Chapter 10 — Taken Before the Truth
2455 Words
Darkness had no beginning.
It existed beyond sight and beyond sound, swallowing every thought before it had the chance to fully take shape. Time itself lost all meaning within that endless void, where minutes and hours dissolved into nothingness until the distinction between them no longer existed.
Somewhere far away, rain struck metal with a relentless, unchanging rhythm.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
Footsteps echoed through the darkness, their measured cadence drifting closer before fading once more into the emptiness.
Low voices floated just beyond comprehension, rising and falling without ever becoming clear enough to understand.
A door opened.
Then closed again.
After that...
Silence reclaimed everything.
Pain arrived before consciousness.
A dull, persistent ache pulsed behind Ava's eyes, spreading slowly through her skull until every heartbeat seemed to deepen the throbbing. Her entire body felt impossibly heavy, as though every limb had been filled with wet sand that refused to let her move.
She tried to move her fingers.
Nothing.
Even drawing a steady breath demanded far more effort than it should have.
Gradually, awareness returned in scattered fragments that refused to settle into a complete memory.
The restaurant.
The old leather diary.
Her father's handwritten letters.
The warning.
The sudden wave of dizziness.
A shadow moving outside her car.
Then...
Nothing.
Her heartbeat lurched violently inside her chest.
Summoning every ounce of strength she possessed, she forced herself to open her eyes.
At first, everything remained hopelessly blurred.
Dark, indistinct shapes.
Brief flashes of passing light. Rain streaking across heavily tinted glass.
Slowly, her vision sharpened enough for the world around her to come into focus.
She was lying across the rear seat of a large black SUV.
The steady hum of the engine vibrated beneath her while the vehicle sped through the storm. Rain battered the roof with relentless force, nearly drowning out the sound of tires slicing through flooded asphalt.
She blinked several times, willing her thoughts to become clear.
Her wrists were free, so were her ankles.
There were no ropes.
No handcuffs. No visible restraints of any kind.
Yet something felt terribly wrong.
Her muscles refused to respond properly.
Every movement remained sluggish and unsteady.
Her tongue felt painfully dry.
A bitter chemical taste lingered in the back of her mouth.
A sedative.
Someone had drugged her.
Cold fear settled heavily inside her stomach.
A quiet voice shattered the silence.
"She's awake."
Another voice answered from the front of the vehicle.
"Earlier than expected."
With considerable effort, Ava turned her head.
Three men occupied the SUV.
One sat behind the steering wheel, his complete attention fixed on the rain-soaked highway stretching ahead.
Another occupied the front passenger seat, occasionally speaking into a discreet microphone concealed beneath the collar of his suit.
The third man sat directly opposite her in the rear compartment.
All three wore identical dark suits.
Black leather gloves.
Clear acoustic earpieces.
Everything about their posture reflected discipline.
They lacked the careless confidence of ordinary kidnappers.
These men possessed military training and private security.
Or perhaps something even more organized.
Her pulse began to race.
Ignoring the dizziness threatening to overwhelm her, she forced herself upright.
"Who are you?"
Her voice emerged hoarse, dry, and strained.
None of them answered.
She looked from one face to another.
Nothing.
Only controlled, deliberate silence.
"Where are you taking me?"
Once again...
No reply.
The older man seated opposite her simply watched in silence.
He appeared to be in his early fifties.
Dark hair had begun turning grey around his temples.
A thin scar ran cleanly across his left eyebrow before disappearing into his hairline.
His face revealed neither cruelty nor sympathy.
Only the calm, composed expression of a man carrying out orders he neither questioned nor particularly enjoyed.
Ava reached for the nearest door handle.
Locked.
She immediately tried the opposite side.
Locked again.
The child safety locks had been engaged.
Panic tightened painfully around her chest.
"What do you want from me?"
At last, the older man spoke.
His voice was deep, steady, and remarkably calm.
"You'll have your answers soon."
"I don't want answers."
She swallowed hard before continuing.
"I want to go home."
"I'm afraid that isn't possible."
Anger surged through the fear.
"You kidn*pped me."
"It was necessary."
Her eyes widened.
"Necessary?"
A bitter laugh almost escaped her.
"You drugged me, forced me into a vehicle, and now you're telling me it was necessary?"
"We prevented something much worse."
"I don't believe you."
"You aren't required to."
His expression never changed.
Not once.
Rain continued battering the windows as another flash of lightning illuminated the interior of the SUV.
For a brief instant, Ava noticed something she had overlooked before.
The man's suit jacket had shifted slightly.
Beneath it rested a compact handgun secured inside a shoulder holster.
It was not displayed. It was not being used to threaten her.
It was simply carried with the quiet confidence of someone thoroughly accustomed to using it.
Every instinct she possessed warned her to remain perfectly still.
Instead, she turned toward the rain-covered window.
Beyond the glass, darkness stretched endlessly in every direction.
Dense forest bordered both sides of the narrow highway.
Towering pine trees disappeared into the storm.
There were no houses.
No petrol stations. No villages. No passing traffic.
Nothing except endless wilderness illuminated only by brief flashes of lightning.
Wherever they were taking her...
The destination had been chosen with great care.
The older man glanced toward the driver.
"We're ten minutes out."
The driver acknowledged him with a single nod.
No one spoke again.
Ava pressed trembling fingers against the cold window.
She tried to memorize every curve in the road.
Every bridge. Every signpost.
Anything that might help her escape later.
But the relentless rain erased every landmark almost as quickly as it appeared.
She closed her eyes for only a moment.
One desperate thought echoed through her mind.
Kael... please find me.
Several kilometres behind the black SUV, another convoy pressed steadily through the relentless storm.
Rain lashed against the windshields in powerful, unyielding waves, forcing the wipers to operate at their highest speed as three identical black vehicles maintained flawless formation along the deserted highway.
Inside the lead vehicle, the atmosphere remained calm.
A man seated in the rear removed a pair of black leather gloves with slow, deliberate precision before placing them neatly beside him. Beneath a long, impeccably tailored overcoat, he wore a charcoal suit, and every detail of his appearance reflected unwavering discipline, quiet authority, and absolute self-control.
Without speaking, he continued looking through the rain-speckled window.
The silence endured for several long seconds before the encrypted radio crackled to life.
"The target has been secured."
The man's expression remained completely unreadable.
"Any resistance?"
"No, sir."
Another brief pause followed.
"The sedative worked as planned. She regained consciousness ahead of schedule, but the team remains in complete control."
He acknowledged the report with a single nod.
"Our surveillance units confirm she never saw the extraction team before losing consciousness."
Even then, he remained silent.
Only the soft, steady hum of the engine filled the interior of the vehicle.
Finally, he spoke.
"Good."
His voice was quiet, yet the single word was enough for everyone inside the SUV to instinctively straighten in their seats.
"We remain ahead of schedule."
Outside, lightning tore across the forest, casting skeletal shadows over the flooded roadway before vanishing once again into darkness.
The man continued watching the storm without shifting his gaze.
For the first time that night, the faintest hint of a smile touched his lips.
"The Alpha still has no idea."
No one answered. No one dared.
The convoy continued deeper into the mountains before disappearing behind the endless curtain of rain.
None of them realized that the events they believed they controlled had already begun moving beyond anyone's control.
Nearly an hour later...
The storm reached Sterling Estate.
Rain pounded relentlessly against the towering windows of the Kael Ashford mansion while fierce winds bent the ancient trees lining the long private drive until they swayed beneath the weight of the storm.
The estate, which normally radiated warmth and quiet welcome, appeared strangely lifeless beneath the darkened evening sky.
At exactly 8:47 p.m., Kael Ashford's black SUV passed through the wrought-iron gates.
The security guards standing watch immediately saluted as the vehicle rolled past, completely unaware that the evening they believed to be routine was about to change everything.
The SUV crossed the circular driveway before coming to a smooth stop beneath the stone portico.
One of the guards hurried forward carrying an umbrella.
Kael declined it without speaking.
Instead, he stepped directly into the rain.
Cold water quickly soaked the shoulders of his dark overcoat as he climbed the broad marble staircase leading toward the mansion's entrance.
Ordinarily, this was his favourite part of every day.
Ava would hear the sound of his engine long before he reached the front door.
She would appear in the foyer wearing one of his oversized sweaters, pretending she had simply "happened" to be passing through.
Then she would tease him.
"Did the mighty CEO finally remember he has a home?"
He would complain.
She would laugh.
Somehow, she always found a way to make the exhaustion of endless meetings disappear as though it had never existed.
Tonight...
The front doors opened.
No one was waiting.
Kael paused just inside the entrance.
Something felt wrong.
The silence wasn't peaceful. It was empty.
The house itself seemed to be holding its breath.
Mrs. Dawson, the estate's longtime housekeeper, hurried from the east corridor the moment she saw him.
Her usually composed expression had turned noticeably pale.
"Mr. Ashford..."
She stopped several feet away, nervously wringing her hands together.
Kael removed his rain-soaked gloves.
"Where's Ava?"
The question was simple.
His tone remained calm.
Mrs. Dawson hesitated.
"I... I thought she was with you, sir."
Kael looked at her.
He simply looked.
"No."
One word. Nothing more.
Mrs. Dawson felt her stomach tighten.
"She never came home."
The sentence echoed through the vast silence of the foyer.
For several long seconds, neither of them moved.
Slowly, Kael reached into the inside pocket of his coat and removed his phone.
The screen illuminated instantly.
Thirty-two missed calls.
Every single one of them...
From Ava.
His expression remained unchanged.
His breathing stayed perfectly steady.
Yet something deep within his silver eyes hardened.
He opened their message thread.
The first unread message appeared.
«I'm outside the restaurant. Something feels wrong. Call me when you can.»
Time stamp: 6:14 p.m.
More messages followed.
«Kael?»
6:27 p.m.
«Please answer.»
6:39 p.m.
His thumb came to a stop over the final message.
It had been sent at exactly 6:51 p.m.
Only three words.
«I'm scared.»
The world fell silent.
The relentless rain outside.
The servants standing nearby.
Even the steady ticking of the grandfather clock in the foyer seemed to disappear beneath the crushing weight of those three simple words.
She had reached for him.
Again.
And again. Again.
He hadn't answered.
Not because he didn't care.
Because he had been sitting inside yet another board meeting, convinced that nothing could possibly be more urgent than one more contract.
Behind him, the security staff instinctively lowered their eyes.
They had served Kael Ashford for many years.
They recognized the signs.
He wasn't angry. He wasn't shouting.
He wasn't breaking furniture. He was afraid.
And fear made an Alpha far more dangerous than rage.
At that very moment, hurried footsteps echoed through the corridor.
Daniel, Kael's executive assistant, entered the foyer carrying a tablet clutched tightly in one hand. He had clearly driven through the storm, and rainwater still dripped steadily from the shoulders of his coat.
"Sir."
Daniel came to an immediate stop in front of him.
"Our recovery team found Miss Ava's vehicle."
Kael slowly lifted his eyes.
"Where?"
"Outside Sterling Group Pavilion."
Daniel swallowed before continuing.
"The driver's door was open."
"The engine had already been turned off."
"There are signs that someone entered the vehicle after she parked."
"But..."
His eyes dropped briefly to the report displayed on the tablet.
"...there was no blood at the scene."
"No signs of a struggle."
"Her handbag, phone, and personal belongings are gone."
The silence that followed felt heavier than the thunder rolling beyond the mansion walls.
Without a word, Kael slowly slipped one hand into the pocket of his coat.
His fingers closed around a small velvet ring box.
He had carried it with him throughout the entire day.
Tonight had been supposed to be different.
After the meeting...
After dinner...
He had intended to ask Ava to marry him.
He had finally decided that she deserved to know the truth.
The truth about himself.
The truth about the Ashford bloodline.
The truth about the hidden world that existed beneath the ordinary surface of society.
The truth about the pack he had spent years protecting from the shadows.
The truth about the hidden world that existed beneath the ordinary surface of society.
The truth about the pack he had spent years protecting from the shadows.
Instead...
She had disappeared before he found the courage to tell her any of it.
His hand tightened around the ring box until its edges pressed painfully into his palm.
When he finally spoke, his voice was almost gentle.
"Find her."
Only two words.
Yet those two words changed the entire estate.
Within seconds, alarms that the ordinary household staff had never heard before echoed beneath the mansion.
Hidden security doors disengaged and slid open.
Private elevators descended toward the underground command centre.
Elite security personnel flooded into their assigned positions with practiced efficiency.
Massive digital displays illuminated the darkness one after another.
Detailed maps of the city spread across an entire wall of glowing screens.
Encrypted communication channels came alive simultaneously.
Orders began flowing across the operations room without hesitation.
"Activate every traffic camera within a one-hundred-kilometre radius."
"Notify all regional pack scouts."
"Lock down every private airfield."
"Alert border teams."
"Track every vehicle seen near Sterling Group Pavilion."
Kael stood at the very centre of the command room without moving.
His silver eyes never left the expanding network of surveillance feeds and digital maps unfolding before him.
Only a single thought continued repeating itself inside his mind.
I should have answered.
Then, suddenly—
One of the intelligence analysts shot to his feet.
"Sir!"
The entire operations room fell silent.
He pointed immediately toward the largest screen.
"We've recovered the last confirmed movement of Miss Ava's vehicle."
Kael never looked away from the map.
His next words silenced the entire command room.
"What if we're already too late... what if Ava is gone, and we're walking straight into a trap meant to kill us all?
- Writer
