~~~~~~~
ADRIAN POV
“No.”  
The word came out hard, immediate, final.  
Rose stared at me like she hadn’t heard right. Her face was pale, her hands trembling as she wiped at her tears. The grief in her eyes hadn’t gone, but something else had taken root underneath it now.  
Determination.  
“I have to go.”  
“No,” I said again, sharper this time. “You’re not walking into a trap.”  
Her laugh broke halfway through. “A trap?” she whispered. “Adrian, he has my daughter.”  
The room went quiet.  
Daniel stood by the window, jaw tight, phone still in his hand. Two security men waited outside the doors, saying nothing. Rose clutched Noel’s rabbit to her chest like it was the only real thing left.  
“She sounded scared,” she said quietly. “She asked to come home.”  
Something twisted in my chest. I didn’t know what it meant to love someone like this, but watching Rose break apart felt unbearable.  
“He hurt Sarah,” she went on, voice shaking. “He threatened her. He threatened Noel. You don’t understand Ethan.”  
“Then help me understand,” I said.  
Her expression changed. The fear that crossed her face wasn’t the kind that came from guessing. It came from remembering.  
“When Ethan gets obsessed,” she whispered, “he doesn’t stop.”  
Daniel lowered his phone slowly.  
“Rose—”  
“No,” she cut in. “You didn’t know him before.”  
She looked at me then, and for the first time since this started, I saw real terror in her eyes.  
“He wasn’t always bad,” she said softly. “At first, he was charming. Protective. I thought I’d found the one. He said he loved me.”  
She paused, swallowing hard.  
“He hated when I talked to people. He checked my phone. He controlled what I wore.”  
Her voice steadied, but only a little. “His love turned into obsession.”  
Daniel muttered something under his breath. Rose didn’t seem to hear him.  
“If I disagreed…” Her voice caught.  
“Rose,” I said quietly.  
She gave a bitter laugh. “You know what’s funny? I thought I could fix him.”  
Her eyes went distant. “One night I told him I wanted space. He punched the wall beside my head.”  
Rage moved through me, cold and sharp. Daniel looked ready to break something. Rose just hugged herself tighter.  
“After I found out I was pregnant, I hated myself for it. It was too late. My parents turned their backs on me. And he got worse.”  
I went still. “Worse how?”  
She didn’t answer right away. When she did, her voice was barely audible.  
“He shoved me when I was heavily pregnant.”  
The room exploded.  
“What?”  
Daniel cursed under his breath. Rose flinched like she expected the yelling. Regret hit me instantly.  
“Rose…” I lowered my voice.  
“He left me bleeding,” she whispered. “He ran. He thought I was dead.”  
She paused. “Anna found me. She’s the only reason I made it. I gave birth early because of him.”  
“I thought I’d escaped when Anna and I relocated,” she continued. “But I was wrong.”  
My chest tightened. God. She’d gone through all of it alone. Pregnant. Terrified. Abused. And somehow she’d still become the woman standing in front of me now—soft, strong, unbreakable in the ways that mattered.  
Something cold settled in me.  
Ethan had touched my family. He’d taken my child.  
Maybe not by blood. But in every way that counted, she was mine.  
The phone buzzed.  
Everyone froze.  
Rose stared at the screen like it might explode.  
Unknown Number
A location pin
6:00 PM. Come alone. Or she will become mine forever.
Rose stopped breathing.  
“No,” I said instantly.  
She looked up at me. “Yes.”  
“You’re not going alone.”  
Her eyes flashed. “He’ll hurt Noel.”  
“And if you go alone, what happens when he takes you too?”  
Silence stretched between us, heavy and painful.  
Then, very quietly, she whispered, “What if I’m already too late?”  
The words landed hard.  
I wasn’t letting her out of my sight. Not now. Not ever. Even if I had to lie to her to keep her safe.  
Because Ethan didn’t understand one thing.  
He hadn’t just taken Rose’s daughter.  
He’d threatened my family.  
And I didn’t lose what was mine.
I turned to her. “Please. Be careful.”
I turn sharply.
“Daniel.”
He straightens immediately.
“Arrange the money”.
~~~~~~
ROSE POV
I didn’t know if I was brave or reckless. Maybe both. 
All I knew was that I had to bring my daughter home.  
No matter what it cost.  
No matter how hard my hands shook.  
Ethan wasn’t winning this time. Not again. I wouldn’t let history repeat itself.
Adrian had argued with me for twenty minutes straight. In the end, the police slipped a tracker into the pendant of my necklace. Small. Hidden. Almost invisible.  
“Just in case,” Adrian had said, his voice low.  
His fingers trembled when he clasped it around my neck. Like the thought of losing me was already real.  
I’d promised him. I’ll bring our daughter home.
The words sat heavy in my chest.  
Our daughter.
The way I said it—without hesitation, without doubt—did something dangero but soft
But reality was still there, cold at the edges of my mind.  
This marriage was temporary. Six months. A contract. I’d get paid, and then Noel and I would leave. Maybe Miami. Somewhere new. Somewhere Ethan could never find us.  
If tonight worked.  
If Noel came home.  
If I made it out.  
The unfinished building loomed ahead, four stories of dark concrete and broken windows. The wind cut through the empty frames, carrying dust and the sharp tang of metal.  
It felt wrong here. Abandoned. Hungry.  
My fingers tightened around the strap of the duffel bag. Twenty million dollars, for my daughter.  
5:57 PM. Three minutes early.  
No police. No Adrian.  
Not that I expected him to listen. He was too stubborn for that.  
I swallowed and stepped inside.  
The silence swallowed me whole.  
Too quiet. Too empty.  
No movement. No voices. No sign of Noel.  
“Hello?” My voice sounded small against the concrete.  
Only the drip of water answered, echoing from somewhere deep in the building.  
First floor. Empty.  
Second floor. Nothing.  
My breathing turned shallow.  
“Ethan?”  
Nothing.  
The thought hit me like ice water. _What if he lied? What if Noel wasn’t here?_  
My pulse pounded in my ears.  
Then I heard it.  
“Rosie…”  
The word slid through the air, low and familiar and wrong.  
My blood went cold.  
No.  
Not that name.  
Anything but that name.  
It lived in my nightmares. Wrapped in bruises and threats and the sound of my own breathing when I thought I was about to die.  
“Rosie…” he said again, dragging it out like a song. A low chuckle followed, bouncing off the empty walls.  
“Oh, Rosie.”  
Goosebumps broke out across my skin. Every nerve screamed at me to run. To turn back while I still could.  
But Noel was here. She had to be.  
My hands clenched into fists. “Where’s my daughter?”  
Silence.  
Then footsteps. Slow. Deliberate. Above me.  
“Still bossy,” his voice drifted down, lazy and amused. “Missed that.”  
My stomach twisted. I forced myself up the stairs, one step at a time. The concrete groaned under my weight. Dust hung thick in the dim light.  
And then I heard it.  
Soft. Broken.  
“Mommy…”  
The sound tore through me.  
“Noel?!”  
I ran.  
I rounded the corner and stopped dead.  
Ethan stood in the center of the floor, hands in his pockets, watching me like I was something he’d spent years waiting to reclaim.
He smiled.
Not with his eyes. Never with his eyes.
Time had touched him, but not enough. His hair was longer now, messy and overgrown. Light stubble shadowed his jaw, and faint lines framed his eyes, carved by anger and sleepless nights.
He looked worn. Tattered.
But beneath it all— He hadn’t changed.
The same sharp features. The same unsettling stare. The same dangerous calm that used to make my stomach knot right before he snapped.
And somehow, that terrified me more.Beside him, Noel sat tied to a chair, her face streaked with tears, her small body shaking.  
My baby.  
Something primal and ugly ripped through me.  
“NOEL!”  
She broke apart at the sound of my voice. “Mommy!”  
I took a step forward—  
And Ethan moved.  
One smooth step, blocking my path. Calm. Patient. Dangerous.  
“Ah-ah,” he murmured. “That’s rude, Rosie.”  
His smile stayed in place.  
“You didn’t even say hello.”  
Behind him, Noel choked on a sob.  
Ethan’s smile widened.  
“Relax, Rosie.”  
His voice dropped, quiet and deliberate.  
“You really think I’d hurt my own daughter?”  
Noel whimpered behind him, a small, broken sound that made my chest tighten.  
I tried to move.  
He shifted, cutting me off before I could take a step. Close enough that I could smell him—faint cologne under stale sweat.  
“You know,” he murmured, “I almost missed this.”  
His fingers brushed a strand of hair from my face.  
I jerked back on instinct.  
That smile deepened, darker now.  
“Still scared of me.”  
Then something shifted in his expression. Amusement. Like he’d just remembered a joke only he was in on.  
“Oh.”  
His eyes dropped.  
Straight to my necklace.  
My blood turned to ice.  
The pendant.  
The tracker.  
His smile spread slow, deliberate, cruel.  
“Did you really think,” he whispered, “I wouldn’t check?”  
His hand slid into his pocket.  
Click.  He pressed a remote button 
Somewhere below us, the building shuddered.  
A deafening blast tore through the concrete. Dust and debris rained down as cracks split across the floor.  
Noel screamed.  
And beneath my feet—  
The floor gave way.
•••••••••••