Chapter 10
Cassie didn’t recognize Asher, nor did she realize she had already exposed herself.
After she left, Asher called his assistant, Matthew Campbell, in. “Find out where she’s staying and who she’s living with.”
Matthew nodded and was about to leave when Asher stopped him again. “About that girl… Are there still no leads?”
When Asher was nine, he had been framed by his family’s enemies and abducted by traffickers, who took him to a remote mountain village.
The mountains stretched for hundreds of miles, an endless, impenetrable barrier. No matter how he tried, he couldn’t escape.
Just when he thought he would spend the rest of his life wasting away in that place, a girl named Ingrid Charter had saved him.
She led him through a hidden path he had never seen before and shoved a few rock–hard breads into his hands. “Keep running this way. You’ll be out by tomorrow afternoon.”
Asher grabbed her hand. “Come with me. If they find out you helped me escape, they’ll kill you.”
Ingrid shook her head. “I can’t. If I leave, I have to take my mother with me… But they broke her legs. She can’t walk.”
She was silent for a long time before finally whispering, “Sir, when you get out, report this to the police for me. My mother was also trafficked here.” Asher had made it out, but he had fallen gravely ill afterward.
By the time he recovered, he had forgotten the location of that village. Nonetheless, he never forgot her tear–filled, stubborn eyes and the thick scar around her ankle or her name.
He had been searching for her ever since.
Matthew shook his head. “Mr. Daye, there are too many people with that name nationwide. We’re still filtering through the records.”
Asher swallowed his disappointment and waved him off. “You can go ahead now.”
A few days later, Cassie took Estelle to a local bar for drinks. They casually brushed off a few men who tried to strike up conversations, and after a while, Cassie sighed dramatically.
“The guy I met at the contract signing the other day was so ridiculously handsome, but his presence was terrifying. He had this intense, almost oppressive presence that I didn’t even dare ask for his contact info.
“Ugh, why was I such a coward? Who knows when I’ll ever meet a guy on that level again?”
Not even a second later, she perked up. “Wait! That guy who just walked by is just my type! I’ll be right back.”
She had barely left when Estelle felt the cushion beside her sinking.
Assuming it was Cassie returning, she leaned in lazily, resting her head on the person’s shoulder. “Back so soon?”
The moment she caught the scent of unfamiliar cologne, her body stiffened.
She bolted upright, knocking over her drink and soaking her coat in her. “I’m so sorry, I mistook you for someone else!”
the
process. As she was hastily wiping at the fabric, she turned to the stranger beside
A cool, measured voice responded. “It’s fine.”
That voice… Estelle’s head snapped up.
It was Asher Daye!
A wave of fear shot up her spine like ice water, chilling her to the core.
Why was he here? Had Ruben found out she was alive? Were they here to take her back?
A dozen thoughts raced through her mind, but there was no time to process any of them. Only one word echoed in her brain, and that was to run!
She spun around, ready to bolt, but Asher seized her wrist before she could take a step. With one firm push, he had her pinned against the wall. His coat was draped over his arm, shielding them from view.
To outsiders, it looked like an intimate embrace. They seemed like just another couple lost in the dim, hazy atmosphere of the bar, so no one paid them
any attention.
His voice remained cold and detached. “Why are you running? I’m not going to hurt you. But you do need to come back with me and see Ruben.”
Chapter 11
