driver shifted in his seat. Years as a professional rally driver had left him with quick reflexes and an unusually sharp sense of danger.

Ryan stopped beside Elena's table.

His eyes lingered on her for several seconds, obvious appreciation flashing across his face before he put on what he apparently thought was a charming smile.

"Mind if I join you?"

As he spoke, he raised the hand holding the hot coffee.

The moment his wrist began to turn, the former rally driver was already moving.

He shot to his feet and knocked Ryan's arm aside just as Elena slipped sharply to the left.

The hot coffee arced through the air, most of it splashing across the table and chair. Only a few drops caught the edge of Elena's sleeve.

Every head in the restaurant turned.

Elena looked down at the small wet patch on her sleeve, then at the dark liquid spread across the carpet. Faint wisps of steam still rose from it.

Her breathing gradually steadied.

"What the fuck!"

Ryan staggered backward from the force of the shove and crashed into the table behind him, nearly losing his balance. Whatever fake charm he had been wearing disappeared.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?"

"This." Elena cut him off, pointing at the spilled coffee. "That was hot, wasn't it?"

She looked directly at him.

"Were you trying to throw it in my face?"

Ryan straightened and tugged at his jacket.

"I lost my grip."

Anger surged through Elena.

That coffee could have caused serious burns anywhere it touched exposed skin. She didn't know whether he was trying to impress Victoria or had simply decided he disliked her on sight.

Did the reason even matter anymore? If she kept letting these idiots come after her, sooner or later one of them might actually succeed—and she had no intention of ending up dead the way the original Elena had.

Elena stared at him.

"You walked all the way over here carrying coffee too hot to drink. Why?"

Ryan's expression shifted.

"What exactly were you planning to do? Make a toast with it?" Elena asked. "Go ahead. Drink it."

"I was going to offer it to you. This idiot overreacted."

He pointed at the driver.

The man simply looked back at him without expression.

Elena gave a cold laugh.

"Offer it to me? You could've asked a server to bring it over. Instead, you carried it here yourself. For all I know, you could've spit in it or put something in it. Why would I drink that?"

Ryan's face darkened.

"You fucking bitch. Don't push your—"

Elena grabbed the heavy glass pitcher of ice water from the table.

She swung.

The base of the pitcher slammed into Ryan's forehead with a sickening thud.

His head snapped sideways.

The impact split the skin near his temple. Blood immediately ran down past his eyebrow, mixing with the ice water that had splashed across his face and staining the front of his expensive jacket.

The restaurant fell silent.

Ryan stumbled two steps and clutched his head.

When he pulled his hand away and saw blood across his palm, whatever remained of his self-control disappeared.

"You—!"

He lunged toward Elena.

He didn't make it a single step.

A large hand clamped down on his shoulder from the side and stopped him cold.

Ryan twisted around.

A broad-shouldered man he had never seen before stood beside him, expressionless. Several more men were approaching from different directions, quietly closing the space around him.

"Let go of me! Do you have any fucking idea who I am?!"

The bodyguard holding him didn't answer.

Ryan couldn't break free, so the threats came instead. One insult followed another, louder and uglier each time.

Elena discreetly started recording on her phone.

"You fucking bitch! Just wait! I'll fucking kill you! Do you know how many people I know? You're nothing but some whore being kept by a rich man, and you think you can—"

Elena looked at the bodyguard.

"Hit him."

The bodyguard glanced down at her once, then drove a fist into Ryan's stomach.

Ryan's shouting stopped instantly.

He folded over, gasping, and vomited onto the floor. For several seconds, he couldn't say anything at all. He could only clutch his stomach and struggle for breath, his face drained of color.

Across the restaurant, Victoria and everyone at her table had been on their feet since the first impact.

Someone had nearly dropped a wineglass. Another person stood frozen with a hand over her mouth.

They had assumed Ryan was going over to flirt with Elena or provoke her a little. No one had expected this.

A few stepped back. Someone else quietly reached for a phone.

Victoria's expression hardened.

She had already guessed that Ryan was probably doing this because of Charlotte.

But seeing him bloodied and doubled over while Elena stood there as if she had no intention of backing down made something tighten unpleasantly in her chest.

"Stop!"

Victoria stepped out from the booth.

"Let him go."

Elena didn't even turn around.

Ryan had recovered just enough to start muttering again.

"…I'll kill you… fucking wait…"

"Again," Elena said.

The bodyguard raised his fist.

This time, the punch landed squarely across Ryan's mouth.

Ryan cried out, spitting blood as two teeth struck the floor with a sharp clatter.

Victoria's face darkened.

Elena had completely ignored her.

She turned toward her own two bodyguards.

"Go. Get them under control."

The two men had been seated farther away and had already moved closer when the disturbance began.

Neither moved now.

Victoria frowned.

"What's wrong?"

One of them lowered his voice.

"Ms. Sterling, there is currently no threat to your safety. Our assignment is to protect you. This situation falls outside our scope."

Victoria stared at him.

For a moment, she almost threatened to have both men fired. Then she remembered that she wasn't the one who paid them.

Michael was different. She had already managed to buy his cooperation.

But these men answered to the Sterling security structure, not to her personally.

Victoria clenched her jaw and walked toward Elena herself.

Ryan had grown up spoiled and protected. By now, he could barely speak through the pain.

Around them, the restaurant staff remained conspicuously quiet. No one rushed forward to intervene, and the club's security team was nowhere to be seen.

"Elena. That's enough."

Victoria stopped a short distance away.

"Do me a favor and tell your people to stop."

Elena finally turned her head and looked Victoria over for a few seconds.

"No."

Victoria froze.

"Elena, stop making a scene. My father has a stake in this club. If you insist on causing trouble on Sterling property—"

"So what?"

Elena had had enough.

Her voice carried clearly through the silent restaurant.

"You're an adult, aren't you, Victoria? I thought only children ran to Mommy and Daddy whenever they didn't get their way."

She gave Victoria a cool look.

"If you still haven't outgrown running to Daddy, then have him come talk to me himself."

The entire restaurant went dead silent.