Unreturned When the Fog Cleared Chapter 16

Unreturned When the Fog Cleared Chapter 16: A Thousandfold Price

Julian Rhodes stayed by Yara’s side all night.

She woke just as dawn was breaking and said weakly, “Brother, it was Sylvia who pushed me down the stairs! She was also behind the

kidnapping two years ago—she’s the one who led our enemies to me! You have to teach her a lesson for me!”

Although he had already seen the surveillance footage, hearing it directly from Yara still felt like a sledgehammer to the chest.

His grip on his sister’s hand tightened unconsciously. “I will get justice for you. For now, just get some rest. Don’t dwell on it.”

“And Thera…”

Yara’s voice choked with emotion. “It was all my fault before… Brother, I’m so sorry for what I did to Thera. You have to find her and bring her back, please?”

“I will. You just focus on getting better.”

Julian looked at his sister’s guilt–ridden face. Then he thought of his own misunderstandings and the pain he’d caused Thera, of Sylvia’s years of deception and manipulation. The rage he had been suppressing instantly boiled over.

When Julian returned home, Sylvia was being held by bodyguards in the center of the living room.

The moment she saw him, she started crying and shouting, “Julian! I know I was wrong! Please, just let me go!”

Julian’s tone was ice–cold. “Drag her to the basement. No one lets her out without my order.”

“No! Julian, you can’t do this to me!”

Sylvia was dragged toward the basement, her frantic cries fading around the corner of the stairwell.

A maid emerged timidly from a corner. “Sir… there’s something I can’t keep from you… Back when the madam was sick, I believe it was Miss Chevalier who had people torment her with an ice bucket all night…”

Julian froze solid. An image instantly flashed through his mind: Thera, curled up in her blankets, face flushed with fever, her whole body shaking uncontrollably.

“Pull up the security footage!” Julian roared, his voice trembling.

A bodyguard quickly pulled up the footage from that day.

On the screen, Thera was forced into the ice bucket again and again. Her face went from pale to blue, until finally, all she could do was twitch faintly.

The torture went on like this all night, relentlessly.

A tidal wave of fury consumed him. “Get an ice bucket!”

The staff didn’t dare hesitate, quickly hauling a bucket filled with ice water down to the basement.

Down in the basement, Sylvia’s face went white as a sheet when she saw the ice bucket. “Julian! What are you going to do? Stay away from me!”

“What am I going to do?” Julian advanced on her, step by step, his eyes filled with vicious intent. “Today, you’re going to pay a thousandfold for the suffering you put Thera through.”

“I was wrong! Julian, I was really wrong! I wasn’t thinking straight, I never should have hurt Thera! Please, spare me! I’ll never do it again!”

Terrified, Sylvia collapsed to the floor, babbling incoherently as she begged for mercy.

But Julian didn’t even look at her. He just gave a cold command to the bodyguards. “Begin.”

Two bodyguards hauled the limp Sylvia to her feet and shoved her, again and again, into the ice bucket.

The bone–chilling water instantly submerged her mouth and nose.

She thrashed wildly, her hands clawing at nothing, her throat emitting gurgled chokes. They held her under until her face turned blue and she had nearly stopped breathing, only to then yank her violently back up.

The moment she managed a single gasp of air, she was brutally shoved

back under.

After several rounds, Sylvia was soaked to the bone. Her hair was plastered to her face, water and a trickle of blood dribbled from the corner of her mouth, and her gaze was vacant. Her once–elegant clothes were a crumpled mess, and she could only manage faint whimpers, having lost even the strength to beg for mercy.

His phone let out a series of urgent rings. It was his assistant.

“President Rhodes, the flight to Miss Sutherland’s hometown is booked. It departs in one hour.”

Julian hung up and glanced at the barely conscious Sylvia. He gave his order to the bodyguards: “Torment her for three days and three nights. Don’t let her die, but don’t let her have a moment’s peace. Then, dump her back with the Chevalier family.”

He turned, grabbed the suitcase he had already packed, and headed out.

His steps were hurried, his mind consumed by a single thought.

‘Find Thera. Bring her home.’