Chapter 119 Vacation to Bali
Chapter 119 Vacation to Bali
The bedroom stayed entirely quiet for a long moment after Lucien dropped the news.
Aaron is missing.
And honestly? I didn’t feel a single thing. No sudden spike of adrenaline. No suffocating wave of panic. No primal terror clawing at my throat. Nothing but a vast, hollow emptiness.
Maybe that made me cold. Maybe it made me unfeeling. But after every horrific trial Aaron had put me through, after the endless web of lies, the psychological torture, and the physical danger, I was just fundamentally tired. I was completely, entirely done.
I looked up at Lucien’s rigid frame and gave a casual, unbothered shrug. “I really don’t care.”
That definitive statement immediately got everyone’s undivided attention. Vincent blinked in absolute surprise, his protective posture faltering slightly. “That’s it? No panic attack? No hiding under the covers?”
I nodded firmly, leaning back against the pillows. “That’s it. I'm done letting his ghost run my life.”
Zane studied me intensely for a beat, his sharp gray eyes scanning my face like a human polygraph, checking to see if I was forcing the indifference or masking a deeper trauma. But I wasn't. I meant every syllable. Aaron was a part of my past—a messy, painful, destructive part—but he was still just the past. Whatever desperate game he was playing now, wherever he had run off to, it simply wasn’t my cross to bear anymore.
A slow, genuine softening pulled at Lucien’s harsh features. It was the look of a man who understood exactly what true closure looked like.
Vincent was the first to break the tension, a massive, brilliant grin spreading across his face. “That’s my absolute girl.”
I rolled my eyes, swatting his hand away playfully. “Don’t make it dramatic, Vincent.”
Lucien placed his encrypted phone face-down on the nightstand, his tone final. “Good. We waste no more resources tracking a ghost.”
The Vacation Gambit
Vincent suddenly sat up straighter, a dangerous, predatory spark reigniting in his eyes. “Well, since we are officially moving on to bigger and better things…”
I narrowed my eyes at him instantly. “That tone sounds incredibly dangerous.”
“It’s not,” he insisted, throwing his hands up in mock innocence.
“With you, it always is.”
Zane calmly closed his laptop, setting it on the bedside table before looking over at me. “Pick a country, Sarah.”
I blinked, thoroughly derailed by the sudden pivot. “What? Why am I picking a country?”
Vincent spread his arms wide, gesturing dramatically to the bedroom around us. “A trip. An absolute, no-expenses-spared getaway.”
I frowned, looking between the three of them. “For what exactly? What's the occasion?”
Lucien looked at me as if the answer were the most obvious thing in the world. “For carrying our baby. For surviving the gauntlet.”
I stared at them for a beat, and then a startled laugh escaped my lips. “Are you seriously trying to reward me for being pregnant?”
Vincent nodded with absolute, deadpan gravity. “Yes. Exactly that.”
“That feels incredibly manipulative, Vincent.”
“Correct. But it works.”
I laughed harder, the sheer absurdity of their wealth and possessiveness washing over me. “Anywhere in the world?”
Zane nodded smoothly. “Anywhere you want. Name the grid, and we’ll buy the airspace.”
I let my mind drift for a moment, letting myself actually daydream about a life outside these fortified walls. I wanted warm, pristine white beaches. Quiet mornings spent watching the tide come in. No tactical gear. No firearms hidden under pillows. No ancient syndicates, and absolutely zero drama.
The very first destination that flashed into my mind slipped past my lips before I could think twice.
“Bali.”
Vincent snapped his fingers instantly. “Done.”