The Billionaire Ex-Wife's Return (Cynthia and Ethan) novel Chapter 249

Chapter 249

Kevin's POV

I was losing my mind.

Completely, utterly losing my fucking mind.

I ran through the hospital corridors like a man possessed, my footsteps echoing off the sterile walls, my voice hoarse from shouting.

"I need to see your security footage!" I demanded at the nurses' station for the third time. "Right now!"

The nurse behind the desk—a middle-aged woman with tired eyes and the patience of a saint—looked at me with barely concealed frustration.

"Sir, I've already told you," she said slowly, like she was talking to a child. "We've called security. They're pulling the footage now. You need to calm down—"

"Calm down?" I repeated incredulously, slamming my hand on the counter. "My sister is missing! She came into this hospital thirty minutes ago and now she's gone! So no, I'm not going to calm down until someone tells me where the hell she is!"

Another nurse—younger, clearly uncomfortable with the confrontation—stepped forward hesitantly.

"Sir," she said gently, "is it possible that… well, maybe she and Mr. Walker decided to leave together? Voluntarily?"

I stared at her.

Actually stared at her like she'd just suggested the earth was flat.

"Are you serious right now?" I asked, my voice dangerously low.

The young nurse shifted uncomfortably. "I just mean… they're married, right? Maybe they wanted an alone time…"

"And leave their son?" I interrupted sharply. "Amber is sitting in my car right now, terrified, asking where his mother is. You think Cynthia would just abandon him? Without a word?"

The nurse paled. "I didn't mean…"

"And the room," I continued, my voice rising. "Did you see the room? The overturned table? The spilled food? The blood on the floor? Does that look like two people who decided to run away for a romantic getaway?"

The older nurse held up her hands placatingly.

"We understand you're upset, sir," she said. "But we need you to let us do our jobs. Security is reviewing the footage. The police have been called. We're doing everything we can."

I dragged my hands through my hair, trying to force myself to breathe.

She was right.

Yelling at nurses wasn't going to bring Cynthia back.

But standing here doing nothing was killing me.

"How long until we can see the footage?" I asked, trying to keep my voice steady.

"Should be any minute now," the older nurse said. "Security is pulling footage from the hallway cameras near Mr. Walker's room."

I nodded tightly.

Then I heard them.

Footsteps.

Running.

I turned sharply to see Nathaniel burst through the emergency room entrance, his face pale, his expression frantic.

Behind him were Nikolai, Helen, and Victoria.

My mother looked like she'd aged ten years in the past thirty minutes. Her face was ashen, her hands trembling, her usual composed elegance completely shattered.

"Kevin!" Nathaniel called out, crossing the distance between us in seconds. "What the hell happened?"

"I don't know," I said, my voice breaking. "She went back to get her phone and she just… she didn't come back. I found the room trashed. Blood on the floor. And both of them are gone."

Victoria let out a choked sob, her hand flying to her mouth.

Helen immediately moved to support her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

Nikolai stood slightly behind them, his expression hard and focused, his jaw clenched.

"Have you called the police?" Nathaniel asked.

"Yes," I said. "Detective Morrison is on his way."

"And the hospital security?"

"They're pulling CCTV footage now," I said, gesturing toward the nurses' station.

As if on cue, a security guard appeared from a side hallway, beckoning us over.

"We've got the footage," he said grimly.

We all rushed toward him.

He led us to a small security office tucked away near the emergency exit. Inside, a bank of monitors displayed various angles of the hospital corridors.

The guard sat down at the console and pulled up the relevant footage.

"This is from the hallway outside Room 347," he said, his fingers moving quickly over the keyboard. "Starting from about twenty minutes ago."

The screen flickered.

And there she was.

Cynthia.

Walking down the hallway toward Ethan's room, her expression distracted.

She disappeared into the room.

We all leaned closer to the screen, our collective breathing the only sound in the small office.

Minutes passed.

Nothing happened.

Then…

Two figures appeared in the hallway.

Parking garage.

And then…

A van.

Black. Nondescript. No visible license plate from this angle.

The taller figure loaded Ethan into the back.

The shorter figure tossed Cynthia in after him.

Then they both climbed inside.

And the van drove away.

The timestamp on the footage read 23 minutes ago.

"Rewind it," I said urgently. "Go back to when they entered the hallway. I need to see their faces."

The guard rewound the footage, zooming in as much as the resolution would allow.

But the masks covered too much.

And the camera angle wasn't good enough to capture any identifying features.

All we could see were their eyes.

The taller figure's eyes were cold. Hard. Emotionless.

The shorter figure's eyes were…

Familiar.

I leaned closer to the screen, my heart pounding.

I knew those eyes.

I'd seen them before.

But where?

"Do you recognize them?" Nathaniel asked sharply.

"I don't know," I admitted, frustration clawing at my chest. "Maybe. I can't… I can't tell."

Nikolai stepped forward, his voice low and deadly.

"Whoever they are," he said, "they planned this. They knew where Ethan's room was. They knew the layout of the hospital. They knew how to avoid the main cameras."

He turned to look at Nathaniel.

"This wasn't random," Nikolai said. "This was targeted."

And he was right.

This was planned, but that have made a very huge mistake.