Free Web NovelChapter 90: Chapter 90
Aria’s POV
I sprang up, all traces of pain vanishing. I yanked my suitcase out, scooped Lana into my arms, and bolted for the alternate exit.
That glint in that clerk’s eyes wasn’t friendliness, It was calculation.
And I knew danger when I smelled it.
I bypassed the elevator and tore into the stairwell. The dim green emergency lights cast eerie shadows as my pulse pounded against my ribs.
I reached the ground floor and peered cautiously around the corner.
My heart lurched.
The front desk was empty.
Moments ago, it had been bustling. Now it was deserted.
They were probably hunting me.
Fear clenched around my ribs. I crouched low and slipped out the side exit as fast as I could.
But my frantic movements caught someone’s attention, a waiter.
"There! She’s there!"
His shout erupted through the building like a gunshot.
Footsteps thundered, voices rose and a frenzy exploded behind me.
I ran, holding Lana with one arm, dragging my suitcase with the other. My lungs burned, my legs shook. I wouldn’t last. Not like this.
Think, Aria, THINK.
I ducked into a narrow nook between two walls, pressing my back flat. Lana stayed miraculously silent, pressed against me. My baby, my brave little wolf pup, seemed to sense everything.
Footsteps raced past.
"She was just here!"
"Split up! She has a kid—she can’t be far!"
"Call if you see her!"
When the sounds scattered, I exhaled shakily and peeked out. The coast was clear.
I dialed a taxi with trembling fingers. "Please... come quick. I will pay whatever your price is."
The alarm in my voice must have reached him instantly.
"Hang tight, miss! I’m coming!"
His booming reassurance warmed me for a fleeting second.
I started moving carefully. Each step crunched beneath my shoes like warning bells. I managed to make it out of the hotel into the darkness.
Then—
A shadow moved.
Before my wolf or I could react, something slammed into me. I hit the ground, breath knocked out of my lungs. In the next heartbeat—
Lana was ripped from my arms.
Gone.
SHE WAS GONE.
My mind blanked. My world shattered.
Then a scream ripped from my throat, a raw, feral sound I didn’t even recognize as my own.
"WHO’S THERE?! Give me back my child!"
I scrambled to my feet, sprinting blindly into the darkness, abandoning my suitcase.
"Come out! What do you want? Money? I have money! I’ll give you anything—JUST GIVE ME MY BABY BACK!"
There was absolute silence.
A cold wind swept across the empty street, and dread coiled around my heart like thorns.
My Lana, my daughter, ƒree𝑤ebnσvel.com
my whole world...was gone.
My heart felt as if it had been ripped from my chest, crushed, torn, and left bleeding on the cold pavement. I could barely breathe. The hotel staff, who moments ago had been scrambling to help me and Lana, now stood frozen, they had rushed outside, whispering in frightened clusters. No one stepped forward.
My screams which ripped through the night air must have alerted them, but not a single soul moved to come to my aid.
My knees buckled, and I collapsed, one hand clutching my chest where it felt like a silver blade was twisting deeper and deeper. My wolf thrashed inside me, wild and frantic, howling for her pup, our pup.
The bond between mother and child was supposed to be unbreakable. Why couldn’t I feel Lana anymore? Why was her scent fading?
Suddenly, blinding headlights washed over me.
A car screeched to a stop, and a large man climbed out, staring at me like I was a ghost. "A-Are you... Ms. Darvin? The one who called for the cab?"
He stepped closer, cautious, like approaching a wounded animal. He should be. That’s exactly what I was—a mother wolf whose pup had been torn away.
Before he could say another word, I grabbed his arm, my fingers icy and trembling. "Please," I choked out, my voice cracking, "help me. Someone took my child!"
"What?!" His eyes flew wide as he pulled me upright. "Don’t panic, miss! This is serious! Who took her? Did you see them? I’ll help you chase them down!"
His loud, earnest voice should have grounded me, but my strength was slipping, my vision blurring. Tears streamed down my face, hot and relentless.
"It was... too dark..." My voice broke. "I didn’t see."
He faltered. I could sense a mix of confusion, frustration and helplessness in his scent.
But I didn’t let him pull away. My grip tightened like a drowning woman clinging to driftwood. "I know where to go. Hemsworth Villa. Take me there!"
He blinked, taken aback. He was about to say something, but one look at my face streaked with grief, feral with desperation made him nod.
"Alright. Get in."
He tossed my suitcase into the trunk and slammed the door before speeding off.
Inside the cab, even the heater did nothing for me. A chill seeped into my bones. My wolf paced inside me, snarling with fear and rage.
Why Lana? Why my baby?
I had never made enemies. Never wronged anyone. I’d lived quietly, carefully, always avoiding conflict. So why... why her?
My mind raced back to the hotel room.
The way the clerk kept staring at Lana.
The way she’d lingered too long and smiled too wide.
Was it coincidence?
Or had everything been orchestrated from the moment I booked that room?
A cold spike of dread shot through me.
No, this wasn’t random.
Someone wanted Lana.
Someone had been watching us, just as I feared.
My thoughts swirled, sharpening.
Aside from Sophia... there was no one.
Could she really have gone this far?
My breath hitched. My nails dug crescent moons into my palms. If Sophia touched my daughter, if she so much as breathed in Lana’s direction, I would tear her apart.
"How much longer?" I asked the driver, leaning forward.
"You started in the south end," the driver replied. "Hemsworth Villa is on the ritzy side of Asterfell. Pretty far."
He sped up anyway.
My stomach dropped. Time was slipping away. Every minute felt like another mile between me and Lana.
"Why aren’t you calling the enforcers?" he asked.
Because the enforcers wouldn’t help.
They would not be fast enough.
They were not strong enough nor powerful enough.
But Lana’s father...
Nathan.
The richest Alpha in Asterfell. The wolf no one dared cross. His power, influence, connections, none of it had limits.
And if Sophia was involved, Nathan was the one person who could crush her without hesitation.
"I have to go to him," I whispered.
The driver didn’t understand, but he didn’t question me again. He drove as fast as the law allowed.
Minutes dragged like hours.
"We’re here!" he called.
I gave him some money and didn’t wait for change.
I snatched my suitcase and bolted toward the villa, towards Nathan.
