Chapter 10
After searching the house, Mary found a small note.
[Mary, a new friend invited me to hang out. Won't be home for dinner. —Matty]
The handwriting was neat and elegant—nothing like what you'd expect from a seven-year-old. Mary didn't think much of it.
Juliana emerged from the study and asked casually, "Where's Matty?"
"Oh, he said he went out to play with a new friend. Left a note." Mary handed it over.
Juliana looked at the note, her brow furrowing almost imperceptibly. Matty was smart, sure, but he was quiet, kept to himself, didn't have many friends. Why would he suddenly run off to play?
Unease crept into her chest. She pulled out her phone and called Matthew's smartwatch. The call connected, but no one picked up.
Juliana's heart began to sink.
"Mary, when did he leave?" Juliana's voice came out tight.
"Around... around three this afternoon, I think." Mary's panic was rising now. "I thought... I thought he just went to the little park nearby..."
Juliana grabbed her coat and bolted out the door. She searched every corner of the park downstairs, questioned every security guard in the complex. Nobody had seen the boy.
Just then, her phone rang.
She practically lunged for the answer button, her voice shaking. "Hello? Is this Matty?"
But the voice on the other end was feminine, privileged, laced with cruel amusement.
"Juliana, I'm calling to give you a friendly reminder."
"I know why you came back. You want to steal Dami away from me. Let me make something clear—tomorrow morning, eight o'clock, I expect to see you in that operating room. Otherwise..."
Ashley paused, the threat in her voice unmistakable.
"You'll never see Damian again."
Juliana's mind went blank with a deafening buzz. Matty was missing. And Ashley was calling to threaten her with 'Damian.'
In her extreme panic and confusion, the two pieces of information twisted together, overlapping—the Sharp family had taken her child!
The despair and terror from seven years ago crashed over her like a tidal wave.
"What did you do to him?!" Juliana's voice cracked with tears she didn't even notice. "I'm warning you, if you so much as touch a hair on his head..."
"Seems like you haven't grasped the situation yet. Right now, I'm the one doing the warning. Remember—tomorrow morning, eight o'clock sharp."
Juliana clutched her phone, her whole body frozen. Without a moment's hesitation, she dialed three numbers. 911.
The voice on the other end was calm and procedural, slowly cutting through Juliana's already frayed nerves. After giving a brief explanation, she hung up.
Only one thought filled her mind: get to the Sharp family. To that prison that had held her eldest son captive for seven years. To that den of monsters now using her child to blackmail her.
The car tore through the night like a streak of madness, finally screeching to a halt outside the ornate iron gates of the Sharp Estate.
Juliana yanked the door open and charged at the gate, pounding on it with both fists.
"Open up! Open this door!"
The butler hurried over. "Ms. Wells, it's so late..."
Juliana didn't acknowledge him. The second he cracked the gate open, she shoved her way through.
Lucas had just returned from handling an emergency at the office when he saw a slender but determined figure rush up the staircase, face deathly pale, eyes burning with wild desperation.
"Juliana?"
That pent-up fury inside Juliana instantly found its outlet.
"Lucas, control your mother!"
She kicked open the master bedroom door with a thunderous crash.
Ashley was propped up in bed, leisurely wearing a face mask. The noise made her jump.
"Have you lost your mind?!" Recognizing the intruder, she snapped.
Juliana approached step by step. "Where is my son?"
Meeting her eyes, Ashley felt an inexplicable jolt in her chest, but it was quickly replaced by the thrill of having complete control.
"Looks like Dr. Wells has come to her senses. Like I said—tomorrow morning, eight o'clock. See you in the operating room."
"I'll ask one more time." Juliana's voice dropped dangerously low. "Where. Is. My. Son?"
Lucas, who'd followed her in, frowned deeply. He could tell something was very wrong.
But Ashley was completely oblivious to the danger. She leaned in maliciously, dropping her voice to a volume only the two of them could hear.
"Your son? Juliana, I'd advise you not to play games. You really think you can run off with the Sharp family's eldest grandson? Let me tell you something—if Lucas finds out about your relationship with Dami... what do you think he'll do to you?"
She watched Juliana smugly, waiting to see her break down, show fear, beg on her knees.
But Juliana's reaction caught her completely off guard.
Something was wrong.
Juliana realized something was off. Ashley kept threatening her with Dami, but hadn't mentioned Matty once.
Did she not know Matty existed?
This realization gave Juliana's heart—which had been squeezed nearly to bursting with fear and rage—a sudden outlet.
The Sharp family thought they had her by the throat, but they had no idea their own child was missing too.
The irony was almost beautiful.
Lucas's phone rang. Glancing at the caller ID, he saw it was the bodyguard assigned to watch Damian. A sense of foreboding washed over him.
"Mr. Sharp! Something terrible happened!" The bodyguard's voice came through panicked, nearly in tears. "Damian... Damian is gone!"
Lucas's expression turned to stone. "What do you mean, gone?"
"We took Damian to the amusement park like Mrs. Sharp instructed... but we turned our backs for just a second and he vanished! We've searched the entire park, checked all the surveillance footage—we can't find him anywhere!"
The amusement park?
Lucas's gaze whipped toward his mother.
Ashley's face had gone white at the phone conversation. She instinctively tried to defend herself. "I sent people to watch him..."
Her words reached Juliana's ears crystal clear.
Juliana suddenly laughed.
"Ashley, you really are... something else."
She turned to face Lucas, whose expression had gone ashen, and spoke slowly, each word crystal clear.
"Mr. Sharp, is this the Sharp family way? Despicable, shameless, and mind-numbingly stupid."
Lucas felt his chest tighten under her gaze, unable to find words to respond.
"Now my son is missing. And so is yours." Juliana's tone had gone calm, but it carried more weight than any hysterical accusation could. "Ashley, you want to live?"
She turned back to Ashley, who was now completely panicking in bed.
"Fine."
"But the moment both children are standing in front of me, safe and sound—that's when I'll consider picking up a scalpel. Not a second before."