He Sent Me Away So I Took His Crown Chapter 05
Elias Reed rarely attended underground racing auctions.
The moment he appeared in the hall’s doorway, nearly every leader from the five districts stopped talking.
“Reed, isn’t your new registry system launching next week?”
“I heard you’re taking over the largest bloodline database in the West.”
“What brings you to a Moretti auction?”
Elias answered none of them.
He walked straight through the armed guards and headed for the backstage corridor.
Luca clearly hadn’t expected him. Their companies had discussed a partnership just last month, and several Moretti leaders needed Elias’s system to prove their auction bloodlines weren’t fraudulent. Luca straightened his jacket and extended a hand.
“Reed. I’m Luca Moretti. Our team has been wanting to speak with you—”
“Where is Elena?”
Elias ignored his hand.
Luca’s expression stiffened.
“She’s emotionally unstable right now. She’s resting.”
“Which room?”
“This is an internal Moretti family matter.”
Elias’s gaze swept past him and down the corridor.
On the ventilation control panel, the red light for the old quarantine wing was glowing.
His face changed instantly.
“You locked her in a room that’s being fumigated?”
Luca whipped around.
“That’s impossible. I only told them to lock the door. I never told anyone to start the system.”
Elias was already running.
The first kick didn’t break the lock.
The second warped the metal frame with a shriek of protest.
The two guards finally arrived with the emergency key.
The instant the door opened, the acrid gas rushed out.
I was curled in the corner, my coat still jammed into the vent, my fingers too weak to move.
Elias covered his mouth and nose with a damp cloth and went straight in, lifting me into his arms.
I heard Luca shouting my name.
I also heard the host in the auction hall, still reading that forged statement.
Elias stopped in the corridor and turned to Luca, his voice ringing with cold fury.
“Your broadcast is making a woman confess while she’s locked in a room you left her in.”
The entire hall went silent.
These were not guests attending a spectacle. They were men who controlled different territories under the Moretti name, men who represented the families still weighing this engagement. Their silence meant every order Luca had given now had witnesses.
The color drained from Luca’s face.
“What are you to Elena?” he demanded.
Elias held me more securely in his arms.
“I’m the new fiancé she chose.”
“And starting today, I’m also the man who will make sure she can hold every last one of you accountable under your own rules.”