Forced Marriage: My Wife, My Redemption by Lilyheart

Chapter 329: Where is she?

Aaron sat slumped in a dim quiet corner of the 24-hours nightclub notoriously known from its interior seemingly as night even when it is broad daylight.

A cigarette dangled between his fingers, its smoke curling lazily into the stale air, dissipating like the certainty he once had in his future.

His gaze was unfocused, fixed into the distance, his loosened tie hung askew around his neck, and he couldn’t even recall when he’d undone it or when he’d lost track of everything.

His hair was scattered and unkempt, the result of countless frustrated fingers dragging through it.

His eyes were bloodshot, hollow, void of the glint once associated with the dashing young master Aaron Allen. That image of prestige, control, and effortless charm had vanished.

He didn’t believe this was happening. Not to him.

Desmond was supposed to have this under control. Aaron had always believed..no, he had always known that Desmond held the cards.

No matter who stepped up to back Davis, Desmond would find a way to buy them over, to put them back in their place. That was the confidence Aaron had built his world on.

But then, what happened?

"What step had he gone wrong?"

He’d asked himself that question a hundred times in the past few hours, but every path his mind wandered led to the same dead end.

No matter how he thought about it, it didn’t add up.

Desmond had tried to warn him. He remembered now, those vague remarks, the moments of hesitation but Aaron had dismissed them all with blind arrogance.

He was too sure of Desmond and too trusting of his capabilities that he failed to see that Desmond, too, had limits.

Though Desmond had always tried to pull him along, to let him into the ropes but then...the hardest truth.

He shook his head lightly.

"I have nothing left. Nothing to start with. Nothing to fight back with. Totally nothing."

this really the end?"

of the cigarette, he sighed as he watched

careless young master Aaron to be at cross roads?" a voice sneered behind

turning his gaze to meet him. His voice was cold, laced with contempt. "What are you doing here?" He

and thought I’d drop by and see how our prodigal heir is doing," the man replied, laughter dancing

slow sip of his drink, not bothering to

My father trusted you and

chuckled, stepping forward into the faint glow of the table lamp, his voice interrupting "You don’t have to take it to heart. I was only trying to help

Aaron sneered

Eliminate the obstacles. And then... all that remains becomes yours. The sole heir to

with a withering glance. Then, wordlessly, he tossed back the rest of his wine. Rising, he grabbed his suit jacket, car keys clinking

the man, he paused for just

growl. "But I won’t repeat the same mistake

that, he walked out, not sparing a backward

fades, replaced by a hard, venomous stare. "Really thought you were smart? The Allen family must surely pay with every bit

the locket on his neck, his hand

For the sake of their experiments you were sacrificed, yet at the end, you

Without another word, he slipped through a side exit just before

just left?" one said as he took note of every little detail of the room. The smoky air, the faint scent of men’s cologne which

their leader

box, overturning nothing but

quite clear.

something wrong," he said as he thought about the faint scent that lingered

he carefully searched around, his gaze sweeping across every little detail of the

been here for a few hours. The leader’s brows furrowed in contemplation as he analyzed the situation,

Smoking. But this fragrance..." He sniffed

was he meeting?" he

what was the purpose of the

jaw tightened. He’d need to report this, not just Aaron’s escape, but

~At the Hotel~

stood near the grand entrance of the ballroom, exchanging polite farewells with