King of My Heart

10. "Save it! He's your brother, right?"

(920 words)

I had notified everyone, including the police about Anastasia's disappearance. She was being searched everywhere. I desperately drove to the place where Aaron had last kept her when he'd kidnapped her. It couldn't be a coincidence that she had gone missing the same day he was released on bail. His phone was being traced but so far there was no luck since it was switched off. Apart from that, Ares phone was also being traced and Brandon was following him.

I listened to the voice note she had sent me that I wasn't able to see earlier over and over again, with tears in my eyes.

"Ethan, I was so excited about your return. I had an amazing news to tell you. But you doubted me, you broke my heart and I wasn't able to tell you anything... but I can't keep this from you any longer. This isn't how I wanted you to know, but I don't have it in me to have a face-to-face conversation with you at the moment. I'm pregnant. We're going to have a baby and this...is not how I planned on letting you know."

I loathed myself for treating her like that, for speaking to her in such a degrading manner. All I wanted was to repeatedly hit my stupid head on a wall.

She's pregnant. Her and our baby... both their lives are at stake because of me. I deserve this, not them.

I received a call from my mother. "Mom." I answered, my voice breaking.

"Ethan, any luck?" She sounded distressed.

"No, mom. I'm such a jerk, such a pathetic person."

"Ethan, why are you saying that?"

"M-mom, she-she's pregnant." I let the cat out of the box and there was a pause.

"Oh my God..." she whispered. "Ethan, please find her quickly. She needs care, the baby needs care. I-I'm going to be a grandmother... I can't believe it..."

"I'll find her, mom." I said with determination and wiped the tears that had spilled from my eyes as I arrived at the house Ana had been held captive in, a long time ago.

I strode out of my car and furiously banged on the door without stop. Making up my mind to break the door when there was no response for a few minutes, I was going to do it when it was opened by a lady.

"Yes?" She seemed scared.

"I'm Ethan Woods. Is Anastasia here?" I abruptly questioned.

"E-Ethan Woods? As in the CEO of AB Enterprises?"

"Yes. Who are you?" I asked impatiently.

"What is going on here?" A man appeared behind her. "What do you want?"

"I want you to move aside." I declared, pushing them roughly to the side and striding in.

"Hey, stop! I'm calling the police." The man called after me.

I searched around the house for any sign of Anastasia, ignoring the couple as they followed me around, trying to stop me.

"What the fuck are you doing? Get the hell out of our house." The man boomed.

"Listen, sir, my wife has been kidnapped. This has happened before too and she was held captive in this same house. Hence I'm compelled to look." I said through gritted teeth.

"We don't know anything about that! We just moved here a couple months ago." The lady explained, panic-stricken.

Having checked the whole house, I had to leave in vain.

Next I headed for Aaron's house after obtaining his address from officer David. I rang the doorbell several times and then finally a girl around Anastasia's age opened the door. "Yes?" She asked in a dubious tone.

I pushed her aside and entered. "Hey! Who the hell are you and what the hell do you think you're doing?!"

"Where is Aaron?" I demanded.

"I don't know."

I grabbed her by the neck and pushed her against the wall. "Listen here, I know he's kidnapped Anastasia. If you want the best for yourself, tell me where the hell they both are."

"I don't know anything!" She managed to say. I removed my grasp around her neck and pushed her to the floor, not caring about how rough I was being.

"Please don't hurt me. I really don't know anything." She feigned innocence.

"Shut up." I took a seat nearby and pulled out my gun before pointing it at her. Her eyes widened and her face contorted with fear.

"P-please believe me. I d-don't—"

"Save it! He's your brother, right?"

"Y-yes." She replied.

"So you're Hailey?"

"Yeah..."

"You helped Aaron the last time in kidnapping Anastasia." I stated and watched her gulp.

"I—I'm sorry. I only did what Aaron asked me to. He can be very demanding."

I wanted to slap her but I had to control myself. I checked my phone, hoping for any good news but so far there was nothing. "Will Aaron be coming home tonight?"

"Y-yes! He mentioned he would." She responded and I nodded my head. Silence fell between us. She sat there on the floor in front of me in panic while I sat on the chair waiting for that wretched man to come.

"You came here to look for Ana?" Hailey spoke up after some time.

"What does it look like?" I glowered at her.

"You think you came here yourself? You think your move is appreciable?" I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion, unable to decipher what she meant.

"What do you mean?"

"You think you're smart but you're foolish just like your wife. You're sitting here thinking that you're about to catch Aaron when in fact, he is so ahead of you."

"What the—"

I felt a strong pressure on my head and the gun in my hand dropped to the floor. My vision blurred and I passed out.