The Night He Chose Her, I Chose My Revenge Chapter 10

The Night He Chose Her, I Chose My Revenge Chapter 10

The day after the hurricane, when the Croft family butler arrived at the seaside plantation, all he found was wreckage.

The old house had been torn to pieces by the storm.

The only thing on the lawn was the deep imprint of helicopter landing gear.

Elara was gone.

The butler questioned the few nearby residents, but no one knew anything. When they saw the Croft family crest, they either shook their heads in awe or simply shut their doors.

The Vance family had acted with the precision of a surgical strike, leaving no trace.

He braced himself and called Julian.

“Sir, we… we didn’t find Madam.”

On the other end of the line, Julian was in the sunroom of the main house, taking afternoon tea with his mother and Penelope. Sunlight poured through the glass dome, making the porcelain and silverware sparkle. Last night’s hurricane felt like a distant dream.

He frowned, a flicker of irritation rising in him, but his tone remained casual.

“She’ll come back when she’s done with her tantrum. Where could a woman who can’t even find her way around Charleston possibly go?”

After he hung up, however, his expression darkened.

Penelope thoughtfully refilled his tea. “Julian, don’t worry,” she said softly. “Elara probably just needs some time to cool off.”

The more considerate she was, the more irritated Julian felt.

“Julian,” his mother, Catherine Croft, said, setting down her bone china teacup with a sharp click. “You went too far this time.”

Her voice was calm, but it held an unquestionable authority.

“You left her alone in a hurricane? I thought you only wanted to teach her obedience, not kill her.”

Catherine’s gaze was sharp as a knife, cutting right through her son’s bravado.

“Elara isn’t one of those girls you meet in galleries and send away with a check.”

“Mother, I—”

“Be quiet,” Catherine interrupted. “Have you forgotten why we agreed to this marriage in the first place? The Vance family is new money, yes, but they’re in technology and new energy. That’s not a power we can afford to dismiss with our history and our name. I told you to turn her into a qualified Croft wife to strengthen this alliance, not destroy it.”

His mother’s words were like ice water, dousing the flames of Julian’s self-satisfaction.

For the past few days, a vague unease had been gnawing at him.