Dark Revenge Of A Jilted Bride: Till Life Do Us Part!-Chapter 71: Rescue Team
A few seconds of silence—silence that stretched and warped, that felt like hours—hung between the people clustered around the working table, weighed down by the ghastly sight they had just witnessed.
No one moved. No one spoke. The hum of the equipment seemed louder now, obscene in its normalcy.
Zane, for one, couldn’t comprehend what he had watched.
Gianna had been abducted.
The realization refused to settle, skittering through his mind like something feral.
For what? Why?
His gaze remained fixed on the frozen frame on the screen, on the terror etched across her face, the way her slender fingers had trembled as she raised her hands.
That raw fear, unfiltered, punched straight through him. Shame almost enveloped him, for thinking she was with Noah.
Almost... because the fury won.
His fists balled at his sides. How dare they?
The question burned, furious and helpless, before his thoughts were shattered by Athena’s voice, sharp and steely as a blade.
"Find them! Find those bastards!"
But Spider was already moving.
His hands flew across the keyboard at a frenzied pace, fingers blurring as he hacked into street cameras, tracing the route of the black van that had no number plates.
Screens multiplied, footage bleeding into footage, the vehicle blinking in and out of existence as it sped through the city like a shadow.
Ewan backed away from the table, pulling out his phone even as his jaw set. His movements were controlled, deliberate, the calm of a man who had done this before too many times.
He dialed a batch of his agents, voice low but clipped as he instructed them to stay on standby—ready to move should the hideout they were about to storm hold more than the three men they had seen on the footage.
Zane’s phone rang then, the sound cutting sharply through his focus on Spider’s hands and laptop.
He stepped aside when he saw the caller ID. Sandro.
"Hey, man," Sandro said easily. "Are you returning tonight? Want to know if I should lock up... or are you busy with one of your..."
"Gianna has been abducted, Sandro," Zane cut in. "I am at Spider’s cottage."
"What?"
The call ended.
Zane didn’t need to hear anything else. He knew Sandro would be coming.
Whatever perceptions he himself clung to about Gianna—whatever pettiness he had entertained—his friends had never shared it. Not once. Despite how he hoped, some times, they would.
Gianna was family. The circle wasn’t complete without her.
"That was Sandro," Zane said when Ewan raised a brow. "He’s coming."
"That’s good," Ewan replied. "We’ll need an extra hand. The team is quite far away."
They couldn’t use the guards stationed around the mansion—that would pull them from their posts, leaving the others exposed.
Besides, they didn’t know what they were walking into. These men could have taken Gianna as bait, could be luring them into a trap.
Ewan wasn’t taking any chances.
"Found them."
The words came with a rare smile tugging at Spider’s lips.
"An abandoned warehouse," he said. "I’m sending you the coordinates now." 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖
He stood up as he transmitted the location, already prepared to follow—but Athena shook her head sharply.
"You stay here, Spider," she said. "We have to be in constant communication with you. You will be our third eye. We don’t know what we’re facing yet."
As much as Athena wanted to believe this was random, experience had taught her better.
She had fought too many enemies, buried too many ghosts, to rule out the possibility of one resurrecting itself despite the memo issued by the president.
She sighed as she followed Ewan and Zane out of Spider’s cottage to gear up. She had hoped—foolishly—for more time away from this kind of action.
Fifteen minutes later, the trio stood with Sandro, all four clad in black military gear, helmets included, exactly as Ewan had suggested. They followed his word without question. This gear had saved their lives more than once in recent months.
They entered a black car, hands settling instinctively on their guns, as Sandro pulled out and drove toward the coordinates Spider had sent.
—
The night air rushed into the car through the open windows, cold against Athena’s skin. It carried the scent of earth and asphalt, of a city pretending to sleep.
Her thoughts churned violently beneath her composed exterior, each one circling back to the same unbearable point.
Gianna.
Spider’s voice crackled through the mic in her ear... A brief clearing of his throat.
"You’re on the right route," he confirmed. "No movement outside the warehouse. The black van is still parked."
Athena’s breathing didn’t change.
"Unfortunately," Spider continued, "there are no cameras inside the warehouse itself."
Athena swallowed. She hoped that her friend was safe. That they hadn’t touched her. That they hadn’t killed her.
The image of Gianna being touched rose unbidden, grotesque and violent, and Athena shuddered, a tremor running through her entire body.
No.
She shook her head, banishing the thought before it could take root. She couldn’t bear it. Wouldn’t bear it.
Beside her, Ewan seemed to sense the shift instantly. He reached for her hand, lacing his fingers through hers, his thumb rubbing slow, steady circles against her skin. A silent reassurance.
She exhaled shakily.
Her attention drifted forward then, to Zane sitting in the front seat. For a fleeting moment, she wondered if she should have told him to sit this one out—if bringing him along was an unnecessary complication.
But even as the thought crossed her mind, she dismissed it.
He wouldn’t have listened.
Zane might claim he hated her best friend, but Athena knew better.
Love and hate often shared the same violent passion. Sometimes, they blurred into one another until the line disappeared entirely.
Sandro slowed as they approached the final bend.
The car came to a quiet stop near a bushy corner, shadows swallowing them whole.
Engines cut. Doors opened soundlessly. They stepped out with practiced stealth, boots crunching softly against gravel, hands firm around their AK47s.
This was it. Time for a rescue mission.
