Chapter 133
Chapter 133
“Nathan, I just wanted to express my gratitude. Thank you for everything,” Hazel mumbled
appreciatively.
“Hazel, you’re welcome,” he responded with a warm smile.
“But I think it’s best if I tell Ethan the truth, Nathan. I can’t keep it hidden forever; Liam will inevitably
grow up and form a connection with Ethan. It’s undeniable. And it doesn’t feel right deceiving Ethan in
this way,” Hazel confessed, her head bowed in contemplation.
Nathan looked away, exhaling a sigh. “Whatever you decide,” he told her in a measured
tone.
“Do you accept my decision?” She inquired.
Nathan shrugged. “He’s not really a bad guy, and he genuinely seems to care about them. I didn’t like
him, but it wouldn’t be fair, would it?” he reasoned.
Hazel smiled in relief, finding solace in the fact that she and Nathan shared a common understanding.
“Ethan…” Nathan began.
“You still have feelings for him,” he mumbled perceptively.
“What?” Hazel asked, her head snapping up to meet Nathan’s gaze.
“You still do, Hazel,” he asserted.
“I don’t,” she refuted, though her expression betrayed a hint of uncertainty.
He sighed. “Even if you don’t, do I stand a chance?” Nathan asked earnestly, his eyes locking with
hers.
“Let’s not dwell on this now. We brought the kids out to have fun,” he suggested, injecting a
lighthearted note into the conversation.
“Thanks, Nathan. This break was truly needed,” Hazel expressed her gratitude.
“So, next week, huh? Daisy’s big day,” Nathan remarked, glancing over at Hazel.
She sighed heavily. “Yes, Daisy’s big day,” she muttered sadly, stealing a glance at her daughter. After
the recent incident, an air of vigilance surrounded them, and it felt like they were under constant
surveillance. Ethan’s security personnel kept a watchful eye on them to ensure their safety. To prepare
Daisy for the upcoming challenges, Nathan had arranged this outing, knowing that the subsequent
months would confine her to a hospital bed for recovery.
E
“What if something goes wrong?” Hazel asked anxiously, her teary eyes meeting
5 P Z ←
Nathan’s gaze.
“Nothing bad will happen. We’ve prepared Daisy for months now; we’ve done everything necessary.
She’ll be fine,” Nathan reassured, giving her palm a reassuring
squeeze.
She nodded quietly. Just then his phone rang.
“I need to pick this.” Nathan muttered standing up and walking away.
“Mummy, I need to go wee,” Daisy announced, running over and dancing from the urgency of her full
bladder.
“Okay,” Hazel replied lightly, leading her away. “Liam, let’s go,” she called to her son.
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“Wait here for us,” she instructed him since the destination was the ladies’ bathroom, a place Liam
preferred to avoid. Soon, she finished assisting Daisy, and they emerged
from the bathroom.
“Where’s Liam?” Hazel muttered, scanning the surroundings.
“Liam? Liam?” She called, walking around.
“Your brother isn’t here,” she said with a frown, glancing down.
“Maybe he went back to Nathan?” Daisy suggested. The two walked back to their original spot, but
Liam was still nowhere to be found.
“Nathan, I can’t find Liam,” Hazel reported to Nathan, her heart already pounding wildly in her chest.
“Calm down, maybe he went off exploring,” he suggested, maintaining a calm
demeanor.
“I explicitly instructed him not to move an inch,” Hazel fumed, frustration evident in her voice. “I’ll tweak
his ear when I get my hands on him,” she added, her eyes scanning the area in search of her missing
son.
“Nathan, Liam’s not here,” she declared, a mixture of alarm and fear etched across her
face.
“What do you mean?” Nathan inquired, concern reflecting in his eyes.
“When my kids are close, I know it. I can feel it,” Hazel explained, her voice now cracking with worry.
“Liam’s gone.”
“Mommy,” Daisy looked up at her in surprise and fear, sensing the tension in the air.
13.
Tue, 23 Jah
Jb
“We have to find him, Nathan,” Hazel said, gripping his arm for
support.
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“Hazel, calm down. You’re scaring Daisy,” Nathan urged, glancing down at the frightened expression on
Daisy’s face. Hazel sighed, picking up her daughter and holding her close.
“Where’s Liam, mommy?” Daisy asked, her innocent eyes searching for an explanation.
“He’s fine,” Hazel reassured, holding Daisy tightly against her. Despite her comforting words, tears
streamed down Hazel’s face. “Someone took Liam,” she whispered, conveying the depth of her
concern.
“I’ll find him,” Nathan assured, determination, in his eyes.
Minutes passed, but they still couldn’t locate the missing boy.
“Someone took him, and he’s scared, Nathan,” Hazel murmured, her voice a mix of fear and anguish
as the uncertainty of Liam’s whereabouts loomed over them.
“You were never pregnant, Bella,” Ethan uttered with a pained laugh, his expression a mix of disbelief
and realization. Bella met his gaze calmly, then looked away, a subtle hint of defiance in her eyes.
“You kept me by your side through guilt. I’ve got to hand it to you, you’re good,” Ethan continued, his
voice heavy with a sense of betrayal. “At the same time, I feel relieved. I don’t owe you anything, Bella,”
he concluded with a sigh. Bella remained calm, studying Ethan intently as he turned and left the room. Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDrâ/ma.O(r)g!
“Ethan!” Axel’s voice broke over the end of the line anxiously. “Something just happened, Liam’s
missing!” he yelled, urgency cutting through the air.
“What do
you mean?” Ethan snapped, his disbelief turning into sudden concern. How could Liam be missing? He
looked back at the room, holding Bella, and immediately spun around, heading back inside, grabbing
Bella up in haste. She was already weak, standing limply in his arms.
do to
“Where is he?!” Ethan yelled angrily, a surge of fear gripping him. “What did you him?!” he spat
accusingly at Bella. “You had someone abduct him!” he pointed out, his anger escalating.
“What are you talking about?” she muttered in fear, genuinely confused. “Where is who?”
at did
“Liam! You took him, you do to him?!” Ethan continued accusingly, his frustration boiling over.
Tue, 23 Jan
L
“Listen to yourself, I’ve been here all day, since last night, Ethan. Do I look like any information to the
outside world? I don’t know!” she said calmly and weakly. Ethan released her, and she fell to the floor,
her chest heaving heavily. Bella felt a tinge of relief as she wiped the blood from her nose, concealing a
small smile. Liam had been kidnapped, likely by Derrick. He wasn’t completely out of their agreement,
giving her a glimmer of hope. She would lose everything, but Hazel and Ethan would go down with her.
“Too bad, Ethan, now you’ll lose from both sides, from all ends. Wouldn’t you rather have basked in
ignorance?” she taunted him. “Now, we’ll all go down together,” she muttered, just as Ethan went out of
earshot.
“I specifically told you not to let them out of your sight,” Ethan spat at the people he had hired.
“We did, but they left the hospital,” the man explained nervously.
“Her husband said it was fine, that they were just going out for a while,” another man added.
“What husband?!” Ethan asked angrily, his frustration mounting. They were already reviewing the
camera footage of the place they had been.
Hazel called at that moment.
“Ethan, Ethan! Liam’s gone. He’s gone, Ethan!” Hazel’s voice broke through the phone, her so bs
echoing with desperation.
“Ethan, Liam!” she cried, gasping for breath, her distress audible. Hearing Hazel’s cries only fueled
Ethan’s agitation, and he was consumed by rage.
“Axel, keep trying to find him,” Ethan instructed, determination in his voice, as the urgency of the
situation escalated.
Ethan stormed back home, his footsteps echoing through the corridor as anger radiated from him like a
tempest. The door slammed open with a thunderous force, making Bella shriek and scurry away in
fright.
“Where is Liam?!” Ethan’s voice boomed, a torrent of rage swirling in his eyes.
“I already told you, I don’t know. I’m couped up here. I’ve been here for over two days. I don’t know
anything,” Bella replied, her tone carrying a mixture of fear and defiance.
“You won’t talk?” Ethan asked her coldly, his eyes ablaze with fury. He summoned Anna, the maid, with
a sharp yell.
“Get wolfsbane,” he instructed her, determination etched on his face. He was ready to
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resort to force to extract the truth from Bella.
Bella’s head snapped up in alarm. “No! It wasn’t me this time! I swear,” she cried anxiously, desperation
evident in her eyes.
“Sir, that’s illegal. They banned the use and production of it years ago,” Anna interjected, her voice
tinged with concern. The werewolf community had long abandoned such archaic and brutal treatments,
making obtaining wolfsbane nearly impossible.
Ethan yelled in frustration. The clock was ticking, and his son’s whereabouts remained a mystery.
Fueled by impatience and anxiety, he grabbed Bella and flung her towards the wall in a fit of anger. A
sharp scream of pain echoed as her body went numb from the impact.
“Where is Liam, Bella?!” Ethan demanded, his grip tightening as he choked the words out of her.
“I swear, it wasn’t me,” she struggled to say, her eyes bulging and straining against Ethan’s relentless
grip. He continued applying pressure until the air was gradually knocked out of her lungs, and she
succumbed to unconsciousness.
“She’s still alive,” Anna reported in relief, her concern for Bella evident in her voice.
She didn’t like Bella, but she didn’t want her Alpha to be held for her death.
“Sir, I understand your frustration. But killing her would still be illegal,” she muttered, trying to temper
Ethan’s wrath.
“Grab her, drop her in the car,” Ethan instructed Anna, a steely determination in his eyes. Bella might
not know Liam’s location, but those she associated with would. And Ethan was determined to extract
that information from her, no matter the method.
Ethan drove a short while, carrying Bella’s limp body out of the car. She wouldn’t talk until she was
close to death. Soon, he finished and waited for her to wake
up.
Bella groaned lightly as she regained consciousness. Her sight was blurry, and she felt disoriented.
Unable to sense any part of her body, she found herself suspended in midair. The night breeze was
strong, blowing against her as the distant cityscape twin kled beneath her. Panic gripped her as she
opened her eyes slowly, becoming aware of her precarious situation.
“Help!” she screamed, realizing she was dangling off a high building several feet in the air, held in place
by a piece of clothing secured around her. Frantically searching for Ethan, she could tell he was
standing on the other side of the rooftop.
“Ethan! Ethan!” she screamed in fright, trying to see him. Panic rising, she pleaded desperately, “Ethan,
don’t do this.”
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The strong wind crashed against her face as she hung in the air. Ethan, with an eerily calm demeanor,
asked, “Where is Liam?”
“I don’t know,” she replied between so bs.
“Fine,” Ethan said, grabbing the huge shears he had brought with him. Fear struck Bella as she
realized he intended to cut the clothing, letting her fall to her death.
“I’ve been patient enough, Bella,” Ethan declared. “No, no, wait!” she cried. “I really don’t know. I didn’t
take him. I tried to hurt the girl that other time, but this time it wasn’t me! I swear it!”
She pleaded desperately, “You don’t know, but you must know who took him!” Ethan yelled, unable to
fathom the ordeal his son might be going through.
“Who took him, Bella? Who are you? Who sent you?” he shouted through the evening breeze.
“It’s Derrick!” she cried out. “It’s Derrick! It’s all Derrick! I swear it! I don’t want to die.” Fear widened her
eyes as she clung desperately to the rails, pleading Ethan not to cut the ties holding her in the air.
“What did you say?” Ethan asked in disbelief.
“It’s Derrick! Your friend, that man called Derrick! He sent me; he hates you and Hazel. It’s him who
took Liam,” she sobbed loudly.
Ethan chuckled. “You expect me to believe such nonsense!” he yelled.
“I swear it, Ethan. I’m not lying!” she cried, bringing his deceased friend into the accusation. Enraged,
Ethan severed one of the ties. Bella screamed and grabbed onto the remaining hold for her life.
“I’ll give you one last chance, Bella,” Ethan said angrily. “Who did you say sent you?” he asked, his
voice intense.
She yelled and clung to the rails desperately. If Ethan cut her off, she would plummet to her death, and
it would look like suicide.
“I swear it!” she cried out. “It’s Derrick!” she yelled. “It’s all Derrick!”
She continued screaming Derrick’s name, trying to hold herself up.
up. The truth rang in her words; a person facing imminent death wouldn’t fabricate such lies.
“What do you mean, Bella?” Ethan asked her, stunned.
“Derrick is alive,” Bella gulped. “He was enraged when he heard you and Hazel had kids. He
desperately hates you, which means he hates your son too. It’s him who’s been
Tue,
trying to kill them, not me,” she cried.
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“Ethan, please, pull me up. I don’t want to die. I’ve been a bad person. I’m telling the truth, Ethan,” she
said, crying. Ethan moved closer, grabbed her, and pulled her from the edge of the building. Bella
crumpled to the floor, crying loudly and shaking from fright.
Ethan felt a piercing pain in his arm suddenly. Glancing at it, his sight became wobbly, and he stag
gered, falling to the floor.
“Ethan!” Bella yelled anxiously, going to check him.
“Come on! Let’s leave this place!” a voice yelled to her.
“Sebastian?” Bella muttered, looking up. Ethan’s eyes closed gradually, and he fell
unconscious.
“Sebastian!” Bella cried, running to hug her brother. “Are you okay? Look at what this b ast ard did!”
Sebastian fumed.
“What took you so long?” Bella cried, still frightened from the near-death experience. She had
instructed Sebastian to look for her if she went out of contact with him for more than a day.
“I’m sorry; I had to watch the house closely to find an opportunity to get you out.”
“This is messed up, Bella. I told you to end this earlier on! Let’s get out of here first,” he said, grabbing
her.
“Ethan,” Bella glanced back to where he was lying.
“You still care about him?” Sebastian asked in disbelief.
“He was going to kill you without wasting a single moment! Let’s go right now,” Bella nodded, then left
with him immediately. Her entire body was still shaking from the harrowing experience.
GIFT
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