Should have done worse
Amber POV
Jason was worried.
I was furious.
There was a difference.
Jason sat beside me on the bed, staring at the frozen security footage for what had to be the twentieth time.
Mr. White.
Oscar.
Both covered from head to toe.
Both carrying suitcases.
Both slipping through an emergency exit at White Manor like criminals who knew exactly how to disappear without being noticed.
They hadn’t been kidnapped.
They hadn’t vanished mysteriously.
They had run.
And I was furious because I had made a mistake.
I thought I had already destroyed them.
Not literally.
Financially.
Socially.
Professionally.
I’d watched the White family’s reputation collapse.
I’d taken back what belonged to me.
I’d watched Oscar lose the company we’d created together.
I’d exposed lies.
I’d stripped away enough of their influence that I genuinely believed they couldn’t hurt us anymore. Apparently, I’d underestimated them.
Again.
“I should have gone further.”
Jason finally looked away from the screen.
“What?”
1/8
n
“I should have destroyed everything they had.”
Amber.”
“I thought it was enough.”
I shifted against the pillows, immediately irritated by the fact that I couldn’t even pace.
Bed rest was particularly inconvenient when I wanted to break something.
“I thought the worst thing your father had done was give you to the Vincents.”
Jason’s jaw tightened.
Even saying it aloud sounded horrifying.
The Vincents had wanted Jason.
They had offered money.
Mr. White had accepted.
Yes, he’d later claimed it hadn’t really been a choice.
That they’d pressured him.
Threatened him.
Forced his hand.
I’d wanted to believe at least part of that.
Not because Mr. White deserved sympathy.
Because Jason deserved to believe that his father hadn’t willingly sold him.
But now?
I wasn’t so sure.
“We know you were rescued,” I continued. “We know someone got you out.”
The photograph proved it.
Jason and me beneath that tree at the castle.
Children.
Eating fruit.
Safe, at least for that moment.
Someone had brought us there.
Someone had saved us.
And then Jason disappeared.
Again.
+15 8gnus
2/8
Two years after he’d originally been sent away, Mr. and Mrs. Sun found him in that house in the mountains.
Achild who had been mistreated so badly that he’d lost his identity.
His name.
His connection to his family.
Everything.
And his grandparents hadn’t known where he was.
That was the part I couldn’t get past.
Mr. White had hidden Jason’s location from his own mother’s parents.
From the people who would have taken him home immediately.
“He knew your grandparents were looking for you.”
Jason said nothing.
“He knew.”
“We don’t have proof.”
“Then why run?”
His eyes met mine.
I hated the pain I saw there.
I softened my voice.
“Jason, if your father discovered you’d been rescued and took you back…”
“I know.”
“No.”
I reached for his hand.
“Think about what that means.”
His fingers closed around mine.
“It means he had another chance.”
Exactly.
Maybe the first time, the Vincents had forced him.
Maybe they’d threatened him.
Maybe he’d been afraid.
Maybe every excuse he’d given us was true.
But then someone rescued Jason.
+15 Bonus
3/8
+15 Bonus
His father had been given another opportunity.
He could have called the Suns.
He could have taken his son home.
He could have told Jason’s grandparents everything.
Instead, if the Ember Association’s theory was right, Mr. White had taken his own child back to the place he’d escaped from.
A place where Jason was mistreated.
A place where he eventually stopped knowing who he was.
My anger returned instantly.
“I thought I punished him enough.”
Jason gave me a tired look.
“This isn’t your responsibility.”
“It became my responsibility when I married you.”
“That’s not how marriage works.”
“That’s exactly how our marriage works.”
That almost made him smile.
Almost.
Then my eyes returned to the second figure on the screen.
Oscar.
And somehow, my anger became even colder.
I’d known Oscar for years.
Loved him for years.
Built a company with him.
Planned to marry him.
For a long time, I thought his greatest betrayal was what he’d done to me.
Amelie.
The lies.
Taking credit for my work.
Allowing me to become useful rather than loved.
Standing by while I was publicly humiliated.
Trying to hold onto what I’d built after throwing me away.
4/8
I’d thought that was the worst of Oscar White
“What does Oscar know?”
Jason followed my gaze.
“I don’t know.”
“He left with him.”
“That doesn’t mean he knows everything,”
“No. But it means he knows enough to run.”
Oscar wasn’t a frightened child being dragged through an emergency exit
He’d packed luggage.
Covered himself deliberately.
Left with his father.
That required preparation.
“What if they’re working with the Vincents?” I asked.
Jason’s expression hardened.
“I’ve considered it.”
“Or someone else.”
That possibility bothered me even more.
We had already learned our lesson on the island.
Not every monster belonged to the same organization.
We’d spent too long, assuming every trafficking operation, every kidnapping, every corrupt family and every hidden crime eventually led back to one source.
Then we’d discovered networks within networks.
Branches of families.
Alliances.
Rivals.
People who cooperated when it benefited them and destroyed one another when it didn’t.
Mr. White and Oscar could be working for the Vincents.
Or they could be running from them.
Or working for another family entirely.
Or perhaps the White family had always been something more than we’d understood.
58
15 Borus
I picked up my tablet.
son immediately took it away.
“Excuse me?”
“Your blood pressure.”
“My blood pressure would improve significantly if people stopped committing crimes.”
“Until then, you’re resting.”
“I can investigate while resting.”
“You become terrifying while investigating.”
“Thank you.”
“That wasn’t a compliment.”
I held out my hand.
He didn’t return the tablet.
“Jason.”
“No.”
I narrowed my eyes.
“Fine. You investigate.”
That caught him off guard.
“What?”
“You’re apparently my stress manager now. Congratulations. Find them.”
He stared at me.
I pointed toward the footage.
“Start with what they’re carrying.”
Jason looked back at the image.
“The suitcases?”
“Yes. If they planned to disappear permanently, they needed money, documents, clothing, medication, identities. Something.”
His expression slowly changed.
Good.
Now he was thinking instead of hurting.
“They couldn’t use normal passports,” he said.
“Not if they expected us to search for them.”
6/8
“Private transportation.”
Rossibly.”
“Or false identities.”
“Find out whether any White family employees disappeared around the same time.”
Jason finally gave me my tablet back.
“Why?”
“Because wealthy men don’t usually disappear alone. Someone arranges transportation. Someone provides documents. Someone moves money.” 1
I opened another screen.
“And if Oscar and Mr. White are working for somebody…”
Jason understood. 1
“…someone helped them escape.”
Exactly.
I looked at the photograph from the castle again.
Little Jason.
Little me.
Sitting beneath a tree without any idea what was happening around us.
I couldn’t change what happened to those children.
I couldn’t go back and stop Mr. White from selling his son.
I couldn’t prevent Jason from being taken again after someone rescued him.
But I could find out who had done it.
And this time, destroying their companies wasn’t enough.
I wanted the truth.
All of it.
Because Oscar White had once convinced me that his worst crime was betraying the woman who loved him.
Mr. White had convinced Jason that his worst crime was surrendering his son under pressure.
Now both men had run.
Which meant there was something they feared us discovering more than everything we already knew.
I looked at Jason.
“We find them.”
He nodded.
ལན།
+15 Bonus
Bonus
7/8

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