Chapter 228
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AARON
Consciousness didn’t return gently.
It hit like a violent shove from underwater, dragging me up so fast the air scraped my throat.
My eyes snapped open.
Darkness.
Silence.
And an unfamiliar weight pressing against my skull.
For a long moment, I couldn’t move. Couldn’t think. My limbs felt submerged in concrete. My vision blurred and steadied in uneven waves. The ceiling swam. The shadows twisted. My heartbeat slammed against my ribs with an erratic, sluggish thud.
What… happened?
I tried to sit up.
My muscles didn’t obey.
A low sound tore out of me-half groan, half curse-as I forced my body upright, bracing a trembling hand against the mattress.
The room tilted to the left.
Then the right.
I blinked hard, trying to force my thoughts to stop sliding around like oil on water.
Focus.
Focus, dammit.
What-what time is it?
I reached toward the nightstand, knocking into the lamp before my fingers brushed the cold surface of my phone.
Black screen.
Dead or silenced. Couldn’t tell.
Next to it sat an empty glass.
My chest tightened.
A memory flickered, hazy and warped at the edges:
Venus.
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Standing in front of me.
Her hands trembling but trying not to show it.
Her eyes soft.
Distracted.
“Here,” she’d whispered. “Drink p>
And I drank.
I drank every drop.
Something cold and sharp slid down my spine.
No.
No, she wouldn’t—
I grabbed the glass.
Stared at it.
My stomach churned with something ugly. Something I didn’t have a name for.
The floor rolled again.
I pressed a hand hard against my forehead.
Why do I feel like-
The answer came like a gunshot cracking through the haze.
I’d been drugged.
No-
No, she would never-
She-
A wave of dizziness slammed into me, forcing me to grip the edge of the mattress until my knuckles whitened.
I forced myself to breathe.
Slow and controlled.
But my mind was already unraveling.
Venus.
The water.
Her apology.
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The softness in her voice.
The way she touched my face like she was memorizing the shape of it.
And then-
Darkness.
I swung my legs off the bed and almost face-planted onto the floor.
My body wasn’t mine yet. It felt borrowed. Heavy and wrong.
I pushed myself upright anyway.
My mouth was bone-dry.
Parched.
Like I’d swallowed sand.
I stumbled out of the room, using the wall to steady myself as the hallway pitched beneath my feet. The quiet of the house made everything louder-the sound of my breathing, the faint creak of the old floorboards, the thud of my pulse still lagging behind itself.
The kitchen light flickered on with a harsh glow when I hit the switch. I grabbed the nearest glass, filled it, and drank so fast a portion spilled down my chin.
I drank again.
And again.
My stomach cramped, but the cold water helped clear the fog just enough for the truth to start forming sharper edges,
Venus drugged me.
My own wife.
The woman I trusted with every exposed part of myself.
The woman who could wake me from nightmares with nothing but her voice.
The woman who-
God.
Why?
Where the hell did she go?
The question sliced through me, leaving everything inside me raw and exposed.
I set the glass down too hard and it cracked against the counter.
“Fuck p>
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I pressed both hands to the cool marble and lowered my head. Breathed. Forced oxygen past the tightness choking my chest.
Everything inside me was coiling into something dark.
Cold.
Primordial.
Something I hadn’t felt since I was a youth clawing my way out of Richard Sinclair’s shadow.
I pushed off the counter.
Room.
Phone.
Find her.
My steps steadied as adrenaline shoved the drug-induced fog into the background.
By the time I reached the bedroom again, I was functioning-barely, but enough.
I checked the clock.
2:04 a.m.
Four hours.
She’d been gone four hours.
The bed was cold on her side.
Her perfume lingered faintly in the air-sweet, warm, comforting—and it made my stomach twist into knots.
I picked up my phone.
Silenced.
Seven missed calls from Connor.
Four from Colton.
Two from Dorian.
Five from a blocked law enforcement line.
Another from the federal agent assigned to Iris’s case.
I stared at all of it, not seeing anything.
Venus was gone.
Where did she go?
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Why would she leave while I was unconscious?
Why would she drug me?
Why did she need me out of her way?
“No,” I muttered aloud, pacing the room.
My hand grabbed my hair, yanking.
“She wouldn’t-she wouldn’t do this. She wouldn’t-she wouldn’t leave unless she had to p>
Something in my chest cracked.
A small, sharp fracture that hurt more than any physical blow ever had.
I checked the closet.
Her coat was missing.
Her boots.
And car keys gone from the hook.
Jesus Christ.
My pulse hammered.
I moved fast now-room to room, checking, searching, hoping—
I stopped outside the kids’ room.
The door creaked when I pushed it open slightly.
George was curled on his stomach, one arm thrown over his stuffed lion.
Sabine had rolled off her blanket onto the rug, thumb in her mouth, breathing softly.
They were safe.
But their mother-
I closed the door gently.
Then I went still.
Not because I calmed.
But because the weight of what Venus had done hit me all over again—
She drugged me. Left me unconscious. Left our children asleep and unattended. And disappeared into the night
while we still had no word on Iris.
The betrayal pressed against my ribs like a blunt knife. 1
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I breathed out through my teeth.
I called Connor.
He answered on the second ring, breath ragged.
“Where the fuck did you drop your phone, man? We found another lead-the guy Derrane met at the hotel. Colton’s questioning him right now and p>
“Connor p>
He stopped.
The word had come out wrong-hoarse, strained, shaking in a way I didn’t want to acknowledge.
I pressed my fingers to my temple.
A sharp sting pulsed behind my eyes-aftereffects of the pill.
“I can’t find Venus p>
Silence.
Then:
“What do you mean you can’t find Venus? Where the hell are you p>
“At my mother’s. She-” My throat closed. I forced the words out. “I woke up in bed. Drugged. She’s gone p>
“What p>
“I said “my voice cracked, and I swallowed against the rawness. “She drugged me, Connor. She drugged me and left p>
Connor cursed so violently I had to pull the phone from my ear.
Then:
“Why would she p>
“I don’t know p>
It tore out of me.
“I don’t know. I don’t p>
Another sting behind my eyes.
The headache was getting worse.
Connor’s tone snapped into command, sharp and controlled.
“Alright. We find her first. Don’t jump to conclusions. Colton was supposed to be there over an hour ago, I don’t know why he isn’t there and he’s not picking up his calls either. Stay exactly where you are, I’m coming p>
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The call ended.
I let my hand fall to my side.
The house was too quiet.
Every second felt like another mile she’d put between us.
I walked slowly to the porch.
Something heavy settled in my chest-fear or anger or both, tangled into something I didn’t know how to unravel.
I pulled the door open.
Cold night air spilled in, sharp against my overheated skin.
And there she was.
Venus.
Standing several steps away in the driveway’s shadows.
No-
Not standing.
Staggering.
Her silhouette swayed like her knees could give out any second.
Her hair was a mess, wind-tangled.
Her jacket hung crooked off one shoulder.
Her breathing was audible even from where I stood-shallow, shaky, desperate.
My heart stopped.
“Venus p>
My voice was low.
Cautious.
Broken.
She looked up.
Her eyes-God.
They were ruined.
Red.
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Wet.
Haunted.
And she stumbled toward me like a woman fleeing a battlefield.
“Aaron p>
Her voice cracked halfway through my name and she swayed again, her hand reaching for me instinctively.
I stepped forward on pure reflex.
The porch light washed over her face.
Terror, pain and guilt were all carved into her features like fresh wounds.
She looked like she’d been running from something that wanted to devour her whole.
Like something had shattered inside her and it was was still breaking.
“Venus-what the hell-what happened to you p>
But she didn’t answer.
She just kept coming.
Kept stumbling.
Until she finally collapsed into my arms.
And the world snapped around us.
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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.