“Why have you not found Darius yet?” Nathan demanded.His men were standing before him in his office, and the atmosphere was tense.It had been over three weeks since they raided Darius' estate, and he escaped, and his men were not able to find him to date.James then took a step forward. “Lord Cloud, we’ve searched everywhere. We've used every connection, every resource, but it's as if he vanished without a trace. We’ve tried every lead, every hideout we know of, but... nothing.”Nathan’s eyes darkened, his fury barely contained.How could a small fly like Darius manage to slip through their hands?“How is it that you can't find him? How hard could it be to find a single man in Prescott?"The men shifted uncomfortably, their shoulders tense under the weight of Nathan’s glare.James then finally spoke up. “He’s got deep connections, Lord Cloud. He’s gone completely underground. We suspect he may have left the country, or he’s being protected by someone very powerful.”Nathan rose from
Grace could not hold back her tears, and she pulled Brian into her arms. She hugged him as tight as she could without hurting him. “Oh, thank God, you’re fine, baby!” she cried, her voice filled with so much emotion. “I was so scared…”Brian, although very weak, managed to raise his hand and pat his mom’s back gently. “Mommy, it’s okay,” he whispered. “I’m fine. Don’t cry…”But Grace couldn’t stop crying. It was as if Brian’s statement made her cry even more. Life without her son was unbearable.“I’m so sorry, Brian,” she whispered into his hair, her voice breaking.Brian pulled back slightly and looked up at her. He let out a weak, small smile to reassure his mom that he was fine. “Mommy, you worry too much. I’m okay now, really.”Brian was really a strong kid.Grace wiped her tears, her heart still heavy, but she felt so much relief.She kissed his forehead and held his hand tightly. She never wanted to let him go.As Grace held Brian in her arms, the door to the hospital room ope
The doctor leaned forward, placing a hand on her shoulder. “We’ll do everything we can to help Brian, Mrs. Grace. But right now, you need to do everything you can to get the money to save his life.”Grace nodded through her tears. She wiped her eyes as she tired to steady her herself, but it was not working, her mind was already looking for solutions, where to get the money from. “Thank you, Doctor,” she said as she stood, her body was still shaking in fear. “I… I will try and see if I can find the money.”Grace walked out of the office in a daze, her thoughts raced as she tried to figure out what to do next. She had no one to turn to for help. Her savings would not even raise her even half of the money. The only person she could think of… was Nathan.But would he help her?She had never asked Nathan for anything beyond her job. He had already done so much for her, giving her a chance to rebuild her life. How could she possibly ask him for five hundred thousand dollars? Would he ev
At that moment, the door swung open wider, revealing a tall man with an air of authority. It was Grace’s father-in-law, Thomas, his face twisted with anger as he laid eyes on her. “What is this? What are you doing here, Grace?” he barked.“I—I need help,” Grace stammered as he glared at her with disdain. “Brian is in the hospital. He needs surgery, and I don’t have the money to pay for it. I came to ask for your help, please!”Thomas laughed, a harsh and humorless sound. “Help? After you killed my son? What makes you think we will help the witch who brought such shame upon this family?”“Thomas, who is making you behave like this?” came a voice from behind him. It was his wife, Elaine, and as soon as her eyes fell on Grace, she started to boil with anger."You wicked witch!" she barked. "Have you come to kill one of us again?"She then turned to her husband. “You shouldn’t even be talking to her.”"We all know what you did, Grace. You used our son for ritual, and now you want our help
Meanwhile, outside the mansion, the driver sat in the car, watching how Grace's ex-family was bullying her.He saw Grace on her knees, pleading with the family, and could feel the tension from where he sat. His hands gripped the steering wheel anxiously.He knew this was a bad situation, and Grace was in desperate need of help. Without a second thought, he reached for his phone and dialed Bianca’s number.“Hello?” came Bianca’s calm voice on the other end.“Ma’am, it’s urgent,” the driver said in a hushed voice, glancing toward the mansion’s gates. “Ms. Grace is in trouble. She’s at her former in-laws' place, and they’re ganging up on her. They’re refusing to help her with something. I think their son is sick. It’s turning into a real scene, ma’am.”Bianca’s heart skipped a beat. “What? How can they treat a Cloud employee like that?” She could feel anger begin to course through her veins. “Stay where you are, I’m coming.”Bianca hung up the phone, ending the meeting she was having wit
Nathan turned back to Grace, his expression softening slightly as he spoke. “What’s going on, Grace? Why were you begging these people?”Grace took a shaky breath, her voice barely above a whisper. “It’s Brian, sir. He’s sick. The doctors said he needs surgery, and it will cost five hundred thousand dollars. I—I didn’t have anywhere else to go.”Nathan’s jaw clenched, and Bianca’s eyes widened with anger. “So you came to them?” Bianca asked, glancing at the family with disgust. “You came here, to these people?”Grace nodded, tears spilling down her cheeks. “I didn’t know what else to do. They're Brian’s grandparents. I thought—” She swallowed hard. “I thought they might help.”Nathan’s gaze shifted back to the family, his eyes burning with cold fury. “So you knew she was desperate, and instead of helping, you humiliated her?”Thomas, shaking with fear, tried to step forward again. “Lord Cloud, please, it’s not like that...”Nathan took a step closer to him, his eyes never leaving his
The moment Grace’s ex-family fully understood what was going on, they knew they had to donate something to at least try and save face. Thomas, once the proud patriarch who had mercilessly rejected her without even a second thought, now looked shattered. His face paled as the realization dawned that he had allowed a woman with powerful connections to slip through his fingers. Elaine, still nursing her bleeding lip, glanced at her husband with panic in her eyes. Their eyes met, and in that moment, **they both immediately knew that they had made a grave mistake.** Without warning, Thomas dropped to his knees and pleaded with desperation. “Grace… please,” he begged, his voice trembling as he crawled toward her, with his hands out. “We were wrong. We… we didn’t understand. Please forgive us.” Elaine also followed, kneeling beside her husband, her face wet with tears. “Grace, my dear,” she pleaded, her voice shaking. “We were blinded by grief… by our son’s death. We didn’t me
As Grace left the doctor’s office, she felt so happy.Brian, her baby, was going to be fine.Everything was finally falling into place. Brian was going to get the surgery, and for the first time in years, she would still have over a million dollars to her name.She clutched her phone tightly, ready to transfer the funds and make it official.She walked back toward the waiting room, her hands still shaking from how tense today **had been**.After everything she had been through, after all the suffering and fear, this moment felt good—almost too good to be true.She had secured Brian’s future. She had been saved by a man she barely knew a few months ago, someone most people in Prescott would do anything to have a relationship with, but he had extended his hand to her, of all people.Just as she was about to sit down and begin the transfer, her phone buzzed. Startled, she glanced down at the screen. It was an unknown number. Hesitating for only a moment, Grace answered the call.“Hello?”