Who was that man?
Austin frowned as he saw the familiar endearment written in a messy scrawl. It was a name he had given to Dora, something just between them. No one else knew about it, and certainly no one else should be using it. Something clicked in his mind, and in an instant, he ran back toward the place where someone had bumped into him earlier.
When he had come out of the doctor’s office, all he had in his pocket was his car keys. As he thought back to the moment he saw the dead body, something felt off. He hadn’t paid much attention at first, but now, his instincts were screaming that something wasn’t right.
Without wasting any time, he headed straight for the spot where the person had brushed past him. He stopped a few passersby and nurses, asking if they had seen a man pushing a stretcher. He checked the entire floor, peeking into various doctor's offices where outpatients were being checked, receiving nothing but puzzled glances. He asked everyone he could, but no one seemed to know anything.
Austin’s gut told him it wasn’t some prank. He had seen that note, and he was certain it was Dora asking for help. The dread of what situation she might be in gripped him. His search was frantic, his heart racing as he paced through the hospital halls. When his search came up empty, he called Ronan immediately.
"Are you sure it was Dora and not someone playing a joke on you?" Ronan asked, his voice filled with doubt.
Austin growled in frustration. "I can bet my life it was Dora. I recognized her handwriting," he snapped. "I know it was her."
Even as he spoke to Ronan, his eyes scanned the room, still hoping to spot the man who had brushed past him. His mother’s surgery, the reason he was at the hospital in the first place, had long faded from his mind. All that mattered now was finding Dora.
"Ronan," he said, voice tight, "Who was that man? Was it Dora on the stretcher? I need answers."
Ronan’s voice came through with a calm that didn’t match Austin’s growing panic. "CCTV is the only way to find out," he said. "But I’ll need some time to get permission and contact the hospital admin."
Austin nodded absently. "I don’t care about the damn permissions. Just find her."
"I understand," Ronan replied. "But we need to think rationally. If it was Dora, I promise we’ll find her as soon as possible."
"I hope so," Austin replied, his voice heavy with despair. He couldn’t bear to think of anything worse than losing her, especially not now.
"I’ll be there as soon as I get the permissions," Ronan added, and the call ended.
"Damm…it," Austin whispered under his breath, swallowing the lump that had formed in his throat as he thought about Dora. He knew she was in trouble, but where was she now?
When Ronan arrived at the hospital later that evening, it was already dark. Without wasting a moment, they went straight to the server room to get the footage.
"What time did the guy bump into you?" Ronan asked, glancing at Austin as they entered the room.
"Maybe around five," Austin replied, still uneasy, as his eyes darted around the room full of monitors. "I can’t be sure."
It took a few minutes for the guard to locate the footage from the camera with the right angle, but when they finally found it, Austin leaned in closely to see the images. His heart nearly stopped as he saw the stretcher being pushed down the hall. As the breeze shifted, the sheet covering the person slipped slightly, revealing a pregnant woman. His breath caught in his throat.
The woman’s face came into clearer view, and Austin recognized her instantly. His stomach churned as he saw the same woman, Dora, slipping a piece of paper into his pocket just moments before she had been pushed away. His mind raced, and he slumped into a nearby chair, devastated. He had been so close to her, but he couldn’t save her.
Ronan, ever the professional, kept scanning the footage for more clues about the man. They followed the CCTV recordings, noticing the same guy boarding an ambulance.
"We’ve got a lead," Ronan said with a sense of relief. "We can track the ambulance number and find out where he dropped her off."
But Austin’s thoughts were elsewhere. He turned to Ronan abruptly, his voice laced with confusion and concern. "What was she doing here in the hospital?"
Meanwhile, far away on the outskirts of the city, away from the crowded streets and polluted air, there was a mansion hidden deep within the dense forest. The mansion was grand, with a Victorian style that told the story of a bygone era. Every corner of the estate held a secret, and the forest surrounding it kept its occupants shielded from the world.
Inside the mansion, the halls were dimly lit, and the rooms were dark and silent. The air was thick with the kind of silence that only a mansion of this size could hold.
A man moved quietly down the hall, opening the door to a master bedroom with great care. Inside, a petite woman was curled up on the bed, her wrists bound with fuzzy handcuffs attached to the headboard. Her face, once beautiful, now had a swollen cheek where a handprint marred her skin.
The woman was Dora.
She was clearly in pain, her body trembling, not from the cold, but from the torment that haunted her every moment. Even in her sleep, her body reacted to the nightmares she was trapped in. Soft whimpers escaped her, and her wet eyelashes were proof of the tears that had already fallen.
The man sat beside her, his hands bruised from his previous actions. He gently touched her cheek, his rage replaced by a twisted affection. "Mo ghràdh," he whispered, his voice thick with emotion as he leaned in to kiss her temple.
But despite the kiss, Dora stirred restlessly in her sleep, her face contorted with the pain she had endured. He leaned in closer, his lips brushing her ear, then her cheek, before he finally stopped at the corner of her lips. He wanted more, but he knew he had to control himself.
"My darling," he whispered again, his hand caressing her belly. "Our baby..."
He smiled to himself, thoughts turning dark. "I will make you mine. Completely. You will live here with me, as my queen."
His hands hovered over her body, tempted to take more than what he promised. But his restraint was palpable. He caressed her belly, speaking softly, "We will name her Marcial. And then another, Aria."
His twisted thoughts lingered on the idea of having a family with her, forcing himself to stop at just a kiss on her neck.
But when Dora whispered Austin’s name in her sleep, his control snapped. A storm of fury rose inside him, and he considered hurting her again. His anger flared as he tried to wipe the name from her mind. But looking at her innocent face, he couldn’t bring himself to strike her. Instead, he shifted to the other side of the bed, pulling the covers over her trembling body.
"You ar
e mine now," he muttered softly. "No one will take you from me."
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