THE SPITEFUL BRIDE: Marry To Rival's Son novel Chapter 118

118 SOMETHING WAS DEFINITELY WRONG

Chapter 118

The emotional exhaustion hit her like a wave. The sleepless night, the shock of what she’d witnessed, the effort of keeping herself together, it all crashed over her at once.

Her eyelids grew heavy. She fought it at first, but her body was shutting down, protecting itself the only way it

knew how.

The gentle hum of the engine, the rhythm of the road, the afternoon sun streaming through the window, it all conspired to pull her under.

She closed her eyes, just for a moment. Just to rest. She didn’t know how many minutes or hours she’s slept but she felt was off.

Something was definitely wrong.

Her eyes fluttered open, her mind struggling to surface from the depths of sleep. The car had stopped, but they weren’t in the city anymore. Through the window, she saw trees. Thick, dark woods that seemed to stretch endlessly in every direction.

And in the distance, barely visible through the foliage, was a structure that made her blood run cold.

An abandoned warehouse, its windows boarded up, its walls covered in rust and decay.

“Excuse me,” she said, her voice hoarse from sleep. “Where are we? This isn’t…..”

The driver’s door opened. He stepped out slowly, his shoulders hunched with what looked like regret.

Mia tried the door handle. It didn’t budge.

“Hey!” She pounded on the window. “What’s going on? Let me out!”

The driver walked around to her side of the car, his face twisted with anguish. When he spoke, his voice was barely above a whisper.

“I’m sorry, ma’am. I’m so sorry. I didn’t have a choice. They… they have my daughter.”

Mia’s heart began to race. “What are you talking about? Who has your daughter?”

But he just shook his head, backing away from the car. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

Heavy footsteps approached through the underbrush. Three men emerged from the shadows of the warehouse, their faces hard and expressionless.

The central locking system clicked open.

The door was yanked open so violently that Mia nearly fell out. Rough hands grabbed her arms, hauling her to her

feet.

“No!” she shouted, twisting in their grip. “Fucking let me go!”

One of the men, tall and broad-shouldered with a scar running down his left cheek, stepped closer. “Mrs. Sterling, you need to come with us quietly.”

“Like hell I will!” Her fighting skills that she’d gathered over the years, came into action.

She drove her elbow back into the ribs of the man holding her left arm. He grunted and loosened his grip just enough for her to break free. She spun around and threw a punch at the scarred man’s face, her knuckles connecting with his nose in a satisfying crunch.

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18 SOMETHING WAS DEFINITELY WRONG

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Blood spurted down his face. “You bitch!”

The third man lunged for her, but Mia was ready. She lifted her knee and drove it straight into his groin. He doubled over with a howl of pain, clutching himself as he fell to his knees.

She didn’t wait to see what happened next. She ran.

The woods were thick and dark, branches catching at her clothes and scratching her arms as she pushed through them. Behind her, she could hear shouting, the sound of pursuit crashing through the underbrush.

Her heels were useless here. She kicked them off without stopping, her legs immediately snagging on the rough ground.

She wasn’t really watching were she was going when a root caught her foot.

She went down what looked like a hill hard, tumbling down a small slope, her body rolling over rocks and fallen branches. Something sharp scraped across her temple. Her shoulder hit a tree trunk with a sickening thud.

The world went dark.

The smell of smoke woke her.

Mia’s eyes opened to a world painted in shades of orange and red. The acrid scent of burning wood filled her nostrils, making her cough.

She was tied to a wooden chair with thick rope, her wrists bound behind her back. But she wasn’t in the warehouse. She was outside, in a small clearing surrounded by trees. And those trees were on fire.

The flames danced and crackled, moving closer with each passing second. The heat pressed against her skin like a living thing, making her sweat despite the fear freezing her blood.

“Help!” she screamed, her voice cracking. “Someone help me!”

The fire roared in response, a wall of heat and light that seemed to mock her desperation. Sparks floated through the air like deadly fireflies, landing on her dress, her hair, her skin.

She pulled against the ropes, but they held firm. The chair was heavy, solid. She couldn’t tip it over, couldn’t break free.

The flames were getting closer. She could feel the heat intensifying, could hear the sharp crack of burning wood, could see the way the smoke was getting thicker, making it harder to breathe.

“Please!” she sobbed. “Please, someone help me!” A shadow moved through the smoke.

“Stefan!” she called out, hope surging through her chest. “Stefan, I’m here!”

The figure emerged from the haze, and Mia’s heart sank.

It wasn’t Stefan.

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