Delete My Love for You novel Chapter 33

“If something happens to Xena, I’ll hate you for the rest of my life, Dad... I swear!” Noah’s voice came through the phone, thick with tears, and Charlotte could barely breathe for the lump in her throat.

She let out a hollow laugh, her lips curling in a bitter, resigned smile. “Darren, save Xena. I don’t need your help. Just leave me alone.”

She was done begging for scraps of his pity.

Her words made Darren’s voice turn even colder. “Fine. As you wish. Let Xena go first.”

The call ended. The thug standing over her grinned lecherously and shot Charlotte a filthy look. “Don’t be so nervous, sweetheart. If Mr. Harrington’s not gonna take care of you, I sure as hell will.”

He yanked the ropes tighter around her wrists, then dragged Xena outside the stone shed.

Charlotte caught Xena glancing back at her, her eyes glittering with smug triumph.

Charlotte narrowed her gaze.

The moment their footsteps faded down the tunnel and silence took over, she forced herself to focus and rolled across the ground, scraping her arms against the stone with all her might.

Her fingertips finally brushed against a jagged shard of rock.

***

Two miles away, the thug came to a stop. Xena’s mask of innocence dropped, replaced by a cold, vicious smile. “Don’t forget to show her a good time. I want her to wish she were dead.”

The thug sneered. “Trust me, I—”

Before he could finish, more than thirty men in black suits erupted from the undergrowth, surrounding them with batons drawn.

Behind the wall of bodyguards, Darren appeared, tall and forbidding, his presence radiating a chill that made the air turn to ice.

“You stupid bitch! You gave up our location? Tried to double-cross me?”

Furious, the thug seized Xena, who now looked truly terrified.

Suddenly, a flash of silver streaked through the air—a knife slit the thug’s throat in one clean motion. Blood spattered across Xena’s face.

A heartbeat later, his face went cold as death. “Find her. I don’t care how—alive or dead, I want her found!”

The bodyguards dove into the ruins, prying apart one stone after another.

“Mr. Harrington! Over here! We’ve found something!”

Darren rushed over. In the center of the scorched ruin, a charred, curled-up shape lay amid the ashes—a human silhouette, unrecognizable. Nearby, a melted, battered phone, its case unmistakably Charlotte’s.

For a long moment, time itself seemed to freeze.

Darren’s broad shoulders trembled, then he collapsed to his knees with a heavy, shuddering thud.

“Mr. Harrington!”

***

Outside the research center, Charlotte, covered in soot and dust, stood before the facial recognition scanner. She looked so battered the system couldn’t even recognize her face.