Reborn;You Lost Me Forever

"Now, little miss... you have to choose."

The voice was like grinding stones. A hand grabbed a fistful of my hair, yanking my head back until my spine cracked.

"Your mother, or your fiancé? Who will be the first to answer the call?"

I struggled against the coarse ropes biting into my wrists and ankles. Every breath was a fight. My face was swollen, slick with cold sweat and drying blood, and my once-meticulously styled bridal hair hung in matted, filthy strands around my face. I shivered, staring up at the two towering men towering over me. I looked like a animal, beaten and bleeding on the cold concrete floor, as if I had committed some unforgivable crime.

"Please..." I choked out, blood coating my tongue. "Call my fiancé... please..."

I didn't even consider calling my parents. Karl was the love of my life. Tomorrow morning, the heavy iron doors of the cathedral were supposed to open for us—the wedding of the century. I knew him. I loved him. And I was certain that hearing his bride-to-be was in the hands of monsters would drive him insane with panic.

The man holding the phone—a broad, thick-necked brute with a jagged white scar carving from his temple down to his jaw—let out a low, guttural laugh. He squatted in front of me, his shadow swallowing me whole. The stench of stale tobacco and sweat rolled off him in suffocating waves.

"Your fiancé?" he mocked, his lip curling into a sneer. "You think that pretty little prince is gonna come running to save you? The man is probably popping champagne right now, celebrating his last night of freedom."

My heart skipped a beat. A cold spike of dread pierced my chest. I pressed my split, bleeding lips together and shook my head, refusing to believe it.

The scarred man turned his head toward his partner, who was standing under a flickering fluorescent light, casually wiping a bloodstained brass knuckle with a clean handkerchief. "Hear that, Jax? She wants her groom."

Jax didn't even bother looking up. He just shrugged, his voice flat and dead. "Let her call. It’ll be funny watching him realize he’s marrying a corpse."

The scarred man turned back to me, his eyes dark, hollow, and utterly devoid of mercy. He pulled a cheap burner phone from his jacket and began tapping out a number, his thumb hovering over the dial button.

"Please..." I whimpered, tears cutting hot tracks through the dirt on my cheeks. "I'll give you whatever you want. Anything. Just... don't kill me."

The man’s thumb paused above the glowing screen. He tilted his head, inspecting me with a slow, predatory curiosity that made my blood run cold.

A slow, terrifying smirk stretched across his scarred face. "Whatever we want?"

I froze. I didn't know if I should answer or if speaking would push him over the edge.

He repeated the words slowly, as if tasting something sweet. "That’s a big promise for someone who can barely keep her eyes open."

He stood up and stepped back, crossing his heavy arms. Above us, the overhead bulb hummed and flickered, casting long, erratic shadows across the blood-spattered floor. Then, without warning, he lunged forward, grabbing my hair and yanking my head backward. A sharp, agonized scream tore from my throat.

"You know, little miss, we didn’t bring you here for money," he whispered, his voice dropping into a conversational tone that felt sickeningly wrong. "Money is boring. People... people are interesting."

"Please..." I gasped, my entire body trembling like a autumn leaf in a gale.

Jax finally looked up from his handkerchief. His eyes were lifeless, cold as ice, making me flinch where I lay. "She’s lying. She doesn’t have anything worth our time."

The scarred man grinned. "Maybe not yet."

"Please! I don't know what you want from me!" I sobbed, a violent coughing fit wracking my ribs. My chest burned; my whole body felt as if thousands of hot needles were sinking into my skin. It had been hours since I was ambushed. I was on my way to my own bridal shower when dark SUVs boxed in my car... Where were my security guards? Why hadn't Karl called the police? Why hadn't anyone come searching for me?

The phone began to ring over the speaker.

Ring... ring...

Then, the line clicked open.

"Karl!" I screamed into the air, my voice cracking with desperate hope. "Karl, please... help me! I've been kidnapped... these men, I don't know what they want from me!"

I waited for the eruption of panic. I waited for him to scream my name, to threaten the men, to promise he was on his way. He couldn't go a single day without me.

Instead, a soft, wet sound echoed from the phone speaker.

The sound of a kiss.

I went rigid. "Karl?" I whispered, my voice barely a breath. "Karl... are you there?"

Please, God, no. I prayed with everything left in me that it was a mistake. Karl loved me. Karl would never cheat on me.

Then, a sharp female voice answered through the line.

"Can you stop bugging him, you pest? What do you want now?"

Ice flooded my veins. Shock rendered me completely mute. It wasn't just a stranger's voice. It was Claire—my adopted sister.

"Claire...?" My lips trembled violently, hot tears pouring over my raw skin. "Claire... what are you doing with my fiancé?"

I waited for her to scoff. I waited for her to pull her usual act, to claim I was overreacting and that she was just keeping him company. But instead, her sweet, tinkling laughter bubbled over the speaker. Moments later, Karl’s rich baritone joined hers. They laughed together so loudly, so casually, that even the two kidnappers shook their heads at the callousness.

"Is the kidnapper there?" Karl’s voice finally came through the line. The sound of another wet, deliberate kiss followed immediately.

My heart felt like it was being shattered into microscopic shards. The physical agony of my beaten body was nothing compared to the violent, suffocating agony tearing through my chest.

"Is it Jax, or another lame fool?" Karl asked casually.

I froze, lifting my bloodshot eyes toward the man standing behind the phone.

How? How did Karl know his name?

No. No way. This wasn't happening. Karl was playing a joke on me. It was a bachelor party prank. He was trying to scare me.

I screamed into the speaker, "Karl, please! I am your bride! Help me, please! Give them whatever they want—you're all I have!"

The two kidnappers chuckled softly. The scarred man brought the burner phone close to his lips. "Boss, I've successfully kidnapped and tortured her as you wanted. What’s next?"

My breath hitched. The world stopped turning.

Boss.

Karl was the boss. Karl had ordered this.

No... no, no, no...

I sobbed uncontrollably. It was impossible. Karl had loved me for five years. We shared everything. He held me when I cried. He proposed to me under the stars. I desperately tried to believe this was a sick joke, but no joke lasted for hours while brutal men shattered your bones.

The silence on the other end of the line was absolute. It wasn't the silence of a lost connection; it was the heavy, suffocating silence of a predator watching its prey bleed out.

Then, Karl’s voice returned.

It wasn't panicked. It wasn't angry. It was calm. A terrifying, icy calm.

"You were always too soft, Stella. So pathetic." His tone was almost affectionate, as if he were talking to a stupid child. "That’s why you never fit in our world. You were just a toy to me. A convenient tool to bring two powerful families together."

I stared blankly into the dark corners of the room, my ragged breathing echoing against the concrete walls.

He’s lying. He has to be lying.

Then, Claire’s voice chimed in. Her laughter was bright and sharp, like glass cutting through skin. "She really thought you were going to save her, Karl! Can you believe how stupid she is?"

I shook my head helplessly, weeping into the floorboards. "Karl... please... don't do this to me... I'm your bride... I'm begging you..."

"Bride?" Karl scoffed. "You were never my bride, Stella. You were just a pet I toyed with since high school. A pretty face to keep my parents satisfied while I built something real."

Another kiss sounded over the speaker, followed by Claire’s delighted giggle.

"Oh, Karl, don’t be so cruel. She’s crying," Claire cooed, her voice dripping with sadistic joy. "Can you hear her? It’s so pathetic!"

Karl laughed smoothly, treating my destruction like a minor party joke. The man who swore to love me until death was throwing me away like trash.

"Hear that, sweetheart? Your love is having a little party without you," the scarred man laughed dryly. He leaned down and thrust the phone speaker directly against my ear, forcing me to hear the muffled sounds of clinking champagne glasses and music playing in the background.

"One more thing," Karl’s voice came through, sharp and businesslike. "Don’t make this harder than it needs to be. The deal was simple: she disappears, and the merger goes through without any scandals. No one can ever know."

The clink of a crystal glass rang loudly in my ear. Claire’s voice drifted back over the line. "So what happens to her now? You said we get to decide."

My stomach plummeted into a dark abyss. They were deciding my execution in real time.

There was a brief pause before Karl answered indifferently, "Whatever you want. She’s not my problem anymore."

Click.

The line went dead.

"No..." I sobbed, my tears scalding my raw cheeks. "No... please, no..."

I couldn't accept it. My mind refused to process that my fiancé and my own adopted sister had orchestrated my death. The man I had adored, trusted, and chosen since I was sixteen years old had never loved me.

Desperate, I lunged forward as far as my ropes allowed and grabbed the scarred man's boot. "Please! Don't kill me! Call my father! He will give you millions! Name any price—he will pay it! Just don't kill me!"

I bit down on my bleeding lip so hard I tasted iron, ignoring the blinding pain.

The two men exchanged amused glances and burst into loud laughter, hurling insults at me.

"Okay, okay," the scarred man mocked. "Before we end you, let's say a final goodbye to your loving parents."

I caught the bitter sarcasm in his voice, but a tiny spark of hope flared in my chest. I remembered the last time I had called my parents for help. I was eighteen and had been in a horrible car crash. They yelled at me through the phone, ordering me not to disturb them because Claire had a mild fever. "Stop overreacting, Stella! Your sister is sick and can't eat! Stop crying for attention and drag yourself to the hospital!"

I clutched my chest, staring at the phone. This time will be different, I told myself. There is evidence now. These men will tell my father the truth. They will expose Karl and Claire! They will finally see that Claire is the evil one!

I waited, praying frantically as I pulled against the heavy wooden post behind me. The scarred man smirked, grabbing my chin with a dirty hand and forcing my head up as he dialed my father's private number.

The line connected instantly. The kidnapper didn't bother with a greeting.

"Yeah, it’s us," he said flatly. "We have your daughter."

I squeezed my eyes shut, praying my father would bargain for my life.

After a brief pause, my father's sharp, furious voice erupted from the speaker.

"What do you mean? Where is she?! We’re in the middle of a private family dinner!"

"Dad... please... help me..." I rasped, interrupting him.

Silence fell over the line for a fraction of a second. He had recognized my voice.

Instead of asking if I was okay, my father’s voice hardened into absolute disgust. "Listen to me, you lowlife thug! My daughter Claire just called us to report that you were caught sleeping with Stella, and now you're pulling a cheap kidnapping prank to extort money from my family?!"

My head snapped up in horror. No. That’s a complete lie!

"Dad, no! Claire is lying!" I screamed, my voice breaking under the weight of utter despair. "Please! She planned this! Her and Karl! They hired these men to kill me!"

"Our daughter never lies!" my father roared back, his voice booming through the warehouse. "Claire is nothing like you, Stella, and she will never be like you! Drag yourself back home right now—your fiancé is furious with you for being such a disgrace on the eve of your wedding!"