OWNED BY THE BIKER KING

Chapter 19

Morning arrived far too quickly, bleeding pale light through the towering windows of the estate. Despite managing to get a few hours of fitful sleep, Elena couldn’t stop the relentless spinning in her mind. The single name she had heard last night refused to leave her alone.

Nana.

The name lingered in her thoughts like an unfinished, frustrating puzzle. No matter how hard she tried to push it away, the heavy, instinctual feeling simply wouldn’t evaporate. Who on earth was Nana? And why did a single name make her soul ache with such terrifying familiarity?

After getting dressed, Elena slowly headed downstairs. The massive mansion was already awake. The rich, comforting aroma of freshly brewed coffee and toasted bread filled the air as she quietly stepped into the pristine kitchen.

“Good morning, sweetheart,” a warm, melodic voice greeted her.

Elena looked up to see Ryder’s mother standing near the counter, adjusting a tray of fruit. “Good morning, Mom.”

The older woman’s smile widened immediately at the title, her eyes crinkling with genuine affection.

“Did you sleep well last night, dear?”

For a fleeting moment, Elena hesitated, her fingers tracing the edge of her sleeve. “Not really, to be honest.”

Ryder’s mother immediately noticed the shadowed look in the girl's eyes. She wiped her hands and stepped closer. “Is there something heavy on your mind, sweetheart?”

Elena lowered her gaze toward the floor, her heart beating a little faster. Then, in a quiet, cautious whisper—

“Mom...”

“Hm? What is it, dear?”

“The little girl you mentioned last night at the table...” Elena swallowed hard. “Nana.”

The elegant older woman froze slightly, her expression turning pensive. “Nana?”

Elena nodded tightly. “Who exactly was she?”

Ryder’s mother looked at Elena for a long, searching moment, as if trying to read the secrets hidden in the girl's irises. Then, she turned to the head maid working nearby. “Can you take over the breakfast preparations for a while, please?”

The maid nodded immediately with a polite bow. “Right away, Madam.”

A moment later, Ryder’s mother gently took Elena’s cold hand into her warm palms. “Come with me, sweetheart. Let's talk somewhere quiet.”

Elena followed her out of the bustling kitchen, walking down a glass-enclosed corridor toward a private sitting area overlooking the manicured morning gardens. The early air felt cool, crisp, and peaceful. Elena sat on a plush armchair, holding a glass of water to steady her nerves, while Ryder’s mother sat directly beside her on the loveseat.

For a moment, Ryder’s mother seemed lost in the fog of her own memories. Then, she smiled softly, a nostalgic glint in her eyes.

“Nana was actually the boys' very first childhood friend,” she explained softly. “The first girl they ever allowed into their circle. To be honest, they never had a single female friend since they were toddlers. They were always so closed off.”

Elena listened quietly, her grip tightening on the glass of water.

“It all happened years ago during a long summer holiday,” the older woman continued. “The boys were staying at their grandparents' countryside estate to get away from the city. And by complete coincidence, there was a little girl living right next door.”

Elena lowered her gaze slightly, her chest tightening. “They became friends?”

“Oh, they became inseparable,” Ryder’s mother chuckled, shaking her head fondly. “At first, I couldn’t even believe it when their grandfather called to tell me that my stubborn, anti-social boys had actually made a friend who was a girl. Because back then, the boys absolutely detested being around girls—except for Drayton, of course. You know how hyperactive he has always been.”

A small laugh escaped Elena's lips at the mention of Drayton.

“Those four did absolutely everything together that summer. The boys threw a massive tantrum when it was finally the last day of the holidays and they had to pack up to come home.”

“Really?” Elena murmured, a wave of unexplainable emotion washing over her. “That girl must have been really special to them.”

“She really was.”

“What... what was that girl's real name, Mom?” Elena asked, the question slipping out before she could stop it.

Ryder’s mother frowned slightly, her brows knitting together as she racked her brain. “You know... it's the strangest thing, but I can’t seem to remember her actual birth name.” She chuckled softly at her own forgetfulness. “Everyone in the family and the neighborhood just called her Nana. It stuck so well that her real name just faded from our vocabulary.”

Elena slowly nodded, but the moment the name left the older woman's lips again, a sharp, suffocating sensation gripped her chest. It was a heavy feeling she couldn’t logically explain.

Observing her, Ryder’s mother tilted her head curiously. “Why are you so curious about her, sweetheart?”

Elena hesitated, staring down at the swirling water in her hands. “I don’t know,” she admitted honestly, her voice dropping into a whisper. “It just... feels incredibly familiar to me.”

“Familiar?”

Elena nodded. “Ever since last night, the name keeps repeating in a loop inside my head. Like an echo.”

Ryder’s mother's warm smile faded, replaced by a sharp look of realization. A sudden, desperate idea struck her mind.

“Wait here,” she said, standing up abruptly. “I think I have just the thing.”

Elena blinked in confusion. “What is it, Mom?”

“If you see what she looked like, if you see her picture, maybe it will trigger something and you’ll remember.”

Without wasting another second, Ryder’s mother turned toward the corridor, calling out to a passing maid. “Could you please bring me the old leather photo album from the bottom cabinet in the reading room? The one from the summer of 2008.”

The maid nodded immediately. “Right away, Madam.”

As the maid disappeared deeper into the mansion, neither of them noticed the tall, imposing figure standing perfectly still in the shadow of the nearby kitchen doorway. He had been standing there the entire time, silently listening to every word.

Ryder. His expression was a dark mask of suffocating focus.

The heavy leather album arrived a few minutes later, delivered directly to the small table. Curious, her heart hammering against her ribs like a trapped bird, Elena opened the worn cover as Ryder’s mother gently handed it to her.

At first, everything seemed perfectly normal. Old family photographs of holiday trips. Pictures of three younger, messy-haired boys causing chaos. Memories frozen beautifully in time.

Then—she stopped flipping the page. Her fingers froze against the glossy paper.

It was a single photograph. Three young boys, laughing beneath a brilliant summer sun. And standing right beside them, her hand linked tightly with a younger Ryder, was a little girl in a white sundress.

No. That wasn’t possible. It couldn't be.

Because Elena recognized that little girl. She knew her intimately. The specific arc of her smile. The way she held herself. The pattern of the dress.

It was her.

Suddenly—a sharp, blinding white pain exploded violently inside Elena's head, like a physical blow to her skull.

Elena gasped loudly, her vision blurring into stark lines of black and white. The heavy photo album slipped instantly from her numb fingers.

CRASH!

The tall glass she had been holding shattered violently against the marble ground, sending sharp shards of glass and water flying in every direction.

“Elena!” Ryder’s mother screamed, standing up in absolute panic.

But Elena couldn’t hear her voice anymore. The agonizing pain grew worse, throbbing behind her eyes. Chaos flooded her senses as fragmented, suppressed images flashed through her mind like a broken film reel.

A sunlit garden. High-pitched, joyful laughter. Three boys running through the grass toward her.

“Nana! Nana, look over here!”

The voices echoed around her skull in a deafening crescendo. Again. And again.

Elena grabbed her head with both hands, squeezing her eyes shut as if her skull was about to physically split apart. “No... stop... please...” she gasped, her breathing turning shallow, rapid, and uneven. The forgotten memories were crashing in too fast, too violently for her fragile mind to process.

Before she could grasp a single coherent thought—the overwhelming pain dragged her under, and everything went completely dark.

Before Elena’s limp body could hit the hard marble, Ryder appeared out of nowhere, moving with lethal speed the exact moment his mother had screamed. His heart dropped into a hollow abyss at the sight of her pale, lifeless face.

“Hey,” he rumbled, his deep voice cracking with a rare, raw panic as he caught her seamlessly in his broad arms.

No response.

“Elena! Look at me!” Ryder commanded, his strong arms wrapping securely around her waist and knees, lifting her effortlessly against his chest.

Nothing. Her head fell limply against his broad shoulder.

“Marcus! Luca! Call the family's private doctor right now!” Ryder’s mother yelled, her voice echoing frantic through the halls as the mansion instantly plunged into chaos.

Luca and Drayton came rushing down the stairs seconds later, their expressions turning dead serious as they took in the broken glass, the spilled water, and the sight of their eldest brother holding the unconscious girl.

Tense questions filled the air, but Ryder heard none of it. His intense, obsidian eyes remained fixed entirely on the pale face of the girl resting in his arms as he carried her up the stairs toward his master suite.

Because deep down, in the darkest, most protective part of his soul—he already knew the terrifying truth.

The old photograph had triggered the lock. Elena wasn't just a stranger he found at a station.

She was their ghost.

To Be Continued