Nowhere For Very Long Novels & Stories

On our wedding day, the officiant asked, "Do you agree to spend the rest of your life with the man standing before you?" Bianca, the woman I had loved for ten years, hesitated. In the end, she shook her head as she clutched her phone and said, "I don't." Then, she grabbed my younger brother, who had just slit his wrists, and ran out of the venue, tearing off her wedding gown as she fled. She never once spared a thought for my dignity the entire time. Heck, she didn't even look at me. Afterward, she simply said, "We'll just make new wedding arrangements. There was an emergency that day. Someone's life was on the line. I couldn't just ignore it, especially when he was your brother." Howe

She was simply… wandering. It had been three weeks since Elias Navarro left the estate. The legal storm had passed, the company stabilized, and Maria’s twins were thriving. Jericho had taken a short sabbatical to be with his family. And Celeste—Celeste had been left with silence. She didn’t mind silence. She had lived in it for years. But lately, it felt heavier. She reached the edge of the vineyard and sat on a bench beneath the old fig tree. The breeze carried the scent of ripening grapes and distant sea salt. She closed her eyes.

Ivana reluctantly spoke up. Brandon stayed silent for a few minutes, before nodding. “I think so too,” he bobbed his head. “Where is it located?” I asked, wanting to make sure it was indeed safe. “In the middle of nowhere…” Ivana responded. “I can't tell you the location. You'll see when we get there,” Brandon said, making me nod. Silence. After those words were spoken, no one attempted to say another word, everyone stayed silent, lost in their own thoughts and world.

Noir asks. "Somewhere untraceable. Somewhere we can sit for a few weeks while I work out the next step." I rub the back of my neck. "I had a location in mind but it was contingent on things going differently tonight, so right now I'm working with what I have." I look at Noir and then I feel something that is either exhaustion or irony working through me, possibly both. "It's not like you happen to have another secret hideout somewhere that nobody knows about."

A pause. “It’s too late for that.” Marcus narrowed his eyes. “What does that mean?” Lena looked at Aurora. “They’re already moving.” Silence. Aurora’s chest tightened. “How long?” Lena answered simply. “They’ve been waiting.” A pause. “Now they don’t have to.” Aurora felt it. That shift again. The one that meant— Time was running out. “Where are they?” Aurora asked. Lena shook her head. “I don’t know exact locations.”

"Really?" "Really. There's a light back in your eyes." In that moment, I couldn't help but smile. This time, I was sure, it was a genuine smile I hadn't shown in a long, long time. Meanwhile, far away in New York, Vincenzo sat in the empty, black penthouse. It had been three weeks. He had deployed his entire intelligence network and still couldn't find a single trace of her. It was as if she had vanished from the face of the earth.

Doesn’t mean I’m okay with it, or happy about it. I realised we were on an empty road when I got to the gate. I slowed the car down and glanced at him. He wasn’t doing anything suspicious, which only and eye are suspicious. “Where is this?” “You’ll find out.” I wasn’t satisfied with that answer so I stopped moving altogether. “You’ve got be kidding me.” He mutters under his breath. “We’re not doing this right now, Atlas,. It is the middle of fucking nowhere.” His voice got louder, frustration trickled into his voice as he spoke.

How much longer do we have? The gunmen will be here soon, and dark magic is at play. We can’t outrun that. Not forever.

Then, he whipped out his phone and started firing off one-minute voice messages, all in rapid-fire succession. He tried video-calling next. Except my phone was dead. Luca had drained the battery playing some game earlier. "Her phone's off too?" Bill growled. "Figures. Probably sulking somewhere. She gets to sit at home all day while I bust my ass, and she still finds ways to act ungrateful." He hung up, throwing a string of curses under his breath. And then, Ima waltzed in, all dramatic concern. "Bill, what's going on? Rhea's not home?

he lamented. “Hey, it snowed here in Aberdeen last winter,” I reminded him. “That’s pretty damned close to hell freezing over. Could happen again.” Joe grinned and pointed a finger at me. “I’m not waiting until next winter for that blowout,” he warned me. I rolled my eyes. “All right. But it’s not happening tonight.” The truth was, though, that when the door closed behind him, before I started a podcast on my phone, it was so damned quiet living out here in the middle of nowhere. Once, that had comforted me, but now, the silence just seemed to ring in my ears.