Chapter 146: Missing
"Money?" Sienna sneered, raising the syringe. "Now, I only want your life!"
"Hold her down!" Sienna barked at Dennis.
Dennis tossed his cigar aside and approached with a lecherous grin. His thick, meaty hands pinned Evelyn’s shoulders like iron clamps. "Don't move, beautiful. This is going to feel great in a minute..."
"Get off me!"
Summoning a burst of strength from nowhere, Evelyn lunged forward and bit down hard on Dennis’s wrist.
"Arrgh! You bitch!" Dennis roared in pain. He swung his hand back and delivered a brutal slap to Evelyn’s face.
The blow sent her head spinning, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth. But the moment Dennis let go, she used her entire body weight to ram herself and the chair into Sienna.
Crash!
Caught off guard, Sienna stumbled. The syringe flew from her hand, shattering into glass shards on the concrete floor. The clear liquid seeped quickly into the dust.
"My drug!" Sienna shrieked. Staring at the broken glass, her remaining sanity snapped.
She lunged like a madwoman, grabbing Evelyn’s hair and yanking her head back with savage force. "You dared to ruin my plan! You miserable bitch!"
Losing all control, Sienna abandoned the idea of a quiet overdose and turned to raw violence. She raised her foot, her sharp stiletto heel driving deep into Evelyn’s lower abdomen.
"Ungh!"
Agony exploded through her body. Evelyn felt as if her internal organs had been crushed. Cold sweat instantly drenched her back. Before she could even catch her breath, Sienna grabbed her collar and shoved her—chair and all—backward with everything she had.
"Go to hell!"
Evelyn’s body tilted out of control. Her back slammed violently into the sharp corner of a rusted iron rack.
Bang!
The impact felt like her spine had snapped, but the sensation in her abdomen was far more terrifying—a heavy, sinking pain. A warm liquid began to flow slowly down the inside of her thighs. Red blood bloomed across the pale fabric of her suit, stark and horrifying.
"The baby..."
Evelyn’s face turned ghostly. Ignoring the agony in her back, she instinctively curled her body inward, desperately trying to shield her belly. The fear of losing her child was far more agonizing than the thought of death.
Sienna looked at the blood on the floor, stunned for a second, before bursting into a vicious cackle.
"Bleeding? Hahaha! I guess you hit that rack pretty hard! That’s karma!"
She didn't even suspect a pregnancy; she simply thought the impact had caused a severe injury.
Dennis watched the blood pool and began to panic. "Sienna, she looks bad... if she actually dies, that psycho Ryan Lawrence will chop us up and feed us to the dogs!"
He was greedy and lecherous, but he wasn't ready to face a murder charge—especially not one involving the woman protected by the CEO of Nova Group.
"What are you afraid of!" Sienna’s voice trembled, despite her bravado, as she looked at the growing crimson stain. "She’s in the middle of nowhere. No one will find her. By the time Ryan gets here, her body will be cold!"
"Let’s go! Fast!"
Sienna shot one last hateful look at the dying woman on the floor. She snatched Evelyn’s phone, smashed it against the ground, and crushed the screen with her heel.
"Stay here and rot!"
She dragged the trembling Dennis out of the warehouse. The rusted iron doors slammed shut, leaving the space in deathly silence, save for Evelyn’s shallow, ragged breathing.
"My baby... my little one..."
Evelyn’s hand shook, trying to reach her belly, but the ropes held her fast. The dizziness from blood loss hit her in waves. Her body grew colder.
I can't sleep... if I sleep, I’ll never wake up...
Her eyes landed on the smashed phone. It was the custom model Ryan had given her. Though the screen was a spiderweb of cracks, the emergency call button on the side still emitted a faint, flickering light.
Evelyn bit her tongue, using the sharp pain to force herself into consciousness. Enduring the agony, she dragged the heavy iron chair inch by inch toward the device. Each movement left a trail of blood on the concrete.
Finally, her finger brushed the phone. She pressed the pre-set speed dial for Ryan’s number.
Ring... ring...
Nova Group, President's Office.
Ryan stood by the window, staring at the city traffic, an unlit cigarette between his fingers. Ever since Evelyn slammed the door and left, his mind had been a tangled mess.
Dammit. He only wanted to protect her, to solve the problem the most rational way. Why couldn't she see that?
Suddenly, the phone on his desk vibrated. Evelyn’s name flashed on the screen. Ryan’s pupils contracted; his heart skipped a beat.
Has she changed her mind? Or is she in trouble?
He answered almost instantly, trying to keep his voice cold and hard. "Changed your mind?"
But there was no stubborn argument on the other end. Instead, he heard shallow, broken gasps for air.
"Ryan..."
The syllable was barely a whisper, crushed by pain and despair. Ryan’s hand gripped the phone until his knuckles turned white. Panic seized him. "Evelyn? Where are you? Talk to me!"
"Docks... Sienna... save... save the baby..."
Click.
The line went dead. Ryan’s mind went blank for a split second.
The docks. Sienna. Save the baby.
Each word was a blade stabbing his heart. A primal fear gripped his throat, making it impossible to breathe.
"Get the car! Everyone! To the abandoned docks on the edge of town, NOW!" Ryan roared toward the door. "Notify the police! Block all exits out of the city! MOVE!"
He grabbed his jacket and sprinted out, not even waiting for the elevator. He flew down the stairs.
Please let her be okay. Please...
Evelyn, as long as you’re okay, I’ll do anything you want. I’ll burn Nova to the ground. I’ll betray the whole world. Just stay alive.
The black Maybach tore down the highway, blowing through a dozen red lights. Ryan’s hands shook on the wheel. Cold sweat stung his eyes.
Twenty minutes. The longest twenty minutes of his life.
When he reached the industrial zone and skidded to a halt before the rusted gate, Ryan stumbled out of the car.
"Evelyn!"
He kicked open the iron door and rushed into the dim warehouse. The air smelled of ether and sickening iron-scented blood.
"Evelyn!"
No answer. Only the wind whistling through the metal sheets.
Ryan stood frozen, his eyes landing on the center of the warehouse. There was an overturned iron chair and several cut ropes.
And there, on the floor, was a large, dark pool of blood that hadn't yet fully dried. In the middle of the blood lay a shattered phone and a scrap of bloody fabric torn from a skirt. It was from the white business suit she had been wearing that morning.
"No..."
Ryan’s legs gave out. He fell to his knees in front of the blood. He reached out with a trembling hand and picked up the crimson-soaked fabric.
The amount of blood... how could she have lost so much blood?