Lahat ng Kabanata ng No Longer Theirs: The One They Can't Replace: Kabanata 231 - Kabanata 240

Joshua jolted upright, his tall frame snapping away from the back of the couch. "What did you say? Missing?""Win never turns her phone off. Not even late at night. And she never puts it on silent!" Elijah stood out in the freezing wind, staring up at the darkened windows. Worry pressed so hard against his chest it felt like his heart might burst."She once told me her son isn't in good health. Almost every night, she sleeps lightly, afraid he might feel unwell and call out, and that no one would reach him in time. That's why she's such a light sleeper. I've called her many times. There's no way she didn't hear it!"Joshua remained outwardly unshaken, yet a shadowed tension stirred behind his eyes.He remembered it now. Winter was indeed a light sleeper. So many times in the past, he had come home drunk in the dead of night—whether from business events or drinking too much with Blake and the others.And every single time, Winter would come out to welcome him home, support him upst

Ezekiel had always been like this. He never carried a score overnight.Right then, his men dragged the beaten, quivering kidnapper forward."P-Please… spare me… I was just following orders. I was paid to do a job!" The kidnapper shook uncontrollably, so terrified he was close to wetting himself."Do a job?" Ezekiel shot him a cold glance, rolling his shoulders as if loosening up. His posture was loose, almost careless. "When you were doing your job, did it ever occur to you that trouble might come for you too?"The kidnapper's stomach churned with panic. In his mind, he cursed Tom viciously. If he'd known the woman he'd been sent after was this clever—and backed by someone influential—he never would have accepted the job."Picking fights with anyone and taking any job that comes your way, huh?" George spat in his face. "Do you even know who Ms. Everhart is? She's Joshua Stroud's wife! You dared lay your hands on her? I wonder what he'd do to you once he found out about this!"The

Blake reached into the inner pocket of his suit and took out a strand of translucent violet beads. Loop by loop, he wound it around Sasha's slender wrist.Against her pale skin, it shone with an almost arrogant brilliance, as though it had always belonged there.He caught her wrist, his thumb circling the smooth rise of her wrist bone. The gesture was intimate, deliberately teasing.Her glowing skin and effortless allure were part of what kept him bound to her, unable to walk away."Is this… for me?" Sasha's eyes widened."Obviously." Blake looked at her with a faint, amused smile. "Do you like it?"Sasha's heart skipped a beat. All these years by Blake's side, she had lived in his mansions, driven his sports cars, and worn the extravagant gowns he insisted on dressing her in. Yet she had never received a gift that truly belonged to her.Not that she ever expected much from Blake, but still, in that instant, she felt a small, foolish flicker of happiness.She had lived through

"It's absolutely true, Mr. Lynch!" Ryan called out from the doorway. "Mr. Stroud and Mr. Thorne have teamed up and are scouring all of Jeston for Ms. Everhart. Quite a few people in the circle have already caught wind of it!"Mr. Stroud has already left for the police station; things appear to be quite serious!"Seated at the edge of the bed, Ruth carefully put her clothes back on.Though frustration churned within her, her face remained lined with concern. "Steven, how could Winter have gone missing? Could this be some kind of misunderstanding?""Enough with all this pointless chatter!" Steven got up immediately and slipped out of his pajamas. "Hurry and get my clothes! You're coming with me to the police station!" he demanded urgently."Winter's been living on her own for so long. She doesn't even call home once a year. How could she simply disappear like this?" With their moment of intimacy interrupted, Ruth's expression hardened with resentment. "It's possible Winter saw the

Finally, the images froze in place."Damn, Winter… you loved him more than I realized," Ezekiel murmured, his jawline sharp as an iceberg.Abel blinked in confusion. "What did you just say?""Do everything you can to save her. Think of it as a favor for our 20 years of friendship," Ezekiel replied, his large hand settling on Abel's shoulder.Abel was momentarily stunned. Putting on a frown, he retorted, "You scoundrel! How can you bring up our friendship like that? You're making me feel embarrassed just for asking you to construct those two hospitals!"…Stroud Group and Thorne Group launched a city-wide search across Jeston. The scale of the operation rivaled even the police's efforts to apprehend a wanted criminal.Though the Thorne family hadn't reached the same level of power as the Fultons—who held sway over both the legal and criminal worlds—Blake had still cultivated ties in the city's illicit networks.He immediately rallied all his subordinates and offered a million-do