Page 44 of Scarlet Embrace

Most of my father’s men do not have the spine to go against me, and I knew for certain that Hannah wasn’t the mole as she wouldn’t do that to irk my father. It had to be someone who had all to gain from me being removed and very little to lose. Alexander cared too much about his life, and he was in prison after the whole hit-and-run case.

Uncle Rufus has never shown any interest in leading the Cruz empire, as he wanted to live his days peacefully with his wife. That was what everyone thought, but over the past few weeks, I had stumbled on the double life my uncle had been living. Somehow, for some reason beyond me, he was trying to amass some sort of influence for himself.

He made deals with some other gangs, smuggled drugs into the city, and many other things that I can’t even comprehend. Rufus was trying to sabotage the Cruz empire, and I can’t even explain why.

“Rufus. She found out he’s the one who killed her father,” I explained to Thomas when he arrived.

“Are you sure about that?” He asked after a momentary pause.

I don’t know for certain, but after reading through the dossier that Thomas had prepared for me, I realized that we had somewhat come to acquire everything her father owned. Back then, I had ordered an investigation as I realized that Elena might have approached me because of a vendetta. It wasn’t the first time someone would approach me under false pretenses, but hers was quite different. The more I studied her, the more I realized that she wasn’t like the other people I knew.

In a way, Elena was innocent, even if my family might somehow be responsible for the death of her father. Turned out that my father didn’t actually have anything to do with the death of Jonathan Rodriguez.

“Please let her be safe. Please let her be safe,” I prayed as Thomas raced to Rufus’s place. On getting to the gate, I pressed the buzzer, hoping and praying that Elena was safe.

“Who is that?” A tired Rufus asked.

“Uncle Rufus? Are you okay?” I asked.

The fact that he answered bothered me as it could mean that Elena was in danger. He told me he was quite fine, and he mentioned that Elena had come over to his place to attack him.

“Where is she now?” I asked.

“I managed to subdue her. I don’t know why your woman would attack me, Lucas,” Rufus said.

Something in his tone alarmed me, and I asked him to open the gates so we could settle things, but he told me there was no need for us to do that. He told me he was going to handle Elena on his own.

“Ram the gates,” I told Thomas when I realized that Rufus had no intention of letting us in.

“Are you sure? This might come back—”

“I don’t care, Thomas. Elena is in this estate, and I need to get to her,” I told him as I tightened my fist.

There was a perfectly good reason why I had been patient with Rufus, and that was mainly because I did not have enough evidence to accuse him of anything. After barely managing to get my father’s approval, I had no intention of losing it that easily just by accusing Rufus without solid evidence. However, I didn’t care about that, as all that matters is getting to Elena.

Thomas told me to hold on tightly to my seat as he charged at the gates. I was concerned that the gates would hold, but somehow, Thomas was able to break through the gates. We drove toward the house, as I brought out my gun.

“Make a call to Logan and the rest. Tell him to wake my father and have him come here,” I told Thomas. “Tonight’s the night I end this whole rubbish.”

Taking my gun, I charged toward the house. Blowing apart the door with a shot, I stepped into the house and called out my uncle’s name.

“Now, is that how a nephew should charge into his uncle’s place?” Rufus asked from the sofa where he was sitting.

“Where is she?” I asked him.

“Calm your jets down. I didn’t do anything to her,” he said with a wave of his hand.

I noticed Elena lying on the ground, and I rushed to her. She was breathing fine, and I was relieved to see she was okay.

“There’s some smelling salt on the shelf,” he told me, pointing ahead.

I kept my eyes on him as I went in the direction he pointed and brought out the salt. In a matter of minutes, Elena was up. “Are you okay?” I asked her.

“Yes,” she answered slowly before she saw Rufus. She jumped back in fright, and I wondered what he had done to her.

“Don’t worry, the two of you. I’m not going to harm you,” Rufus said without paying us much attention. “By now, I suppose your father would be on his way here.”

Why?” I asked him.