CHAPTER FOUR
946 Words
Damien stood frozen; he was still in shock at what he just heard.
Lily.
Unconscious.
For weeks.
Damien’s grasp on his phone tightened as the doctor's words echoed in his head
“Miss Kingston was admitted weeks ago….. She remains unconscious.”
His expiration came sharp, his heartbeat pounding as he slowly lowered the phone.
Across from him, Ava observed him, her hands wrapped around her coffee cup like she needed something to hold on to.
“You knew,” Damien said with his voice dangerously low.
Ava’s fingers tensed against the ceramic. “I didn't, matter of fact I have no idea what you are talking about,” she said, gaining confidence.
“You knew.” he plunged the table hard enough that her coffee spilled over the rim, splashing onto her wrist, Ava flinched but held her ground.
Damien leaned forward, his eyes burning with fury.
“How long?” His voice was pure steel. Unrelenting. Unforgiving.
“How long have you known where she was?”
Ava swallowed hard. “I swear Mr Chase Elle has nothing to do with Lily’s disappearance.
“Then why is she running?” he snapped.
Ava opened her mouth, then hesitated. That was it. That one, single show of uncertainty.
Damien caught it like a predator.
He sprained up from his seat, chair scraping against the floor as he loomed over her.
“Where is she?”
Ava moistened her lips, taking in a breath slowly.
Then she gave a small, deliberate gesture.
“By now gone?” she lifted a brow.
“Gone”
Silence.
Thick suffocating silence.
Damien’s world tilted
“Gone?”
The word was a gunshot fired to his skull.
His hands crimped into fists.
His chest heaved.
His nostrils blazing.
Ava sat still, composed too composed.
Damien’s lips tinged. He grabbed his phone and stormed out of the cafe.
She thought Elle could run.
She had no idea who she was dealing with.
* * * * * *
The airport was vague in movement and noise. People rushed past, voices overlapped, and luggage rattled against the tiled floor.
Damien pushed through the crowd, his heartbeat deafening.
His eyes locked on the departure board.
Flight 209. Departed.
He stared. Unmoving.
Then his chest tightened. His fists clenched.
His jaw locked.
She was gone.
He could almost hear the locking silence.
Something inside him snapped.
Damien turned around grabbing his phone.
“Get me a list of the passengers on that flight. Now,” he barked at his assistant.
“Sir I-”
“Now.” His voice was stern, sharp enough to cut through steel.
A pause. Then a hesitant nod.
Damien took a deep long breath, as his hand pushed through his hair, his patience wearing thin.
He could feel his anger boiling right under his skin.
Elle thought she could just disappear.
She thought she could get away from him.
Fine… she wanted to run?
Let her.
But this wasn’t over.
Not even close.
He turned sharply, his suit whipping behind him as he walked towards the exit.
First the hospital.
Then?
Elle was going to learn exactly what it meant to cross Damien Chase.
* * * * * *
The hospital gave off a whiffing smell of antiseptic and misery.
Every step Damien carried a silent message as he moved across the unblemished floor, his steps long, determined, and deadly.
Shocked, the nurse at the front desk sat up at the sight of him, her eyes wide with surprise.
“Mr Chase —”
“Room.” he snarled.
“Now.”
She scribbled with her chart, her fingers shaking slightly.
“R- Room 417.”
He was already moving
The hallway faded past him, his mind a turmoil of anger and questions.
Then — he stopped.
His breath blocked.
Through the open doorway, his eyes locked onto the motionless figure on the hospital bed.
And Damien froze.
His chest tightened.
His hands folded into a fist.
Lily.
His Lily.
His gut twisted.
He stepped closer, his eyes scanning her pale face, the oxygen tube, the machines beeping in an agonizing rhythm.
“What happened to you, Lily?” He asked rhetorically his voice came out sharper than intended.
A chair scraped back.
Damien’s head snapped up.
A doctor stood by the bed, tossing through a chart.
He looked up, offering a polite nod.
“You must be Damien Chase.”
Damien barely registered it. His focus unwavered from the unconscious woman.
“Lily…”
A part of him was convinced he’d find her gone, vanished like a ghost.
Instead, she was here lying still, fragile, broken.
His hand clutched at his side.
“Who did this to you?”
The doctor cleared his throat. “She was brought in unconscious a few weeks ago. No identification, no emergency contacts”
Damien’s head splattered toward him.
“Then how did you know to call me?”
The doctor hesitated. “An anonymous tip. Someone said you were looking for her.”
Damien’s blood ran cold.
Anonymous?
His jaw locked. Elle.
She was the only one hiding something.
The only one running.
Damien exhaled sharply, dragging a hand down his face.
His mind was already racing, putting the pieces together.
Elle. Ava. The missing CCTV footage of Lily’s sudden, unexplained disappearance.
And now?
Elle was gone the moment he got close.
He became convinced that Elle was guilty.
Coincidence?
Not a damn chance.
Damien turned back to Lily, his gaze growing dim.
“If Elle had anything to do with this.” he murmured, “I will find out,” his jaw tightened, “And she will pay,”
- Writer
