Chapter 55
Amira narrowed her eyes, her voice rising to a shrill, defensive peak. “I don’t know what you’re talking about! I am Amara! I thought you were a gentleman, Julian, but I see now you’re just as stupid as Seb, no, worse! At least he never laid a hand on me p>
She wrenched her arm away, pointing a trembling finger at the door. “The engagement is off! Get out of my house! Do you hear me? This is my house p>
Julian’s gaze dropped to her hands. The custom diamond ring he had placed on Amara’s finger, the symbol of their quiet future, was gone. Her fingers were bare, save for the chipped nail polish from the night before.
He felt a wave of nausea. He wanted to shake the truth out of her, but he knew the law. Technically, she was in her family home, and he was the intruder. If he pushed too hard now, she would call the police, and his search for the real Amara would be delayed by a legal nightmare.
“Fine,” Julian said, his voice dropping to a low, vibrating hum of anger. “I’ll leave p>
He walked away without looking back. He knew Amira wouldn’t help him. She was enjoying the spoils of her sister’s life too much to let the perfect Amara come back and ruin it.
Julian sat in his car, slamming his fist against the steering wheel. His assistant sat in the passenger seat, tapping furiously on a laptop.
“Sir, we’ve checked every single property registered to Sebastian Creed, his mother, and the Creed Corporation,” the assistant said, his face pale. “We’ve sent teams to the beach house, the mountain cabin, and the city penthouse. They’re all empty. Seb hasn’t been seen at any of them p>
“He’s smarter than that,” Julian hissed. “He knows I’d check the official records. He’s using something off the books. Something from before the Creed Empire grew or something bought under a shell company p>
Julian closed his eyes, trying to think like a man who had lost his mind. Seb wasn’t just hiding; he was trying to recreate a past that didn’t exist.
“Check the foreign investments,” Julian ordered. “Look for any private villas or land transfers in the last seven years that were settled in cash or under his mother’s maiden name or Amara’s p>
The assistant’s fingers flew across the keys. “Searching… Wait. There’s a private estate in a remote coastal region of Vinora. It was purchased 7 years ago, the year he proposed to Amara. It’s registered under an offshore trust called ’My Amara p>
Julian’s eyes snapped open. “My Amara. He thinks this is love or a carefully sick obsession. This guy is sick. If Amara is with him, I need to find her. I should have known such devotion towards her was nothing but an obsession p>
“Get the jet ready,” Julian commanded, his face hardening into a mask of pure lethality. “And call my security team. We aren’t going there to negotiate p>
Back at the villa, the sun was beginning to set, casting long, orange shadows across the room filled with lilies. Sebastian stood outside Amara’s door, holding a tray with a fresh bowl of pasta.
“Amara?” he called out softly. “It’s dinner time. I used the vintage wine you like for the sauce. Can I come in p>
Silence.
“Amara, don’t be like this. I’m doing this for us p>
He slowly turned the key and pushed the door open. The room was dark, the curtains billowing in the sea breeze. The bed was empty.
His heart plummeted. “Amara p>
He rushed to the balcony, only to see a bedsheet tied to the railing, swaying in the wind. Amara was gone, vanished into the rocky, unfamiliar terrain of the cliffs.
“AMARA!” Seb’s scream ripped through the quiet evening, his patient facade finally shattering into a thousand jagged pieces.
Amara’s feet had barely touched the jagged rocks of the cliffside before the shadows moved. She hadn’t realized that Seb’s quiet villa was actually a fortress. Before she could take another breath of freedom, a guard intercepted her, a cloth pressed to her face.
By the time Seb arrived, breathless and panicked, Amara was a limp weight in the guard’s arms.
“How dare you touch her!” Seb roared, his eyes flashing with a possessive fire. He snatched her away, cradling her head against his chest as if he were her savior and not her captor.
“Sir, as you ordered,” the guard stammered, backing away. “We put her to sleep to prevent her from hurting herself on the cliffs p>
Seb looked down at Amara’s pale face, his expression softening into something sickly sweet. “Oh, my dear… it seems you don’t like it here anymore. That’s fine. We will go elsewhere. Somewhere even more private. Somewhere no one can ever find us p>
He didn’t waste a second. “Get the private jet ready. Now p>
The roar of the jet’s engines was still echoing in the valley when a fleet of black SUVs screeched to a halt in front of the villa. Jullian leaped out before the car had even fully stopped, his gun drawn, his face a mask of cold fury.
He kicked the front doors open, his men swarming the house. “Amara! Amara p>
But the villa was a ghost. The scent of white lilies still hung heavy in the air, and a half-eaten bowl of pasta sat cold on the table. Julian rushed to the balcony, just in time to see the small lights of a plane disappearing into the clouds over the Mediterranean.
“NO!” Julian’s scream ripped through the empty house. He slammed his fist into the stone railing, drawing blood. He had been so close, only minutes away, and now she was gone again, lost in the vastness of the sky with a man who was losing his mind.
“Sir,” his assistant whispered, coming up behind him. “The flight plan was scrubbed. They’re flying dark. We’ve lost their signal p>
Jullian turned, his eyes glowing with a lethal, quiet promise. “He can fly to the ends of the earth. I don’t care. Tell the hackers to track every satellite in this hemisphere. If he lands, I want to know before his wheels touch the tarmac. “