Chapter 116: Enzo Came To Rescue Her

POV: ISABELLA

The ballroom was chaos.

Security personnel everywhere, blocking exits, corralling guests into groups, their faces grim and professional.

Marco’s voice cut through the noise, calm but absolute. "No one leaves until we have answers. This is not a request."

Isabella stood frozen at Table 47, her heart hammering so hard she thought it might burst through her ribs.

They were going to find out.

The waiter would talk. The security footage would show her. The investigation would trace everything back to her.

And then Dimitri would come for her.

And she would die.

"Isabella." Catarina’s voice was urgent, quiet. "We need to move. Now."

"There’s nowhere to go. They’ve locked down the building..."

A hand closed around Isabella’s wrist.

She spun, found herself staring into Enzo’s face.

He looked furious. Disappointed. Disgusted.

"Follow me," he said, his voice low and hard. "Both of you. Now."

"Enzo, I can’t just..."

"You can go back and stay here and die when Dimitri gets his hands on you." His eyes were cold, flat. "Or you can follow me and maybe...maybe....live through the night. Choose. Now."

Isabella’s face went pale.

He knew.

Enzo knew about the plan. ℯℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

She’d suspected he might, but seeing the confirmation in his eyes...the knowledge, the fury, the bitter disappointment....

It made everything real.

"I...." Her voice came out as a whisper.

"Move." Enzo’s grip tightened on her wrist. "Before someone notices."

He pulled her through the crowd, Catarina following close behind.

People were too focused on the security lockdown to pay attention to three people moving purposefully toward the far side of the ballroom.

Enzo led them down a side corridor, away from the main exits where Marco’s men were stationed.

Past the bathrooms. Past the coat check. Down a narrow hallway that looked like it was meant for staff only.

"Where are we going?" Isabella asked, her voice shaking.

Enzo didn’t answer.

Just kept walking, his hand still locked around her wrist like he thought she might bolt.

They reached a door marked "STAFF ONLY - AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL."

Enzo pulled out a keycard....where the hell had he gotten a keycard?.....and swiped it.

The door clicked open.

"Through here. Fast."

They descended a narrow staircase, the walls closing in on either side.

Isabella’s heels clicked against the concrete steps. Her breathing was too loud in the enclosed space.

Enzo’s face was set in stone, his jaw clenched so tight she could see the muscle jumping.

He was furious with her.

And he was saving her anyway.

They reached the bottom of the stairs. Another door.

Enzo pushed it open, and suddenly they were outside....cold night air hitting Isabella’s face, the distant sound of traffic, the smell of the city.

The back of the building. A service entrance.

A black car was waiting, engine running.

"Get in," Enzo ordered.

Isabella climbed into the back seat, her dress catching on the door frame. Catarina slid in beside her.

Enzo got behind the wheel, pulled away from the building smoothly, calmly, like they were just leaving a normal event.

Not fleeing a crime scene.

Not running from the investigation that would end with Isabella’s death.

Isabella sat in the back seat, her hands trembling in her lap, watching the Grand Belmont Hotel disappear in the rearview mirror.

She’d escaped.

For now.

But she could still see Eve’s face as she collapsed.

Could still hear Dimitri’s shout.

Could still feel the weight of what she’d done crushing her chest.

***

POV: ENZO

Enzo drove in absolute silence, his hands gripping the steering wheel so tight his knuckles were white.

He’d known Isabella was planning something.

Had known about the drug, the plan, the desperation.

But he’d thought....he’d hoped that she’d come to her senses. That she’d see how insane this was and back out.

Instead, she’d drugged Eve Thorne.

The woman Dimitri loved more than life itself.

And Eve had collapsed in front of six hundred witnesses.

Which meant when Dimitri found out who was responsible...

And he would find out, because Dimitri always found out...

He would destroy Isabella.

Slowly. Painfully. Absolutely.

Unless Enzo could cover this up.

Unless he could make the evidence disappear, silence the witnesses, create enough reasonable doubt that even Dimitri’s investigation couldn’t prove Isabella’s involvement.

It was possible.

Barely.

But only if Isabella didn’t fall apart. Only if she held herself together long enough to be interrogated and lie convincingly.

Only if Enzo could clean up her mess before Dimitri pieced it together.

Enzo pulled up to the isolated hotel where Dimitri had moved Isabella weeks ago, the one outside the city center, the one Dimitri thought would keep her contained.

The perfect hiding place because Dimitri already knew she was there.

He parked in the underground garage, used his access card to bypass the front desk, took the service elevator to her floor.

No cameras captured them entering.

No security logs would show their arrival.

They moved quickly to her suite.

The second the door closed behind them, Enzo’s control snapped.

He grabbed the nearest object....a crystal vase filled with roses, and hurled it against the wall.

It shattered. Glass and water and flowers everywhere.

Isabella flinched, took a step back.

"Do you have any idea what you’ve done?" Enzo’s voice was low, shaking with fury. "Any fucking idea?"

Isabella didn’t answer. Just stood there, her face pale, her eyes wide.

"If Dimitri finds out what you did tonight, he is going to kill you." Enzo moved closer, his eyes blazing. "Not arrest you. Not banish you. Kill you. And nobody....not me, not my father, not your father, not God himself....will be able to save you from him."

"I didn’t mean...." Isabella’s voice broke. "I didn’t mean to hurt her. The drink was supposed to be for Dimitri. He wasn’t supposed to give it to her. She wasn’t supposed to...."

"But she did!" Enzo’s shout made both Isabella and Catarina flinch. "You drugged the woman Dimitri loves! You put her in a hospital! You..." He stopped, forced himself to breathe. "Do you understand what you’ve done? Do you understand that there is no coming back from this?"

Isabella’s face crumpled. She sank into a chair, her shoulders shaking.

Crying.

Enzo wanted to feel sympathy. Wanted to comfort her.

But all he felt was rage and disappointment and the crushing weight of having to save someone who’d just destroyed everything.

He looked at Catarina. "Did anyone see you give the waiter the compound?"

"No. Isabella handled the transaction. I was across the room."

"Good. That gives us deniability." Enzo turned to Isabella. "Here’s what’s going to happen. You never saw that waiter tonight. You never spoke to him. You never approached him. When Dimitri questions you....and he will question you, you maintain that story. Do you understand?"