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CHAPTER 130

BETHANY'S POV

I watched as Damien stormed around the living room, his phone pressed to his ear, jaw clenched so tight I could see the strain in his face. It had been hours since the last message from Zara’s captors—a message that offered nothing but instructions and an ominous threat. I could feel the walls closing in around me, the weight of fear pressing down on my chest. And every time I looked at Damien, I saw the same fear reflected in his eyes, though he hid it beneath layers of controlled fury.

“Come on, Vivian. Answer the damn phone,” he muttered, his voice barely above a whisper as he paced back and forth.

He’d called her a dozen times, but she hadn’t picked up. And with every unanswered call, his frustration grew, the tension in his posture coiling tighter and tighter. I could sense the desperation in his movements, the relentless need to get through to her, to confront her, to find out why she’d do something so cruel.

“Maybe she’s ignoring you on purpose,” I said softly, though the suggestion only made his expression harden further.

“Of course she is. She knows exactly what she’s doing.” Damien’s grip tightened around his phone, his knuckles white. “She’s probably enjoying every minute of this—knowing she has all the control, that she has Zara and we’re stuck here, powerless.”

I bit my lip, guilt gnawing at me with every word he spoke. I wanted to tell him the truth—about Zara, about the secret I’d kept all these years—but fear held me back. I’d always thought I was protecting her, protecting him. But now, it seemed I’d only made things worse.

Taking a deep breath, I forced myself to speak, my voice barely above a whisper. “Damien… there’s something you need to know.”

He stopped pacing, turning to look at me, his brows furrowing in confusion. “What is it, Bethany?”

I hesitated, feeling the weight of the truth settle over me, heavier than I’d ever imagined. But this was the moment—the moment to finally let him in, to give him the truth he deserved. If Zara’s life was on the line, he had a right to know.

“Damien… Zara is your daughter.”

The silence that followed was deafening. Damien stared at me, his eyes widening as he processed my words, his confusion turning to shock, then something deeper—an emotion I couldn’t quite place.

“What… what are you saying?” His voice was barely a whisper, his gaze locked on mine.

I swallowed hard, feeling my heart pound as I forced myself to continue. “Zara… she’s your daughter, Damien. I… I never told you because I thought it was best to keep it quiet. But you deserve to know the truth, especially now.”

He took a step back, his face a mix of disbelief and anger. “All this time… and you never told me?”

“I was scared,” I admitted, my voice breaking. “I didn’t want to disrupt your life. And I thought… I thought I was doing what was best for her, for you. I thought I was protecting everyone.”

Damien’s expression hardened, the anger now unmistakable. “Protecting us? You kept my daughter from me, Bethany. Do you have any idea what that means? Do you know what you’ve done?”

The guilt I’d been carrying all these years weighed on me, crushing me as his words struck home. I nodded, unable to find the words to defend myself, because I knew he was right. I’d made a choice, and now, Zara was paying the price.

“I thought I was doing the right thing,” I whispered, tears welling up in my eyes. “I didn’t want to complicate things, to hurt you. But now… now I realize I was wrong. I should have told you.”

Damien’s jaw clenched, his fists tightening at his sides as he fought to contain his anger. He turned away, taking a deep breath, his shoulders tense as he tried to process everything I’d just told him. I could see the pain in his eyes, the betrayal, and it cut through me like a knife.

When he finally spoke, his voice was low, strained. “I would have been there for her, Bethany. I would have been there for both of you. You had no right to keep her from me.”

“I know,” I said, my voice barely a whisper. “I’m sorry, Damien. I’m so, so sorry.”

He looked at me, his eyes filled with a mixture of anger and hurt. “Apologies won’t bring her back. If Vivian has her… if anything happens to her because of this…”

His words trailed off, the threat unspoken but clear. I could see the anguish in his face, the fear that mirrored my own. Zara was more than just a child we loved—she was a part of both of us, a bond that ran deeper than either of us had acknowledged until now.

Suddenly, his phone buzzed, the sound slicing through the tension between us. Damien glanced down at the screen, his expression shifting from anger to focus as he read the message.

“It’s from Vivian,” he said, his voice tense. He read the message out loud, his tone steady but filled with barely contained rage.

“Now that you know what’s at stake, maybe you’ll take me seriously. Zara is fine… for now. But you’ll follow every instruction I give if you want her to stay that way. No more police involvement, no outside interference. I’ll be in touch with further instructions soon.”

Damien’s hands shook as he lowered the phone, his jaw tight as he clenched his fists. “She’s playing games with us. She wants control, and she’s using Zara to get it.”

I felt a wave of nausea wash over me, the horror of our situation sinking in. Vivian wasn’t just out for revenge—she was playing with our lives, with Zara’s life, and there was nothing we could do but follow her twisted commands.

“We have to do something,” I said, my voice trembling. “We can’t just wait for her to tell us what to do. We have to find a way to get Zara back ourselves.”

Damien’s gaze hardened, a fierce determination flashing in his eyes. “We will. But we have to be smart. Vivian knows how to manipulate, how to get under our skin. If we rush into this, we could make things worse.”

I nodded, swallowing the fear that threatened to consume me. “You’re right. But… where do we start?”

He took a deep breath, his expression focused, calculating. “First, we gather every piece of information we have on Vivian—contacts, past addresses, anyone she might have worked with. If she’s hiding Zara somewhere, there has to be a pattern, a location she thinks we won’t look.”

I watched him, my heart pounding with a mixture of fear and hope. This was Damien at his best—focused, relentless, unwilling to back down. And despite the pain I’d caused him, despite the anger he still carried, I knew he would fight with everything he had to bring Zara home.

“I’ll start pulling records, messages, anything that might help,” I said, determined to help however I could. “There has to be something we missed, some detail that could lead us to her.”

As we worked side by side, a silent understanding grew between us. We might have made mistakes, kept secrets, hurt each other in ways that couldn’t be easily forgiven. But none of that mattered now. Zara was our only focus, our only priority. And together, we would stop at nothing to bring her back.

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The hours passed in a blur as Damien and I sifted through every detail, every possible lead. Old messages from Vivian, notes she’d sent, addresses she’d once used—each piece became part of a puzzle we couldn’t yet see clearly. But with every minute that passed, my hope wavered, the fear creeping back in as I imagined Zara, alone, wondering why we hadn’t come for her.

Damien must have sensed my growing despair, because he reached over, placing a hand on mine. “We’re going to find her, Bethany. I promise.”

I looked at him, feeling a mixture of gratitude and guilt. Despite everything I’d done, he was still here, still fighting for us, for Zara. And in that moment, I knew that no matter what happened, we would face it together.

As the first rays of dawn crept over the horizon, our search yielded a small glimmer of hope—an address, tucked away in the list of Vivian’s contacts, a place we hadn’t thought to check before. It was remote, isolated, far from the places we’d considered likely.

Damien’s eyes met mine, a fierce determination in his gaze. “This is it. This has to be it.”

Without a second thought, we grabbed our things, ready to face whatever awaited us. I didn’t know if Zara was there, or if Vivian was leading us into another trap. But as we left the house, one thing was clear: we wouldn’t stop until we had her back.

And this time, we were ready for anything.