Chapter 95 The missing bride
Chapter 95 The missing bride
Chapter 95: The Missing Bride
The mansion gates opened slowly, the gravel crunching beneath the tires of the black convoy as it rolled in. The car in the middle stopped first. A driver rushed around to open the door before anyone could speak.
Izo stepped out.
He looked thinner. Paler. Older in a way sickness carved into a man no money could protect. But his eyes were sharp, scanning the mansion like he had never left it, like he owned every brick and every breath inside.
Gwen stepped out after him, already reaching for his arm. “Take it easy,” she said softly. “You just got back.”
“I’m fine,” Izo replied, pulling his arm away. “Where is Audrey?”
Gwen froze for half a second. “She’s… resting. The journey tired you. Let’s get you inside first.”
“I didn’t ask about myself,” Izo said, his voice steady but dangerous. “I asked about my wife.”
Staff gathered instinctively, heads bowed, eyes darting. No one answered.
Izo turned slowly, his gaze landing on the butler. “Where is Audrey?”
The man swallowed. “Sir… she hasn’t been seen since yesterday evening.”
The air shifted.
Gwen laughed lightly, too quickly. “She’s probably in her room. Audrey likes to move around quietly.”
Izo stared at her. “Audrey doesn’t disappear.”
He walked past everyone and headed inside.
“Find her,” he said over his shoulder. “Now.”
The mansion erupted into motion.
Upstairs, doors were opened without knocking. Downstairs, staff scattered through corridors, calling her name in hushed tones.
“Audrey?”
“Ma’am?”
Her bedroom door was open. The room was empty. The bed was untouched. The wardrobe door hung slightly ajar. Her phone was gone.
Izo stood in the doorway, his hand gripping the frame. “Wheelchair,” he said. “Where is her wheelchair?”
No one answered.
Gwen stepped in carefully, looking around. “Maybe she went to the garden or farm. She’s been restless lately. That’s what her maid told me.”
Izo turned sharply. “You said she was resting.”
Gwen’s smile faltered. “I meant emotionally.”
Izo said nothing. His jaw tightened.
“Call Tennessee,” he said.
At the farm, Tennessee was already moving.
“I checked the west field,” he said into the phone. “She’s not there.”
Thomas wiped sweat from his forehead, scanning the ground like something might rise out of it. “This doesn’t make sense. She can’t just roll herself off the property.”
Scar Face stood a few steps away, arms crossed, eyes sharp. “Audrey doesn’t do things by accident.”
Tennessee stopped walking. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Scar Face met his gaze. “It means if she’s missing, she wants to be.”
Tennessee clenched his fists. “She’s in a wheelchair.”
Scar Face didn’t blink. “And?”
Thomas shifted uncomfortably. “We’ve checked the sheds, the barns, the perimeter road. Nothing.”
Tennessee ran a hand through his hair. “Split up again. Search the lower fields. Check anywhere with cover.”
Scar Face hesitated. “There’s one place we haven’t checked.”
Tennessee turned. “Where?”
Scar Face shook his head. “Nowhere that makes sense.”
“Say it,” Tennessee snapped.
Scar Face looked toward the earth beneath their feet. “Maybe she left with her friend, Willa.”
Thomas stiffened. “Yessss…that’s a possibility.”
Tennessee frowned. “Willa what? Audrey’s car is still in the building!”
Scar Face held his gaze. “Maybe they intentionally left it behind…”
“That’s bullshit,” Tennessee said. “There’s nothing like that that happened. Something is wrong, they are somewhere on this farm, CCTV said so.”
Thomas looked away.
Scar Face noticed. “Monkey, you want to tell him, or should I?”
Tennessee’s eyes flicked between them. “Tell me what?”
Before either of them could answer, Tennessee’s phone rang.
“Dad,” he said immediately. “Sir.”
“Where is my wife?” Izo demanded. No greeting. No softness. “I left her in your care.”
“We’re searching,” Tennessee replied. “The farm, the mansion, everywhere.”
“I want answers, not efforts,” Izo said coldly. “Did she leave on her own?”
Tennessee hesitated. “I don’t know.”
“You’re supposed to know,” Izo said. “That’s your job.”
“I’ll find her,” Tennessee said. “I promise.”
Gwen’s voice cut in faintly through the phone. “Maybe she ran off emotionally. She’s been unstable.”
Tennessee’s jaw tightened. “Audrey isn’t unstable.”
There was silence.
“Find her,” Izo repeated. “And bring her to me.”
The call ended.
Tennessee lowered the phone slowly. “What were you saying?” he asked Scar Face.
Scar Face exhaled. “She told Monkey she was going to run away.”
“That’s impossible,” Tennessee said.
Thomas spoke quietly. “It’s not.”
Tennessee turned sharply. “What did she tell you?”
Thomas hesitated, then spoke. “That she was tired of everything.”
Tennessee stared at him. “When?”
“A while,” Thomas said. “I didn’t think…”
“You didn’t think to tell me?” Tennessee shouted.
Scar Face stepped in. “This isn’t the time.”
Tennessee looked between them. “You both knew?”
Scar Face nodded once. “Yes.”
Tennessee laughed bitterly. “So while I was protecting this house, you knew she was planning to leave yet said nothing.”
“Focus,” Scar Face said. “If Audrey…”
Tennessee went still. “You let someone come here and take her…”
“I didn’t know she was serious,” Scar Face replied.
Tennessee’s chest rose and fell. “What do I tell my father?”
Scar Face said nothing.
At the mansion, Izo sat in the living room, refusing to rest, refusing water, refusing reason.
“She’s here,” he said firmly. “She’s on this property. I can feel her around…”
Gwen stood by the window, watching the road. “I don’t understand why you’re this worked up.”
Izo looked at her. “Because she’s my wife.”
Gwen turned. “And I’m your daughter.”
He held her gaze. “Then help me find her.”
Something unreadable passed across Gwen’s face.
Outside, the search widened. Flashlights cut through the fading light. Voices called Audrey and Willa’s name. Dogs barked in the distance.
But Audrey did not answer.