Chapter 174

Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my GOD!!

I knew that once I could make it inside, everything would be okay. However, any chance of hope I had immediately dissolved when I noticed the car come to a sudden stop. The doors swung open and two large men, dressed all in black came barreling out.

They charged right for me, causing my heart to jump out of my chest. Total fear enveloped my senses. I quickly turned on my heels and tried to make it toward the coffee shop. I was solely anticipating my newly acquired speed to kick in, yet it didn’t.

I must have made it all of five feet before I felt their hands circle around my arms. They hauled me back, nearly lifting me off the ground. My arms flailed in manic distress, making my scarf fly off.

I wanted to scream—to capture anyone’s attention that I was being kidnapped. One of the men wrapped a large hand over my mouth to keep any sound from escaping. My heart rate grew frantic and the world around me was spinning.

They practically tossed me into the car and slammed the door shut with haste. The two men each snagged one of my arms, locking me in place as I was forced to simply sit there.

My breathing started to even out but I couldn’t say the same for my fear.

“Where are you taking me?” I asked bitterly.

I honestly didn’t expect them to answer me, but the one positioned on my right kept his eyes locked forward and spoke.

“Winslow Manor.”

My jaw dropped as my brows drew together in complete disbelief. The very thought that

“Oh! You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!”

Amazingly enough, whatever was left of my previous fear had instantly altered in anger. When I had heard about what the Winslows had done to the Moon Wolves, I knew then that I never wanted to meet or see Aaron or his horrid wife ever again.

I tried to feel around for my phone in my pocket. Hopefully, I could find a way to send a message to Liam and Arthur, letting them know what their family was up to.

...

[Arthur’s POV]

I couldn’t describe the feeling that flooded through me when Ella’s message came through. It was like fate was giving me a second chance to make things right for us.

There’s no chance in hell that I’m going to waste it.

I genuinely believed that whatever chance I had with Ella had been completely ruined when she accidentally found out the truth. I blamed no one but myself.

Well, mostly. Had Liam not brought up the matter back then, she would have never found out in such a horrific manner.

Then again, had it not happened, Ella still would be kept in the dark and I would still be struggling with trying to find out how to tell her.

Sadly, I couldn’t look at the situation as some kind of a blessing in disguise. What Ella experienced was sheer devastation and a total breach of trust from myself and Liam.

Those tears in her eyes felt like taking several hits to the gut. Goddamnit.

I had hardly slept the previous night, and if I had to guess, I’m pretty sure Liam was no better. I couldn’t get that awful look of Ella’s anguished face out of my head.

My heart tugged painfully in my chest when I watched her get into that fucking guy’s car.

Ben.

I had every instinct in my body yelling at me to hunt him down and tear him to pieces.

First off, who the fuck did he think he was for sitting next to Ella in class? And then proceeded to pass notes to her like some obsessive puppy!

It was nothing short of a miracle that I didn’t lunge across the classroom and utterly throttle the little prick.

I forced myself to let go of the anger that was plaguing me from yesterday. There was no way I was going to confront Ella with anything less than an understanding and patient attitude.

As soon as I forwarded her message to Liam, letting him know what the plan was, I quickly showered and threw on a fresh pair of clothes.

Within the hour, Liam came knocking on my door. I could tell that he felt just as anxious as me.

“Ready to go?” he asked.

I gave a curt nod and grabbed my phone off the desk and we swiftly headed out to the car. Liam opted to drive since he knew the exact location of the coffee shop Ela had mentioned in her message.

My anxiousness gradually turned into eagerness when he pulled the car into the first available spot and turned off the ignition. We all but ran into the coffee shop, impatiently scoping out the place in search of her.

But we couldn’t find her.

“Do you think we got here before her?” I asked.

Liam shook his head. “No way. Ella said to meet her here at noon and it’s already ten after twelve. Her house is literally down the block from this place,” he explained.

His words caused my nerves to coil in worry.

If that was truly the case then where was she?

Even though neither of us could sense her, we continued to scope out the place in the hopes that she would somehow appear. Suddenly, I caught something in the corner of my eye.

I turned my head and narrowed my gaze out the large window. Across the street, there was something sitting in the middle of the sidewalk. There was something oddly familiar about it.

Without a word, I left the shop and dashed across the street. When I came closer to the unknown object I came to find out that it was a scarf.

“Hey!” Liam called out.

Picking up the scarf, I hand it over to Liam to examine. “Do you recognize this?” I questioned.

Liam held the thick, knitted cloth to his nose and took a deep inhale.

His eyes grew dark as a muffled snarl slipped from his throat. “It’s Ella’s,” he said roughly. “It’s her scent.”

I took the scarf back and buried my nose in it as well to see if he was right. And my God, he was. It was the same sweet, gently floral smell that would grace my senses every time she was around me.

Oh, yeah. It was hers.

But, this miraculous conclusion had my blood, suddenly, running cold.

“Why would her scarf be in the middle of the road like this?”

“You don’t think something happened, do you?”

“I don’t know. But I don’t like the feeling I’m getting in the back of my mind.”

Liam took out his phone and called Ella. Unfortunately, there was no answer. Now the two of us were really getting worried.

“Ella, wouldn’t call both of us to come out here and not show,” Liam pointed out steadily.

I was easily inclined to believe him. Although she was thoroughly pissed off at both of us, she wouldn’t do something as immature as ditch us like that. No, something had clearly happened to her.

“What if someone took her?” My heart begins to race. I hated to even give the idea possibility but I couldn’t rule anything out. “You don’t think it was that fucking joke of a hunter—”

“No. He wouldn’t attack in broad daylight like this.”

“Well, obviously something happened,” I fumed.

What the hell was going on?!

Liam continued to try and reach Ella but to no avail.