All That Was Forgotten

Prologue III (Alex's POV): 3 Years Ago...

She's pregnant. f**k, she's pregnant.

I'm going to be a father.

The thought slammed into me like a tidal wave, unstoppable and electrifying. For the whole day, that was all I could think about. The wedding couldn't have come at a better time. Thank god, I had already made her mine.

The second I got her alone at our reception, away from all our friends who had spent the entire day stealing her attention, I scooped her up into my arms. Bridal-style, of course. Carrying her straight back to our villa.

I've bought this place for us, but she doesn't know about that yet. She still thought it was a rental, but she'll find out soon enough. This would be the place we'll raise our family. My wife. The mother of my child. f**k.

Right now, I just want to feel her. Taste her. Lose myself in her.

Her laughter filled the foyer, soft and alive once I've kicked the door open. Her brown hair shimmering underneath the soft light like a halo. I buried my face in the curve of her neck, as she giggled some more. The scent of her perfume, filled with roses, and the salt from the ocean a delicious mix, as I inhaled her like a starving man.

"Alex, stop!" she giggled, her voice breathy and playful. "It tickles, you goose!"

God, that sound. I could never get tired of that sound. Music to my ears.

She squealed softly when I lifted her higher, her hands instinctively looping around my neck, still in her wedding dress.

"Alex!" she protested between laughs, her cheek flushed, eyes bright with the same joy that made me fall for her in the first place. It was intoxicating.

"Yes, wife?" I murmured playfully, brushing my lips against her temple as I pushed the door to our bedroom open with my foot.

The room greeted us with soft lamplight. The faint hum of the ocean just beyond the balcony. The scent of salt and roses lingering the air. Her scent mixing with the sea breeze. After all, we've been outdoors most of the day.

Now that she was exactly where I wanted her, I lowered her gently onto the bed. Her fingers curled around the lapel of my suit, pulling me closer with a desperate need that set my pulse racing.

I propped myself up on my elbows, hovering over her, my hands sliding through her hair to brush it softly away from her face.

"Alex..." she breathed, her voice a fragile whisper, trembling not with fear but with something far more potent. Her fingers traced slow, deliberate patterns over the front of my shirt, like she was seeaking the steady thrum of my heartbeat.

I caught her hand, pressing a tender kiss to her knuckled, a slow smile curling on my lips. "What is it, my love?"

"This is the craziest thing I've ever done," she confessed softly. Her lips parted, her dark eyes wide with wonder.

If only she knew that this was the craziest thing I've ever done, too. And I've done many crazy things, normal people like her, could never imagine. Still, I pressed my lips on hers again, warm and insisted.

"Me too," I murmured against her mouth.

My thumb traced the delicate curve of her neck, savoring the shiver that ran through her skin. I loved the way I could simply unravel her with the slightest touch. "Do you have any regrets?"

She shook her head, eyes locked on mine, absolute. "No."

"Good," I breathed against her ear, lips ghosting over her skin. "Because if you did, I'd have to remind you exactly why you decided to marry me in the first place."

She melted into my arms. Her laughter falling into a breathless moan as I claimed her lips once more. The waves crashed soflt against the shore outside, while I peeled away her wedding dress. Slowly, deliberately, every inch of her bare skin igniting a fierce hunger within me.

My wife. She is mine now. Every heartbeat, every breath of hers, down to her soul. And right here, right now, with her carrying my child in her exquisite body, nothing else will ever matter. This, the family we're creating, this is all I'll ever need.

The morning hit harder than it should've.

My head throbbed, heavy and slow like I've had one too many drinks. Which was ridiculous. I hadn't touched a damn thing last night. And I don't get drunk. Which could only mean one thing. f**k.

I laid there, eyes half-shut, my hand reaching blindly to where she should've been. The warm skin. The sleepy murmur. Faint scent of roses. But all I felt was cold sheets.

"Lila?" I called, my voice coming out rough.

I pushed myself up, blinking through the haze cluding my head. The duvet was half on the floor, tangled like she had slipped out of the bed quietly. The taste of salt still clung to the air. The curtains in our bedroom fluttering softly from the ocean breeze. We must've forgotten to shut it back last night.

Maybe she's in the kitchen, making coffee. She had always done that in the morning.

But something twisted in my gut. That same instinct that had kept me alive for years, kept gnawing that something was off.

I swung my legs off the bed, the floor cold beneath my feet. That's when I noticed it. Everything felt wrong. Too still, too silent. There were no gulls, no hum of the morning waves. Just...nothing.

"Lila?" I called again, louder this time, unable to hide the panic in my voice.

The scent hit me first, familiar. Metallic. Sharp. Faint, but it's there. Blood.

My pulse spiked, as I followed thr trail. Every step heavier than the last. Everything looked the same, untouched, and yet, my instincts screamed otherwise.

Then I saw it.

Red on the marble counter. A broken mug on the floor. The pieces of her robe, one that was hung last night, torn and crumpled near the door.

"No," I breathed, the word barely leaving my lips.

My mind raced, but my body felt frozen. The nausea. The heaviness in my limbs. Fog in my head.

I was f*****g drugged.

My knees buckled. The cold tiles bit through my palms, sharp and unforgiving. The smell...fuck. It slammed into me like a freight train. Blood. Thick, drying, dark ribbons smeared beneath my fingers, a stain I'd carry forever.

Blood didn't usually faze me. I've seen it and felt it enough to be indifferent. I knew how to make it stop, how to turn violence into neat calculations. But this, this was different. This is her blood on my hands.

A sick heat churned in my gut, a kind of nausea I hadn't known in years. The world shrank into this impossible situation. The defeaning thunder of my own heart, and the haze of red that surrounded it.

She was supposed to be safe. No one knew who I was. The few who did, I trusted with my life. She was under my protection, and I failed her.

Shame twisted inside me, raw and bitter. I've slept through it all. And the baby...that baby inside her, our child. God, the baby. What hell had I let loose? f**k. I failed them both.

I forced myself up on my legs that trembled like leaves, and slammed my fist into the plaster, hard enough to sting.

Shame twisted inside me, curdling into a cold, burning fury that clawed at my chest. It wasn't just guilt, it was rage, eating up inside me. Furious, hollow, desperate.

She can't be dead. I won't believe that she's dead, until I've seen it with my own eyes. This blood still meant that she was alive, somwhere out there. Kidnapped. And I have to find her.

Her beautiful face flooded my mind. The scent of her morning coffee, bright and early in the morning. Her laugh, head thrown back, pure happiness lighting up her face. The way she'd tuck her coppery hair behind her ear, when she was deep in concentration. The softness in her face, her wide brown eyes, when she first told me she loved me.

Each one sliced open whatever calm I had left. Rage pooled like acid behind my teeth. I'm going to find her. And I'm going to kill them all, whoever took her and hurt her.

Something in me went quiet, and merciless. I ground my jaw, clenching my fists until I could feel my blood throbbing in my knuckles. Whoever had come here, whoever had laid their hands on her and our child, had crossed a line that could not be forgiven. They will pay.

The vow settled into my bones, buried deep into my soul like a cold promise.

I would find her. I would find out who did this.

And when I do, there would be no mercy.