Chapter 16
Zachary stared down at the woman clinging to his feet, his expression dark and unreadable.
He barely recognized Maisy.
Because of work, he had been away for months. When he returned, he found that she was gone. It wasn’t until he asked around that he learned Bradley had taken her.
Of course, Zachary knew exactly what Bradley wanted.
From the start, they had both loved Maisy. The only difference was that Bradley had given more than him. Bradley had been willing to sacrifice his own happiness by marrying Alice and ripping out Christine’s heart. Since then, he had been the man behind Maisy.
Zachary had always known he could never truly win against someone like that.
But now, that same Bradley had been the one to torment Maisy.
Fury burned in his chest. One look at the state Maisy was in, and Zachary knew that she had suffered.
He bent down, ready to pull her up and take her away. Then, Bradley arrived.
It was as if he had been expecting Zachary to come. He didn’t look the least bit surprised. Meanwhile, Zachary’s rage flared the moment he saw the man responsible for all this. “Are you insane? How could you do this to Maisy?”
“I’m not insane,” Bradley said. “Why don’t you ask her what she’s done?”
Zachary glanced down and saw Maisy trembling violently in his arms.
She didn’t dare lie in front of Bradley. So, piece by piece, she confessed everything that she had done to Alice.
Zachary froze. He had never thought of Maisy as this kind of person. She had always been sweet and gentle.
But Alice was fine, wasn’t she? Nothing had actually happened to her.
Frowning, Zachary snapped, “Even so, you went too far! How could you lock her in a basement like this? You should’ve just made her apologize to Alice and been done with it!” Upon hearing those words, Bradley let out a mocking laugh, but beneath it lay a deep, helpless despair.
For the past two months, when he wasn’t breaking Maisy, he had been relentlessly searching for Alice. But there was nothing–no trace, no clue. Alice had vanished as if she had never existed at all
He didn’t even have the chance to apologize.
Perhaps Alice had already decided to leave him for good from the very beginning.
Bradley’s heart was numb from pain long ago. And now, hearing Zachary say something so naïve, he could only find it laughable.
“I can’t find Alice,” he said flatly.
“What do you mean?”
Zachary frowned in confusion. How could Alice be impossible to find?
“I mean I can’t find her. She left me. You don’t get it, do you? Alice has left me because of Maisy! I searched everywhere, but she’s gone! I lost her!”
Bradley suddenly broke down into tears. The sheer desperation in his voice sent a sharp pang through Zachary’s chest.
Alice was gone?
No. That was impossible. She was just a foolish woman. There was no way she could just disappear.
Zachary’s grip on Maisy’s waist trembled. He wanted someone to tell him this was all just some cruel joke. But the basement was filled with nothing but the sound of a man’s quiet sobs and a woman’s pleading voice.
“Zach, please, take me with you. I’m begging you. Just take me away. If Alice is gone, so be it! I’m still here! Save me,
Maisy kept pleading, but Zachary’s resolve was already cracking.
Then Bradley revealed the truth Zachary had never known.
Taking Christine’s heart hadn’t been enough for Maisy. She had wanted Alice’s child and everything she had.
It turned out Maisy had played them for fools, leading them to lose Alice.
Zach. Please, just save me.”
The thought of his former fiancée suffering at Maisy’s hands and having her eight–month–old baby torn from her as a parting gift to Bradley left Zachary struggling to breathe.
He looked down at the woman in his atins and saw the panic creeping into her expression. His grip loosened, and he let her fall hard to the ground.
“How dare you do all that to Alice?”
