Aurora turned around and glared at him, furious, her eyes flashing with frustration and a trace of resentnt. "Don’t give that crap. You think I don’t know? You did it on purpose!"
"On purpose? And what are you gonna do about it?"
Everett raised an eyebrow, completely unfazed, and strode off ahead with his long legs.
Aurora, breathless but pissed, caught up to him. "Everett, you think I’m fun to ss with, huh? Easy to fool, is that it?"
"Absolutely!"
His answer almost made her choke in disbelief. She was beyond frustrated now—too tired to argue, too drained to care. They’d been on the move too long, and she really wasn’t in the mood for his gas anymore.
Maybe she was easy to fool. If it really was Autumn and Caroline who tied her to that tree root, then she must’ve been blind not to see what kind of person Autumn really was.
Seeing her out of breath, Everett stopped, sat down on a rock, and cracked open a bottle of water for a few gulps.
The sun today felt especially warm. After a while, it almost felt like sumr instead of winter. Aurora’s face was flushed, as if she had a fever—rosy and striking.
She plopped down beside him, worn out, taking a quiet break. Her mood had picked up a little, though. After all, she was finally going back to the team.
Ten minutes later, they were back on the move.
At around 11:30 a.m., Aurora finally made it out of the woods. When she saw the team’s car, and Dominic and Brown running toward her, her legs gave out. She collapsed onto the ground.
She wasn’t exactly filthy, but her forehead was drenched in sweat, and her hair and the back of her clothes were soaked.
Dominic ca running and crying, yelling, "Oh my god, you’re finally back! You scared half to death!"
She threw her arms around Aurora, sobbing uncontrollably. It was raw and real—proof of how much she cared.
Everett stood off to the side, his expression dark. Sure, Dominic was a woman, but still... he couldn’t help feeling like soone had just stolen sothing from him.
He was annoyed. Jealous. Bitter.
Aurora patted Dominic on the shoulder, her eyes misty too. "Alright, alright, I’m okay. I’m a ss, though. Let’s just get moving, head ho, and rest. I really appreciate everything you all did. Thank you."
As the crew and the MV director gathered around her with concern, Aurora flashed a bright smile.
"As long as you’re safe, that’s all that matters," the director sighed in relief. If sothing had happened to Aurora, it would’ve been on him. Truth be told, they could have headed ho that night, but he selfishly wanted a day off—he hadn’t had real rest in forever—so he gave everyone the day to relax.
He never expected sothing like this to happen.
Brown was trying to squeeze through the crowd when he suddenly felt soone glaring at him. He looked up—and t a pair of cold eyes.
Soone gasped. "Wait—isn’t that Everett?!"
Everyone in the industry had heard the rumors about Everett and Aurora. They’d seen the gossip, the headlines. So of course, they recognized him.
Autumn and the others had noticed him earlier too, but Everett hadn’t shaved in days, and no one had been quite sure it was really him.
After all, what would the CEO of NC Group be doing here?
A wave of gasps and whispers spread through the crowd.
"So it was Everett who brought Miss Wilson back!"
"This is real love, I swear!"
"I can’t believe he actually tracked her down himself. If it were , I’d risk it all for soone I love, too!"
Everyone was smiling and gossiping now.
Aurora’s face turned hot. The director shot her a look full of aning, then walked over to greet Everett.
Everett had no interest in chatting. He kept it short and polite. His people arrived not long after.
Tobias and his team had been waiting in another part of the forest. Once they saw Everett co back, they knew it was ti to move.
Everett gave Tobias a casual glance. "Let’s go."
"Yes, sir."
Aurora, still surrounded by the crowd, caught sight of Everett getting ready to leave. She quickly called out to him.
"Everett!"
Everyone instinctively made way, clearing a path for Aurora to walk toward him.
She stopped in front of him. "Thank you, Everett. If it weren’t for you, I might’ve... never made it out of that forest."
Her words were a bit dramatic—at least one person off to the side chuckled and shook their head. Even if Everett hadn’t gotten involved, Mr. Nelson probably would’ve organized a search party. They definitely would’ve found her.
Most people didn’t know Aurora had actually been tied up at the base of a tree.
"No need to thank ," Everett replied, staying polite in front of everyone. He didn’t even glance at her before striding off toward the SUV parked nearby.
Aurora froze for a mont. Dominic ca up and nudged her shoulder. "What’s wrong? You two spent two days and nights together... don’t tell nothing happened?"
Seeing Dominic’s teasing wink, Aurora gave her an exhausted eye-roll. "Don’t be ridiculous."
Autumn ca over too, warmly grabbing Aurora’s hand. Aurora instinctively pulled away and ran her fingers through her hair, trying to make it look less obvious that she didn’t want to be touched.
"Aurora, are you really okay? Where did you go? Were you off having so alone ti with Everett? You scared us to death! We searched all day and night and couldn’t find you!"
Autumn put on a worried face.
Aurora felt a wave of disgust. Her gut told her Autumn was the one who had tied her to that tree.
And yet here she was, acting so natural, even hinting that Aurora had ditched everyone just to go off fooling around with a guy—leaving the whole team panicked and scrambling.
Autumn was trying to make her look bad on purpose.
Caroline sneered and added, "Autumn, what kind of thing is that to say? It’s not like she asked you to co looking. You’re just trying too hard."
Aurora’s face went cold. "Autumn, which eye of yours saw out there ’playing’ with Everett? If he hadn’t saved , I’d probably be dead in that forest. So yeah—I need to report this to the police."
Autumn went pale. "W-What did you say?"
Dominic and the director looked at Aurora in shock. Aurora wasn’t one to play nice when soone crossed the line—she wasn’t about to let whoever kidnapped her get away with it.
If Everett hadn’t cared anymore and hadn’t co looking... and if soone had deliberately sabotaged the search and delayed help... she’d probably be dead right now.
Soone like that—soone who tried to harm her once—was capable of doing it again. Just like last ti, when soone pushed her from behind. When that failed, they went even darker and arranged this whole kidnapping.
Brown stared at her, stunned. "Aurora, are you saying... you weren’t just missing? Soone took you?"
Aurora nodded. "I won’t get into the details right now. Let’s head ho. I need a shower. But I’ll deal with this."
Autumn and Caroline exchanged a glance, their expressions suddenly stiff. But after a mont, they cald down.
Even if the police did look into it, there wasn’t much to find. It had been days. Any fingerprints or physical evidence on Aurora would be long gone.
With that thought, Autumn’s nerves finally began to settle.
Reviews
All reviews (0)