Chapter 97 One week gone

Chapter 97 One week gone
Chapter 97: One Week Gone

The mansion had never been this loud. Not with music. Not with laughter. Not even with arguments.

This noise was sharp, invasive, relentless. Voices overlapped outside the iron gates, microphones shoved forward, cameras clicking endlessly as though the flashes could summon Audrey back from wherever she had vanished to.

Seven days.

One week since Audrey had disappeared without a trace.

Inside the mansion, Yvonne was breaking.

She sat on the edge of her bed, knees pulled to her chest, her sobs tearing through the silence of the room like something feral. Her eyes were swollen, her face blotchy, her voice hoarse from crying until her throat burned.

“Where is she?” Yvonne cried again, her hands clenching the sheets. “Where is Audrey? Where is my sister?”

No one answered.

Her maid stood frozen near the door, helpless, eyes full of pity. “Madam… please try to drink some water.”

“I don’t want water!” Yvonne screamed, sweeping the glass off the bedside table. It shattered against the floor. “I want Audrey!”

She buried her face in her palms, shaking violently. “She wouldn’t just leave. She wouldn’t.”

Downstairs, chaos brewed.

The gates were lined with reporters, men and women in tailored suits and rumpled shirts, voices sharp with curiosity disguised as concern.

“Mr. Whitmore! Is it true your wife has been missing for a week?”

“Is Audrey Whitmore missing?”

“Was there trouble in the marriage?”

“Did she run away?”

“Is the family hiding something?”

The questions came like bullets.

Tennessee stood at the front of it all, jaw tight, shoulders squared, his voice cutting through the noise as he tried to maintain control.

“Step back,” he ordered. “This is private property.”

A reporter pushed forward. “Sir, is Audrey alive?”

Tennessee’s eyes flashed. “That question is out of line.”

“So you won’t deny she’s missing?” another voice shouted.

“I said step back!” Tennessee snapped.

Security moved in tighter, trying to hold the line as the reporters surged forward again.

Inside the mansion, Izo heard everything. Every word. Every accusation. Every whisper of doubt.

He stood at the bottom of the staircase, his hand gripping the banister, his chest rising unevenly. His body was still recovering, still weak, but his mind was racing. 

“She’s here,” he muttered to himself. “She has to be.”

Gwen stood a few steps away, pacing back and forth like a trapped animal. Her earlier composure had long since cracked. She pressed her fingers into her temples, her heels clicking sharply against the marble floor.

“They’re saying she’s missing,” Gwen said, her voice strained. “They’re saying it on television. Everywhere.”

Izo didn’t look at her. “They can say whatever they want.”

“Dad,” Gwen insisted, stopping in front of him. “This is getting out of hand. It’s been a week.”

Izo’s eyes lifted slowly. “Don’t measure Audrey by time.”

Gwen swallowed. “What does that even mean?”

“It means she didn’t disappear,” Izo replied. “Someone took her.” 

A sharp knock echoed from the front door.

“Sir,” one of the staff said nervously, “the press is demanding a statement.”

Izo closed his eyes briefly. His head throbbed, his strength wavering. The noise outside felt like a physical assault.

“I’m not giving them anything,” he said.

Another shout rose from outside. “Izo! Is your wife dead?”

That did it.

Izo’s grip tightened on the banister. His breath hitched.

Gwen rushed to his side. “Dad, you shouldn’t be down here. The doctors said…”

“I will not hide,” Izo snapped, then paused, dizzy. His hand slipped slightly.

Gwen caught his arm instinctively. “You need to sit down.”

“No,” he said firmly. “I need to go upstairs.”

She frowned. “Why upstairs?”

“Because I won’t let them see me like this,” he replied. “And I won’t give them the satisfaction of watching me break.”

The shouting outside grew louder.

Tennessee’s voice cut through it again. “Back up! Or I will have you removed!”

Izo straightened, forcing strength into his spine, and began climbing the stairs slowly, one step at a time. Each movement cost him, but he didn’t stop.

Gwen followed closely, her worry now genuine, raw. “You’re pushing yourself too hard.”

“She would,” Izo replied quietly. “If it were me missing.”

That silenced her.

Upstairs, Yvonne’s cries echoed faintly down the corridor.

“Where is she?” Yvonne sobbed again. “Please… someone tell me where she is.”

Izo paused outside Yvonne’s door. His hand hovered in the air before he knocked once.

Yvonne looked up sharply when the door opened. Her eyes landed on him, red and desperate.

“Izo,” she whispered, scrambling off the bed. “Have they found her?”

Izo shook his head slowly. Yvonne broke completely.

She collapsed to the floor, clutching the hem of his trousers. “She wouldn’t leave me. She promised me. She promised she wouldn’t leave.”

Izo’s chest tightened painfully.

“She didn’t,” he said firmly. “Whatever happened, Audrey didn’t leave.”

Yvonne looked up at him, tears streaming. “Then where is she?”

He had no answer.

Outside, the pressure mounted.

A reporter shouted, “Tennessee! Are you hiding Audrey?”

Tennessee turned sharply. “Watch your mouth.”

“Then tell us where she is!”

“If you don’t step back, I will shut this entire thing down,” Tennessee warned.

“And confirm she’s missing?” another reporter pressed.

Tennessee’s fists clenched. “I’ve said enough.”

Cameras flashed.

Inside, Gwen stood by a window upstairs, peering through the curtains. Her reflection stared back at her, eyes wide, face pale.

For the first time, fear truly settled in her chest.

What if Audrey isn’t coming back? Who even took her? 

She turned away abruptly, shaking her head. “No,” she muttered to herself. “She has to come back. My father needs her.”

She began pacing again, unable to stop. “This wasn’t supposed to happen,” she whispered. “This is too much.”

Downstairs, the door to the study slammed open as a senior aide rushed in. “Sir, the press is threatening to camp overnight.”

Izo sank into a chair, exhaustion finally catching up with him. “Let them.”

“They’re asking if we’re preparing a missing person report,” the aide added carefully.

Izo’s head snapped up. “No.”

The word echoed.

“We are not declaring my wife missing,” Izo said slowly. “Not until I say so.”

The aide hesitated. “Sir… with respect…”

“I said no.”

The aide bowed his head and backed away.

Outside, the crowd continued to buzz, speculation growing with every unanswered question.

Tennessee stepped back from the gates briefly, pulling out his phone. His jaw tightened as he stared at the screen.

“One week,” he muttered. “Where the hell are you, Audrey?”

He looked back at the mansion, dread settling deeper in his gut.

Inside, Yvonne lay curled on her bed again, crying softly now, exhaustion dulling the sharpness of her grief.

Gwen stood alone in the hallway, arms wrapped around herself, no longer pretending she wasn’t afraid.

And Izo sat in the quiet of his study upstairs, staring at the empty space where Audrey should have been, his heart heavy with a certainty he refused to voice aloud.

She was gone.