His Private Hell - Chapter 79: Chapter 79

The city had no stars that night—only the red glow of taillights and the flickering hum of secrets under skin. Eella sat motionless in the backseat of Garrison’s black Bentley, her hands clenched in her lap, heart drumming like a funeral march. Her silk blouse stuck to her skin in the summer heat, but she felt nothing. Just numb. Numb and burning.
He hadn’t spoken a word since they left Ally’s Inc.
Not since he dragged her out of the elevator.
Not since he whispered in her ear that someone had tried to access the thirty-third floor again.
Darcie’s floor.
Her grave.
Eella wasn’t stupid. That floor didn’t just hold Garrison’s sins—it breathed them. And someone was playing with matches again.
The car rolled to a smooth stop outside his penthouse. Eella stepped out without waiting for him, walking ahead, the click of her heels like defiance on marble. She knew he followed—he always did. Like a shadow with teeth.
Inside, silence. Cold, controlled, drowning in steel and glass. His world. His prison.
He pressed the door closed behind them, the lock clicking shut with a metallic thud that echoed in her bones.
“You said it was locked,” she whispered.
“It was,” Garrison said, voice jagged with fury barely restrained. “Until today.”
Eella turned to face him. “So who opened it?”
His eyes burned. “That’s what I intend to find out.”
Her breath hitched when he stepped closer, the air changing. Tighter. Charged. Dangerous. He was the storm before lightning, and she was standing barefoot in a puddle.
“Why does that floor still exist?” she asked, softer now.
Garrison’s jaw ticked. “Because I can’t erase her.”
“You mean Darcie?”
The name cracked something in him. He looked away—just for a moment. But it was enough. Enough to see that beneath the monster was a man clawing through memory, choking on regret.
“She was everything,” he said, voice low. “And I ruined her.”
Eella blinked. “Did you kill her?”
The silence that followed should have chilled her. It didn’t.
“No,” he said finally. “But I didn’t save her either.”
Her throat tightened. “You think someone’s trying to finish what she started?”
He didn’t answer. He didn’t have to. The idea had teeth—and it was already biting.
Garrison stepped closer, cupping her jaw. His thumb brushed her bottom lip, slow, possessive.
“I will burn this city down before I let them take you too.”
Her breath stuttered. “Then tell me everything.”
But instead, he kissed her.
Not gently.
Not tenderly.
It was violence laced with obsession. A raw, visceral need to mark her, to keep her, to erase the line between past and present with his tongue down her throat. Eella moaned into his mouth, clinging to his shirt, dizzy from the force of him.
His hands roamed—rough, fast, desperate.
She gasped as he spun her, pressing her against the cool glass of the window, twenty floors above the sleeping city.
“I can’t protect you if you keep asking questions,” he growled against her ear.
“I don’t want protection,” she rasped. “I want the truth.”
“You want me.”
And then his mouth was on her neck, dragging fire down her spine.
Clothes tore. Buttons flew.
He knelt behind her, fingers cruel and knowing, stroking her until her knees buckled and her breath shattered. He made her feel like the only real thing in a world built of lies.
She came with a cry that wasn’t her name. It was his.
And he didn’t stop there.
He lifted her, carried her to the marble table in the center of the penthouse—cold, unforgiving, perfect.
He took her there, eyes locked on hers, as if he were trying to pin her soul in place. Her thighs trembled. Her mouth opened in a scream she barely recognized. Every thrust was a confession. Every gasp, a punishment.
“You’re mine,” he growled, fisting her hair. “Say it.”
“I’m yours,” she choked, and hated how much she meant it.
They collapsed, tangled in sweat and sin, hearts thundering in sync.
But Garrison didn’t sleep.
He stood at the window, staring down at the city like it owed him something. Like he’d already paid the price in blood—and wanted it back with interest.
Eella sat up, wrapping the silk sheet around her.
“Darcie tried to expose something, didn’t she?” she said quietly. “Something worse than you.”
Garrison turned, eyes hollow. “Worse than me doesn’t exist.”
“I don’t believe that.”
He stared at her for a long time, then said, “She found a file. Confidential. Buried. I don’t know how.”
“What was in it?”
Garrison hesitated. Then, “Records. Transactions. Names.”
Eella’s pulse jumped. “Names of who?”
“People Ally’s Inc paid off. People who disappeared. Women.”
Her blood ran cold.
“How many?”
“Too many.”
She stood, wrapping the sheet tighter. “So what did Darcie do?”
“She tried to leak it.”
“And?”
“She died before she could.”
Eella swallowed. “You think it was murder.”
“I know it was.”
A chill settled over the room.
“Who was she to you?” Eella asked.
Garrison looked like he’d been punched. “She was the only person who saw me.”
“And now?”
He stepped closer. “Now I see you.”
Eella’s eyes burned. “Then help me stop this. Expose them.”
He shook his head. “You don’t understand. You expose them, they don’t ruin you—they erase you.”
“Then let them try.”
She didn’t realize she was crying until his thumb brushed her cheek.
“Don’t become her,” he whispered. “I can’t lose you too.”
But she was already slipping through his fingers.
⸻
The next morning, Ally’s Inc was buzzing.
Security had tripled. The elevators to the 33rd floor were shut down entirely. The whispers were louder now, more frantic. And someone had leaked a single name to the press:
Darcie Cline.
Eella stood in front of the mirror in the executive washroom, adjusting her blouse. Her reflection looked calm. But inside, her mind was racing.
Darcie wasn’t just a secret.
She was a message.
Someone wanted her story out—and they were willing to kill for it.
When she exited the bathroom, Ronnie was waiting.
“We need to talk,” he said.
“About?”
“Garrison.”
Eella stiffened. “What about him?”
Ronnie leaned closer, lowering his voice. “He’s not who you think he is.”
Her jaw clenched. “No one is.”
“I saw something. Last week. He was in the vault.”
“The vault’s restricted.”
“I know. That’s why it was weird. He was burning files. I saw your name on one.”
Her blood turned to ice. “That’s not possible.”
Ronnie’s eyes were dark. “You think he’s protecting you. But what if he’s preparing to bury you too?”
⸻
Eella confronted Garrison that night.
“Why was my file in the vault?” she demanded.
He didn’t flinch. “Because I made sure it was.”
“You said you were protecting me.”
“I am.”
“By burning records with my name on them?”
“They weren’t just records. They were insurance policies.”
“For who?”
“For everyone who’d ever touched this scandal—including you.”
Her voice broke. “You think I’m disposable?”
“I think you’re in danger.”
“From who?”
He didn’t answer.
“You keep pulling me in,” she said, stepping closer, “but you won’t let me breathe.”
He gripped her chin. “Because I can’t survive you leaving.”
“Then tell me the truth!”
He stared at her. “Darcie wasn’t just my assistant. She was pregnant.”
The words hit like a grenade.
Eella staggered back. “What?”
“She was going to expose the company. She thought it would protect the baby.”
Eella covered her mouth.
“She was five months along when she fell from the 33rd floor.”
Tears welled in her eyes. “Oh my god…”
“I don’t know if it was suicide or murder,” he said, voice hollow. “But I do know the last message she sent was to me.”
He pulled out his phone. Showed her a text.
“They know. If I don’t make it out—burn everything.”
Eella stared at it.
“And now someone else knows,” Garrison said. “Someone who’s trying to finish what she started.”
“But who?”
He met her eyes. “Ronnie.”
Her mouth went dry.
“No,” she whispered. “He wouldn’t.”
“He’s been leaking information for weeks. He was working with Darcie. Now he wants to finish her work.”
“And you’ll stop him?”
Garrison stepped close.
“I’ll end him.”
⸻
Outside, the rain began to fall. The kind of rain that didn’t wash anything away—just made the blood soak deeper.
And somewhere beneath the city, a file uploaded to the dark web.
A single message flashed across the screen:
THEY LIED. SHE DIED. AND NOW THE FIRE BEGINS.