Chapter 4. The Billionaire Wrath
1268 Words
The Billionaire Wrath
Charles's POV
"Do you really think she's still alive?" Like a blade cutting through the quiet, the voice on the other end was icy and piercing.
I didn't respond immediately. It felt colder than normal. I squeezed the whiskey glass harder, the amber liquid shivering beneath the surface like my own anger. "I don't give a damn if it's a ghost," I said at last. "I will find her if there is even a possibility that she is out there. under any circumstances.
The man I was talking to paused. Charles, this has the potential to ruin everything. You've based your entire existence on her passing.
I said angrily, "I'm not living for the past." "I am seeking the truth."
The voice said, "You must be prepared," after a brief period of silence. She will not wish to be located if she is still alive. She will fight.
A chilly smile slowly appeared on my face. Excellent. Allow her to try.
I stood by the floor-to-ceiling window of my penthouse, looking down at the city lights below, and felt as though the walls were closing in. It didn't matter at all. Not the riches, not the authority, not the empire I ruled. It did nothing to fill the void left by her disappearance. "Ava." The woman who escaped like smoke from my grasp.
The impossible had now been whispered to me: she was still alive.
Recalling the last time I saw her, I closed my eyes. Screams, fire, and a stormy night. I was positive that I had buried her with it. But here I was, two years later, with a glimmer of hope returned, along with the old obsession resurfacing.
I had to learn how. Where was she hiding and how had she survived?
The sudden buzzing of my phone pulled me out of my reverie.
The screen flashed with the message, "Package arrived." verified from a tiny community close to East Ridge.
My brow went down. Though it was close enough to cause trouble, East Ridge was far enough hidden that no one would give it a second glance. I opened the photo that was attached. My breath caught.
It was an image of a female. Holding two children close, eyes wide with fear, dark hair tangled. My little ones. The twins.
My chest ached from its weight.
They had life.
My jaw was clenched, and my fingers were aching to rip something apart. For years, I had persuaded myself that my twins were the orphans of my nightmare and that Ava was dead. But every lie was exposed by this image.
"Give me everything in that town," I yelled into my cell phone. "Every house, every camera feed, every individual connected to her."
Someone knocked on the door. My helper, a woman with a sly smile and keen eyes, took over.
With a close look at me, she said, "Your heart is racing."
"The past just caught up," I answered. "It's going to get really messy."
She gave me a nod and went off to fulfill my orders without saying another word.
I sat by myself in the dark office hours later, with only the glow from several screens for illumination. Movements, faces, and places. I was surrounded by a web of information, but none of it pointed directly at her.
I hadn't used an encrypted channel for years until a message appeared on it. Unknown source: You don't remember the same woman.
My heart beat faster. Was there a warning here? Dangerous? or a hint?
I typed back: Describe.
After a few seconds, a video file showed up. I hit play.
A woman was seen on the screen moving through shadows; she was strong and fierce, but something wasn't quite right. I had never seen the fire in her eyes before. I had known a broken Ava, but she was different. She was now someone else.
She was on her way to get me.
The door forcefully opened. My head jerked upward.
With a tablet in hand, my assistant said, "Sir, you must see this."
An anxious small town was depicted in the live news feed. Reports of an enigmatic woman with two children spotted close to the outskirts.
I felt my heart pounding.
I had moved on from the past.
This time it was personal, and it was roaring back.
I stood up suddenly, my thoughts racing.
"I'm alive," I whispered.
"She is waiting as well."
The blaze within me was more intense than before. I wasn't merely a man on a ghost hunt. I used to be a man who would destroy the entire world to reunite with his family.
They were on the hunt.
The tense silence in my office was broken by the news reporter's voice, and the screen flickered. After several reports of an unidentified woman carrying two small children, East Ridge residents are still uneasy. Despite not seeing any threats, authorities advise caution.
I stopped to look at every detail in the grainy video. The woman's face was partially hidden by a hood, but the way she held those children was eerily familiar, as if she were their whole universe.
My hands balled into fists. Ava was that person.
But I didn't remember this Ava.
A predator's grace was concealed beneath the surface as the woman in the video moved with a silent confidence. I had never seen a storm so deep in her eyes. She had no fear. The fires behind her eyes were anger, survival, and determination.
Without warning, a memory smashed into me. She said to me the last night I saw her, "Charles, you can't contain a storm." I will eventually be the one pursuing you.
I'd chuckled. It seemed to me like a desperate threat. It wasn't clear to me now.
I paced the room, my thoughts racing through all the possible outcomes, each breath tight. Who had Ava become if she'd lived, if she were raising our twins by herself? And what had caused her to vanish so totally?
The message, "She's not the same woman you remember," stuck with me.
What did that mean?
My fist slammed into the desk. I urgently needed answers.
My most trusted agent, who could move stealthily and locate her without setting off alarms, was called in. He was a man who lived in the shadows and went by the code name Hawk.
I need you to locate her, Hawk. Living. Involving those twins. Absolutely no errors.
"I understand, sir. More information?
Despite my hesitation, I knew I had to be explicit. She poses a threat. more than previously. Be mindful of yourself.
I sat by myself as night fell, listening to the hum of the city far below. A new puzzle was being revealed, but the pieces were still fitting together. Not only was Ava running. For something or someone, she was getting ready.
Next, the phone buzzed once more.
Another short but chill message: She's coming home. You will not be able to identify her when she does.
I felt my blood chill. "Returning home?" I said in a whisper.
Was she coming to face me again? Or had I been running the entire time?
I looked into my office mirror. An anxious man, motivated by fear and obsession, was depicted in the reflection.
But I was not going to lose. Not once more.
"This time, you don't get to win," I muttered to myself.
The wind outside grew stronger, rattling the windows as a warning.
Ava watched, waiting for the opportunity to emerge from the shadows, somewhere in the darkness.
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