CHAPTER THREE
Mrs. Whitmore didn't sleep, but it wasn't because she cared about Adaline.
No, Adaline was the least of her concerns. If anything, the girl being taken away was exactly what she wanted.
Twenty-four hours.
She replayed Ronan's cold voice in her mind, fearing that he might change his mind and come after then instead.
By early morning, tension coiled thick in the air. The maids moved around silently, terrified. Elsie paced back and forth beside her mother.
"Mom what if he changes his mind and come for us instead" Elsie asked worriedly.
Mrs. Whitmore didn't get the chance to answer.
Because she heard it
The deep rumble of engines entering the compound.
Her stomach tightened.
"He's here," she breathed.
Black SUVs rolled in with military precision, the morning light glinting off their dark windows. Ronan's men poured out first—armed, cold, and focused.
A sharp knock hit the door.
Not loud.
But so firm that it sent a jolt through the entire house.
Mrs. Whitmore straightened her shoulders, masking her fear with false composure. She opened the door just enough to see the man in charge.
"The boss is here for the girl," the guard said.
Adaline.
The burden.
The unwanted child.
Good riddance.
Mrs. Whitmore stepped aside immediately. "She's in her room. Locked up. Exactly how he wanted ".
"Go get her". The guard said.
Mrs whitmore immediately went with the servant to get Adaline.
Adaline's POV
The soft click of the door, jolted Adaline awake. She didn't know how long she's been in her room, locked up but hearing the door lock click, she knew it. The 24 hours were up. He was back for her.
The door opened widely.
"Stand up". Mrs whitmore Said coldly. She stood in the doorway with that familiar look, her eyes swept around the room, ensuring that Adaline hadn't tried anything stupid.
"You have wasted enough of my time ". She said. "Get out, except you want to be dragged out".
Adaline rose quickly, smoothing her wrinkled dress with trembling hands. She was once her mother's daughter, her mother's princess, but everything changed when her mother died, now she's nothing more than a slave. She didn't speak, she didn't dare. Silence was safer.
Mrs whitmore stepped aside, but not without giving her a long lingering glare.
"Move". She snapped.
Adaline obeyed instantly, walking past her with her heart thudding softly.
Mrs whitmore shut the door with a sharp bang.
Once Adaline stepped outside the villa, she was met with a cold glare from Ronan. Just one glance from him was enough to make her loose strength in her knees.
RONAN'S POV
He stood outside his car, hands in his pocket, posture relaxed, but nothing about him was. His gaze remained fixed on the villa, unblinking, calculating. Adaline whitmore was only the beginning . She would be his first victim and the whitmores' downfall had only just begun.
Then she emerged from the villa, her clothes torn and worn. She'd looked like she was fighting tears. Her eyes met his and she looked away in fear immediately. For a split second, something in Ronan's chest twisted, something unwelcome, foreign, and completely unacceptable. Ge snapped his gaze away immediately, got into his car and drove off. He didn't come to far to feel, to forgive or to understand. He was here to destroy.
Adaline's POV
She got into the car. With tears in her eyes, she looked back at the house she was called a home, a house that held so much memory for her. She felt weak, she knew she had to fight back but she doesn't have the will to do that. She knew that from that
moment on, her life would never remain the same.