The boy my wife kept as a toy loved playing games about true love, and the ninety-ninth game involved kidnapping my son.
“Dakota Montague, I can’t stand any man near you.”
“I’ll cut him to pieces and sell him abroad. From now on, you’ll only have me by your side!”
I stayed calm and told my wife to call her boy toy and bring our son back, but she just rolled her eyes at me.
“Hunter Langford just loves me too much. Once he was done playing around, he’d send our child back. Don’t make such a big deal out of it.”
I looked at the video on my phone showing my son beaten nearly to death, then I turned and made a call.
“In Portland, what’s the punishment for kidnapping a child?”
“Break their hands and legs! Never let them pass through again!”
——
“Erwan Carrington! Are you crazy? Hunter was only joking. Why did you have to make such a scene?”
“Call your people off right now. If he got hurt, I’d never forgive you!”
Through seven years of marriage, the woman I had once treated as the very core of my heart, Dakota, lost her temper at me for the first time, and it was because of her little lover.
Pointing to the video of my son with his hands and feet tied, my expression turned cold and frightening.
“A joke? Who in their right mind would joke about kidnapping?”
“Can’t you see my son’s face turning purple?”
Dakota, however, waved it off with complete disregard.
“That’s just a video effect. You really can’t tell? No wonder Hunter calls you such a fool!”
Right in front of me, Dakota took out her phone and sent that brat a disgusting message.
[Baby, where are you? Of course, you’re the one I care about most!]
[Come back soon, I’ll worry if you’re out there by yourself.]
Watching Dakota act like our son’s safety meant absolutely nothing made the veins on my forehead bulge uncontrollably.
Stepping forward, I grabbed her phone and called Hunter’s number straight away.
The name “Dear Husband” hit my eyes like a knife.
Across seven years of marriage, Dakota always kept my number saved under my full name.
Once I had asked her to change it, but she answered that only childish people did that.
“Dakota, I took that wealthy man’s child away. You won’t blame me, will you?”
Hunter’s voice came through the receiver, cutting into my thoughts.
Face cold, I warned him in a low tone. “Return my son right now. You can’t pay the price for kidnapping him.”
Hunter, however, only replied with mocking laughter. “Oh, so it was you? The old man Dakota hated.”
“Erwan, you’re old and dull, and besides some money, what did you ever have over me?”
“I’ll make sure you know that to Dakota, you and your son mean nothing! Even if I chopped him up and fed him to the dogs…”
Before he finished, I cut him off, my expression cold. “Touch my son and I swear you won’t see another sunrise!”
In an instant, Dakota’s hand slapped across my face.
“How many times have I told you? Hunter only acts that way because he loves me too much and gets insecure. You’re a grown man, why pick a fight with a kid?”
“Hunter, don’t worry. As long as I’m here, no one will touch you.”
“That little brat, do whatever you want with him, just don’t miss our date tonight.”
“I reserved your favorite rooftop restaurant to celebrate our hundredth day together!”
The two of them flirted shamelessly over the phone.
After hanging up, Dakota quickly changed into a tight skirt and black stockings, ready to leave.
Before heading out, she reminded me, “Hunter might be a bit dramatic sometimes, but deep down he isn’t a bad person.”
“Hiro should’ve been sent home by now. Go pick him up.”
“Next time, before making a scene, you should get your facts straight. That was really embarrassing.”
After Dakota walked off, the man beside her spoke up. “Mr. Carrington, I can have some guys teach a lesson for that pretty boy up right now.”
Pressing my fingers against my forehead, I replied, “Bring my little one back first.”
But when my men reached Dakota and Hunter’s hideout, they didn’t find Hiro, only blood all over the floor.
The protection charm I’d given Hiro was drenched in blood.
At that instant, I clenched my fist and stormed toward the place where Dakota and Hunter were meeting, kicking the door of their private room wide open.
The loud crash startled everyone inside; Dakota instantly threw herself in front of Hunter to shield him.
When she realized it was me standing there, her expression turned dark.
“Erwan! Have you lost your mind?”
“Didn’t I already tell you where Hiro was? You just had to ruin Hunter’s and my anniversary to get your satisfaction?”
Looking around the room filled with roses and the million-dollar auction watch displayed in the center, I couldn’t feel anything except irony.
Just a month earlier, I had wanted that watch and asked Dakota to help me buy it since I couldn’t get away.
She told me someone else had purchased it. It turned out she bought it herself.
When Dakota caught my eye on the watch, her face showed no guilt, only a sense of entitlement as she spoke. “Hunter liked it, so I gave it to him.”
“He’s not like you, he’s just a student who’s never had anything this nice…”
Before she could finish, I interrupted. “Being poor doesn’t mean you can take what isn’t yours.”
“And I didn’t come here for that damn watch.”
“Hunter, where is my son?”
Maybe my look was too harsh, because Hunter flinched and hid behind Dakota.
Dakota shouted at me, “Erwan! Stop acting insane! Hiro was at the villa, wasn’t he?”
“You ruined our hundred-day anniversary; you owe us an apology!”
I shoved the photos I’d taken right in Dakota’s face.
Blood covered everything I looked at, even Hiro’s charm was soaked red.
Panic hit Dakota, and she cried out, “Where’s Hiro? Why are you showing me these pictures?”
“How could you sink so low, using tricks like this just to make me notice you?”
Hunter looked scared for a moment, but after hearing Dakota, he calmed down and made things worse.
“Erwan, I knew you hated seeing Dakota and me together, but did you really have to cause all this?”
“Hiro’s your own biological son, and you still cursed him and smeared his charm with ketchup, weren’t you scared it might actually happen?”
Before Hunter could say another word, I struck him and sent him crashing to the floor.
Holding his collar tight, I demanded, “I’ll ask one more time, where is my son?”
Hunter’s face was already swollen, yet he kept lying. “I sent Hiro back already. Maybe you should check where you hid him this time.”
“Dakota, you should go with him; if you don’t, he might really kill me.”
Sounding full of complaint, Hunter spoke while Dakota threw herself at me, scratching and biting my arm.
“Erwan! You’re insane!”
“Let go of Hunter! If you don’t, I’ll divorce you!”
I told her, “I’ll agree to the divorce, but not now.”
“Give me Hiro first, and I’ll go with you straight to the city hall to file for the papers.”
Hunter’s eyes brightened right away, but Dakota looked taken aback.
Letting out a cold laugh, she said, “Changing your plan now? Trying to use feelings to manipulate me?”
“Too bad, it doesn’t work on me.”
“I’ll repeat myself, let Hunter go!”
I stayed silent. The next moment, Dakota grabbed a wine bottle from the table and slammed it against my head.
Blood ran down my face as I turned toward Dakota in shock, but her eyes were only on Hunter.
“Hunter, are you okay?”
Hunter acted as if he’d passed out, keeping his eyes shut and saying nothing.
Dakota grew frantic and tried to take him to the hospital.
“Dakota!” I caught her hand, pointing at the blood dripping from my forehead.
“I’m the one who should be in the hospital, don’t you think?”
“Besides, Hunter still hasn’t said where Hiro is; he’s just a child….”
Angrily, Dakota yanked my hand away. The back of my head hit the tea table hard, and more blood poured out, soaking through my white shirt.
No trace of pain or concern showed in Dakota’s eyes; instead, she kept yelling at me.
“Erwan! Haven’t you made enough of a mess? Didn’t you hide Hiro yourself?”
“And now Hunter’s already passed out, what more do you want?”
“If anything happens to Hunter, I’ll never forgive you!”
She lifted Hunter from the floor and rushed out, never noticing that I was already blacking out from blood loss.
A few minutes later, she came back.
When I thought Dakota had changed her mind and was coming to take me to the hospital, she instead locked the private room door.
“Hunter’s hurt badly. To stop you from causing more problems while he’s being treated, I’ll lock you in here for now.”
She even bent down and brushed her hand against my face.
“Don’t worry, Erwan. Even if you’re old and dull, the one I love most is still you.”
“If you behave and stop going after Hunter, when I’ve had my fun, we’ll still be a family.”
Dakota walked out, and my phone rang.
A message from an unknown number popped up.
[Erwan, don’t think you’ll ever find your little brat!]
[Dakota and her inheritance are mine alone.]
[Soon, I’ll send you and your son to hell to meet each other again!]
Inheritance? What inheritance could Dakota even have?
Seven years earlier, the Montague family had gone bankrupt, and her father came to beg me for help.
He said if I agreed to save their family, he’d marry his daughter to me.
I hadn’t planned to get involved, but when I saw Dakota’s picture, I instantly knew she was the same girl who had rescued me outside the pass years ago.
Like I’d lost my mind, I agreed to the marriage. I not only married Dakota but also invested three billion to bring the failing Montague Group.
To thank me, her father handed me half of the company’s shares.
The Montague Group, aside from its name, had nothing left to do with the Montague family, so what inheritance could Dakota possibly have?
Before I could make sense of it, a child’s crying suddenly came from behind the partition.
“Daddy, Mommy, where are you? It’s so dark… Hiro is scared…”
Right away, I knew it was my son’s voice.
I ran toward the sound, but a Molotov cocktail suddenly flew through the air vent.
The bottle set the sofa on fire, and in seconds, the whole room was burning.
I emptied the last of the bottled water over myself and rushed through the partition without hesitation, only to see a videotape playing on repeat.
In the video, Dakota was seen carrying my son and shoving him into Hunter’s trunk.
The two took him to an unknown basement and tortured him in every way they could.
My son’s tiny body was curled up, his voice cracked as he kept crying out, “Mommy.”
But no one answered.
Pain tore through me. I grabbed the tape, ready to leave, but the door was already locked and chained from the outside.
The air vent was sealed tight, too.
As the fire spread, I fought with everything I had. I broke the glass and looked down at the people below.
“Everyone, I, Erwan Carrington, have never begged anyone before.”
“My wife’s lover framed me, and I’m about to die in this fire. Before I go, I have one last wish: please help me find my son who was taken by human traffickers!”
…
Hunter lay in the hospital’s VIP ward. His swollen cheek had been treated with ice packs.
When he saw the news that the room I was in had burned to ashes, he grinned so wide he couldn’t close his mouth.
Dakota walked over too.
“What’s going on? You seem happy.”
Hunter quickly hid his phone under the pillow and clung to Dakota’s arm playfully.
“Nothing.”
“Dakota, our 100-day celebration was ruined. Why don’t we keep it going somewhere else?”
“How about a road trip? Just the two of us, it’ll be special and romantic!”
Hunter looked eager, and Dakota agreed right away. “Alright, we’ll go anywhere you like.”
Excitement got the better of Hunter, and he blurted out, “I want you to divorce him, okay?”
The affection that had filled Dakota’s face vanished as she pushed him away. “No. I told you from the start I won’t divorce Erwan.”
“If you keep this up, I’ll have to end things between us.”
Hunter hadn’t expected her to reject him so firmly and quickly backed down.
“I was only teasing. I just wanted to know how much I matter to you.”
“I understand you can’t leave Erwan. It’s fine, being with you is enough for me, even if I don’t have a name or title.”
Only after that did Dakota relax and start planning the trip. Hunter’s face, unseen by Dakota, suddenly turned cold.
It was lucky he had taken care of things with me beforehand. Now, once that kid was gone, nothing would stand in his way.
Even if Dakota learned the truth, her feelings for him would keep her quiet. Then he could marry her easily.
He pulled out his phone, typed a message, and sent it off. After that, he and Dakota got into the car.
During the drive, the two picked the first stop for their trip together.
Just as their car was leaving Portland, countless vehicles suddenly rushed in from all sides and blocked their path.
The driver slammed the brakes, and Hunter’s head hit the windshield hard.
Seething, he instinctively wound down the window and cursed.
“Damn! Are you crazy? Don’t you see this is the Carrington family’s car? You blind dogs dare to block us!”
“Get out of the way or you’ll ruin Dakota and my trip, none of you will survive to answer for it!”
In the next moment, a pair of large hands grabbed his collar and hauled him out through the window onto the ground.
Men and women of every age closed in around him, their eyes red, and shouted, “No human trafficker leaves Portland alive!”
“You’re headed to either the police or the crematorium!”
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