Loving The Temperamental Adonis
Chapter 240: Heard her voice

Chapter 240: Heard her voice

After Neil left the press conference where he had announced his decision to offer any amount to whoever found his wife, his phone had kept on ringing non-stop throughout his way back home.

Home. A place he’d once looked forward to going back to but was now dreading. It was useless looking in Mirage Mesa for Mia after his men had viewed all the surveillance cameras in the city and discovered that the cars that had taken her had left Mirage Mesa and disappeared into the night with no other means of tracing them.

He’d received calls from countless unknown people claiming to know where his wife was. They sounded convincing, and he’d have believed them but they claimed she was in Mirage Mesa and demanded the promised money upfront before disclosing her location. He knew something like this would happen once money got involved, but he was too desperate to wait for the military to search the other cities, which would take longer.

The thought that Mia was being mistreated by her kidnappers knotted his chest and twisted his stomach. He hadn’t been able to rest for a second without thinking about what she must be going through, or if the pain in her stomach was troubling her. He missed her terribly and couldn’t stay at home for long because every single item reminded him of her. Her eyes, her smile, and her lovely presence haunted him every second, every minute, every hour of the day. He might end up going crazy if he couldn’t find her.

He hadn’t eaten no more than a spoon full of his meals nor slept or shaved in three days. He’d only been drinking himself senseless until he could no longer think of the worst. He didn’t need to be told how terrible he looked; he could feel it. His limbs could barely hold him for long without shaking. He’d never known that the feeling of losing the person you love the most in the world could drive someone to the brink of insanity. He’d been reining in his rage because he still believed deep down that his Mia was alive, but he didn’t know what he might do if anything happened to her before he found her.

He’d lived thirty-two years of his life alone, but for the past months he’d been with Mia, he’d realized the beauty and warmth of a home. He’d started to get so used to it that he didn’t want to lose it. Without his wife, there was no home for him. She was his home and his world, his love and his forever. He was willing to let go of everything as long as she was returned to him. His wealth and fame meant nothing without her.

Neil felt his eyes burn with the tears he’d refused to shed as he looked through the window of his moving car and shut his eyes. "Don’t get hurt, I will find you..." he muttered under his breath, feeling his heart clench tightly in his chest as if it would burst from the uncertainty of not knowing where she was.

He leaned against the car window and stared down at his phone, which displayed Mia’s smiling picture as his wallpaper. He used his fingers to trace the screen, his throat constricting and his vision blurring from the tears that gathered in his eyes. But before the tears could fall, his phone vibrated in his hands. Blinking away the tears, he watched his phone ring with an unknown number on display. He thought about ignoring it, assuming it might be one of those bastards pretending to know Mia’s whereabouts to get his money. But then he thought, what if the person calling now really knew her whereabouts and he ignored it? With that thought in mind, Neil slid to answer and placed the phone against his ear.

The first thing he heard was Mia’s voice. "Neil!" Her panicked voice rang out through the phone. His blood ran cold, and his heart felt like it had stopped. She was screaming for someone to let her go; she sounded in pain. Neil clenched his fingers around the phone, calling her name repeatedly. "Mia! Mia! Who’s hurting you? Let her go, damn it!"

He cursed under his breath at his helplessness and frantically tried to grab something in his car to control his panics and rage. "Mia! Mia!" he yelled her name, his voice breaking. Then suddenly, she stopped screaming and everything went silent before he heard a man’s cold laughter, followed by a voice.

"Hello, Mr. Wayner, or should I call you Mr. Galverra?" Owen’s voice came from the other side of the phone, but because he’d used a cloth to muffle the speaker, Neil didn’t recognize it. His plans would be ruined if Neil were to recognize him before he lured him into his trap. Owen used his fingers to stroke Mia’s cheek, whose mouth had been covered by one of the men standing behind her to keep her from screaming to Neil who he was, as he waited for Neil to reply.

"Who the hell are you? Where are you keeping my wife?" Neil demanded, his voice trembling with rage. "If you so much as touch a hair on her, I’ll kill you and your entire family!"

The person laughed. "You could only threaten me with that if I had a family, but too bad I killed my own family with my own hands. I have nothing to fear or lose, Wayner. It’s you who has everything to lose if you mess up. You wouldn’t want me harming your delicate wife and your baby, would you?"

Neil’s heart raced. He didn’t have to be told to know that this man was definitely capable of harming Mia. He reined his temper and tried to negotiate with him instead. "What do you want? If it’s money, I’ll give you money and more. Just tell me where she is."

The person chuckled darkly. "Now you’re talking, Wayner. Listen carefully. All I want from you is simple and easy, and as long as you do as I say, you don’t have anything to worry about, I will give you back your wife."

"What do you want?" Neil asked calmly, his fingers gripping the edge of his seat as his eyes turned dark and murderous at the thought that this maniac could harm his wife if he were to mess up or let his rage take the best of him.

The other line was silent for a split second before the man spoke again. "Bring your business ownership documents and your financial statements to the address I’m about to give you. You are to come alone. And just for your information, you are being watched. If you bring your men or the authorities... you can kiss your wife goodbye."

"I’ll come alone. Just don’t hurt her," Neil said, his voice desperate. Despite the fact that he knew what the kidnapper was up to by asking him to bring those documents, he didn’t want to argue and risk his wife’s life. Whoever this person was must be one of the businessmen he’d ruined and who wanted revenge by taking everything he owned. Those documents would make him lose everything once he signed an agreement to hand them over to this unknown person.

"I know you’re smart, Wayner, but don’t try to outsmart me this time. I have eyes on you everywhere. Come alone, and your wife will be yours. If you dare to cross me, you won’t like the outcome." The call ended abruptly.

However, before it ended, Neil heard Mia’s voice in the background yelling for him not to come, but the person had ended the call before he could say more. Neil knew he had to act fast, or Mia’s life would be in danger. He knew it would be stupid to go alone to rescue his wife, but taking his soldiers along would put her life on the line.

"Stop the car," Neil barked orders to his driver. When the car pulled to a stop, he got down and took the car keys from the driver, sliding behind the wheel. The driver, who had somehow overheard the call, anxiously grabbed the door before it closed.

"Sir, I don’t think you should go alone. Kidnappers can be cruel," the driver said, his voice laced with worry.

Neil looked at the anxious man and said, "Who said I was going alone?" His eyes were fierce with determination as he slammed the car door before the man could ask what he planned to do. In a blink of an eye, the black Ferrari had disappeared into the night street.

****

Seven hours later, Neil’s black Ferrari pulled up to a stop in the deserted town of Silverbrook, a city about 400 miles away from Mirage Mesa. Due to his speed, he had covered the distance in five hours. It was dawn, and the sun was just rising in the sky. He got out of the car and looked around at the tall trees lining the sides of the road. The air carried the scent of the morning dawn along with the smell of damp grass. He could hear the sounds of morning birds singing joyfully in the trees, but there were no sounds or sights of humans or houses.

It seemed Mia’s kidnapper was really smart. That made him more dreadful and determined about the quick plans he’d made with Liam in the two hours he had stopped at his office to collect the necessary documents and make arrangements to surprise Mia’s kidnapper after he had taken her away from harm’s way.

Neil looked around for any signs of someone, as the man had told him someone would be waiting for him here, near the signboard that read "Silverbrook Beach - 50 miles away." He looked down at his wristwatch impatiently and cursed when he saw it was almost 7 in the morning.

As he was about to get back into his car and wait since the man’s number was unreachable, his phone dinged with a message notification. He tapped on the message so quickly that his phone almost slipped from his grip. It was a message from the man that read, "We can see you. Keep the documents on the top of your car and lean your head down on it and close your eyes. Put your hands on top of the car."

Neil read the message with a frown, but he didn’t question anything as he had no choice if he wanted to see Mia again. He leaned down on the car while silently vowing to teach whoever this person was a lesson once he got his Mia. He leaned over the car with his hands on top for five minutes before he heard footsteps, but he didn’t look as his eyes were closed.

He could tell from the footsteps that there were many men, but before he could even react, something heavy struck him straight on the back of his head. Neil didn’t have time to register anything before he fell unconscious.

"Drag him into the van and dispose of his car like boss said," ordered the leader of the gang.