Chapter 124
Chapter 124
AARON
The second time her voice came through the phone, it tore me apart and stitched me back together in the same breath.
“Hello p>
“Aaron?” A sob ripped out of her, weak and broken. “Aaron, oh my God p>
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“Venus?” My voice cracked, a sound I didn’t know I could make. My hand clenched around the phone so hard my knuckles turned white. “Oh my God, Venus? Where are you? Who’s with you? Talk to me, baby. Please, talk to me p>
“I don’t know,” she cried, words tumbling out in jagged pieces. “I don’t know where I am-Gerald, he-he took me, he-” She sounded shattered, barely holding on, and I swear the world tilted off its axis.
And then chaos erupted on her end-a scuffle, a muffled cry-and the line went dead.
The silence that followed wasn’t silence at all. It was the sound of my own pulse exploding in my ears. It was a thousand knives carving rage and fear into my bones.
When I looked up, every eye in the room was on me. Connor. Sabine. My mother. They’d all heard it. They’d all heard her.
“She’s alive.” My voice came out a snarl, sharp and shaking. “She’s alive, and that bastard’s with her p>
Sabine was already barking orders, relaying details to our private security team. I gave her the number, my voice clipped and lethal. Within minutes, our people were on-site like they’d been waiting for this moment. The trace had already started.
Rick’s voice cut in, calm but urgent. “Signal’s weak, bouncing off a bad tower, but we’ve got a direction p>
“How long?” Connor demanded, already tugging on his jacket and sliding a gun into his holster.
“Forty miles out. Dense woods. Drone feed’s patchy, but I can narrow it to a one-mile radius in ten minutes p>
“Ten minutes is too long,” I growled, pacing like a caged animal ready to kill. My heart was a drumbeat of fury and desperation. “We move now. We follow the trail while it’s hot, and we burn that forest to the ground if we have to p>
Connor didn’t argue. Sabine sent coordinates to the convoy, her face pale but focused. My mother touched my arm softly, lips trembling as if to speak, but I couldn’t hear anything except Venus’ voice echoing in my skull. Aaron? That raw terror. That sob.
I swear to God, if Gerald had even breathed wrong in her direction, I was going to erase him so thoroughly history would forget his name.
20:29 Wed, Jan 14 M p>
Chapter 124
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We tore out of the city like devils unleashed, the convoy eating up the night. Every bump in the road, every mile that passed, was another knife in my gut. We should’ve been there already. We should’ve had her back weeks ago.
Not this time.
This time, I was bringing my wife home or I was dying in that forest trying.
Drones were already ahead, low and silent over the trees, feeding intel into my earpiece as Sabine tracked them. The location narrowed further as we drove, until finally, we were close enough to abandon the cars and go on foot.
“Remember,” I said, my voice low but lethal, “we don’t stop. We don’t talk. We don’t breathe until we’ve got eyes on her. Clear p>
The men nodded, grim-faced, ready to follow me straight into hell.
We split up: Connor veered west with two men, Rick took another team east. Sabine tried to follow, but one look from me had her backing off. I couldn’t be worried about Venus and her at the same time.
Colton showed up too, joining us on-site, his face set like stone.
I cut straight into the forest, branches snapping under my boots, the night thick and suffocating around me.
Every step was a prayer and a curse rolled into one.
Every second without her voice was agony.
And then I saw it.
A cottage.
Small, tucked deep into the trees, almost swallowed whole by the dark.
My gun was in my hand before I even realized I’d drawn it. I approached slowly but deliberately, eyes sweeping for movement. Nothing. No lights. No sound.
The front door creaked when I pushed it open.
The smell hit first. Stale air, faint lavender undercut by something sharper fear and despair, the same scent that had haunted me from the last cabin.
I moved room to room, fast but thorough. Signs of recent use were everywhere: a half-empty water bottle, a plate with crumbs, a blanket tossed on the couch. But no people. No Venus.
My chest tightened, rage rising hot and fast. I slammed a fist into the doorway hard enough to crack the wood.
He had her here. He had her here, and I was late. Again.
But this time… this time there were tracks.
20:29 Wed, Jan 14 M…
Chapter 124
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I stepped outside, scanning the ground like a predator closing in on prey. That’s when I saw it—a shovel lying crooked near the treeline, dirt clinging wet to the metal. Nearby, the earth was disturbed, darker than the surrounding ground, a crude mound like a wound in the forest floor.
Freshly dug.
My blood ran ice cold, then boiled over.
“No,” I muttered, already dropping to my knees, clawing at the dirt with my bare hands before I even reached for the shovel. “No, no, no p>
I dug like a madman, the shovel biting into the earth, throwing soil over my shoulder in frantic arcs. My hands burned, my breath came ragged, every second screaming that I might already be too late.
“Sinclair!” Colton’s voice cut through the trees as he approached fast. He skidded to a halt when he saw me. “What the hell p>
“Help me!” I roared, not looking up, not stopping. “Now p>
He took one look at the mound, at my face, and dropped beside me without another word. We dug together, dirt flying, sweat mixing with fear and fury.
Minutes stretched into eternity, the ground slowly giving way under our assault, until finally-finally-the shovel hit wood with a hollow, chilling thud.
I froze, my heart stopping, my hands trembling violently.
Colton’s face was grim as he brushed away the last of the soil, revealing the edge of a crude wooden casket.
And in that moment, every nightmare I’d had for two months bared its teeth and came to life.
My breath shattered out of me, my hands hovering over the box but not opening it yet, terrified of what I’d find.
Because this could be the moment I got my wife back…
Or the moment the world truly ended for me.
And as the forest held its breath around us, I knew only one thing for certain,
Gerald Marlowe was already a dead man walking.
20:29 Wed, Jan 14 M p>
Ruby Walker
Ruby Walker is a rising voice in the world of romance and spicy fiction. With a gift for weaving deep emotions, sizzling chemistry, and unexpected twists, her stories are a blend of passion and drama that captivate readers from start to finish. Ruby’s writing style is bold and irresistible—perfect for those who crave intense, addictive love stories.