CHAPTER TWELVE: INTO THE TRAP
383 Words
The room fell silent after the video ended.
Adrian's grip tightened around his phone.
The kidnapper's final words echoed in his mind.
"Come alone... or your contract wife dies first."
Amara broke the silence.
"You're not going."
Adrian looked at her.
"I don't have a choice."
"You do. We call the police."
Mr. Bennett shook his head.
"If the kidnappers are watching the estate, involving the police now could put the chairman in greater danger."
Raymond stepped forward.
"Sir, our investigation found something."
He placed another file on the table.
"The abandoned Blackwood Warehouse was sold six months ago."
"To whom?" Adrian asked.
"The buyer's identity was hidden through a shell company."
Adrian frowned.
"So they planned this long before the contract marriage."
---
At exactly eleven-thirty that night, Adrian left the estate in a black SUV.
Unknown to him, Amara had hidden herself in the back seat before the car departed.
When the vehicle reached the deserted warehouse, Adrian stepped out.
The wind howled through the broken windows.
"Come out!" he called.
"I came alone."
A voice laughed from the darkness.
"Did you?"
Adrian froze.
Behind him, Amara climbed quietly out of the SUV.
"I'm sorry," she whispered.
"I couldn't let you face this alone."
Before Adrian could respond, floodlights blazed to life.
Masked men surrounded them from every direction.
"It's a trap," Adrian muttered.
The leader stepped forward.
"Drop your phone."
Adrian obeyed.
"And the contract?"
"I don't have it."
The masked man chuckled.
"We know."
Adrian's eyes narrowed.
"Then why bring me here?"
The man removed one glove and slowly clapped.
"Because this was never about the contract."
He pointed directly at Amara.
"It was about her."
Amara felt her heart race.
"Me?"
The man nodded.
"She's the key to everything."
Before anyone could react, another voice echoed through the warehouse.
"Don't listen to him!"
Everyone turned.
Standing on the metal staircase above them was a woman dressed in black.
She pulled off her hood.
Adrian's face turned pale.
"It can't be..."
The woman looked directly at him.
"It's been a long time, Adrian."
Amara stared in disbelief.
"Who is she?"
Adrian whispered the name he thought he would never say again.
"Isabella."
The woman everyone believed had died five years ago...
...was standing right in front of them, alive.
- Writer
