The Mute Bride Is The Secret Mastermind

The Mute Bride Is The Secret Mastermind

Jin Yi

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I was the titan of Wall Street until an indictment and an ankle monitor turned my penthouse into a gilded cage. To save face, I was forced into a marriage with Elza, a "mute" girl from the Schmidt family whom I treated as nothing more than a silent piece of furniture while my empire crumbled. The night I was poisoned at a high-society gala, a mysterious server in an oversized uniform saved my life with terrifying, clinical precision. They disappeared into the night, leaving me with a silver cufflink and a burning obsession to find the shadow who held my life in their hands. Back home, I took my frustration out on Elza, telling her she was "exhausting to look at" and "smelled like sickness" after her charity visits. Her own family treated her like a stray dog, trying to humiliate her at the next gala by dressing her in what they claimed was a cheap knockoff while whispering to the press that she was nothing but a high-end escort. "Stay out of my way," I would growl at her, never noticing the steel in her eyes. I sat at my table, watching my rivals' stocks plummet and wondering who "The Zero"-the legendary financial ghost-really was. I never suspected that the woman I ignored was the same one solving the equations that were currently burning Manhattan to the ground. The injustice peaked when Elza stood before the city's elite, not as a victim, but as a queen. She dropped over a hundred million dollars to buy back her family's legacy, revealing a secret fortune that made my own empire look like pocket change. As I grabbed her wrist and saw the small red mole hidden beneath her watch, the truth hit me like a physical blow. The silent wife I had despised was the savior I had been hunting, and she was finally done playing the victim. "We have a lot to talk about, wife," I whispered, realizing I had been sleeping next to the most dangerous woman in the world.

Chapter 1 1

The whiskey in the crystal tumbler looked like liquid amber, harmless and expensive. Barron Drake swirled it, watching the light catch the edges, his jaw set tight. He hated these people. He hated the way they smiled with their teeth but not their eyes, the way they shook his hand while calculating how much his upcoming indictment would cost them.

He took a sip.

It hit him before the liquor even reached his stomach. A numbness started in his fingertips, a distinct, prickly static that shouldn't be there. His pupils contracted, the room suddenly too bright, the chatter too loud.

Barron tried to set the glass down on the marble high-top table. His wrist refused to cooperate. The glass slipped, hitting the stone with a sharp clack that sounded like a gunshot in his heightened state.

Across the room, Clotilde Schmidt was clinking glasses with Preston Hayes. She wasn't looking at Preston. Her gaze was locked on Barron, and the corner of her mouth lifted in a smile that didn't reach her eyes.

He knew then. He had been dosed.

The faces around him began to warp, stretching into grotesque masks. Panic, cold and sharp, spiked in his chest. He had to move. He pushed off the table, his legs feeling like they were stuffed with wet cotton. Sweat broke out instantly, soaking his dress shirt under the tuxedo jacket.

He aimed for the side exit. Every step was a manual calculation. Left foot. Right foot. Don't fall.

He was going to crash into the champagne tower. He could see it coming, the inevitable disaster, but his brakes were cut.

A shadow detached itself from the periphery.

Someone in a service uniform that was two sizes too big slid into his path. They wore a low-brimmed cap and a plain black service mask that obscured their entire lower face. A tray was held steady in one hand, while a shoulder, surprisingly bony and hard, jammed into his chest, arresting his fall.

Barron slumped against the figure. He smelled cedar. Not the cloying floral scents of the debutantes, but something sharp, clean, and cold.

A gloved hand tapped twice, sharply, on his shoulder. A clear, urgent command without words. Then a voice whispered, low and distorted, almost mechanical, as if through a small device. "Left. Blind spot."

Barron tried to shove the person away. Get off me. But his arms hung like lead weights. He was dead weight, yet this small server was moving him with terrifying efficiency.

Clotilde's security detail was scanning the room. Their heads turned in unison, sharks smelling blood.

The server shoved Barron through a heavy service door. The noise of the gala cut off instantly, replaced by the hum of industrial refrigerators. The server locked the door.

Barron slid down the wall, his breath coming in ragged gasps. He reached out, his hand shaking violently, and grabbed the server's wrist.

"Who sent you?" he rasped.

The server didn't answer. She looked at his hand on her wrist like it was a piece of interesting trash. With a precise, clinical movement, she pressed her thumb into a nerve cluster on his forearm. His grip went slack instantly.

She hauled him up. She wasn't using strength; she was using leverage, shifting her center of gravity to support his bulk. They moved toward the freight elevator. She punched in a code-a long, complex string of numbers-without hesitating.

The elevator surged upward. Barron's head lolled back. His vision was a kaleidoscope of gray fabric and blurred lights. The only thing he could focus on was the server's ill-fitting sleeve riding up slightly, exposing the pale skin of her inner wrist and a small, red mole sitting starkly against it.

The doors opened to the penthouse. His penthouse. How did she have access?

She dragged him to the bathroom. The sound of running water filled his ears. Then, the shock.

Ice water.

She dumped him into the tub. The cold was a physical blow, a thousand needles piercing his skin. Barron roared, the sound tearing at his throat. He thrashed, water sloshing over the marble floor.

He reached out blindly, grabbing her collar. He yanked.

She fell forward, half her body splashing into the freezing water. She was close now. Inches away. Barron could feel her breath on his face. He fought to focus his eyes, desperate to see the face under the low-brimmed cap and behind the mask.

"Look at me," he growled, the drug making his voice thick.

She didn't blink. Her eyes were dark, devoid of fear. She raised a hand and pressed two fingers against the pulse point on his neck, checking his heart rate.

The cold was working. The hallucinations were receding, leaving behind a throbbing headache. He stared at her, trying to memorize the shape of her jaw, the curve of her lip, but the mask and shadows made it impossible.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

"Mr. Drake? Barron? We have the perimeter secured!" Arthur's voice boomed from the hallway.

The server moved. She shoved Barron back against the porcelain, hard. Her uniform was soaked, clinging to her frame. She scrambled backward, water dripping from the brim of her cap.

Barron lunged. His fingers brushed her sleeve. He caught something-metal, small-and pulled.

There was a snap of thread.

She was gone. She didn't run; she vanished, slipping out the balcony door and over the railing to the fire escape with the agility of a stray cat.

Barron sat in the freezing water, shivering violently. He opened his hand.

In his palm lay a silver cufflink. Unique. Hand-forged.

He closed his fist around it, the metal biting into his skin. He didn't know who she was, but he was going to find her.

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