The Billionaire Recluse & The girl who stayed.

Aspen.

~ jasper ~

It had been three days.

Three days of nothing.

No trace.

No movement.

No answers.

Lexi was gone.

Dale too.

The house had never felt so quiet.

Not peaceful.

Not controlled.

Just—

Empty.

Security had been running continuously.

Phones ringing.

Screens lit.

People moving in and out.

And still—

Nothing.

Lilly thought Dale was involved.

She'd said it more than once.

But I didn't believe that.

Not fully.

I'd known him too long.

Watched him too closely over the years.

He wasn't careless.

He wasn't reckless.

But something wasn't right.

That much I couldn't ignore.

I sat at my desk, staring at the same document I'd opened an hour ago.

Unmoved.

Unread.

My mind wasn't there.

It hadn't been for days.

Every time I closed my eyes—

I saw it.

Fire.

Smoke.

Loss.

"No," I muttered under my breath, dragging a hand over my face.

Not now.

I couldn't let my head go there.

Not when she was still out there.

Not when she needed me.

A vibration pulled me from my thoughts.

My phone.

Unknown number.

I stared at it for a second before opening the message.

I know where Lexi is. She's in danger.
100 million for the information.
She's with someone you'd never suspect.

My jaw tightened.

A ransom.

Of course.

I typed back immediately.

Proof.
Or you get nothing.

The reply came almost instantly.

An image.

My breath caught.

Lexi.

Tied.

On a bed.

For a second—

Everything in me stopped.

Then instinct took over.

I zoomed in.