3RD POV:The darkness inside swallowed him up, and he pressed himself against the wall, trying to adjust his eyes. His heart was pounding so hard he could feel it in his teeth. Just then he saw Joey locked the rear exit where he was just coming from. “Why couldn’t you just love me back?” Joey’s voice cracked like something was breaking inside him. His grip on Selena tightened as he pulled her toward a far corner of the room. “We were supposed to run away together! Just you and me! You ruined everything!”Selena twisted in his grip, her eyes blazing through her tears. “You did this, Joey! You!” she spat out, voice shaking. “This isn’t love, it’s obsession! It’s sick! You keep calling it love, but it’s not. I don’t even know who you are anymore! Please, just let me go. If not for me, then at least do it for my daughter. Please, Joey, I’m begging you.”Henry was angry as he overheard their conversation, clenching and unclenching his jawOutside, officers took positions, guns raised, wait
3RD POV:Henry stood there, staring at nothing, feeling that terrible weight fall back onto his chest like a mountain. His breathing became shallow, his throat tightening. Then suddenly, all that emotion he’d been holding in came bursting out. He slammed his fist into one of the metal shelves with a loud crash, rattling the old frame and sending dust flying into the air.“Damn it!” he yelled, his voice echoing into the cold space.Cameron walked up quietly behind him, not saying anything at first. Then he rested a steady hand on Henry’s shoulder, firm but gentle.“We still have one more,” he said softly, his voice the only bit of calm in the chaos. “The third one. We’re not done yet.”A thick lump rose in Henry’s throat, tightening every word as he spoke through clenched teeth. “This better be it. I swear, this better be the one.”The helicopter lifted off again, slicing through the darkening sky. Henry sat forward, tense, staring out the window while the wind howled around them. He g
3RD POV:THAT EVENING:The operation had finally been set in motion, and Henry was flying across locations in the family helicopter, determined to be present at every site the officers were searching. His heart thudded with each passing minute, hope clinging to him like a thread too thin to hold all the weight he was carrying. All he wanted, no, all he needed, was to find Selena. To bring her home.He hadn’t been able to sleep since the day she went missing. Every night, he would sit by the window in their bedroom, staring at the empty space where she used to lie, trying to breathe through the silence that screamed louder than anything he had ever known. That was when he picked up his journal and began writing, not just to her, but for her. As though his words could somehow reach her wherever she was.“This past week has felt like an entire year. I keep opening the door to our room, hoping maybe you’ll be sitting on the bed, smiling at me. But it’s always empty. The air feels heavy wi
3RD POV:A WEEK LATER:“Business Tycoon and wife to Henry Scott, Selena Monica Scott, has been kidnapped by architect and CEO, Joey Quinn….anyone who can provide information about her whereabouts will be rewarded handsomely.” The news of Selena's disappearance had spread throughout the whole country and world at large. Her face, once a symbol of success and motivation, now stared back from every screen, accompanied by the chilling headline: "Prominent Businesswoman Missing" “Crazy Architect kidnaps wife to Henry Scott.” It was all over posters, every news channel attached with a reward.Young girls and women, her staff all over the world were now praying and clamoring for the authorities to do something as she was not just a CEO but a public figure. Henry just knew it would make Selena smile knowing how much people, strangers, cared for her.“How are you?” Mrs Scott asked lowly, as she stood behind Henry, who was at the balcony taking in the air and trying his best to think. He was
SELENA’S POV:“You killed your father?” I asked lowly, as if scared of his response."Do you know what it feels like," he whispered, voice trembling now, "to see kids like you laughing? Playing? While I sat in the shadows? Waiting for someone to notice me?”I was silent, my heart hammering, my mind racing for a way out. Every part of me was trembling but I couldn’t show fear. Not yet. Not when he was this unstable.“Of course, I wiped that man from the face of the earth. He caused me so much pain. He is one of the reasons I didn’t even get a chance with you back then.” He confessed making my heart sink all the way down to my stomach.“But thankfully, you always remained in my heart and I researched on you, got the job at your company and knew I would get you. Despite your marriage to that punk. He’s nothing.” I stared at him, too stunned to speak and it felt like everywhere was spinning as I was still trying to process it all."And now?" He chuckled, the sound dry and hollow. “Now yo
SELENA’S POV:THAT SAME DAY:I slowly opened my eyes and was hit with darkness. It was thick and suffocating, like a curtain was drawn over my senses. My head throbbed with an ache coming along, and my entire body felt heavy, as if weighed down by visible chains.I blinked repeatedly as it dawned on me what had happened, how I pictured things and hoped last night wouldn't go as planned. I was not in the arms of Henry nor holding my daughter, I was here.Curse you, Joey Quinn,Just as his name came to my eyes, my eyes slowly fluttered open. The first thing I noticed when I opened my eyes wasn’t even the pain. It wasn’t the wetness of the floor beneath me or the thin, cold air. It was him.A figure unmoving seated in a black rotating chair. He was quiet and his eyes were fixed on me.He was sitting under an exposed bulb hanging overhead. His shadow was cast in jagged fragments, cut up by the inconsistent light. One leg folded over the other, hands covering the front of his mouth, like h