Rowan yanked the closet door open with a loud snap.
The closet was half–empty. Rowan’s hands went cold as a wave of
disbelief crashed over him.
He turned quickly and stormed toward the other drawers. Every
cabinet that had once held Joanna’s clothes, her jewelry, or anything
remotely important to her–he searched them all.
But the result was clear.
Everything related to her was gone.
A sudden flash of realization jolted through his mind.
He stumbled toward the study, yanking open the bottom drawer at the
far end of the desk.
That was where their fake marriage certificate had always been kept.
His heart thundered violently as he yanked the drawer open. The
pounding in his chest was so strong, it felt like it might burst out.
Then he saw it–Joanna’s half of the marriage certificate, cut clean.
into shreds.
His throat dried up, and his tongue felt glued to the roof of his mouth.
No words came out.
She knew.
She knew everything.
Rowan’s body began to shake violently, his muscles jerking
uncontrollably.
His mind went blank for a moment, but clarity crashed back in like a
wave, sharp and unrelenting.
His hand shook so badly he could barely hold his phone.
He tried calling, but the phone slipped through his fingers every time.
Cursing under his breath, he bent to grab it.
When Xavier answered, Rowan’s voice was already cracking.
“Rowan? What’s going on over there?” Xavier asked, pausing whatever
he had been doing.
Rowan swallowed hard, forcing composure into his voice. “She
knows, Xavier. Anna knows everything. I don’t care what it takes. Find
her. If you have to rip Eldorra apart to do it, bring her back to me.”
Xavier knew from Rowan’s tone that this wasn’t just another outburst.
It was something serious. He hung up and immediately called the
others to help search.
But no matter where they searched, there wasn’t a single trace of
Joanna.
It was as if Joanna had vanished the moment she walked into the women’s prison.
3/5
Rowan refused to believe it. He went there himself.
When he arrived, Calvin was already waiting by the gate.
“Rowan, are you thinking what I’m thinking? This is the last place. anyone saw Joanna. What if something happened to her in there?”
Calvin said, his voice low but tense.
“Impossible,” Rowan snapped, his bloodshot eyes locking onto Calvin
with sharp, unflinching intensity.
Without another word, he called a number.
Not long after, a Veylan woman led Rowan into the surveillance room.
Seeing the storm brewing on Rowan’s face, the woman across from
him shrank back, visibly trembling.
She hesitated, fingers twitching around the flash drive in her hand. Part of her wanted to keep it hidden, unsure if she should really show
him what was on it.
Before she could decide, Calvin stepped forward and snatched it from her hand without a word. He shoved it into the desktop and played the security footage on the big monitor.
The moment the video began, the room filled with the shrill chaos of women laughing, yelling, and smashing things. Crude, filthy language. poured through the speakers, making Rowan’s blood run cold.
On screen, several women crouched around a motionless figure slumped on the concrete. One by one, they slapped her across the
face, each hit harder than the last.
The camera angle was skewed, leaving Rowan unable to see the
woman’s face clearly.
All he could make out was the blood pooling beneath her and the filthy rag stuffed in her mouth. Her scalp was torn, exposing patches
of raw skin. Her hair–whole clumps of it–lay scattered on the
ground, clearly ripped straight from her head.
Her leg was twisted at a grotesque angle, the skin swollen and
mottled with bruises.
The women finally seemed to tire of the beating and slumped down
to catch their breath.
And that was when Rowan saw it.
A limp hand fell into frame, the sight of it sliced through Rowan like a
blade.
Rowan’s entire body froze. His breath caught in his throat.
On that wrist–barely visible beneath the blood–was a watch. It
belonged to Joanna.
The custom–made piece was one–of–a–kind. He had given it to Joannal for her birthday.
There wasn’t another one like it in the world.
Rowan stood frozen, eyes locked on the screen, his entire body stiff and unresponsive.
A loud bang shattered the silence.
Chapter
5.5
Calvin slammed his fist against the table, his face twisted in rage.
“Those monsters, I swear I won’t let them walk away from this,” he said through clenched teeth, eyes bloodshot with fury.
The video kept playing, and the horror only deepened. Joanna had
been tortured relentlessly for three days.
And during those same three days, when she had needed him most, Rowan had been at the villa–wrapped in silk sheets, drunk on sex,
with another woman.
Chapter 12
