The Wife He Left Behind While He Built a World for Another Woman Chapter 02

The Wife He Left Behind While He Built a World for Another Woman Chapter 02

On the other side of the mountain, Frank Malloy, the kidnappers’ leader, ripped the communication device off me and smashed it against the concrete floor.

“Don’t blame me for being ruthless. Blame that cold-blooded husband of yours. He’s worth more than ten billion dollars, yet he still wouldn’t give up a single parcel of land to save you.”

My heart plummeted. Cold sweat broke out across my back, and the hairs along my spine stood on end.

“What are you going to do?” I asked, my voice trembling.

Malloy stopped wasting words and shot the men behind him a look.

Several burly men immediately rushed forward and pinned me to the floor.

The door slammed shut, sealing every muffled cry and scream behind the heavy wood.

I had no idea how much time had passed when the door finally opened again. Malloy walked out slowly, casually wiping the stains from his hands.

“Drag her out.”

I was hauled up by the arms and, like a broken rag doll, thrown into the back of a battered cargo van.

The freezing sheet metal pressed against my cheek, and the cold seeped into my bones and spread through my entire body.

The van began to move. I curled into the darkest corner as warm blood kept running down my thighs and would not stop.

Agony ripped through my lower abdomen, as if countless knives were churning inside me, grinding through my organs.

I knew with brutal certainty that the baby I had carried for five months was gone.

My child had not died in an accident or at the hands of an enemy. My child had died because of a choice my husband made.

I turned my head toward the window and watched the trees race backward. Inside, I had gone completely still and numb.

Suddenly, two blinding headlights appeared in the distance.

I forced myself upright and pressed my face against the freezing window.

It was the familiar black Bentley with the familiar license plate. It was Vincent’s car.

As the two vehicles drew closer, I could make out one of Vincent’s men behind the wheel and the rear window rolled down behind him.

Then I saw Vincent. Celeste sat beside him in a spotless white habit.

“Vincent!”

Clinging to my last chance of survival, I used every ounce of strength left in my body to pound on the window.

“I’m here! Vincent, I’m right here!”

Inside the Bentley, Vincent seemed to catch the faint sound of a familiar voice. He started to turn toward us.

Celeste gently took his hand.

“We should keep moving. Ms. Hart can’t possibly be here.”

“She may have staged this entire thing. She only disappeared after she found out about us.”

Vincent gave a slight nod and never looked toward the opposite lane again.

The next instant, a rough hand clamped over my mouth and nose. A heavy fist slammed into my temple.

The two vehicles passed each other and continued in opposite directions.

My vision flooded red. As the mountain road slipped away outside the window, I fell into endless darkness.

Meanwhile, the Bentley stopped outside an abandoned warehouse halfway up the mountain.

Vincent opened the door and strode inside, his hard gaze sweeping over every corner.

No one was there.

He continued farther into the warehouse, the heels of his dress shoes striking sharply against the loose gravel.

Then he stopped.

My shattered satellite phone lay on the floor. Its casing had split open, and dried brown blood stained one edge.

Vincent bent down and picked it up. His gun-callused fingertips traced the fine cracks as his brows drew together.

Celeste followed him inside, the sound of her flats echoing clearly through the empty warehouse.

She glanced around with a knowing smile.

“See? I told you your wife staged the whole thing.”

“She knew we were coming, so she ran before we got here. I’ll give her this much. She committed to the performance.”

Vincent did not answer. His fingertips moved slowly over the damaged phone in his palm.

“She’s been kidnapped before,” he murmured. “Every time, she came home unharmed.”

“But this time, she called in the middle of the night claiming she had been taken and tried to force me out of the property auction. Now we come all this way and find an empty warehouse with nothing but a bloodstained phone.”

“She went too far just to force me to leave you.”

He slipped the phone into his pocket and turned away.

“Call off the search. We’re leaving.”

Vincent climbed into the Bentley. The car pulled away, and the abandoned warehouse receded beyond the window until it disappeared completely.