Chapter 103
ACE’S POV
“Have you gone crazy?” Damien yelled at me.
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It had been a few hours since Charlotte left and I was still inside my office, staring at nothing, when Damien came back again. This time he wasn’t alone. Roman walked in behind him.
I probably deserved that. I knew I was a shithead. But that was the only way I could think of to keep Charlotte away from me. After the chef’s son told me everything that happened that night, I haven’t been able to think straight. I’ve been living on edge ever since.
Goodness, I’ve fucking tried to control it, but every single time it only gets worse.
“This is the only way I know to handle my shit,” I grumbled, leaning back in my chair. I wasn’t in the mood for Damien’s lecture.
“By sending away the only woman you’ve ever truly loved?” Damien snapped. Then he scoffed. “Scratch that. The only woman who can actually save you from dying.”
He looked seriously pissed now, running a hand through his hair like he was trying hard not to punch me. Roman stayed quiet beside him, but the look he gave me said he wasn’t impressed either.
“How do I look Charlotte in the face after finding out that I punished her so ruthlessly for something she didn’t even do?” My voice cracked and I looked away from them. “I had been looking for a way to tell her everything, but I don’t think I can do that anymore.”
The words tasted bitter in my mouth. I was a selfish bastard and a coward, I knew that. But I couldn’t keep doing this to her. Every time she came close, it only reminded me of what I did to her before the accident.
“You’re forgetting something,” Roman said, finally speaking. “You’re not the only one who knows the truth about her past.” I frowned at him. “Moon knows too,” he continued. “And there’s no telling what she might do with that vital information.”
“As much as Moon would love to reveal that truth,” I said, shaking my head, “she won’t.”
They both looked at me. “She enjoys the leverage too much. As long as she keeps that secret, she has something over me. The moment she tells Charlotte the truth, she loses that power.”
Before anyone could say anything else, my office door suddenly slammed open.
Kathryn rushed inside without knocking. The worried look on her face immediately killed the anger that had started rising in my chest.
“Before you yell at me for barging in,” Kathryn said in a rush. “Leslie just called. Charlotte is missing… and so is Liam.”
My blood ran ice cold. I shot up from my seat so fast the chair almost tipped. “Come again?”
“Charlotte and Liam, both of them are gone. Les said she never came back after she left the hospital for your office, and Stephen and his men can’t find Liam either,” she repeated her words.
Rage ignited through my veins. Who the fuck dared to take my woman and my son? My hands clenched so tight my knuckles cracked. “Roman, get my men, now! We’re going hunting tonight. I’ll gut whoever did this and hang their limbs where everyone can see.”
We tore out of the office, speeding past red lights and ignoring the cops, straight to my penthouse in the human world.
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9:35 am
Chapter 103
Ethan was there with Les, who looked like he’d been crying for hours.
10:41
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The moment Ethan saw me, he lunged and threw a punch at my face. My jaw flexed with anger, my wolf snarling beneath the surface. Nobody dared touch me. I barely restrained the beast, forcing myself down, but the fury was searing, almost impossible to contain.
“I’m letting this slide because I know you’re worried about Charlotte, and I am too,” I growled, managing to control my voice, “but if you try this again, I swear I’ll tear you apart, limb by limb and display your body as art in my museum.”
He flinched, straightening immediately.
“Everywhere you go, trouble follows. You’re just bad luck. I warned her to stay away from you, but she didn’t listen.”
“You’re saying she was kidnapped because of me?”
He gasped, a twisted mockery in his voice. “You didn’t know? Everything was fine before you showed up. We had no problems with people.
“I don’t care what you think,” I snapped, stepping closer, my eyes burning with fury. “I’m going to find her and Liam. You can either sit your ass down and whine like a child, or you can get off it and help with search.”
“Liam mentioned one time that a strange woman, someone who looked like Charlotte, showed up at his school and tried to lure him outside. Since then, Charlotte has been the one taking him to and from school, at least until we thought things went back to normal.”
“Why didn’t she tell me?” I queried. “If Liam had seen someone suspicious, Charlotte should’ve told me immediately.”
‘She would have,” Kathryn explained softly, “if you hadn’t gone MIA. Ace, you disappeared on us, and today when she went to see you at your office, she vanished too. I knew something was wrong the moment she didn’t come back when she was supposed to, and she didn’t call either.”
Every time I thought I was doing the right thing, it blew up in my face. If I hadn’t been so distant after learning the truth, I would’ve known what was happening in my son’s life. But I didn’t, and now I’m paying for it all over again.
Stephen explained that at school dismissal, Liam hadn’t come out as he usually did which was unusual, so he had searched everywhere, the classrooms, hallways, the playground, even the parking lot but there was no sign of my boy.
We got into the car, Les and Ethan joined us in another car, we drove to the school and went straight to the security room to ecover the camera footage. My heart pounded very fast as we watched it. The video showed a woman slipping into Liam’s :lassroom, she had on black pants and a long, black leather jacket and her face was covered with a hood. I couldn’t make out her face from the footage. She grabbed him, covering his face with a white cloth so he couldn’t scream. I saw him go limp in her arms and my stomach twisted. He passed out before she even reached the door.
I felt another presence with us. It wasn’t a normal wolf but it was in human form. Our eyes met through the window for a heartbeat, and then it was gone, disappearing into the shadows. My instincts screamed at me, and I ran after him. The ground blurred under my feet, I caught him in an alley behind the school.
I grabbed his shirt around the neck and punched him so hard on his face he staggered back. I grabbed him by the collar, pressing my face close. “Where is my son?” I demanded, my words edged with fury. He shook, sweat on his brow, unable to meet my eyes.
Just then, a mind–link buzzed sharply in my head, and one of my men had found him. Liam was inside a car, parked somewhere deep in the woods. Relief and anger collided, and I didn’t waste a second. I had to get to him.
I turned to Roman who was right behind me. He had chased the man with me, “Bring him to the Pack’s prison.” I commanded.
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Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.
