Chapter 62 CHAPTER 62
Fire on the Mountain
The shrill ring of his phone cut through the air. Ares’ hand trembled as he snatched it off the table, his chest pounding before he even heard the words.
“They’re gone, sir,” came the strained voice of one of his men. “The kids. We searched everywhere. They’re not in the house.”
For a second, the ground fell away beneath him. He couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think. Just a roaring in his ears. His children. Gone.
Ares shot to his feet, the chair crashing back. He didn’t wait for explanations. He didn’t give orders. He simply ran out of the house, down the stairs, into the night like a man set on fire.
Across town, Marcus was already pacing. He stood in Lady Bianca’s luxurious parlor, his tall self casting a dark shadow across the candlelit room. She was sipping wine as though the world were hers to command.
“What have you done?” Marcus said, his voice low, dangerous. “Let me warn you, Bianca…leave Tessa and her children out of your madness.”
Lady Bianca arched one brow, unfazed. “Do you accuse me of kidnapping now? How amusing. You should know me better than that, Marcus. I don’t waste my time on children.”
Marcus stepped closer, his jaw hard. “Better for you. Because if I find out you had a hand in this…if a single hair on those children’s heads is harmed, you’ll pray for death before I’m finished with you.”
“You and Ares should stop wasting your energy on those bastards. They’re not even his kids.”
Her laugh was soft, taunting, but Marcus’ glare never wavered. He turned on his heel and left, leaving the taste of threat hanging in the air like smoke.
Tessa’s screams echoed through the walls, raw and heart shattering. She stumbled through the living room, knocking over lamps and picture frames, clawing at the cushions as if the children might be hiding underneath. Her eyes were wild, her face streaked with tears.
“My babies! Where are they?!” she wailed, her voice hoarse, breaking into sobs that shook her whole body.
Ayisha held her tightly from behind, trying to steady her, but Tessa thrashed like a woman possessed.
“Tessa, please,” Ayisha pleaded, her own tears falling. “We’ll find them. Ares’ men are already searching. Please, don’t break yourself like this.”
But Tessa only fell to her knees, clutching at the rug, rocking back and forth as if prayer could summon her children back. “They were here! They were right here, Ayisha! How could they vanish? How?!”
When the door burst open, Ares stood there, chest heaving, his face a storm of fury and despair. His gaze swept the room—saw Tessa collapsed, Ayisha holding her, the overturned furniture, the gaping emptiness where his children should have been.
Without a word, he crossed the space in three strides and dropped beside Tessa. She looked up, eyes swollen and red, and for the first time, she didn’t push him away. She collapsed against his chest, sobbing uncontrollably.
“They’re gone,” she gasped. “Ares, they’re gone!”
His arms tightened around her, pulling her as close as possible, as if holding her would stop the world from unraveling. His throat burned with words he couldn’t form. He wanted to promise her they’d be okay, that he’d bring them back tonight but the truth weighed like lead. He couldn’t promise what he didn’t know.
Instead, he pressed his lips against her hair and whispered, “I won’t rest until they’re back. My men are already out there, turning the city upside down. I swear, Tessa…we’ll find them.”
Hours passed. It was dusk now.
Ares refused to leave her side. When Tessa shook and screamed, he held her. When she tried to drown herself in glass after glass of wine, Ayisha begged her to stop, but it was Ares who gently took the bottle from her trembling hand, poured a measure into a glass, and sat with her as she drank.
Ayisha, exhausted, finally retreated upstairs to make calls and reach out to allies. The house fell into a strained silence, broken only by Tessa’s muffled sobs.
When she stumbled, Ares caught her. When she slurred, he listened. And when at last she swayed on her feet, drained of fight, he lifted her gently into his arms.
He carried her upstairs, every step heavy with the weight of grief. In her bedroom, he laid her carefully on the bed, smoothing the blankets over her. She clutched his hand like a lifeline, refusing to let go.
“Don’t leave me,” she whispered, her voice small, broken.
“I’m not going anywhere,” he murmured back, pulling a chair close to the bed. He stayed there, watching her, watching the rise and fall of her chest as she drifted between wakefulness and exhaustion.
When her eyes fluttered open again, tears glistening fresh, he leaned forward, brushing them away with the back of his hand.
“My men are out there,” he told her softly. “Every street, every corner, every eye is watching. We’ll find them, Tessa. But you need strength for when they come home. You need to breathe.”
Something in his voice was steady, resolute. It broke through the haze of despair clouding her. She sat up, her gaze locking on his.
“You promise me?” she whispered.
“I swear on my life,” he answered.
The air thickened between them. Tessa’s breath hitched, her fingers tightening around his. The wine made her bold, but the pain made her reckless. She needed comfort, she needed him and when he didn’t pull away, her lips found his.
It started as a desperate kiss, all salt and tears, but then his arms were around her, holding her with a tenderness that contradicted the storm raging inside him. He tried to resist, tried to tell himself this wasn’t the time, but the feel of her against him shattered every barrier he had built.
One thing led to another—her trembling hands tugging at his shirt, his mouth moving against her skin, their grief and desperation colliding in a fire neither could stop.
They made love as though it was their last night on earth. A storm of passion and sorrow, of anger and need. Tessa clung to him like he was the only thing keeping her from falling apart. And in a way, he was.
Afterward, when silence fell and the room smelled of wine and desperation, Ares stayed. He pulled the blankets over them both, keeping her close as her breathing evened out. His eyes stayed open long into the night, fixed on the ceiling, mind racing with vengeance and determination.
He prayed that wherever their children were, they would survive until he could bring them home.