Rewriting My Heart's Fate

"Zach? What happened to him?" My eyes were blazing with anger, and my chest felt like it was about to explode.

Ethan shook his head, his voice thick with emotion. "Don't worry. He's fine.

Murphy and the others treated him decently, and so far, he hasn't had to deal with anything tough."

I breathed a sigh of relief. "If Zach's fine, then why are you following me? What are you doing here?"

Ethan gave me a sad look and mumbled, "I knew it was you the moment I saw you at the gala. I could tell you were faking being a reporter to get in. I've been worried about you. Those people aren't who they seem to be."

He shook his head with a heavy heart. "They come off all nice and generous, but no one knows how much dirty stuff they've done behind closed doors. I was afraid they might go after you, so I've been following you."

My tears began to fall. "Ethan, you..."

He gave a dry laugh. "Evelyn, I'll figure something out with Zach. I swear, I'll get him back to you safely."

He held my hand tight.

My tears wouldn't stop falling, my voice choking up. "Ethan, I want Zach and also you. How are we supposed to go on without you?"

Ethan's eyes welled up, too. "Evelyn, I'm sorry... Maybe we're just not meant to be."

He wrapped his arms around me, holding me like he never wanted to let go. "Please, don't put yourself in danger again, okay? Let me hold you like this for a bit as our last goodbye."

Ethan kissed my forehead repeatedly, murmuring, "Evelyn, I love you. I'll always love you, but we can never go back."

He slowly pulled away, turning and fading into the darkness. All that was left were his parting words. "We'll find each other again in the afterlife if it's meant to be..."

I collapsed to the floor, tears streaming down my face.

Madison rushed over, grabbing my shoulders. "Don't cry, Evelyn. It's not over yet. Come on, let's go check on Vivian and see what's going on over there."

I wiped my tears and nodded. I couldn't let my emotions get the best of me. Zachary was still in their hands. I needed to figure out how to weaken Murphy's hold so I'd have a chance at saving him.

I drove back to the warehouse with Madison, and when we got inside, there was Vivian-tied to a chair, looking pale and freaking out.

"P-Please let me go," she pleaded. "I swear I don't know anything. My dad... he doesn't care about me. You know that! He wouldn't even shed a tear if you killed me."

I sneered and crouched down to meet her eyes. "Quit the sob story. Do you think playing the victim's going to make me go easy on you? Here's the deal—unless Murphy lets Zach go, you're not leaving here alive!" ,

Terrified, Vivian nodded frantically. "I get it. I'll talk to my dad and get him to let Zachary go. But you've got to let me go first. How else am I supposed to talk to him?"noveldrama

I snorted. "Nice try. Once Zach's back with me, only then will you be fine. Until then, you're staying right where you are."

With that, I turned and left the warehouse without looking back.

Madison caught up to me and quietly asked, "So, what's next? We can't just sit around and wait, right?"

I shook my head. "Of course not. We've still got to dig into Murphy's side of things."

"I think we should go talk to Yvan," Madison suggested. "Maybe we can get him to

spill something useful."

I thought about it for a second

before nodding. "Alright, let's go for

it. We've got nothing to lose. But this time, we need to change our identities. We barely made it out alive last time."