The Silent Wife

"Miss Burton, we're going to kill her if we continue doing this."

"Why should we be worried? If she dies in this situation, we'll just feed her body to the fishes in the sea. I want her to pay for Henry's death with her life!"

"Miss Burton, I wouldn't say anything if it'd someone else, but she is Young Master Justin's wife after

all."

Tina was rendered speechless before she warned, "Rachel, you better learn your lesson this time. Our game has only just started!" Then, she left with her men after making her point clear.

Then, Rachel crawled back to shore in a drenched state. The sea breeze concurrently blew and sent a cold chill down her spine, making her slouch as she frantically looked around her. A few moments had gone by as she failed to spot a single soul. Soon, she knew why she was alone after she realized that she was on a sea coast that was under development.

It was already after dark when Justin left the company and returned to Burton Residence. As soon as he stepped into the house, Sue quickly approached and greeted, "You're back just in time. Wash your hands and get ready for dinner."

He removed his vest and asked, "Is Rachel back?"

"Nope, what's wrong? Didn't you pick her up from work?" she probed even though she was happy to see him return without Rachel.

He frowned and looked at the time, thinking that Rachel should have been back by now because it was already considered late by the time he had finished his meeting. Thus, he took off his vest and walked toward the living room while making a phone call. “I'm sorry. The number you've dialed is currently unavailable. Please try again later." An intercept message was heard.

Sue added, "She is an adult, so what could possibly happen to her? Don't worry, Justin. Why don't you sit down and enjoy your dinner? She's probably returned to her maiden home or something." Nevertheless, Justin seemed like he didn't hear Sue's words as he proceeded to make another phone call. "Hello? It's me. Is Rachel home?"

It was after hearing the other party's answer that he hung up the call and grabbed his vest before leaving.

Sue quickly gave chase and asked, "Where are you going late at night, Justin?"

A few moments later, he sped in his black sedan on the highway in Riverdale while Frankie's voice was heard from the earpiece. "I just asked the people from the library and they said Tina had a meeting about expanding their project there, in which she appointed Young Mistress Rachel to be the person in charge."

"Go on."

"After that, Young Mistress Rachel went to the Burton Group in the afternoon, but she was never seen again. Then, I requested the security department to show me the security footage, so I'm sure she was taken by someone from the engineering department."

"What about Tina then?"

"She was not in the office the whole day and it also appears that she can't be reached at the moment."

"Who took Rachel away?" The man's growl intimidated Frankie.

"I'll wait for you in front of Burton Group's entrance in twenty minutes. Bring our men with you!" Justin ordered with a glacial voice. Upon finishing his sentence, he removed his earpiece and tossed it onto the passenger seat next to him with a darkened expression.

Deep down in his heart, he reckoned Tina had a role in Rachel's disappearance, considering how lightly Tina regarded a person's life. After all, she had been spoiled until salt wouldn't save her since she was a little girl. In fact, his initial plan was to have Frankie oversee the City Council Library's construction project that was funded by Burton Group as he wanted to avoid any unwanted attention and interference. Justin thought that Tina would go easy on Rachel since she was his wife, only to realize he was wrong after the fact

Twenty minutes later, he arrived at Burton Group when Frankie came with Director Roland. Moments after alighting from his car, Justin shut the door behind him and took big strides toward them.

"President-"Before Director Roland could finish his sentence, a heavy kick landed on his chest, whereupon it sent him staggering backward before he toppled over with a painful scream. "You kidnapped her, didn't you?" Justin's rage was uncontrollable.

"President Burton, it wasn't Director Roland who took her away. It was his secretary instead." As he was scared by what he saw and heard, it took Frankie a while to make sense of what was happening before he anxiously explained, "Since Sandy lives out of the way from here, I don't think we're going to make it on time."

Justin fixed his gaze on Director Roland. "Your secretary?"

At this moment, Director Roland was frightened out of his wits. "President Burton, I swear I don't know anything about that! I really don't know what's going on."

"Is that so?" Justin walked closer to him and asked, "So, are you saying your secretary did all this behind your back?"

Director Roland repeatedly nodded. "I was in a meeting for the entire afternoon, so I have no idea what has been going on." As soon as he finished his words, Justin grabbed him by his collar, towering over the director like a huge mountain and suffocating him with the intimidating aura.

"I'm going to ask you one more time. Where did Tina tell you to take her to?" Justin's glacial eyes seemed as if he had the intent to kill.

Frankie, who was standing beside him, answered, "Director Roland, do you know who Tina kidnapped? It's President Burton's wife! Do you have any idea what you've done?"

As soon as Director Roland heard that, his face paled. "What? She is... President Burton's..." The moment the man stammered, he had accidentally given himself away that he was in fact aware of Rachel's disappearance..

"I'll talk!" He decided to cooperate, knowing he couldn't get away with his mistake. "I'll give Sandy a call right now and ask her where she took Rachel to." Then, he rummaged through his pocket for his phone in front of Justin and Frankie before dialing his secretary's number. Once the call was connected, he desperately asked, "Where did you take President Burton's wife?"

A few moments later, Director Roland turned on the loudspeaker, whereupon Sandy's trembling voice

was heard. "East Coast. I took her to the East Coast, but I didn't know she's the president's wife! You need to save me, Director Roland!"

Save you? He'll need to save himself first from the way I see it! Frankie thought.

After learning the exact location, Justin immediately entered his black car to start the engine before driving across Riverdale at lightning speed in the night.

On the other hand, Rachel was walking barefoot on the highway for what seemed like an eternity. Her phone was also out of battery as she simply couldn't switch it on. Then, she tried to flag a car down for help, but her sorry state had only scared every driver who approached her away. Because of that, she was forced to continue walking amidst the chilly wind as her entire body shook while she hugged her

arms.

Not knowing how long she had been walking, her legs began to feel numb as she struggled to take a step forward. Soon, she felt so overwhelmingly dizzy that she had to stop and hold onto the railing by the roadside to take a rest. However, as soon as her hand came into contact with the railing, she felt as if the whole world was spinning around her shortly before she collapsed onto the ground.Belonging © NôvelDram/a.Org.

In that instant, Rachel wondered how good it would be if she had just died there and then. After all, her death wouldn't need to be faked and she no longer needed to worry about her grandma's safety either.

While Rachel was absorbed in her thoughts, she was suddenly distracted by a car's glaring headlight that forced her to raise her arms with the last bit of energy to cover her eyes. Soon, the car pulled over by the roadside at a distance not far away from her, whereupon a tall silhouette emerged in the light and ran toward her.

The man anxiously called out, "Rae!"

Am I dreaming?