The Wife He Never Meant to Love (Lila and Damon) novel Chapter 177

Chapter 177

Chapter 177

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Jenny’s worried eyes followed Marlou until he was out of sight. She stood frozen behind Damon, her heart tightening with unease.

Marlou turned back briefly, meeting her gaze. His chest heaved. Without thinking, he stepped forward and held her close, the weight of fear, guilt, and urgency pressing against him.

“I need to go back to the island,” he whispered, voice breaking slightly. “Something’s wrong… I have to fix it. I’ll come back and explain everything… I promise.”

Jenny only nodded, biting her lip, her hands trembling slightly. “Be safe… I’ll wait here.”

Marlou’s fingers lingered for a second, reluctant to let go, before he stepped back.

Damon, who had been silently observing, finally spoke, his voice low, calm-but impossible to ignore. “I can give you a ride.”

Marlou hesitated, swallowing the lump in his throat. “Yeah… that would help.”

The car sped down the highway, the long stretch of asphalt stretching into a gray blur. Inside, silence pressed down like a physical weight.

Finally, Damon broke it, voice calm but sharp. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

Marlou’s throat tightened. His guilt and shame clawed at him. “It’s… my past,” he admitted, voice tight. “She came back… my ex. She took my boss’s kid… Damian. She thinks it’s… mine.”

The words felt like acid on his tongue. He avoided Damon’s gaze, ashamed. The thought that an innocent child could be caught in the crossfire of his history twisted his stomach.

Damon’s eyes narrowed slightly. “The child’s name… Damian?”

Marlou looked up sharply, startled. “Yeah… how do you-”

Damon didn’t answer. He didn’t need to. His jaw tightened, and the muscles in his arms coiled like springs ready to snap. Without a word, he leaned forward and pressed the button for the driver.

“Step on it. Now,”

The engine roared. Tires gripped the road. Marlou’s stomach dropped as the car lunged forward, each second stretching into eternity.

At the dock, Damon didn’t wait for Marlou to catch up. He sprinted across the wooden planks, eyes scanning the water, every muscle tense.

“Move the boat-NOW!” Damon barked at the driver, his voice cutting through the wind like a blade.

Marlou struggled to keep up. “Wait… why are you-what’s happening?” he shouted over the roar of the engine and crashing waves.

15:35 Mon, May 4

Chapter 177

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Damon’s eyes never left the horizon. “Because the boy is in danger,” he said, voice low and deadly calm. “And I’m not letting anything happen to him.”

Marlou felt the icy weight of fear settle into his chest. The gravity of the situation hit him like a punch: this wasn’t just his past catching up. This wasn’t just Damian being taken. This was a storm-and they were heading straight into the eye of it.

The wind whipped around them as the boat cut through the waves. Marlou clutched the edge, heart hammering, the sense of helplessness gnawing at him.

Damon’s gaze was unflinching. Every movement was precise. Every thought focused. He was ready. Too ready. And Marlou knew-if anyone could save Damian, it was him.

But deep down, Marlou couldn’t shake the fear. What if they were too late? What if the storm had already claimed him?

And in that moment, as the island grew closer on the horizon, Marlou realized just how fragile hope could feel… and how quickly it could shatter.

In Lila’s room, the air was thick with despair. Ina knelt on the floor, her hands clasped together as tears streamed down her face.

“I’m so sorry, Lila… I’m so, so sorry,” she sobbed over and over, her voice breaking, as she watched Lila crumble under the weight of the news.

Lila sat on the edge of the bed, her hands trembling as if the world itself had ripped away beneath her. Every word from Ina only seemed to dig the pain deeper. She couldn’t stop the tears that fell freely. Damian-her sweet, brave boy-was gone. Taken.

Mark, meanwhile, sat rigid in his chair, fingers flying over the keyboard. Sweat ran down his temple, frustration gnawing at him like a living thing. Every security system he tried, every firewall he bypassed, only seemed to taunt him. The helplessness of the situation clawed at his chest.

He had heard Damian’s cries. The shouts that had echoed through the kitchen. The terror and confusion in the child’s voice. And then the cold, merciless grip of the woman dragging him away.

Mark’s heart shattered all over again when he remembered Damian’s face-horrified, tear-streaked, pleading –and how Lila had collapsed into herself in grief. Something inside Mark snapped. It was raw, unfiltered rage, mixed with helpless fury. He had to fix this. He would fix this.

Then, a glimmer of progress.

A single node had yielded, a small, vulnerable crack in the digital armor surrounding the enemy. Mark dove in, following the feed from the surveillance cameras.

He saw it: the car, dark and unassuming, moving through the streets. Then stopping, precisely, at an address the woman had circled on the map she had thrown.

Mark’s fingers hesitated over the keyboard as he cross-referenced the location with public registries.

And there it was.

15:35 Mon, May 48

Chapter 177

64

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The apartment belonged to the Bjorn.

Mark gritted his teeth so hard his jaw ached. Every instinct screamed at him. The stakes had escalated beyond anything they could have imagined. The Bjorn. A name that carried danger, wealth, and power-everything that made the situation volatile and terrifying.

Lila’s sobs broke through his thoughts, snapping him back to the reality of the moment.

“She’s… she’s holding him there,” he muttered under his breath, eyes narrowing, voice trembling with controlled anger.

Ina, still kneeling, looked up at him with wide, desperate eyes. “Mark… what can we do? Tell me what to do!”

Mark didn’t answer right away. His mind was racing, calculating, planning every possible way to get Damian back safely. The stakes were no longer just about retrieving a child-they were about surviving the Bjorn’s shadow.

Finally, Mark’s hand hovered over the keyboard, a single thought burning in his mind: We’re going to get him back. No matter what it takes.

He looked at Lila, her tear-streaked face and shattered composure fueling a fire in his chest. “Lila… hold on. We’re not losing him,” he said, voice low, steady, and full of resolve.

Lila blinked, tears blurring her vision, but something in Mark’s words-his conviction-gave her a fragile thread of hope. She clutched Ina’s hand, trembling, but the seed of determination had been planted.

Outside the window, the world seemed impossibly vast, but inside that room, a plan was already beginning to take shape.

And Mark would move heaven and earth to bring Damian back.

15:35 Mon, May 4