His Private Hell - Chapter 37: Chapter 37

The first rule of was simple: you never walked away clean.
Eella learned that in the boardroom. She sat on the polished mahogany bench, surrounded by Ally’s Inc directors whose were as cold as the ice in her veins. Garrison Wolfe stood beside her—his shadow eclipsing half the table—while the rest of the board watched her like predators eyeing fresh prey.
“Ms. Hart,” began Chairman Caldwell, voice buttery but lethal. “We’ve reviewed your… ‘unorthodox’ approach. Your performance metrics remain impeccable, but your… methods raise concerns.”
Eella’s pulse pounded. She met each gaze, one by one. “My methods saved the company from scandal. From collapse. If you have a problem, direct it at the man who made those scandals.”
Shock rippled around the table. Caldwell’s lips thinned. “We’re aware of Mr. Wolfe’s involvement. That’s why we’re here.”
Garrison’s jaw tightened. “You’re going to fire her to protect me?”
Caldwell’s eyes flicked to Garrison. “Not yet. We’re here to negotiate terms.” He fixed Eella with a cold stare. “Your contract will be renegotiated. Your NDA expanded. And you—will limit your personal… entanglement with the CEO.”
Eella clenched her fists. They wanted her to end it. End this. End being the woman who saw the monster behind the myth. And ran toward him anyway.
“No,” she said, voice quiet and deadly. “My contract stands as written. And my personal life is none of your concern.”
Silence swallowed the room. And in that silence, she heard her own heartbeat—loud, frantic. She heard Garrison’s breath, measured, like he was bracing for impact.
Caldwell smiled, a knife disguised as silk. “Then we’ll have to reconsider your position entirely.”
Eella rose. High heels clicked like judgment. “I know your game. But I’m not playing to lose.” She turned to Garrison, voice softer. “Don’t let them break you.”
He watched her go. Eyes unreadable. But when she stepped back into the hallway, he closed his eyes and exhaled, a storm of relief and regret.
⸻
They ended the meeting with threats that hung in the air like bloodlust. They stripped Eella’s badge, forced Garrison to return to his office alone. And they left them in the corridor—a king and his rebel queen—bracing for war.
Eella didn’t speak until they reached his floor.
“,” she murmured. “Your hell is private no longer.”
He leaned against the glass, looking out at the neon skyline. “You don’t know anything about hell.”
She crossed her arms. “I know about lies. About murder. About the way you hide under steel. And I know I won’t run.”
He turned, eyes wild. “Why do you stay?”
“Because you taught me hell is real. And I wanted to find out if I could survive it.”
His mouth twisted. “I never wanted you to survive me.”
“Then let me teach you a new lesson.” She stepped close. “That hell can burn me alive—and I’ll keep walking forward.”
He swallowed. He reached for her. But she stepped back.
“Board game’s over,” she said. “Now we fight for checkmate.”
He clenched his fists. “I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“For dragging you into My Private Hell.”
She offered a sad smile. “Welcome to mine.”
⸻
Night fell on the city like a verdict. Eella returned to her apartment and found a single envelope on her pillow—no handwriting, no return. Just the company emblem stamped in black wax.
Inside: a USB drive and a note.
“For your eyes only. See how deep the hell goes.”
Her pulse spiked. She didn’t hesitate. Plugged it into her laptop.
Files appeared: surveillance footage, encrypted memos, audio logs.
The first clip was security camera footage from two years ago—Garrison, mid-30s, in a back alley. A man lay bleeding. He knelt beside him, not with remorse, but cold calculation. Something about the way he pressed the phone to his ear.
She advanced the video. Heard Garrison’s voice: “Did you get it?”
A reply: “It’s gone. Nothing left for us.”
Then Garrison stood, straightened his tie, and walked away.
The second file: audio recording from Ally’s Inc headquarters. Late night. Garrison’s voice again. “She found out. Destroy everything. Tell no one.”
Something slammed. Papers. Then silence.
Her chest tightened. This wasn’t a PR script. It was a confession.
Eella shoved the drive into her pocket.
She needed Garrison. Needed answers.
⸻
She found him in the deserted boardroom. The moonlight cut across the table in silver shards.
He looked up, haunted. “Already digging.”
She placed the drive in front of him. “Tell me why.”
He paled. He stood and circled the table—like a man haunted by his own echoes.
“Two years ago,” he began, voice hollow, “there was a man. A programmer. He developed a backdoor for me. A way to bury data deep—escape routes from reality.”
Eella’s breath shook. “And?”
“And he blackmailed me. He held the company’s sins over my head. I paid him. I kept him silent.”
“You killed him.”
He flinched. “He threatened to expose me. Expose Ally’s Inc—expose us. I cornered him. I told him to leave town. He refused. So I ended it.”
Eella closed her eyes. She felt the world shift. “You killed him and no one knew.”
He nodded, looking older in that moment. “And then… Ally’s Inc protected me.”
Her vision blurred. Trust shattered. “Your hell… was built on murder.”
He sank into the chair. “Yes.”
She swallowed the bile. “Why tell me now?”
“Because they’re coming for me again,” he whispered. “They found the code. They found my hell. And if they dig deeper, they’ll find everything.”
She sat beside him. “Then we bury them first.”
He stared at her, eyes bright with desperation. “Or they bury us.”
⸻
Her phone vibrated—a text from an unknown number.
“Check your balcony. Midnight.”
She knew better than to ignore it. But when she stepped out, she saw no one. Just the city lights.
Until a silvery drone descended, landing on the railing. A small compartment popped open, revealing a data capsule.
She pocketed it.
A voice behind her. “Got the files?”
Garrison.
She handed him the capsule. “More secrets.”
He turned it in his hand. “Allies turning into enemies.”
She watched him. The man of steel now trembled like a leaf in a storm. “We either burn them out… or we burn together.”
He met her gaze. “I can’t lose you.”
She pressed her palm to his chest. Over his heart. “Then don’t.”
⸻
Midnight in the city was a promise and a threat in one.
They rode the elevator down to the lobby—Eella’s heels echoing on marble. Garrison’s hand never left her back. Together they crossed the floor, passed the security desk where guards pretended nothing had happened.
As they stepped outside, the rain began—fat drops sizzling against the pavement. The kind of rain that cleansed and drowned at the same time.
Eella shivered. “This city… it’s like hell in reverse.”
Garrison tilted her chin up. “, remember? It’s never about escape.”
A silhouette moved under the streetlamp.
A figure stepped forward, dripping. Tall. Elegant. The same black coat from her nightmares: LINUS VALE.
His lips curved in a smile as he reached into his pocket.
“No,” Garrison growled.
Linus withdrew a single photo.
Eella’s blood froze.
It was a picture of her and Garrison—naked, tangled in sheets, oblivious to everything but each other.
Snapped through her window.
Before she could snatch it, Linus tossed it in the gutter.
And lit it on fire.
She watched the flames consume the edges. Her face on fire.
Linus met her gaze. “Your hell has many gates.”
He turned and vanished into the night.
Garrison grabbed her. “Who—”
Eella shook her head, rain plastering her hair. “He’s behind everything. The board’s cover-ups, the blackmail. Linus Vale built this city of sin.”
Garrison’s face went white. “My brother.”
She stared at him. “Your private hell.”
He closed his eyes. “And he just opened the next gate.”
⸻
They stood in the rain, soaked to their bones, the fire’s glow flickering on Eella’s face.
She slid her fingertips along Garrison’s jaw. “Phase Two just began.”
He pulled her close. “Then we’ll write our own ending.”
She pressed her forehead to his. “Or burn trying.”
And the rain fell harder—like the world wept for what was to come.