For one suspended second, nobody moved.
Rain hammered harder against the penthouse windows while the frozen security frame remained glowing across the monitor.
Greg.
Blair stared at the screen in disbelief. "No. Absolutely not. Why would Greg save Meredith?"
Nicole's expression remained unreadable, but Chase saw the sharp calculation already moving behind her eyes.
Because this changed everything.
Greg wasn't supposed to protect anyone.
He was supposed to destroy.
"That doesn't make sense," Blair continued. "He literally threatened us."
"Yes," Nicole said quietly.
"And now he's attacking someone attacking Meredith."
"Yes."
Blair looked genuinely overwhelmed. "I hate this story."
Nicole ignored that completely.
Her focus remained fixed on the screen.
Greg had looked different.
Not calmer.
Worse.
Purposeful.
Controlled.
That unsettled her more than his rage ever had.
Because emotional men were predictable.
Controlled men adapted.
Chase stepped closer to the monitor. "Replay it."
Nicole rewound the footage carefully.
Again they watched Meredith running through the underground parking level.
The black SUVs.
The attacker grabbing her.
Then Greg entering frame.
Fast.
Violent.
Efficient.
No hesitation.
He struck the attacker once, hard enough to drop him instantly before the footage distorted again.
Nicole paused the frame just before the signal died completely.
Greg's face turned slightly toward the camera.
Bruised.
Tired.
Focused.
And furious.
Blair folded her arms tightly. "Okay, I officially don't understand who's against us anymore."
Nicole's voice remained cold.
"Vivian is."
"Yeah but apparently Greg isn't?"
Nicole didn't answer immediately.
Because the truth was becoming clearer now.
Greg never wanted this level of escalation.
He wanted Nikki ruined.
Broken.
Exposed.
But Vivian?
Vivian wanted control.
Complete control.
And somewhere along the way, Greg realized he had become another disposable piece on her board.
Interesting.
Very interesting.
Chase looked toward Nicole carefully. "You think Vivian turned on him too."
"She always planned to."
Blair frowned. "Then why work with him at all?"
Nicole's lips curved faintly without humor.
"Because damaged people are easy to weaponize."
The answer quieted the room.
Because everyone knew Greg fit that description perfectly.
Nicole moved quickly after that, grabbing her coat again.
"We're going."
Chase nodded immediately this time.
No argument.
Blair blinked. "Wait, all of us?"
Nicole looked toward her sister.
"No. You stay here."
"Absolutely not."
"Blair—"
"No." Blair stood now, visibly frustrated. "I'm tired of everyone deciding things for me because I'm the younger sister."
Nicole's expression tightened slightly.
"This is dangerous."
"I know that."
"You're being targeted."
"I know that too."
Blair stepped closer, eyes sharper than Nicole expected.
"But you don't get to shut me out because you're scared."
The word landed harder than Blair intended.
Nicole stiffened instantly.
"I'm not scared."
Blair held her gaze.
"Yes," she said softly.
"You are."
Silence followed.
Sharp.
Personal.
Because Blair was right.
Nicole was scared.
Not for herself.
For them.
And admitting that felt like weakness carved straight through bone.
Chase watched Nicole carefully.
Then quietly said, "She stays here."
Nicole looked at him immediately.
Not because he disagreed.
Because of the tone.
Gentle.
Certain.
Protective.
Toward both of them.
And suddenly Nicole realized something dangerous again—
she trusted him.
Far too much.
Blair sighed dramatically. "I hate when he wins arguments against you."
Nicole ignored her and headed toward the elevator.
Chase followed beside her.
The silence between them during the descent felt different now.
Less hostile.
More fragile.
Because too much had shifted in too little time.
Vivian.
The surveillance.
Greg changing sides.
And underneath all of it—
the growing reality neither of them seemed capable of avoiding anymore.
Nicole finally spoke first.
"If Meredith is hurt because of me—"
"She isn't."
"You don't know that."
Chase looked at her steadily.
"You carry everything like it's your fault."
Nicole stared ahead at the elevator doors. "That's because most of it is connected to me."
"That doesn't mean you caused it."
"No," she replied quietly.
"It means people around me pay for it."
The elevator doors opened into the underground garage.
Cool air rushed toward them.
Neither moved immediately.
Then Chase stepped in front of her gently, forcing her to stop walking.
Nicole looked up sharply. "What."
His eyes held hers steadily.
"You need to stop acting like caring about people is some kind of failure."
The words hit deep enough to unsettle her instantly.
Nicole folded her arms tightly. "You think this is simple."
"No," Chase said softly.
"I think you're terrified to need anyone."
The truth of it sliced cleanly through her defenses.
Nicole looked away first again.
Third time now.
Completely unacceptable.
Chase's voice lowered slightly.
"But you already do."
Silence.
The garage suddenly felt too quiet.
Too close.
Nicole's pulse betrayed her once beneath the stillness of her expression.
Chase noticed.
And that made everything worse.
Before she could respond, Meredith's phone suddenly appeared active again on the tracker screen Nicole still held.
Moving.
Fast.
Nicole's entire focus snapped back instantly.
"She's heading west."
"Toward what?"
Nicole zoomed in on the map.
Then her expression hardened.
"No."
Chase frowned. "What."
"She's heading toward the old Mercer building."
Even Chase recognized the significance immediately.
Vivian's former headquarters.
Abandoned years earlier after Nicole destroyed the company.
Blair's voice echoed faintly through Nicole's phone speaker from the safehouse.
"That sounds aggressively suspicious."
"It's bait," Chase said.
"Yes," Nicole replied calmly.
"But Meredith knows that."
Chase looked toward her carefully. "Then why go there?"
Nicole's jaw tightened.
"Because Meredith doesn't scare easily either."
Twenty minutes later, Manhattan blurred around them in streaks of rain and reflected city lights as Chase pushed the car through traffic.
The old Mercer Strategic building stood near the edge of Midtown now—mostly dark, mostly empty, forgotten by everyone except the people who once built ambitions there sharp enough to bleed.
Nicole stared up at it through the windshield.
Memories hit harder than expected.
Long nights.
Aggressive expansion meetings.
Vivian standing beside her overlooking the city years ago, both of them believing they would own Manhattan eventually.
And for a while—
they almost had.
"Talk to me," Chase said quietly beside her.
Nicole didn't look away from the building.
"Vivian used to say power mattered more when people feared losing it."
"And you disagreed?"
"No."
That answer surprised him slightly.
Nicole finally turned toward him.
"The difference is that Vivian enjoys fear."
Rain slid down the windshield between them.
"She likes breaking people emotionally," Nicole continued quietly. "Making them dependent. Isolated. Weak."
"And you?"
Nicole held his gaze carefully.
"I prefer efficiency."
Chase almost smiled faintly. "That's the coldest answer I've ever heard."
"It's honest."
"No," he said softly.
"It's protective."
That word again.
Protective.
As if he could still see through her despite everything.
Nicole hated how much that affected her now.
Before she could answer, movement appeared near the building entrance.
Both of them froze instantly.
Meredith stumbled out through the front doors.
Alone.
Breathing hard.
And seconds later—
Greg emerged behind her.
The rain soaked through his dark jacket instantly as he stopped beneath the streetlight, eyes scanning the street sharply.
Nicole's pulse tightened.
Greg looked rough.
Bruised knuckles.
Split lip.
Something darker in his expression now.
Not revenge.
Disillusionment.
Meredith spotted their car first.
She hurried toward them immediately, yanking open the back door and climbing inside.
"Drive," she snapped breathlessly.
Chase didn't hesitate.
The car pulled away fast just as another black SUV turned the corner behind them.
Nicole looked back once through the rain-covered rear window.
Greg remained standing under the streetlight.
Watching the SUV.
Watching them leave.
And for the first time since this nightmare began—
Nicole realized Greg wasn't hunting her anymore.
He was hunting Vivian too.