Library

Home / Romance / Goodbye, Mr. Ex, I’ve Married Your Uncle / Kabanata 191 - Kabanata 200

Lahat ng Kabanata ng Goodbye, Mr. Ex, I’ve Married Your Uncle : Kabanata 191 - Kabanata 200

214 Kabanata

Chapter 191

Leon’s POV.I reached the hospital before the sun had even come up. The air outside still carried the chill of early morning, heavy with the sterile, metallic scent that hospitals seemed to breathe out through every vent. The parking lot lights flickered weakly against the fog. I sat in the car for a moment before going in, gripping the steering wheel so tightly that my knuckles hurt.Ezra was already waiting near the entrance, holding two paper cups from the vending machine. He didn’t speak as I walked up—just handed me one. The coffee tasted like burnt metal, but I forced down a few sips. We both knew it wasn’t about caffeine. It was about pretending we could do something normal while our world was unraveling.The cardiac wing was quiet except for the rhythmic beep of machines echoing faintly down the hall. The surgeon was already in her office, a stack of files beside her. She gestured for us to sit.“She’s still stable for now,” the doctor began, flipping through Leila’s chart, “b

Chapter 192

Scarlett’s POV.The hallway outside the cardiac surgery unit felt too narrow, too bright and too loud, even though no one was speaking and nothing was actually happening. Nurses rushed past every few minutes, their shoes tapping across the polished floors, but none of them were able to give us any answers.My legs wouldn’t stop moving. I’d been pacing without thinking, back and forth, back and forth, tracing the same pattern in front of the double doors. Leon stood near the wall, silent, his arms crossed tight against his chest. He looked like a man forcing himself not to fall apart.Every time the doors swung open to let a staff member through, my breath caught. Then it left me in an aching release when they walked past without even glancing at us.I kept pacing.I didn’t know how long we’d been waiting. Minutes had stretched into hours. Or hours stretched into something even longer, something I didn’t have a word for. My body felt heavy and empty at the same time, like the air had b

Chapter 193

Leon’s POV.I stared at Leila, so small and fragile—the shock rippling through my body. I had known about Nick Murray and that he might be coming for me. But hearing out loud, backed up with solid evidence, made my blood run cold.Caden had hired him.My nephew, of all people.Despite our differences and broken relationship, this was the lowest thing anyone could do. And for what?Because I supposedly took Scarlett from him?Or that the babies were mine?I just could not understand it.What made this so much worse was knowing he had a hit out on Scarlett’s life too.Murray’s arrest should have brought relief.It didn’t.The reality of it sat in my chest like a weight I couldn’t shift, pressing harder with every breath. The image of that man standing on the hospital roof wouldn’t leave my mind. He was ready to take us out. They had caught him with the weapon in his hand. A scope was attached to it, designed for distance. And the knowledge that he hadn’t hesitated—not once.He’d been pr

Chapter 194

Leon’s POV.I lowered the phone, my hand shaking and unable to process what the security guard had just dumped on me.“Leon?” Scarlett’s eyes were wide as she dropped the half-eaten burrito on the table. “What is going on?”My voice were thick when I finally managed to speak the words out loud. “My mother and James are missing.”Scarlett’s hand flew to her chest.But before I could hear her response, I could hear more talking from my phone. I pressed it back to my ear, willing myself to breath and think rationally. I couldn’t help my son or mother if I didn’t gather myself properly.The guard continued, rushed and frantic, “We can’t find them anywhere, Sir. We searched every room. We swept the property. The back gate is open—it appeared to be forced entry. We don’t know who took them. We don’t know how they got past us. Sir—I’m so sorry—”I didn’t hear the rest.My hand was gripping the phone so tightly my fingers burned. My entire body went still. The world around me vanished. The ca

Chapter 195

Scarlett’s POV.The screen flickered once. Twice. Then finally, the video stabilized.I felt the sensation before I fully understood it—this strange, icy tightening at the base of my spine that spread through my ribs, squeezing the air out of my lungs.It was the kind of feeling I swore I’d never experience again. The feeling that I had when I realized in my past life that I was being murdered by my new husband and my stepsister.Only—this time, it was much, much worse. My breath caught mid-inhale, suspended as if the air itself refused to move.For a heartbeat, I didn’t understand what I was looking at. The angle was too close, shadows bending across the frame, the lighting dim enough that the shapes blurred into each other. My mind tried to make sense of it, tried to grab onto anything familiar…And then the image sharpened.Caden’s face filled the screen.My stomach lurched so violently I nearly dropped the phone. My fingers tightened reflexively, the device suddenly heavier, almos

Chapter 196

Leon’s POV.The drive back to the mansion blurred into a violent rush of headlights and flashing fears. The world outside the windshield felt unreal, as if everything had been drowned beneath a ringing inside my skull that wouldn’t quiet. My hands tightened around the steering wheel until my knuckles strained white. I kept trying to breathe steadily—slow inhales, slower exhales—but every thought crashed against the next before I could catch it.Ezra’s voice earlier had been too calm. “It was forced entry, Sir. The security guards are shaken. Mother Rosenthal and baby James are gone.”The words burned through my mind.My mother. My newborn son.And I wasn’t there to protect either of them.The guilt pressed hard into my chest, sharp enough that I could feel the sting behind my ribs each time the car turned a corner. I had left to talk with Ezra and get Scarlett something to eat.I had stepped away for a moment to clear my head and think of what I could do to get my mother and James ba

Chapter 197

Scarlett’s POV.Leon’s voice moved in and out of the room, steady but marked with an undercurrent of urgency he was trying hard to hide. I knew he was doing it for my sake. I knew he was afraid that if he would lose it, I would too.But I already had.He stood near the windows, phone pressed to his ear, shoulders rigid with focus as he spoke to another investigator. Then another. Then one of the police supervisors assigned to the case. His tone never broke its calm, composed cadence, but I could see the tension in every breath he took.His hand kept moving across the back of his neck, as if he needed to ground himself before he said something he couldn’t take back. The calls weren’t giving him answers. They only pressed more questions, more theories, and more dreadful possibilities.I forced air into my lungs, slow and strained, trying to quiet the trembling in my hands. The floor under my feet felt uneven, as though the whole house shifted with my heartbeat. Watching Leon struggle so

Chapter 198

Caden’s POV.James’s—or should I rather call him “the rat”—cries drilled into my head, sharp and constant, each wail cutting through the room incessantly. The sound filled every corner, bouncing off the walls, pressing against me until I thought my skull would split.The thing didn’t stop once to catch his damn breath.Miriam rocked him as if she thought it would help, whispering soft words that only seemed to make the noise worse. Her voice grated against me almost as much as his cries. My patience thinned with every passing second.“Make him stop,” I snapped, slamming a fist against the counter.“He’s hungry, Caden. His bottle is empty. He needs formula,” she replied calmly.I glared at her, hating the way she spoke as if she had authority here, as if she was the one in control. She laid James down on a blanket and stripped away his soaked nappy. The smell hit me, sour and disgusting, making my stomach twist. I turned my head, disgusted, but she didn’t hesitate. Her hands moved quic

Chapter 199

Scarlett’s POV.The cab rolled away, its red taillights fading into the evening haze. I stood alone on the quiet street corner, breathing in air that tasted too sharp, too cold, and almost… wrong.No—it was wrong.This part of the city had been abandoned for years, and it didn’t surprise me one bit that Caden had me come here to meet up. Here, where no one would catch him doing anything he shouldn’t.Or—where the police would find him, as they were actively out looking for him for not only the hit he hired on mine and Leon’s lives. They didn’t know yet that he was also responsible for taking Miriam and James.A cool breeze blew against me, and I lifted my arms, wrapping them around myself.The belt around my waist kept the gun secured under my loose black shirt, the weight pressing against my ribs. Every step I took reminded me it existed. Every beat of my heart reminded me what I planned to do with it.The street around me felt hollow. Empty sidewalks, shuttered storefronts, the dist

Chapter 200

Leon’s POV.Scarlett’s phone rang and rang without answer. Each unanswered call tore another piece out of me. I stood frozen in the middle of Leila’s hospital room, staring at the note pinned to the crib as if the words themselves had the power to pull me backward in time.The room felt too still. Too quiet. The air pressed against my throat, thick with the echo of everything she didn’t say before she walked out.I’ve sent her message after message, asking her why she didn’t tell me?I could’ve taken care of it. I could have figured a better way around it.Didn’t she trust me?The instant my mind pieced together what she had done—what she had chosen to face alone—a cold certainty slid down my spine. Scarlett had walked straight into Caden’s hands. The realization struck with such force that my knees threatened to give out for a moment. I braced myself against the edge of the crib instead, fingers tightening around the metal rail before I forced myself upright.My heart hammered hard e

PREV

...

17 18 19 20 21 22

NEXT

I-scan ang code para mabasa sa App

DMCA.com Protection Status