Chapter 26 The room

Chapter 26 The room

Jayden’s POV
“We have to find her, Jason. The longer she stays missing, the bigger of an issue it becomes,” I said over the phone as my fingers continuously tapped on my work desk. “Get the best trackers in town and have them join hands.”
“Yes, boss, we are trying whatever we can.”
It’s been days since the kidnap of Celine and no matter how much we searched, anytime we thought we had something, it turned into a cold trail. It seemed as though whoever was behind it was playing mind games, which wasn’t in the least bit funny.
“Your best isn’t what I need. I need to have Celine back, alive,” I said. “Have you gotten any news from the other teams?”
“No, sir. I will get more trackers to join in the search,” he offered. He was one of my best working men but this case was a little too hard even for him. It made me wonder if the person behind it all was keeping an eye on us.
“Good. Make sure you report back to me immediately when you notice anything abnormal.”
“Yes, sir,” he said, before I hung up and only then did I let out the tired sigh I was holding.
Everyone thought I wasn't bothered by the whole thing happening. Even Lilith thought I was too comfortable, but the truth was I was deeply troubled and trying all means to get her back. Her disappearance was causing all my plans to start to waver, even with Lilith around.
My carefully thought-out plans that I had memorized and lived by for years were about to be ruined, but I’ll be damned if I allow it to happen.
Lilith was going to play her role well until she was found.
Lilith.
The woman bore a striking resemblance to Celine, but yet their characters were very different, like polar opposites. Truly, you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.
Where Celine was reckless but submissive to me, Lilith was well put together but a hothead when poked. She had no regard for me whatsoever and sometimes I wondered if she knew who I was at all. I had people kissing my feet wherever I walked and there she was, lashing back at me with twice the energy I gave to her.
Who would have thought what was supposed to be stress-free and simply a contract marriage would have us bickering at the slightest chance?
God, that lady pisses me off so bad. Sometimes I wonder if she’s my karma. I wonder if she is the one sent to make me rethink all the traps I had dug out for the people that made me turn out this way.
One minute she’s normal and I get deeply attracted to her, but the very next minute I fight the urge to squeeze her lips shut. There have been lots of times where I was tempted to shut her up with a kiss but hell, I couldn’t do that, even though her lips looked like they were begging for me.
I didn’t know how long I was going to be able to hold out, but hopefully, Celine was going to be found before then.
After rounding up work, I decided to go back to the room to check what Lilith was up to before she set the house on fire. I left my study room and made my way back to our room, but when I opened the door, the room was empty. On the edge of the bed were the documents I had asked her to go through because I suspected Mr. Lark knew something was going on with his daughter.
I glanced at the time but it wasn’t lunchtime yet, so where could she be?
After dropping the things I was carrying, I made my way downstairs but the maids told me she hadn’t come downstairs, which had me confused. As I walked back to the room, I wondered if she had run back to the hospital even after I took care of everything. When I got back to the room, I called the hospital immediately and they told me she wasn’t there.
She was a prize I couldn’t let her out of my sight.
There was no way she would have gone outside because after her silly run to the hospital a few days ago, I made sure to place my guards at the door to alert me if she ever tried to leave without my permission. They were always on standby, so where could she be?
I slowly began to panic.
When I walked out of my room again, I saw a maid walking past my door and I stopped her immediately.
“Have you seen my wife?” I asked, trying to listen for the sounds of her.
“Yes, sir, I saw her walking somewhere in the south wing,” the maid replied with a small bow of her head.
“What the hell is she doing there?” I asked, stepping out of my room and towering over the maid, who stumbled back in fear.
“I don’t know, sir, I didn’t ask.”
“You’re dismissed,” I said, walking past her.
I headed for the south wing immediately, wondering what the hell she was looking for.
As I drew closer, I began to panic for a whole new reason. I hoped she wouldn’t go into the one room I haven’t had the courage to go to for years.
I really hoped she wouldn’t overstep her boundaries and make me go to a place I’ve sworn never to go to until I got the revenge they deserved.
But as I walked into the south wing and noticed all the closed doors except for one, dread settled in my stomach. I could only wish it was just a mistake.
But as I walked closer and saw that the door was truly widely opened, that dread quickly turned to anger. Boiling rage took over as I got to the entrance and truly, Lilith was there, holding a frame I haven’t had the courage to stare into for years.
For years, I’ve avoided this room like a plague. It was a room that held too many secrets, secrets that I wasn’t ready to disclose to anyone.
After the unjust death of my parents, I didn’t let them go fully. Instead, I kept some of their things safe and moved them into this room, laying an order for nobody to cross the door. At first, I frequented this place, basking in the little remains of their presence that I had left.
But as the years rolled by, so did the guilt inside of me. The guilt of being powerless and not being able to avenge them. I couldn’t bear to look at their pictures anymore, knowing I had failed as a son for taking too long to come to their rescue, and so I stayed away.
I stayed away and kept my head low while plotting my revenge, in hopes of coming back after making them proud of me one last time.
But my thoughts burst into flames of rage when I saw Lilith holding our frame.