CHAPTER 10

 Stranded

“Where is she, Chloe?” Julian’s voice cut through the early morning silence, low and urgent, as his eyes darted around the empty cabin.

Chloe swallowed hard, rubbing her palms nervously against the hem of her nightgown. “I—I don’t know what you mean,” she stammered, her gaze fixed stubbornly on the floorboards, refusing to meet his eyes.

Ares stepped forward, towering over her, his chest rising and falling with barely restrained fury. His hair was unkempt from sleep, his jaw tight, and in his stormy eyes lived both panic and anger. “Don’t play games with me,” he growled. “Where is Tessa?”

Chloe bit her lip, her throat working as she forced herself to look up at him. “She’s gone,” she whispered finally. “She… she left. With a man.”

Julian’s head snapped toward her, disbelief written all over his face. “What?”

Chloe nodded quickly, seizing on the lie, though her voice quivered. “Yes. In the middle of the night. I woke up, and I—I saw her. She ran out… a man was waiting. They left together. She didn’t even say goodbye.”

For a long moment, the cabin seemed to fall utterly still, only the sound of the fire crackling faintly in the corner. Then Ares let out a harsh, broken laugh, the kind that wasn’t amusement at all but a release of pure pain. He dragged his hands through his hair and turned in a slow circle, as though searching the walls for answers.

“She ran?” he muttered, more to himself than to anyone else. “She abandoned her children. She left them to—to…” His words caught in his throat. He swung back to Chloe, his expression twisted with disbelief. “What kind of mother does that? Left her babies with a stranger?”

Chloe’s lower lip trembled. The sight of Ares so wounded stabbed at her chest, but she couldn’t reveal the truth—not now, not when she wasn’t even sure what had happened to Tessa. If she confessed, Ares would tear the world apart looking for her, and Chloe didn’t know if Tessa was even alive to be found. So she clung tighter to her lie.

Julian placed a hand on Ares’s shoulder, his tone calm but firm. “Ares, enough. This won’t help.”

“Don’t tell me to calm down,” Ares snapped, shrugging him off. His fists clenched at his sides, veins standing out against the strain. “Do you understand what this means? Tessa walked out on her children. She chose some stranger over them. Over us.” His voice cracked slightly on the last word, but he pressed on. “Fine. Let her go. But she’ll never see them again. I swear it.”

Julian’s expression softened with pity, but he didn’t argue. Instead, he took Ares’s arm gently but insistently. “We should go back. Chloe can handle the children. There’s nothing here for us anymore.”

Ares didn’t resist this time. His shoulders slumped as though the weight of his words had crushed him from within. He gave Chloe one last, searing look before striding out of the cabin.

Chloe sagged against the wall, tears pricking her eyes.

***

Meanwhile, far away in the dense, shadowed forest, Tessa huddled among a group of terrified women, her wrists bound tight with coarse rope that cut into her skin. The ground beneath her was damp and cold, littered with fallen leaves. Every breath she took fogged in the chilly air, but her chest burned from the sobs she had been holding back.

One woman beside her, older, her hair matted and face streaked with dirt, rocked back and forth in silent despair. Another, younger, no more than nineteen, whimpered quietly, whispering prayers under her breath.

Tessa squeezed her eyes shut, forcing herself not to crumble. She couldn’t. Not now. Images of her children swam behind her eyelids—their tiny hands reaching for her, their laughter echoing in her ears. The thought of never seeing them again threatened to shatter her completely.

She had thought she was running toward freedom when she flagged down that truck. For one brief, glorious moment, she had believed she was going to make it back to her children, back to safety. But then she had seen the women tied up in the back, their pleading eyes meeting hers. And before she could react, the driver’s fist had slammed into her temple, sending stars exploding across her vision.

Now, bound and discarded like an animal, she finally understood: she hadn’t escaped at all. She had run headlong into another trap.

Tears slid down her cheeks as she twisted against the ropes, her wrists raw and bleeding. She wanted to scream, but the sound lodged in her throat, thick with grief and rage.

“Don’t waste your strength,” the older woman beside her whispered hoarsely. “It only makes it worse.”

Tessa turned her head, meeting the woman’s hollow gaze. “Where are they taking us?”

The woman gave a broken laugh, humorless and sharp. “To hell,” she muttered. “Someplace where no one will find us. Someplace where we stop being people.”

Tessa’s stomach turned. Her whole body trembled, but she forced herself to steel her voice. “No,” she said fiercely, more to herself than to anyone else. “I will find a way out. I have to. My children need me.”

The younger girl across from her sniffled, her tear streaked face tilting up in faint hope. “Do you think… we can escape?”

Tessa’s heart cracked at the raw desperation in her voice. She swallowed hard and nodded. “Yes. Somehow. We can’t give up. Not now.”

The women stared at her, their eyes clinging to that fragile shred of determination. In that moment, Tessa knew she couldn’t afford to break down not in front of them, not when they needed someone to believe in. She would endure whatever came next. For her children. For these women. For herself.

***

Back at the estate, Ares stormed through the halls, his fury spilling into every step. Servants shrank back against the walls as he passed, sensing the tempest radiating off him. Julian trailed behind, calm but alert, as though waiting for Ares’s anger to combust into something uncontrollable.

In the study, Ares slammed his fist against the desk, rattling a glass of brandy that sat half empty on its surface. “She doesn’t get to walk away from them.”

Julian leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed. “Ares, listen to yourself. You’re hurt, and I get it. But lashing out won’t change what’s happened. Tessa made her choice.”

“She made the wrong one,” Ares snarled. His eyes were wild, the sheen of unshed tears making them gleam. “And for that, she loses everything. She’ll never see her children again. Never.”

Julian hesitated, then nodded slowly. He had no proof Chloe’s words were true, but he knew better than to challenge Ares in this moment. Sometimes, silence was the only shield.

***

In the forest, the men who had captured Tessa and the others returned, their boots crunching on fallen leaves. One of them barked orders in a language Tessa didn’t understand. Another yanked a struggling woman to her feet, shoving her forward roughly.

Tessa’s breath hitched. Panic surged through her veins as she realized the nightmare was only beginning.

She clenched her jaw, fighting back another sob. Somewhere, deep inside, a tiny flame of defiance still burned. She refused to let this be the end of her story.