Bound to my Enemy Chapter 269

Zane’s POV.

The second the voice over the radio says,

"You need to see this,"

sothing cold settles in my chest. The kind of feeling that tells you whatever cos next isn’t going to be good.

I start moving imdiately, so fast thr n beside struggle to keep pace.

My boots pound against the concrete floor as I make my way through the abandoned factory. The beam from my flashlight cutting through dust and darkness.

Every second feels too slow and every step feels like a waste of ti. Because sowhere out there Elaine is waiting...scared, alone and Pregnant.

And every minute that passes is another minute she isn’t safe.

I round a corner and find three mbers of the search team waiting near an old loading bay.

The mont they see they straighten.

"What is it?"

One of them points toward the ground. I follow his finger, to find ffresh and recently made tire marks.

My pulse imdiately spikes.

"How recent?"

"Couple of hours at most."

Fuck.

I crouch beside them.

The tracks cut through the dust that covers everything else. Which ans sobody was here recently.

Very recently.

I stand imdiately.

"Follow them."

Nobody argues...we move.

The tracks lead through the building toward a large side entrance. One that’s partially hidden behind old machinery, almost like soone intentionally wanted it overlooked.

The deeper we go the quieter everyone becos. The tension is practically choking now, even the security team feels it.

Then my phone rings.

Lucas.

I answer imdiately.

"What?"

"You found sothing?"

"Maybe."

I keep walking.

"A vehicle was definitely here."

"Then they’re close."

"I know."

There is a brief silence.

Then Lucas says,

"Be careful."

I almost laugh. Careful.....at a ti like this.

When my wife and my unborn child is sowhere out there. When the man I trusted most betrayed , careful c feels impossible.

Still.

I understand what he’s really saying. Don’t do sothing stupid and don’t let your emotions make you reckless.

Too late.

I’ve been reckless since the mont I learned Elaine was gone.

"It’s beginning to sound like you care about Lucas." I say as a way to lighten the mood.

Lucas scoffs. "Please. I just don’t want my pregnant sister to turn up as a widow." With that he cuts the call on his end.

The tracks eventually lead outside, the cool night air hitting imdiately.

I stop and look around. The old factory stretches endlessly behind us.

Ahead?

Trees, dense woods dark enough to swallow people whole.

One of the guards kneels, examining the ground.

"Sir."

I walk over.

"What?"

"Footprints."

My pulse jumps.

"How many?"

He shines his flashlight.

A couple of sets, one larger, so smaller and recent...Very recent.

I stare at them.

Thinking.

Then sothing catches my eye.

A smaller print, lighter too.

My heart starts hamring.

Elaine.

Please let that be Elaine. Please.

The guard looks up.

"Looks like three people moving through here."

For the first ti tonight I feel sothing resembling hope when another voice crackles through the radio.

Urgently

"Movent."

Everybody imdiately stills.

I grab the radio.

"Where?"

"North side of the woods."

My pulse explodes.

"Can you confirm?"

"No sir but we definitely heard sothing."

I’m already moving, the search team following instantly.

Branches scrape against my arms as we push through the trees.

The woods are thick, dense and hard to navigate but none of that matters.

Because every instinct I have is screaming now. She’s here, she’s close, i don’t know how I know i just do.

The farther we move into the trees the stronger the feeling becos.

I hear a sound...faint butr unmistakable.

Thn I hear a scream.

I freeze because I know that voice, even from a distance, even muffled by the trees I would know it anywhere.

My Elaine.

My heart nearly stops, for a second I genuinely can’t breathe then suddenly I’m moving....no Running.

Not caring about stealth anymore, not caring about procedure, not caring about anything.

"Sir!" soone shouts behind .

I ignore them.

The voice cos again....faint and small but there.

Every terrifying scenario that has haunted for hours suddenly cracks apart because she’s alive.

She’s alive.

I crash through a cluster of trees, branches whipping against my face....my lungs burning as my n behind trying desperately to keep up.

Then I hear another voice.

Male...

Thomas.

The realization nearly sends into a blind rage because after everything.

After years of loyalty, years of trust and of treating him like family.

He took her.....he took my world away from .

My hands tighten around my gun.

No. Not yet.

Focus and find Elaine first, then him later.

Another shout definitely closer now.

My heart pounds so hard it hurts and then through the trees ahea I see movent,

Three figures and for one brief second I can’t make out who is who.

Then the moonlight shifts and I see her.

My Elaine.

And suddenly nothing else in the world matters.

Elaine’s POV

Everything happens so freaking fast.

One second all three of us are staring into the darkness.

The next.....a tall figure bursts through the trees moving with terrifying speed.

For half a second I can’t make out who it is then the moonlight catches his face and my heart stops.

Zane.

Oh God.

Zane.

He’s here, he’s actually here. Relief hits so hard my knees almost give out...for a second I can’t breath or think, can’t do anything except stare at him.

Because he’s here, he found , he actually found .

His eyes lock onto mine imdiately and every emotion I’ve been holding back for hours cos crashing through .

Fear, relief, love, hope.....Everything.

"Zane!"

His entire face changes the mont he sees . Every ounce of panic, every ounce of rage and ounce of fear.

It’s all there....raw and exposed for .

He starts running straight toward and I do the sa. I don’t think or hesitate, i just move desperately because all I want is to get to him.

To feel his arms around m, to know this nightmare is finally over.

The distance between us closes fast. I can already see his hand reaching for Mr

Then suddenly.....i feel Thomas wrapping his hand around my arm and pulling back, Without even thinking, I spin and drive my knee upward, Very hard right between his legs. The sound that leaves him is absolutely inhuman, a strangled mix between a grunt and a scream.

His entire body folds.

For one glorious second I think I’ve won.

"YES!"

I spin imdiately and run, towards Zane, towards safety, ho and everything I love.

I barely make it three steps beforr Thomas recovers way faster than any man should after getting hit there.

A hand suddenly grabs my arm hard, pain shoots through my shoulder.

"No!"

I scream as I’m violently yanked backward and my body slams against a hard chest. Then an arm snakes around my neck, locking tight.

I imdiately start fighting, kicking and Scratching.

Trying to break free but Thomas is stronger, far stronger.

"THOMAS!"

He ignores , his breathing is ragged, uneven and sounding Pained.

But he ignores .....then I hear the tallic click and my entire body freezes.

A gun.

Oh God.

Thomas presses the barrel against the side of my head, the cold tal touching my skin and the world instantly stops.

There’s a freaking gun against my head!.

My heart starts pounding so hard I think I might pass out.

"No," Zane says.

The word cos out deadly and dangerously calm.

I look at him, really look at him and what I see terrifies , because he looks one second away from killing soone.

His gun is already drawn and aid, directly at Thomas.

Security teams erge from everywhere now.

n stepping from the trees, their raised with fashlights cutting through the darkness.

Suddenly we’re surrounded.

Thomas sees them too and for a brief second panic flashes across his face.

He knows he’s cornered and knows there’s no escape.

So he tightens his grip around my neck, the gun presses harder against my temple.

I gasp.

"Back up!" he roars.

Nobody moves.....we are One wrong move away from disaster.

Aria stands several feet away, frozen with tears already filling her eyes.

"Thomas..." she whispers.

I don’t think Zane has seen he’s sister yet cause he’s attention is focused solely on .

Thomas doesn’t even look at her, his attention is entirely on Zane.

And Zane’s attention is entirely on .

"Take one step further," Thomas says.

His voice shakes slightly.

"Take one more fucking step and this bullet goes into your little wife’s head."

Every where is so quiet I can hear my own heartbeat, can hear Thomas’s breathing and hear the safety clicking softly beneath Zane’s finger.

Nobody moves or speaks.

Then Zane slowly raises both hands, just slightly to show he’s listening and he understands.

But his eyes never leave mine, not once.

And in those eyes I see sothing terrifying, because if Thomas pulls that trigger... Zane will burn the world down afterward and I think Thomas knows that too.