"I've never stopped loving you," he confessed without hesitation. "When we fight, and you refuse to listen to me, I might resent you for a time, but I'll always forget about it in the end."A lump formed in Avery's throat at his words. She wanted to say something but was not sure what to say."Avery, I'm not pursuing you again simply because I want to give our children a complete home. It's quite the opposite, actually.""Say no more, Elliot." Her eyes glittered with unshed tears, and she suppressed her urge to sob. She had a lot of questions for him, but she realized that none of them mattered any longer."Avery, there are a lot of things that I want to ask you, too," he said, hoping that he would die knowing all the answers he had been craving for."I won't ask you anything, so you shouldn't ask me any questions, either," she said. "If you think that's not fair, I can answer one question.""Sure." Elliot considered what question he wanted to ask."Elliot, I love you, too." Ave
"I can't get Mom on the phone either." Hayden did not proceed to try calling Elliot. If Layla could not reach him, there was no point in him trying."What time is it in Ylore right now? Could they be sleeping?" Layla asked.Hayden checked the time and said, "Probably not. It's just eight at night in Ylore.""Oh... Let me call their bodyguards to ask." Layla searched for the bodyguard's contact on her phone and called him. The bodyguard answered right away."Uncle, Robert wants to call Dad but he's not answering the call," Layla said."Did you try calling your mom? They stay together.""I did, but she won't answer her phone either." Layla glanced at Robert. "Robert insists that he needs to video-call Dad. Why have they both turned off their phones?"The bodyguard blushed. "Layla, you want your parents to get back together, right? They are both resting in the same room right now... So I can't disturb them."Layla was slightly taken aback. "Are they going to bed this early?""The
As they had expected, Avery did not pick up."Why don't you try calling your boss?" Avery's bodyguard suggested.Elliot's bodyguard wanted to see the pit, as well, and called Elliot intending to ask for permission. "He's not picking up either! Did they turn their phones off at the same time?""Maybe. Let's just go check that pit out! One look, and then we will come back. That way, it won't take too long." Avery's bodyguard was not scared of her, so he was more casual about the affair.Elliot's bodyguard remained thoughtful for a few moments, before deciding, "Let me send Mr. Foster a message first.""I'll send my boss a message, too."The two left the hotel and drove toward the suburb after sending Avery and Elliot a message.The sky was gloomy, and it appeared as though it was about to rain. An ominous shade of grey loomed over the site as they approached the pit with face masks on."Unrelated individuals are not allowed to come in!" A staff member came over and reminded them.
"My boss still hasn't contacted me." Avery's bodyguard glanced at his phone and noticed that Avery had not responded to his message.Avery would always reply to his message without fail, prior to this."Neither has my boss." Elliot's bodyguard glanced at his phone in despair. "It's all your fault! Why did you suggest going to the pit? I'm exhausted!""Is that my fault? They were short-staffed, so what if we helped them? Helping them is the same thing as helping our bosses. Miss Tate was just saying that she wanted to help in the pit two days ago!" Avery's bodyguard did not regret spending the day at the pit. "Could she really be sick?""Why would Mr. Foster turn his phone off if your boss is sick? If she was, he would have sent her to the hospital by now, instead of shutting himself up inside their room without contacting anyone," Elliot's bodyguard insisted. "They are definitely being all lovey-dovey in their room!"Avery's bodyguard scowled. "Miss Tate is here to look for Ivy. U
"Layla, what happened?" Mike's voice came through the speaker on the bodyguards' end."Uncle Mike, the bodyguard called me saying that they can't get hold of my parents. They tried ringing the doorbell to their room, but no one came to open the door," Layla described the situation to Mike. "Did something happen to them?"Confused, Mike took Layla's phone and asked, "What's going on?"The bodyguard briefed Mike on what had happened. "Avery's bodyguard and I haven't been able to reach the two of them since last night. We went over to the pit today, but the people there said that they weren't there yesterday. They headed out early yesterday morning, and we were still in touch with them up until noon, but I have heard no news from them since yesterday evening. We don't know where they went, and I doubt that they are even inside their room...""There's a plate on the door?""Yeah! We would have freaked out long ago if it wasn't for the plate!"Mike remained thoughtful for a moment and
The bodyguards felt as though they were going blind from viewing all the footage when the phone rang, so they picked up right away."Have you gotten anything?" Mike asked."We asked the manager to open the door to their room, but he refused. We are now in the security room, checking if they returned to their room yesterday, but they still haven't shown up in the two hours' worth of footage we have gone through."Mike's heart sank. "Your boss has a friend in Ylore, right? Why don't you go find that person and ask them to liaise with the hotel to open the door?"The bodyguard did not have Nick's number, but he knew where he lived, which was roughly an hour's round trip from the hotel."Alright! Avery's bodyguard will keep combing through the footage, and I will go look for Nick Felix." He hung up and set off to find Nick.Forty minutes later, the bodyguard arrived at Nick's mansion.Nick was surprised when he heard that Avery and Elliot were in Ylore."They didn't tell me they we
The two bodyguards shuddered in fear.They had thought that Elliot and Avery were enjoying their time together in the room and had not expected them to go missing. Had they known, they would have been in a panicked state and would not have gone to the pit, let alone volunteered to help with moving bodies the entire day.Shortly after that, Mike called again, and the bodyguard informed him that Elliot and Avery had gone missing."We are going to look for them with Mr. Felix. I don't think I have the courage to come back on my own without finding my boss and Avery first."Mike hung up with the knowledge that Avery had gone missing and thought to himself, "She has just arrived in Ylore and is already missing; not to mention Elliot, too! How ridiculous can this get?!""What's going on?" Chad noticed how pale Mike was and pulled him aside."They have both gone missing, according to Elliot's bodyguard!" Mike took a deep breath and continued, "I need to be there!""Mr. Foster and Avery
In time, Nick stepped out of the warden's office with a dark expression."Mr. Felix, what did the warden say?" The two bodyguards approached him and asked."Elliot and Avery were here yesterday. They met with the female prisoner and took her with them in the afternoon," Nick informed them exactly what the warden had told him. "They haven't been back since they took the prisoner, and the warden is struggling to get ahold of Elliot as well.""So all three of them disappeared at the same time?!" Elliot's bodyguard widened his eyes in shock and gaped. "What on earth is going on?""No one knows what happened after that. I've already asked the warden to check the car plate on the car they used yesterday, so let's just track that car down first! You two can head back to the hotel! I don't need you here.""There's nothing we can do in the hotel... Mr. Felix, let us follow you!" Elliot's bodyguard felt as though someone was stabbing him in the heart; he wouldn't be able to rest or eat unti