I Kidnapped My Ex On His Wedding Day

Chapter 3

CHARLIE

Curiosity got the better of me after all.

Instead of helping out at the bar that night, I ended up seated across from Christopher like an ordinary customer. The way he looked at me told me this was anything but an ordinary conversation.

The booth between us felt too small. Too close. Too exposed.

As if the conversation he was about to start had already lit a match somewhere deep in the dark.

"I've only been here for a few hours, and you're already telling me there's a problem. So what's going on?" I asked.

“It’s about my brother.”

I frowned.

He only had one brother, and we were definitely not on good terms.

“Hmmm... I’m sorry, but I’m not interested. So good luck, enjoy your drinks. I still need to help my cousin, and there are a lot of customers,” I said, already pushing myself up from the seat.

But Christopher’s next words stopped me cold.

“Please, Charlie. Listen to me first. I know you’re a secret agent, and I have a job for you.”

I moved before I even had time to think.

I grabbed him by the neck and forced his head back slightly. The table was narrow enough that I could reach him without even trying.

Shit. If Christopher knew... who else did?

Christopher caught my wrist and tried to pull my hand away.

“C-Charlie, I’ll explain!” he choked out.

I let go immediately.

“How did you even find out, and who else knows?” I asked, my voice sharp enough to cut.

“W-wait,” he said, trying to catch his breath.

“I found out from my brother. But don’t worry—it’s just the two of us who know. Everyone else in town only thinks you’re a personal bodyguard, like your father used to be,” he said quickly.

“Your brother knows?” My voice dropped lower, colder. “How did he find out?”

“I-I don’t know how. I only found out about your real job by accident. One time he left his laptop open, and I saw your profile. I swear, I’m telling the truth.”

And just like that, everything clicked into place.

Christian James had me investigated.

My jaw clenched.

He’d better be ready when I see him.

Because if I found out he’d told even one more person about my secret, I’d rip the truth out of him myself.

Before I could say another word, two men suddenly started throwing punches in the middle of the bar.

I stood up in one brutal motion, reached behind me for my gun, c****d it, and fired twice at the floor beside the two men who were brawling.

I wasn't trying to hit them. I just wanted everyone to remember what a gun sounded like.

And I got both.

The effect was instant.

People screamed. Chairs scraped violently across the floor. Glass rattled. Drinks were abandoned mid-sip. In seconds, panic tore through the bar, and just like that, the place emptied out.

“Cousin, what did you do? The other customers are gone! Some of them still haven’t paid!” Josh said, terror written all over his face.

Yeah... I definitely wasn't built for the bar business.

And this was exactly why.

“Don’t worry, I’ll pay for the drinks that weren’t settled. For now, let’s close early. And tell the two staff members not to worry—their pay for today will still be complete,” I told Josh.

He nodded quickly, then hurried off to tell the staff.

I glanced back at the booth.

Christopher was still there.

To my annoyance, he actually gave me a thumbs-up.

“You’re really something, Charlie,” he said, sounding almost proud of me.

I exhaled through my nose.

"You're still here?"

“I haven’t told you my real purpose yet,” he said.

And then everything in his face changed.

The teasing disappeared.

What remained was something far more dangerous.

The desperation in his eyes was impossible to miss.

“Then say it now. We’re closing,” I ordered.

He looked around first, as if checking whether anyone might overhear him.

The bar was already nearly empty, but he still acted like we were surrounded on all sides.

“I need to whisper it so no one can hear.”

He was already a grown man, yet he still acted like a kid.

“Make sure this isn’t some prank, unless you want to sleep in the hospital tonight,” I warned him.

Then I leaned closer to the table and tilted my body slightly.

Christopher leaned in too, bringing his mouth close to my ear, and began whispering the so-called huge problem he had been carrying around.

When he finished whispering, I slowly leaned back.

A laugh escaped me.

Not because it was funny.

Because it was insane.

“Really? Christian James Kingsley and Gretchen Baeumont?” I said, still laughing.

Kingsley.

Beaumont.

Mortal enemies.

And now there was going to be a wedding between the two families.

A wedding with security. Armed men. Political power. Old blood. Old grudges.

A wedding that could turn into a disaster with one wrong move.

What made it even more ridiculous was Christopher’s request.

He wanted me to get his brother out of there on the exact day of the wedding.

“I’m serious, Charlie. Don’t laugh, and please just say yes,” he said, still trying to convince me.

I shook my head, but the laughter in my chest had already faded, replaced by something colder.

“I’m sorry,” I said, “but why do I have to save your brother when he knows combat? We grew up together, and my father trained both of us. He doesn’t need my help. If he really doesn’t want to get married, then he can save himself. And honestly? It might even be better if the two of them get married. Maybe that would finally bring peace to this town.”

Christopher didn’t laugh.

He just held my gaze, and when he spoke, his voice was low and deadly serious.

“You don’t understand,” he said. “There’s no problem when it comes to fighting, but the security is extremely tight. Didn’t you notice that earlier, when you arrived?”

I thought about it.

Yes.

We had passed through an entry checkpoint before entering town.

“And on the actual wedding day, the security will be even tighter—maybe doubled.”

I looked at him, not fully convinced.

“I still don’t understand,” I said. “You have a lot of people. Why do you need me to do this?”

That was the part I couldn’t make sense of.

Why me?

Why was I the one he was asking?

Christopher’s answer came without hesitation.

"Because you and your father are the only ones who know the Blackwood forest inside and out. That’s the route you and my brother will use to cross over to the next town. Don’t worry—when you reach the extraction point, a team will be waiting for you there.”

So that was it.

I wasn’t just being asked to help.

I was being dragged into a mission with too many moving parts and too many ways to fail.

A mission crossing enemy territory.

A mission with checkpoints, armed security, family enemies, and a wedding about to become a battlefield if anything went wrong.

I looked at him, incredulous.

“You mean people still believe those rumors? They’re still afraid to enter that forest?”

He nodded.

The silence between us stretched for a beat too long.

Then I shook my head.

“No. I came here to rest, and to take care of a few things too—like this bar,” I said flatly.

Besides, I didn’t care about Christian James Kingsley.

He was old enough to fend for himself.

And for me, he’d been dead a long time ago.

I’d already stood up and was ready to walk away when Christopher’s next words hit like a gunshot.

“Five million. We’re willing to pay five million.”

I froze.

Slowly, I sat back down.

“Say that again?” I said, because I needed to make sure I had heard him right.

“Five million dollars. We’ll pay you that much, as long as you get my brother out on his wedding day.”

I stared at him.

He was serious.

Of course he was serious.

The Kingsleys were rich—dangerously rich. They owned businesses everywhere, and their father was a governor. Five million wasn’t pocket change to them.

Five million dollars.

The number hung between us like a loaded gun.

That kind of offer wasn’t something you simply walked away from.

And the mission itself suddenly felt a lot more dangerous than it had a minute ago.

The job itself didn't scare me.

But then one thought cut through everything else.

Why did it have to be on the wedding day itself?

If I accepted, why couldn’t we do it earlier? There was no need to wait until the actual ceremony.

“Why does the plan have to be carried out on the wedding day itself?” I asked.

Christopher answered immediately.

“Because my brother’s wedding is tomorrow afternoon.”

My eyes widened.

So that was why they were offering so much.

It wasn’t just a job.

It was a crisis.

An emergency extraction.

A one-day countdown before the entire town locked down, before the bride walked in, before the security doubled, before the family spectacle became something far more dangerous.

Tomorrow.

Not next week. Not in three days. Tomorrow.

They weren't offering me a mission.

They were handing me a disaster with less than twenty-four hours to prepare.