Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 89232 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 446(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89232 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 446(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
If they think they can disappear with my bride, they better think again.
I call the guy watching Celeste Edwards’ parents’ house. He says the parents are still living like shipwrecked victims on a deserted West Coast beach. They haven’t been at their house in months.
The man keeping watch at the Edwards’s residence in Great Brak River says there’s no one home. The housekeeper, Ryan, Celeste, Margaret, and the kid are gone. So is the neighbor, Colin Taylor. His parents and sister are on holiday in the Maldives.
Sabella doesn’t have any other friends. Not real friends.
She’s not hiding out somewhere. If she left with everyone she cares about, it can only mean one thing.
She’s on the run.
When I catch her, she’s going to regret her little stunt.
The driver pulls up at the villa. The man riding shotgun jumps out and follows me to the door where the guard on duty stands at attention.
“Anything new?” I ask.
He shifts his weight. “No, sir.”
Cursing, I go around him, deactivate the alarm, and unlock the security gate and door to let myself in.
“Stay here,” I instruct the two guards.
The house feels empty when I enter. It’s not the way in which my shoes echo in the acoustic space of the kitchen. I sense her absence as if she’s always been a part of me.
The kitchen is tidy. I open the dishwasher. A few dirty dishes are stacked inside. I go to the fridge and almost yank the door off its hinges in my haste. It’s stocked with perishable foods. She left in a hurry.
The dread bleeding from my gut only increases as I rush downstairs and go through her dressing room. Most of her clothes are there, but the empty spots on the shelves indicate that a few outfits were taken. Her toiletries are gone too.
Taking the stairs two by two, I go back to the lounge and take out my phone. After pulling up an app, I access the videos that the hidden cameras in the house recorded and rewind to the point where I left the house. The cameras are motion sensitive. Movement triggers the recording.
Nothing happens until an hour ago when the video shows Celeste Edwards entering the house. She hurries to the kitchen and hovers for a second by the table. Then she runs down the stairs, takes a suitcase from the closet, and hastily packs some clothes and toiletries. On her way out, she stops in front of the wedding dress in the transparent plastic cover that hangs behind the door and stares at it for a couple of beats before grabbing the dress as well as the Cinderella slippers and leaving with the wedding attire and the suitcase.
What the fuck?
Is she going to give the gown to Sabella to burn so that she can send me the ashes? It won’t surprise me.
I clench the phone so hard it’s a wonder the screen doesn’t crack. I’ll turn this country upside down, but I will find Sabella. She won’t get away.
Something on the table catches my eye.
The ring.
I pick it up.
It screams rejection.
Sabella couldn’t make herself clearer if she’d told me to my face she wouldn’t marry me.
Pocketing the ring, I walk from the house with long strides. Brutal anger replaces the dread. I have to give it to her, she’s fucking brave. I never thought she’d make such a blatant run for it.
She’s going to pay for this. When I find her, I’ll punish her so hard she’ll never try anything as foolish again.
My phone rings as I lock up. It’s the security company chief.
“We found them,” he says. “A street camera recorded her driving toward Constantia. The car is parked on a lot behind a church. We picked up the sister-in-law on the shopping mall security cameras. She exited her vehicle with the luggage, went up to the ground level, and got into a car waiting in the street. The car belongs to the brother, Ryan Edwards. Guess where they went? To the same church. The rest of the family’s cars are there too.”
“Send me the address,” I order as fury like I’ve never felt boils up inside me.
Chapter
Twenty-Five
Sabella
* * *
“Really?” I say as Colin leads me by the hand through the large wooden doors. I adjust the strap of my handbag over my shoulder. “A church?”
“It takes time to get an appointment at Home Affairs,” he says, walking us down the aisle. “Plus, the vicar is my mom’s uncle. He only agreed to marry us on such short notice because my mom always makes big donations to the church.”
The runner carpet absorbs the sound of our footsteps as we make our way to the altar at the front. Candles burn in the alcoves. The wax leaves a chalky scent in the cool air. The interior is mostly dark except for the soft light streaming from crystal chandeliers that hang from the vaulted ceiling. From a stained-glass window behind the altar, Mary regards us with a serene expression. She raises one hand in blessing and holds the smiling baby Jesus on her hip in the other.