Chapter 30

Ethan’s POV

“Are you sure?”

“I’m afraid, yes.” Owen murmured. “They searched the entire apartment. They couldn’t find even a trace of her.”

It was like the anger was just choking me from inside. I suddenly felt my clothes tighten, triggering the urge to rip them apart.

“She said she would not step out of the house,” I said in a cold voice, almost accusing Owen.

His face remained unchanged. “She left, Ethan. She probably went to him.”

I threw him a murderous glare.

“That came out wrong.” He said before my hand could punch him on the face. “All I’m saying is, maybe she thought she could handle the problem on her own. Maybe she just gave in to his demands to save the girls.”

I groaned in anger and broke the first thing that came to my hands. “Why did she do it?! How could she just trust him like that!”

“Ethan, there is absolutely no point in breaking things like that. What we have to be worrying about is how to get her safe!”

“Now it makes sense.” I said. “Now I know how Jake let one of the girls go. Maybe that’s what Skylar wanted in return to give in to his demands.”

“Probably.” He said. “But it’s not too late. We should be on our way to stop him.”

“No, Owen.” I said, eyeing him with a serious look. “I have a better plan.”

***

Skylar’s POV

“You promised you will let her go.” I looked at Jake, accusing him for not staying up to his words.

“And you promised you will not let anyone know about it.” He glared back, clutching his phone in anger.

“I never told anyone. What am I supposed to do if they figure things out on their own? I did what you asked me to do. I’m here. Now you need to let her go.” I said, folding my hands at my chest.

He gave me one last look before dialing something on his phone. “Yeah. Drop that girl off.”

He cut the call without listening to the other person on the phone and looked at me. “She will be there in a few minutes.”

I nodded. “Good.”

He later gestured for all of his men to move out of the room. All the confidence or strength I had until now almost vanished into the air when the men, one by one, left the room, leaving just the both of us behind. The door was locked, showing almost no way that I could use to escape from him.

Instances of the earlier part of the day replayed in my mind. I remembered how I left our house and gave into his demands. How his men caught hold of me in the middle of the street and pushed me into their car. I remember the dust of the old vehicle we travelled in, their threatening words about how they’d not think even for a second to snap Mila’s neck if I don’t cooperate with them.

Above all, Ethan’s words rang in my ears. I could still sense the worry in his voice, the concern in his tone and how stressed he was to handle everything. A part of me still regrets not believing in him to make things right, but the other part me knows why I had to take the call. If, unfortunately, one of the girls had gotten hurt before Ethan got to them, I would never find it possible to forgive myself for it.

At that point, I didn’t know if it was a sane decision. All I could think of was how this wouldn’t have happened if I weren’t involved in the first place. If something were to happen to me, then I think it will all be fair. But the fear in me rose, although a million thoughts of strength tried to suppress it.

“You don’t look that adamant and confident anymore.” He pointed out, slowing trailing his path towards me. “Don’t you have anything to say?”

I gulped down in fear, trying my best to not show him how scared I am beneath the disguise. “I don’t want to talk to you.”

“Oh, that is fine. You don’t have to talk to me, sweetheart.” He said. “What will be the whole point of bringing you here if I don’t succumb to your demands?”

His hands slowly reached up to my shoulders. “You don’t have to say anything. Just let me-”

“Stop.” I said, pushing his hands away. “What are you even trying to do?”

“Oh, just finishing what I left.” He said, making his way to me again. This time, he made sure he held my hands in place. His knees where now between mine, making me sessile within his trap.

“Jake, let go off me now!”

He didn’t listen. Instead, his hands reached the sleeves of my dress and he pulled them down without any effort. I used my entire strength to push him away from me.

To my surprise, he stumbled back and fell to the ground. I took the chance and ran past him. I quickly opened the window and jumped out of it.

I didn’t care if I was in the fifth floor or in first, all I could think of was how I could get away from him as soon as possible. To my luck, I landed on the ground fine, making me realize that the window just connected to adjacent room. I locked the window behind me and ran the other away.

I could hear Jake throwing orders to his men, and the sound of the pounding footsteps, I could sense that they were already behind me. I ran down the stairs as they chased me from behind and picked a vase in between and threw it at one of the men.

To my dismay, it did no help, instead, it brought them closer to me. I ran as hard as I could and disappeared into one of the rooms. I hid behind a pillar, the corner of my eyes searching for the men.

My breathing was harsh, vigorous and almost racing. I could hear my heart thumping in my chest, ready to explode. My eyes searched for a way that would let me out of this house. There was a huge shelf of rack, filled with a lot of old books. On the other side was a huge glass window, that was perfectly sealed and allowed absolutely no space for passing over.

Since I couldn’t turn my head and inspect where the men were, I restricted my senses to my ears and strained them to follow their movement. When I couldn’t hear any voice close to me, I took a sigh of relief, which was when a hand clamped across my mouth tightly.

I widened my hands and kicked them from behind, but the person was too strong. I heard them asking me to calm down in an instant I turned around to look at them.

It was all dark and I could barely spot the standing figure.

“Skylar, it’s me.” Ethan’s voice rang in my ears.

“Ethan.” I said breathless.

The next second, I fell into his arms. He picked my face up and I felt him brush his lips against mine. Tears ran out of my eyes continuously as I clung onto him.

“How are. what are you doing- how did you get here?” I asked him.

“I can’t tell you that right now. We need to go-”

“She’s here!!!” I heard one of the men yell from behind us. “He’s with her!”

I could barely take in some air before Ethan pulled my hand. I sensed him pull out a gun and point it to my head. I widened my eyes in disbelief. What is he up to?

“Drop your gun, or she is dead.” I heard him.

For a second I wonder if I was truly in the hands of my husband or not. Is he threatening to kill me?

“Are you stupid? They know you’ll never kill me.” I mumbled.

His grip on me tightened when they didn’t succumb to his demands. He pinched my shoulder as he held his forearm against my neck, making me groan in pain. Listening to this, the men dropped then guns.

“They don’t know who I am,” Ethan whispered into my ears. “I have a mask on.”

“What?” I said. “How did you kiss me then?”

“I will explain later.” He said and pulled me with him.

I moved, pretending to follow his orders. I wonder where Jake is.

When we were finally out of the deranged house, I spotted a white car waiting for us outside. Inside it was Owen.

When we finally reached it, I turned around and pulled the mask from Ethan face. His hair flew with the cold wind as soon as it was free. A small smile of relief formed on my face when I could finally touch his face with my palms.

“We need to hurry.” I heard Owen’s annoying voice calling us.

“He’s right.” Ethan cupped my face when he noticed the unpleasant frown on my face. “We should go, we don’t know when- Arghhh”

The next thing I knew, Ethan almost collapsed onto the ground.

“Ethan!!” I shrieked in horror and fell to the ground with him. He lay there, groaning in pain while I still tried to figure out what happen. It was only after a while that I realized that there was blood oozing out of his arm.

“I’m fine. I didn’t get shot, don’t worry.” He said.

I followed my gaze up and found Jake, holding a gun in his hand. Owen was by my side in a second and he helped Ethan get up. He aimed at Ethan but just missed it. But where was the blood coming from? Then I realized that Ethan had a cut on his hand.

“The fucker tried to shoot him.” He said. “We need to go! Right now.”

I couldn’t move from my place. The scene that unfolded before me just seconds ago was just too over whelming. Just before I could stand, I watched Jake position the gun once more and aim at Ethan. Ethan was being carried by Owen to the car.

Jake’s eyes were fixed on Ethan and I could see how his fingers edged to the shoot him. My jaw dropped to the ground in surprise as my eyes widened. Before the bullet could hit him in the chest, I got up and flung myself over him.

A sharp pain shot up my back, almost making me drop to my knees. My back stung nowhere in particular, but just made my entire body succumb to the pain. Before I realized, I already fell to the ground, with a cry of worry following later.

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