Chapter 21 She Really Knows How to Seduce
Isabella's body grew more rigid with each passing hour, her lips trembling uncontrollably.
Dawn broke, and William stood by the window. She hadn't come back.
At the office, Dylan briefed him on the day's schedule, but William barely listened.
Rain began to fall outside. A gust of cold wind swept through the room, raising goosebumps along William's neck.
Dylan hurried to close the window, remarking casually, "The forecast said temperatures would drop today. Wonder how Ms. Tudor's doing out in those woods."
He'd been the one to drive Isabella there yesterday.
He couldn't shake the feeling that she wasn't the shameless woman the video comments made her out to be—she'd looked more like someone with no choice.
William's gaze turned razor-sharp. "What, feeling sorry for her?"
Dylan lowered his eyes, not daring to say more.
Of course she could make people care. Even now, someone was worried about her.
"She's not an idiot. If she can't take it, she'll come back on her own."
The rain outside was coming down hard. Any rational person would find shelter.
He hadn't stopped her from coming home, so there was no need to pity her.
Isabella wasn't sure if she counted as rational anymore. She only knew she couldn't lose the one thing her grandmother had left her.
The rain blurred her vision. She wiped at her eyes again and again, but nothing could clear them.
Her body shook violently in the cold.
Her consciousness drifted as she mumbled, "So cold... Beatrice, I'm so cold. Can you come out and hold me?"
Isabella slumped to the ground. A pair of pale hands suddenly appeared before her.
"Isabella, are you cold? Come with me."
She jerked her head up. Beatrice was there.
She reached out eagerly, but Beatrice didn't take her hand. Instead, she turned and walked deeper into the woods.
"Beatrice! Beatrice, don't go..."
Isabella stumbled to her feet, her exhausted legs somehow finding the strength to run through the forest.
"Beatrice, wait for me! Don't go so fast, I can't keep up."
"Please, take me with you. I'll listen to everything you say. Just wait."
She crashed into tree trunks several times, her clothes tearing on branches. One shoe came off but she didn't stop, her bare foot stepping on sharp stones. She felt no pain—only the desperate need to catch that figure.
She was terrified that Beatrice might disappear again, that she'd lose her forever.
"You promised you wouldn't leave me. Stop running... I'm so tired, I can't catch up."
"I miss you so much... take me with you, take me with you..."
Isabella's voice grew weaker. Why couldn't Beatrice hear her?
Hours passed. The rain didn't let up—it only grew worse.
Rain lashed against the windows in the wind, leaving silver streaks down the glass.
The afternoon meeting dragged on endlessly. William's face showed nothing but irritation, his eyes constantly flicking to his phone.
Three o'clock. Still no messages.
Dylan wasn't sure if he was imagining it, but he thought he saw a flicker of concern in William's eyes.
The hospital called. Isabella had missed her scheduled wound dressing yesterday. They reminded him her back injury was serious and couldn't withstand any more trauma. The burns were complicated—if they got infected, they could be life-threatening.
William shot to his feet. "Get to the woods. Now."
When they reached the forest, the two guards were sitting in their car sheltering from the rain. Seeing William, they scrambled out without even grabbing an umbrella.
"Mr. Spencer!"
"Where is she?"
The guard answered, "We saw her searching up ahead this morning."
That idiot. She'd actually been looking for two days straight. Couldn't she just leave when she didn't find it?
"Go find her."
The guards looked at the soaked forest, where every step sank into mud. If William hadn't ordered it, who would go into those woods in this weather to find someone?
But after two sweeps, they found no trace of her.
"She's gone?" William's voice was dangerously cold. "I told you to watch her. This is how you watch someone?"
The guard hurried to explain. "Mr. Spencer, we followed her the whole time before it started raining. After the rain came, it got too cold. We tried to get her to stop, but she wouldn't listen. She insisted on searching, so we..."
William's gaze was as sharp as a blade. He didn't want to hear excuses.
"Keep looking!"
He found himself walking into the cold, wet forest, his umbrella useless here. Within a few steps, his clothes were soaked by water dripping from branches.
The chill seeped all the way to his core—how had she lasted this long?
Dylan called in with a lead. They'd found Isabella's shoe.
"Mr. Spencer, we found her shoe. The direction is..."
William's expression turned darker than the weather. "Spit it out!"
"Toward the cliff. The ground's slippery. We're not sure if she... fell."
His gaze settled on the soaked shoe, irritation reaching its breaking point.
She deserved to suffer, but she couldn't be allowed to die easily.
"Keep searching. I want her found—dead or alive."
By evening, the temperature in the woods had dropped further.
William had professional search teams sweep the area twice with no results. He waved them off.
In conditions like these, if they couldn't find someone, there was only one possibility—someone had taken her away.
Dawn broke. Isabella, unconscious all night, slowly opened her eyes.
The familiar smell of disinfectant. Why was she in a hospital?
Someone by the bed pulled the blanket up over her. That familiar profile made her heart skip, and she called out uncertainly, "Ambrose?"
Ambrose Mellon turned, meeting her hollow gaze. His brow furrowed with concern as he poured a glass of warm water.
"Isabella, you're awake. Drink some water first."
Her hands were wrapped in thick bandages. He brought the glass to her lips himself. Seeing her freeze, he smiled gently. "You're very weak right now. You need fluids."
This time Isabella lowered her head and drank, feeling some warmth return to her body.
Seeing her confusion, Ambrose explained, "Yesterday I was leading an outdoor expedition. We found you at the cliff edge. You'd passed out, covered in injuries, so I brought you to the hospital."
Ambrose was the captain of the university climbing team. When she'd first joined, he'd looked after her.
Once during a climb she'd gotten injured, and he'd carried her all the way down the mountain. She'd always respected him deeply.
After graduation, he'd joined the national team with remarkable achievements and spent these years competing internationally. He'd just returned and was planning to look her up when he found her in that place.
He didn't know what she'd been through, but she seemed completely different from before.
"Thank you."
"Isabella, are you still interested in climbing? We have a long-term program coming up. Once you've recovered, would you like to join? I often think back to when we climbed together. Those were really good times."
A flicker of anticipation crossed her eyes. Remembering those carefree days, the corner of her mouth lifted in an involuntary smile.
And that smile was exactly what William saw from the doorway.