Chapter 10
A flash of guilt crossed Isaiah’s eyes: “Baby, let me just swing by the house real quick, then I’ll come right back to you.”
Sadie couldn’t let him leave
If he went back now, everything would be exposed–she wouldn’t even have time to cover her tracks.
She immediately pouted pitifully: “Are you worried about Genesis? But I’ve been waiting for this wedding for eighteen years–|
Isaiah hesitated, about to suggest she come with him, when Sadie pulled out a tablet.
“You just want to check on Genesis, right? Here.“]
The tablet showed surveillance footage
the video. Genesis was handcuffed to the bedframe, curled up in a ball her voice tearful: “Isaiah, I know I was wrong. I’ll never try to leave again.”
Isaiah’s brow immediately relaxed, and the dark clouds that had been weighing on him for days lifted. Now he was even more eager to get home and see her.
lah, you really
really don’t get how women work”
But Sadie hooked her arm around his wrist, her voice sweet and coaxing: Isalah)
“Tunes like this, you gotta let her sweat it out for a few days so she knows what she’s missing. Why don’t you stay at my place instead? Just for a little while?” She traced circles on his chest with her finger.
Isaiah thought for a moment, then nodded.
Honestly, he was getting bored with the same pussy anyway |
Genesis had been staring at him like a dead fish all week. Even though he’d wanted to punish her, fucking someone who just laid there like a corpse was killing his hard–on.
Light to Sadie’s after work
Over the next few days, Isaiah went straight to
The living room carpet, the kitchen counter, behind the floor–to–ceiling window curtains, the bedroom, they fucked on every surface in the house
He even took time off to go camping with her and Axel for two days, living in a haze and temporarily forgetting about the person back at the villa.
Every day he’d check Genesis’s surveillance feed.
The woman in the video looked more defeated each day, her apologies growing more desperate. The anger he’d felt gradually cooled, and he figured it was almost time to go back
That evening before leaving work, he called his lawyer to arrange a quick courthouse wedding for the next morning, planning to drag Genesis there first thing
That way, she’d never be able to run away again.
But when he finally returned to the villa the next morning, he froze completely.]
The once–luxurious house was now
was now nothing but charred ruins.||
Among the broken walls and rubble, he could still see unburned wood fragments. When the wind blew, it stirred up choking ash.|||
His legs felt like jelly as he stumbled into the wreckage, using his memory to find Genesis’s room. The sight made his pupils contract and his blood turn to ice.
The room was burned down to twisted steel beams, the bed frame collapsed into a heap of blackened metal. Forget a person–there wasn’t even a recognizable object left.
The haggard, broken Genesis from the surveillance footage had vanished without a trace, along with the cameras themselves
Isaiah’s eyes instantly filled with bloodshot veins, his mind going completely blank]
He stood there for a few seconds, then suddenly spun around and ran toward the security booth.
“Hey! The house at 18–when did it burn down?”
The security guard glanced at him casually: “Been a while now, Last week, I think–around the 8th. You didn’t know? Made the news and everything”
The 8th?
Isaiah felt ice shoot up from his foot to the top of his head, blood rushing to his brain []
That was the day he and Sadie had their wedding.
So what the fuck had he been watching on those cameras all week?
He steadied his shaking body, lips trembling as he pressed on: “Did… did they get anyone our? A woman, around thirty?“]
The guard thought for a moment, then shook his head: “Didn’t hear about any survivors. I just know somebody died in there. When they pulled the body out, it was just charcoal Word is it was a woman, maybe thirties.”
BOOM-
Isaiah’s world started spinning. He staggered backward, nearly falling[]
Impossible. Absolutely impossible!
Genesis was smart as hell–there’s no way she wouldn’t have gotten out
And Mrs. Emery was there too. If something had really happened, she definitely would be called him []
But… the day of the fire, no one had actually called him.
Not the housekeeper, not the property management.
He suddenly remembered–at the wedding. Sadie had said she accidentally dropped his phone and it wouldn’t turn on. She said I she’d checked with Mrs. Emery and everything was fine at home.
Isaiah fumbled for h
his phone with shaking hands and dialed Mrs. Emory’s number
“The number you have dialed is no longer in service…”
The cold automated message repeated three times, each repetition like a sledgehammer to his chest.[]
His vision went black in waves, a breath stuck in his chest so tight he could barely breathe.
The security
guard saw something was wrong and steadied him: “Sir, that place was that your house?“]
Isaiah couldn’t hear him. His mind was a tangled mess as he desperately tried to piece together some clue, find someone who could tell him what really happened.]
Chapter 10
Just then, his phone suddenly rang, the sharp ringtone cutting through his thoughts.]
He answered wearily, his voice hoarse: “Hello?”
“Is this Isaiah Merrick?” The voice on the other end was an unfamiliar man. “This is the city police department. Genesis Rowe’s body went unclaimed, so we went ahead and had her cremated per standard procedure.”
“Records show you’re listed as her boyfriend. When can you come by to pick up her ashes and take care of her Social Security deactivation?“||
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