A Forced Contract Marriage with the Devil novel Chapter 165

Chapter 165

ALESSANDRO’S POV

“I swear I saw them, it was the same man that was in the news and the same guy y was with him,” a teenage boy explained, “They are living down there, I was sent to deliver the milk, I was supposed to just leave it in the middle of nowhere,”

“Then where did you leave it?” Vladimir asked.

He pointed to the ground, “Right here, I put the milk right here and hid behind the bushes. I was curious.”

He pointed towards the area that was covered in leaves and tree branches, “The man came from under there.”

“You can leave now,” I ordered.

“But I can help-”

“Leave,” Vladimir told him.

“Antonio.”

Antonio nodded and grabbed the boy’s arm, taking him away from us. I went over to the pile of leaves and ordered my men to see what was under it.

As they did, a trap door came into my view. I nodded to them to open it, it was way too quiet for anyone to be there.

The hinges groaned as the trap door was lifted, revealing a hollow black hole beneath the forest floor. Stale, earthy air wafted upward immediately, thick with dust and something older.

My men stepped back, waiting for my next command. I stared down the opening in silence. She brought him here.

Leah. Of course it was her. Only she knew the network of tunnels that old bitch. And Nikolai accepted to follow her blindly.

“I want eyes on every possible exit these tunnels could have. Scan the old blueprints. There’s a reason she chose this place,” I said sharply, standing again.

A broken–down wooden ladder was the way in, Vladimir and Lorenzo stepped down and I did as well. I walked but inwardly I had no fucking hope that he was here.

I knew Leah very well. Leah was many things, reckless, emotional, infuriating but she wasn’t stupid. She would never bring him to a place without multiple escape routes. This wasn’t their sanctuary. It was a holding ground. A waiting room before the next move.

She outsmarted me this time.

I felt like a fucking failure and what made it worse was the fact that Nikolai went with her. After everything.

I gave him a world. I gave him my name. My protection but he was easily fooled by a bitch who will end his life.

Just like I had it in my mind, my men turned on the flashlights as we walked in, I looked around the abandoned safe house but there was no one there, just a bunch of furniture. Dusty old junk was everywhere, it was fucking hard to move around.

“Clear,” Vladimir called from the back room.

“Same here,” Antoniq echoed from the far corner.

I frowned as I looked at the two plates resting on the table in the corner. There were two bedrooms, a kitchen, and a bathroom. It was an old-

Chapter 165

style safe house probably used and owned by some criminal.

They checked out one bedroom, while I stepped into the other along with Vladimir. Vladimir looked around, opening up the wardrobe, and turning over tables.

It didn’t matter, nothing did because he wasn’t here.

Vladimir kicked over the old bed before he turned over its mattress. Something dropped to the floor with a sharp clank and I went to it.

A

cold wave embalmed me as I dropped to my haunches and realized what it was. My blood ran ice cold in my veins, my eyes narrowed and my teeth clenched together.

“He was here…” I managed to say.

“What?” I heard Vladimir’s voice behind me.

“He was here,” I stood up straight with his wedding ring in my hand, it rested in my palm, dusty and thrown away like a piece of trash; just like he did with our marriage.

“How do you know?” he stilled by me, staring at the wedding ring on my palm, “Is that his?“, He asked again but I didn’t reply.

I stared at it for too long, the silence stretching like a blade between my ribs.

Everything we built.

Everything I gave him.

Reduced to this tiny, cold symbol left behind like an afterthought. I closed my fist around it tightly. The ring’s sharp edges dug into my skin and I welcomed the pain.

For a second, I imagined that my fingers were curled around his neck, I squeezed it hard; my jaw tick.

He can run all he wants; I will find him and when I do, one of us will fucking die that day.

“Vladimir, find anything you can about this safe house. How many people were with him while he was here. who used it with him, and when was he here? For how many fucking days did he stay here? I want everything.”

“Yes.” Vladimir retorted.

I went back up the ladder, clutching the ring in my hand. I emerged under the clear blue sky, sunlight pouring down like nothing in the world had gone wrong. It pissed me off too.

I stood there for a moment, the silence pressing around me, and slowly opened my fist.

The ring sat in my palm, taunting me.

No one has ever been able to get away from me. He did and I can’t seem to find him. I now felt like I was working with only half of my brain, he messed with it. He fucking ruined me and then he left.

He betrayed me. My throat burned with fury I couldn’t let out.

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