Chapter 171: Rescue.
Eva.
I thought it was truly over and that this miserable cell would be the final place I ever saw, right up until a shadowy, unfamiliar figure suddenly appeared outside the heavy prison gate and softly called out my name.
"Eva!" he called out softly, his gentle tone cutting straight through the silence of the dark corridor.
I slowly lifted my head from my knees and looked up, and the sight of him shocked me to my very bones. My heart skipped a beat, for I had never in my wildest dreams expected him to show up here in a place so heavily guarded and dangerous.
Without hesitation, he broke through the solid prison door as if it were nothing, stepped into the cold space, and gently pulled me out into freedom. Before doing anything else, he reached down and stroked my stomach with breathtaking softness, his touch trembling with warmth and concern.
"Is our baby okay?" he asked calmly, his eyes searching mine with tender desperation.
The moment those words left his mouth, I couldn’t hold back the crushing grief any longer, and I immediately burst out crying.
He wrapped his strong arms around me and held me tightly against his broad chest, letting me lean my weight onto him as I sobbed heavily against his shoulder, drenching his shirt with my tears.
"I lost the baby, my love!" I said quietly, choking back another sob as I pulled back slightly and stared up into his eyes. "Ella asked Alex to get rid of my baby," I added, letting the devastating words hang in the air between us.
He froze immediately, his entire body going rigid with sudden, agonizing shock.
"What?" his voice echoed loudly through the deserted stone hallway the moment he finally regained his composure.
Terrified that his raised voice would draw attention, I instantly glanced around the dimly lit corridor, wildly scanning the shadows to ensure no guards were approaching.
"Don’t bother about them, Eva..." he said hurriedly, trying to quiet my panic. "I already knocked them all out with a drug before coming in, so we are completely safe for now. But... are you really telling me the truth?" he asked, a deeply confused and pained look washing over his face.
I looked at him pitifully, letting my heartbroken expression do the talking.
"Just a few days ago, you told me the baby was completely okay!" he added, his voice breaking as he struggled to process the nightmare unfolding before him.
Unable to look him in the eye any longer, I slowly turned my head away from his pleading gaze, forcing another fresh set of heavy tears to stream down my cheeks in silence.
"Yes, it was!" I said, choking heavily on my sobs as the words forced their way out of my throat. "But just a few days later, Ella arrived, and now... now everything is gone," I added, letting my voice trail off into a broken whisper that amplified the tragedy of my words.
He immediately spun me around to face him, his hands grabbing hold of my frame as he forced me to look directly into his darkened, agonizing eyes.
"I will make both of them pay for taking my child’s life," he said firmly, his voice dropping into a terrifyingly cold, lethal promise as he gripped my shoulders tightly.
Almost as quickly as he had grabbed me, he abruptly released my shoulders and reached up to hastily wipe a single, stray teardrop out of his own eyes, swallowing back his grief to make way for cold, hard action.
"Let’s get out of here!" he commanded immediately, taking my arm to hurry us out of the suffocating darkness of the prison.
But just as we were about to take another step toward freedom, the loud, wailing sound of an approaching car echoed through the outside courtyard.
The shrill noise sent an instant wave of sharp panic straight through my heart, as the terrifying thought hit me that Alex had somehow found out, and both he and I were now in grave, mortal danger.
Heavy, deliberate footsteps suddenly started approaching us from down the hallway, getting louder and closer by the second. I held my breath in sheer terror, but the moment I heard a particular, unmistakable voice call out into the gloom, I completely froze in place.
It was Thomas.
My heart plummeted into my stomach. I immediately glanced back at my rescuer with wide, panicked eyes and frantically signaled for him to hide, knowing with terrifying certainty that Thomas mustn’t see him here under any circumstances.
Understanding the danger instantly, he dropped to the ground without a word, sliding into the shadows and laying flat on the floor right beside several guards that had been knocked out cold earlier, blending in perfectly among the unconscious bodies.
Taking a deep breath to compose myself, I immediately ran forward with frantic energy, playing the part of a deeply scared and traumatized victim fleeing for her life, until I heavily bumped right into Thomas in the dim light.
"Eva, are you okay?" he asked, urgent concern flooding his voice the very instant he realised it was me stumbling helplessly into his arms, as his eyes searched my face anxiously, as though making sure I was truly standing before him. "I was just about to come in and rescue you!" he added without hesitation, his words tumbling out in a rush as his strong arms instinctively wrapped around me, holding me securely against him as though afraid to let me go.
Before I could even part my lips or manage a single word in response, Thomas moved without the slightest pause. In one swift, effortless motion, he slipped an arm beneath my knees and the other around my back before smoothly lifting me into a bridal carry. The movement was so natural and decisive that I barely had time to register it before I was cradled safely in his arms.
Without wasting another second, he turned and strode quickly towards his waiting vehicle. Around us, a tight perimeter of his heavily armed men immediately closed in, surrounding us from every direction. They maintained a protective formation as they escorted us forward, carefully shielding us from every angle to ensure we couldn’t be spotted.