Chapter 8

Cade POV:

The hospital room felt too confining, too sterile. I paced, the scent of antiseptic doing little to calm my frayed nerves. My heart, my damn heart, hammered an erratic rhythm against my ribs, a constant reminder of my precarious health and the fragile foundation of my ambition. Alessandra lay unconscious in the bed, sedated after her dramatic fall. Her family, the Guerras, had been here, their glares chilling me to the bone. They expected explanations, apologies, and a loyal fiancé.

My phone rang, a sharp, jarring sound in the quiet room. It was Mrs. Albright, her voice trembling. "Mr. Dyer," she whispered, "Miss Madden... she's gone."

My blood ran cold. "Gone?" I roared, my voice echoing off the walls. "What do you mean, gone? I told you to keep her locked away! Under strict guard!"

"She... she was taken, sir," Mrs. Albright stammered, fear palpable in her tone. "By a man. A very... imposing man. He just walked in, swept her up, unconscious as she was, and carried her out. The guards... they didn't even try to stop him. He was like a phantom."

A phantom. A very imposing man. My mind raced, images of Blaire's terrified face, her defiant eyes, flashing before me. Who would dare? Who would have the audacity to breach my estate, to take what was mine?

"Describe him," I demanded, my voice tight with a sudden, possessive rage.

"Tall, sir. Very tall. Dark suit, impeccably tailored. And his eyes... they were like ice, sir. He didn't say a word, just looked at us, and we... we froze." Her voice was filled with a primal fear.

"Get out of here, Alessandra!" I snapped, my focus entirely on this new, infuriating development. "I have to find her." I stormed out of the hospital room, leaving Alessandra's still form behind, my mind a whirlwind of anger and a strange, unsettling fear.

Back at the estate, I barked orders, my voice hoarse from shouting. "Pull up the security footage! Every camera, every angle! I want to know who this man is, and where he took her!"

The security chief, a burly man named Briggs, nodded nervously. The screens in the surveillance room flickered to life, showing various angles of the estate. And there he was. The "phantom." Tall, broad-shouldered, carrying Blaire in his arms as if she weighed nothing. Her head rested against his chest, her pale face stark against his dark suit. She looked... protected. Cherished, even. The sight twisted a knot of something ugly in my gut.

He stopped just before reaching the perimeter gate. He looked directly into the camera, a cold, knowing smirk on his lips. Then, with a casual flick of his wrist, he raised his middle finger. A silent, insolent challenge. Then he and Blaire were gone, swallowed by the night.

Rage, pure and undiluted, consumed me. I slammed my fist onto the console, the monitors rattling. "Find him!" I roared, my voice raw with fury. "Find him and bring him to me! And bring Blaire back! She's mine!"

Just then, Alessandra burst into the surveillance room, her face pale, her eyes wide with a mixture of fear and triumph. "Cade! What's going on? Who was that man?" She watched the footage of the 'phantom' on the screen, her eyes narrowing. "She always had some hidden admirers, didn't she? Pathetic, clinging men who thought they could save her."

I rounded on her, my patience at an end. "Shut up, Alessandra!" I snapped, my voice cracking. "This has nothing to do with her 'admirers'!"

"Doesn't it?" Alessandra scoffed, a sneer twisting her lips. "Perhaps this is her real lover, Cade. The one she was always hiding from you. The one she was really having a baby with! You think you were the only one she charmed with her innocent act?"

Her words, though meant to wound, sparked a terrifying suspicion. A lover? Had Blaire truly been hiding something all this time? Was this man the reason for her sudden defiance? My possessiveness, already inflamed, turned into a burning jealousy.

"Don't you dare," I growled, my hand rising, a primal threat in my eyes. "Blaire is mine. And she will return to me."

"Oh, really?" Alessandra challenged, her eyes gleaming with a malicious delight. "You think she'll just come back after you nearly killed her and our 'love child'?" She laughed, a cackle that sent shivers down my spine. "She hates you, Cade. She always has."

"Find him!" I barked at Briggs, ignoring Alessandra. "I want every resource, every contact, to find that man and Blaire! I want trackers on every airport, every private jet terminal, every road out of here! I want to know where she is at all times!" My voice shook with a desperate fury. "And when you find them, I want that man brought to me. I'll make him regret ever touching what's mine."

I turned to Alessandra, my gaze cold and unwavering. "And as for you, Alessandra," I said, my voice low and menacing, "I suggest you watch your tongue. Blaire is my business, and my business alone. Understand?"

A flicker of fear, quickly masked, crossed her face. She nodded, her lips pressed into a thin line. My gaze returned to the surveillance screen, to the last image of Blaire in the phantom's arms. A cold, possessive rage burned within me. She was mine. And no one, not even this mysterious stranger, would take her from me.