Chapter 23
Just like that, Gabriella and Stephen boarded a red–eye flight back to Tramont.
By noon the next day, they arrived at Bluewater Port with Alex, right on schedule.
The water was calm. The larger vessels had already set sail, leaving only a small boat tethered to the dock by a thin rope. It bobbed gently on the waves. There were two figures aboard–an adult and a teenager. Clearly, this was the kidnapper.
ཆ ཥ ཥ
The moment Alex, Gabriella, and Stephen laid eyes on the person holding Lucas hostage, their breath hitched.
“Melody?” they exclaimed in unison.
Alex furrowed his brow, his voice edged with irritation as he demanded, “What the hell are you doing?”
Melody turned at the sound of his voice. Nothing obscured her face, leaving the scar at the corner of her eyes exposed for all to see.
Meanwhile, Lucas lay slumped at her feet, bound and unconscious. His frame shielded most of her from view.
Melody froze momentarily at the sight of three of them. But then, just as quickly, the wild gleam in her eyes sharpened. “Gabriella Robinson! You’re back, huh?”
She fixed her gaze on Gabriella as she spoke. Seeing that, Alex and Stephen instinctively moved forward to shield Gabriella. “Spit it out, What do you want in exchange for Lucas?”
Watching the two men stand protectively in front of Gabriella, Melody felt a sharp stab of jealousy for the first time.
Rage churned in her chest, and the hatred in her eyes was impossible to hide.
She couldn’t understand it. She and Gabriella had both been cast out of the Palmer family. But why was she the one left in the gutter?
The scar on Melody’s face hadn’t been necessary. However, the Palmers had been merciless. They simply stopped the bleeding before throwing her out of the hospital.
Afterward, they wiped her from the family records. The Palmers even froze every last asset under her name and left her with nothing but this hideous, irreversible scar.
Eventually, Melody had nowhere to go. She had no choice but to scavenge, digging through garbage bins for scraps just to survive.
On the contrary, Gabriella was draped in designer labels, looking even more stunning than before leaving the Palmer family. As if that wasn’t enough, Alex and Stephen were now shielding her like she was something precious.
The sight made Melody’s blood boil. She refused to accept this!
With a knife in her hand, Melody stepped closer to Lucas. “You want to know what I want, don’t you?”
Then, without hesitation, she yanked him toward the edge of the boat. Her expression darkened with malice as she pointed at Gabriella.
“I have two simple conditions. Meet them, and I’ll let Lucas go. One, you marry me, Alex. And two–trade Gabriella for him.”
Melody never took her eyes off Alex. She was making it clear that the choice was his.
If he agreed to marry her and let her kill Gabriella for revenge, she would let Lucas go. But if he refused, he would be forced to watch Lucas die right in front of him. Silence fell over the dock, broken only by the wind howling.
1
Giving up Gabriella had never been an option for either Alex or Stephen. But walking away and letting Lucas die wasn’t an option, either,
Even after what felt like an eternity, Alex didn’t say a word.
So, Stephen shook his head and rejected Melody’s conditions outright. “We’ll agree to the first, But the second? Absolutely not. Pick something else.”
Alex’s anger boiled over at those words. He was about to refuse when he caught the look in Gabriella’s and Stephen’s eyes. In an instant, he faltered. Melody noticed his hesitation, and it only fueled her fury. She bit her lip but refused to give in.
The tension stretched thick in the air until a thought crossed Melody’s mind. She shot them a wary glance and spat, “You’re stalling, aren’t you? I told you. If you call the with me!”
By the time she finished speaking, her voice had begun to tremble. The unwavering calm of the three standing across from her only made her more anxious.
Her fear was evident now. Suddenly, she tightened her grip on the knife and pressed just enough to break the skin at Lucas‘ throat.
A thin line of blood appeared, the sharp pain jolting him awake.
In the next secund, his terrified wall filled the air. “Mom, help me!”
cops, he will die
His sobs sent a sharp pang through Gabriella’s chest. Her heart pounded violently as she looked on from a distance. Yet, all she could do was pray the police would arrive in time to save him. Even as the situation spiraled further out of control, she would never trade herself for Lucas.
“Shut up! Stop crying, or I’ll kill you right now!” Melody shrieked.
She hadn’t expected him to wake up, and hils piercing cries grated on her already fraying nerves.
At first, she turned to gauge Alex’s and the others‘ reactions. But in that split second, something else caught her eye.
It was a gun. A black barrel was aimed straight at her.
