Chapter one hundred and thirty-six: Gunshot

Both the detective and Adrian rushed into the house and immediately, everyone began searching for Evelina. They looked through every room, checking both downstairs and upstairs, hoping to find her. Eventually, they returned to the staircase, where the detective looked Adrian in the face with a hopeless expression. It was clear that they had not found her.

“Why are you looking at me like that? Where is my wife?” Adrian asked angrily, watching the detective carefully as he prepared to speak.

“We looked inside one of the rooms and found signs that someone had been held hostage there. However, there is no sign of your wife anywhere. It means Bonnie must have left the house some time ago. He might have taken her with him,” the detective explained.

That was not what Adrian wanted to hear. In fact, he was furious with the detective for not trying hard enough.

“That is not what I want to hear! I told you a long time ago that man had to Kidnapped my wife and it took you so bloody long to get here. Now he has left with her!” Adrian shouted.

Adrian paused at the foot of the stairs when something familiar caught his attention. The moment he saw it, his eyes widened in shock. It was a hairpin that belonged to his wife, meaning Evelina had been there.

“Is there something the matter?” the detective asked when he noticed Adrian staring at the object. Adrian turned away from the hairpin and looked the detective in the eyes.

“This hairpin belongs to my wife. I would recognise it anywhere,” he responded.

Before the detective could do anything, Adrian began searching the entire house again. He checked every room until he finally walked into the kitchen and stopped when he noticed that the back door was open.

“I think they went through the back door!” Adrian yelled. Before the detective and the other police officers could react, he began running towards the forest. He knew Bonnie had taken his wife there.

Adrian could hear the police men's footsteps running behind him, but he continued moving until he had gone so far that their voices were no longer audible. His determination was so strong that he did not care that his lungs were burning from running for such a long time. All he wanted was to reach his wife.

He stopped as he approached the edge of the forest because, ahead of him, there was a small lake. His eyes immediately landed on Evelina, who was tied up inside a tiny boat with her mouth gagged. He also saw Bonnie trying to loosen the rope attached to a nearby tree trunk so that he could get away.

Without thinking about his actions, Adrian charged towards Bonnie, grabbed him by the collar and flung him across the ground. He was so angry that he could barely control the rage building inside him. However, one look at his wife, with tears rolling down her cheeks, was enough to tell him how relieved Evelina was to see him.

Adrian quickly rushed towards his wife, who was sitting in the tiny boat and he began removing the muzzle from her mouth. Once it was off, Evelina finally let out a loud sob.

“My love, I thought you would never come!” Evelina said, her voice filled with emotion as tears streamed down her face. She had initially thought that Bonnie would take her away from that place and that no one would ever find her again.

“It's okay, my love. You don't need to worry. I will get you out of here,” Adrian reassured her as he began untying the ropes around her.

Just before he could finish, a loud gunshot rang through the air and Adrian froze before slowly turning around.

Adrian saw Bonnie standing again, holding a gun after firing a shot into the air. His expression was furious, and he looked utterly murderous. Bonnie hated the fact that Adrian had ruined all his plans, the plans he had carefully constructed in the hope that Evelina would eventually fall inlove with him.

“You always know how to ruin everything! Evelina is mine and you should know that! Why do you always have to come and ruin everything for everyone?” Bonnie said, gritting his teeth angrily.

Anyone looking at him could tell that he had lost his mind. He had reached a point where he no longer cared about the consequences of his actions and he had nothing left to lose by shooting Adrian.

To protect his wife, Adrian walked away from Evelina, raising both hands in surrender. He knew he needed to be extremely careful because a man like Bonnie would not hesitate to shoot him just to get hold of Evelina.

“Bonnie, you need to be very careful with what you’re doing. If you shoot me, the consequences will catch up with you and you will most likely never see freedom again,” Adrian warned.

To his surprise, Bonnie began laughing hysterically, almost as though everything Adrian had said was nothing more than a joke.

“Do you think I really care about any of this? I don’t care! All I want is Evelina. Who knows? Maybe I could kill both of you and then myself,” Bonnie bragged.

Upon hearing that, Adrian grew nervous. He did not mind being shot, but the thought of having his wife shot and killed was something he could not live with.

“You cannot do that!” Adrian said, his voice filled with anguish. Just like that, the corners of Bonnie's mouth curled into a sinister smile. It was not the kind of smile one would expect from a sane man.

“I really don’t have time for this conversation. I just want to end all of this!” Bonnie yelled angrily.

Adrian watched as Bonnie raised his gun and pointed it directly at him. Evelina on the other hand was seated in the boat, shaking uncontrollably. She was completely panicked, unable to do anything but stare at the man threatening their lives.

The sound of a gunshot rang out, and at that moment, Adrian shut his eyes. However, after a few seconds, he realised that he was not in pain. Just as he opened his eyes, he saw Bonnie falling to the floor.

Within seconds, multiple police officers arrived and began putting handcuffs around Bonnie's wrists while he screamed in protest.

“Let me go! Otherwise, I will hurt each and every one of you! Do you know who my father is?” Bonnie yelled repeatedly.

Adrian watched as the officers lifted Bonnie from the floor. He could see that Bonnie's arm was bleeding. One of the officers had shot him from behind just before he could pull the trigger on Adrian.

Realising that he had not been shot, Adrian quickly turned around and ran towards his wife. After untying her, he pulled her into his arms. Evelina wrapped her arms around her husband and kissed him passionately before pulling away to look him in the eyes, tears rolling down her cheeks.

“My love, I thought I had lost you forever. He told me I would never see you again!” Evelina said, sobbing between her words. Adrian looked at her, and at that moment, he hated himself for not doing more to protect his wife.

“No, you don’t have to worry, my love. It’s my fault. I should have insisted on coming with you that day. If I had done that, none of this would have happened. But everything is okay now. Let’s go home. Now that we know he will be behind bars, our family is safe,” he told Evelina.

Adrian kissed his wife and wrapped his arms around her waist before walking her towards towards the forest. They were leaving Barney’s property, where he had kept Evelina hostage for the past four days.

Once they reached their car, Adrian unlocked the door for Evelina. After she had settled into her seat, he made sure she was comfortable before getting into the driver’s seat.

They drove home in complete silence, both of them still shaken by everything that had happened. Deep down, however, they were simply grateful that everything had worked out in their favour. Bonnie would finally be put behind bars, where he would remain for a long, long time.