Mafia Billionaire’s Forlorn Wife
Chapter 65

Rhys

f**k.

Her green eyes, raven waves falling till her shoulders, and oh the fierce anger in her eyes.

The pain in my thigh feels insignificant as all I can think about is her.

She looked so beautiful…

Just as the last time I had seen her but with a lot more anger and strength coursing through her eyes.

And god that outfit…

The way her perfect body looked under all that gear…

I wish I could have held her tighter against myself.

I wish I could have kissed her and told her how much she means to me and how much I’ve missed her in the last five years.

I wish I could tell her how I’ve spent sleepless nights just imagining her by my side and how the nightmares of never seeing her again have tortured me, body and soul.

I wish I could ask her to forgive me…

But no.

None of that happened.

She just left.

Leaving me bleeding out on the floor, my goddess walked away from me.

What was she even doing here?

What did she mean when she said Franco is her asset?

I have to find her. I can’t wait for another five years to see her again.

Shaking my head, I take out my handkerchief before tearing it into two pieces so that when I tie them together I get a single long piece of fabric.

Clenching my jaw, I manage to tightly tie that strip of fabric around my thigh so as to prevent excessive b***d loss. The make shift bandage immediately turns crimson because of my b***d as I drag my body to the chair before using all my upper strength to hoist myself up.

Once I manage to somehow stand without immediately falling, I start limping towards the ground while breathing deeply as I try my level best to rush out of the facility before Arabella has had longer time to escape.

And who was that guy with her?

Is she seeing him?

He sure acted like he had some right over her.

Anger pulses through my veins as I think about the way he touched her and looked so concerned over her.

She didn’t let me touch her.

But she had no problem with him.

No, I shake my head as I manage to limp out of the back exit of the facility, I know I am not letting my Bella go again. Especially not with some other man.

“Boss!” I hear Jordan call out as he slams the door of the car and runs towards me when he sees me getting out of the building.

I look around and find no one here and most of my guards and men are already dead, thanks to my beautiful wife.

“Call in reinforcements for this place.” I tell Jordan, “and did you see the party that just left this place?”

Jordan looks confused as he shakes his head, “okay, what the hell happened?” He stutters.

“I have a fair assumption of what must have happened.” Vernon’s voice gains our attention as I look towards him and find him coming towards us with an aloof grin on his lips.

What’s wrong with him now?

“What?” Jordan asks him.

“His wife shot him,” Vernon says with a smirk.

My eyes widen at that, “how the hell do you know that?” I question him, “did you follow me inside? Did you see her?”

“Wait, Arabella was here?” Jordan gasps as he looks flabbergasted between the two of us while Vernon smirks.

“No to the first question and yes to the second.” He states.

“You saw her?” I question once again.

“As she was leaving with a group of dangerous looking men, guarding her like she was the queen of England.”

My eyes widen as I limp towards him, “did you see where they went? Do you have any idea of what direction we can follow them in?”

Rhys

f**k.

Her green eyes, raven waves falling till her shoulders, and oh the fierce anger in her eyes.

Vernon grins, “I didn’t notice.”

I gape at him, “you didn’t notice?” I repeat with incredulity, “for five years I have been looking for her and you didn’t notice where she went after she appeared for the first time? Who’s side are you on?” My voice rises above the calm decibel as I glare heatedly at him.

I can’t f*****g believe that Vernon didn’t have my back.

He smiles adding more frustration to my veins before he says something that surprises me, “I didn’t notice because by the time she left with her troops I had already fixed a tracker on one of their cars.” He turns to Jordan, “it was during the call I stepped out of the car to attend,” and Jordan’s quizzical expression turns understanding while Vernon continues, “and from what I can see on my phone,” he says looking down at the screen, “she’s currently headed to one of the private airports nearby.”

That is when a plan starts forming in my head and I smirk at the two men who have stood by my side for the last five years.

“Come on, boys, we’re going to get Mrs. Mikhailov back.” I tell them before giving Vernon an apologetic expression, “I’m sorry for doubting you.” I tell him.

Vernon shrugs, “you were never really that bright.” He says jokingly and Jordan covers up a laugh with a cough as he looks at me and then quickly hurries to the car.

“Come on, we’re losing them.” He says as Vernon and I stare at each other with nervous smiles on our faces, knowing that we’re both worried about losing Arabella once again, and after a second, we both follow Jordan to the car with the sole purpose of ensuring that Arabella doesn’t get enough time to get away this time.

⚜️⚜️⚜️

By the time we reached the tarmac where the last of Arabella’s cars were located, we could see that the plane was ready to take off with just the cars moving up the ramp in the cargo compartment.

That is when I looked at Jordan through the rearview mirror, “you know what to do.” I tell him, “she’s already in the plane, seems like we’re going in too.”

“But we don’t know where she’s headed. Can’t we make them stop?” He asks worriedly.

Vernon scoffs, “put your foot down, Jordie. Rhys has a better shot at following her to the gates of hell rather than stopping her and getting her to talk to him.”

I give Vernon a displeased look but don’t deny the fact that he is correct.

“This is the craziest thing I have ever done.” Jordan whispers.

“Tell me about it.”

And so, he speeds up the car and we follow after the one that is being loaded onto the plane, knowing well enough that when this plane lands, Arabella is going to be in for a world of surprises.

I’m not letting you go, wife.

Not this time.

⚜️⚜️⚜️

Arabella

“What were you thinking letting him see you?” Kian snaps as he comes to sit in the seat across from me before starting on getting his seatbelt on.

I ignore him.

My eyes remain focused on the tarmac outside and all I care about is going back home and sleeping in with Meera and Rus.

Rhys’ face continues to flash in front of my eyes and I don’t know if I will ever forget the way his eyes had teared up when he realised that I was standing in front of him.

I could see all the things he wished to say to me. I could hear the desperation in his voice when he told me that he has been looking for me all over.

He really has been.

I can remember clearly the number of times when I asked Kian to plant fake leads so as to distract Rhys from his extensive search of me.

“Why did Rhys kidnap him?” I question Kian as I jerk my chin towards where Franco is passed out on the couch beside us.

“Why did Rhys kidnap him?” I question Kian as I jerk my chin towards where Franco is passed out on the couch beside us.

At the moment, we’re all sitting in Salazar’s private jet that is mostly used by me and with a handful of my soldiers guarding the plane, the rest of my team will meet us straight home.

And right now all I can think about is why Rhys felt the need to kidnap Franco when he hasn’t shown any interest in the Cabrera Ledger so far.

“Are you certain you wish to know?” He asks knowing that even though I know he keeps a tab on Rhys, I never ask him for information on him. When it concerns my ex-husband, I try to know as little as possible about his life.

I nod.

“It’s important that I know exactly what he has gotten us into.” I say gesturing to Franco once again as our plane starts taking off.

Kian settles back in his seat as he sighs, “it’s your father.” He mutters, “he’s somehow gotten Rhys on the task of killing Franco in exchange for information on you. And like a starved dog, Rhys took that bone like it was his lifeline.”

I scowl at the analogy that Kian has just used, considering that I know he means it in the most derogatory sense possible.

I mean, it was Kian who was the most against the idea of Meera ever knowing anything about her father but I have always been of the opinion that a parent should not be keeping things from their child unless absolutely necessary.

I didn’t want Meera to grow up thinking that she does not have a father figure in her life, but instead of telling her about the problems that separated Rhys and I, I made up a nice and beautiful story about Rhys being a noble man who constantly risks his life to do great things in the world which is why he doesn’t get the time to visit.

She’ll understand when she’s older.

But until then, I would die before I let my daughter spend even a second believing that she isn’t loveable.

“When did you find out about this?” I ask calmly, my voice contradicting the pure storm that is currently raging inside me.

“This morning, I thought I would inform you after the rescue was completed.”

I nod thoughtfully and then once again divert my gaze towards the window to my side, noticing that we are at a level in the sky and now flying steadily.

Kian seems to notice that too as he gets up from his place and makes a beeline for the bar where he pours us both two glasses of whiskey.

Handing one to me, he takes his seat again as he asks, “are you alright?”

I scoff at that.

Far from it actually.

“I’m hanging in there.” I whisper, taking a large sip of the liquor before realising that I have actually finished it.

“I’m worried about you. Are you gonna be alright after today? Seeing him couldn’t have been easy.” He says with his eyes filled with genuine concern.

My heart is bleeding inside my chest but I won’t let anyone know that.

I’ll just keep breathing and moving forward.

The same way I have for the last five years.

“It’ll get better with time.” I whisper.

It won’t.

And when I see Kian’s sorrowful eyes, I set the empty glass of alcohol down on the table before getting up, “I’m gonna take a nap.”

Kian doesn’t stop me as I make my way to the luxurious bedroom before shutting the door close and flopping down into the fluffy mattress covered in silk sheets.

And closing my eyes even though I know I won’t sleep, I drift into memories of a time when Rhys’ thoughts didn’t bring so much pain to my heart.