Chapter 399: Chapter 399

T-Vino Winery Office....

"Your Highness, are we going to let her be? What if?"

Ian focused on his computer, typing away without pausing for a moment, even as Currey asked him this. Currey had been dropping these small comments all morning, but Ian never said a word in reply, for he did not feel the need to.

"I know that you may want to let the natural course of things take place, but thi-"

The moment the question was spoken, Ian’s hands paused mid-keystroke, and the light rhythmic clatter of the keyboard abruptly ceased. Slowly, Ian raised his head, his movements unnervingly deliberate. That’s when Currey knew that he had crossed an invisible line. Being in the human world was making him muddled. Dare him to question His Majesty’s actions? It looked like he had lived too long and was looking to end his own life!

An unnatural stillness descended over the office as though the very air had thickened. The lights seemed to dim ever so lightly, and shadows stretched unnaturally across the walls as if recoiling from the growing intensity in the room with Ian at the centre.

A foreboding presence emanated from him, cold and oppressive, like an icy hand gripping the chest of anyone unfortunate enough to be near, which happened to be Currey.

Ian’s eyes, no longer just human, seemed to glimmer faintly with a dark, otherworldly grey light—piercing, calculating, and far too knowing. Standing mere feet away, Currey felt its weight immediately, a crushing pressure that bore down on him like a mountain, especially when Ian’s eyes met his.

Sweat broke out across Currey’s forehead, trickling down the sides of his face in thin streams. Soon, it was as if he had taken a shower in his clothes. His breathing quickened, shallow and strained, but Currey dared not move. His legs trembled, every instinct screaming at him to flee, yet he knew that he could not. He did not dare. Currey’s desperation to prove his worth—kept him rooted in place.

’This is just in my head,’ Currey tried to tell himself, though the lie felt hollow. The pressure wasn’t just imagined—it was real, tangible, as if some unseen force sought to make him kneel.

Currey’s knees buckled slightly, but he clenched his fists, making sure that his arms remained in a respective stance at his back while grounding himself, and grunted softly in defiance. A defiance that he dared not show. His head lowered despite his best efforts, an involuntary submission to the sheer weight in the room. His mind raced with fragmented thoughts:

’What do I do? I-’ The oppressive silence stretched on, each second an eternity as if the room itself held its breath.

Ian finally spoke, his voice low and resonant, carrying an edge that sent a shiver down Currey’s spine.

"Are you listening to yourself? Can you afford to make any mistakes with this? .... and what is the status of the investigation that you are still dillydallying on?"

The words weren’t loud, but they carried an undeniable authority. Currey could not answer any of the questions, but he still felt that Ian had the due information to move on...

"Give me the info we seek on Tyler, and we can move forward with this-"

Currey nodded hastily, his lips dry, unable to trust his voice. Ian’s gaze lingered for a moment longer, the oppressive air still thick around them, before he returned his attention to the keyboard, resuming his work as if nothing had happened.

Just as suddenly, the shadows receded, the lights returned to their usual glow, and the air lightened, but Currey knew that the room—and his soul—had been forever marked by what had just transpired. It was supposedly nothing, but like Shelby, Ian had also started to become slightly ’unstable’, and Currey partly blamed himself.

He could usually solve cases within hours to a day, but why was it that he could not find anything on the Maybach family and that damn Tyler person!

’However, you have the data on Aliya... why are you not sharing that?’ A small voice in his head asked, but Currey quickly dismissed it; this was short-lived as his heart soared in panic.

"What about Aliya?" Ian demanded,

"You’d better start talking! I-"

Just then, a buzzer sounded in the office, "This is the front desk. There are two detectives here to see the Chairman." A sweet female voice reverberated through the room.

Currey did not wait to be dismissed and rushed out.

Outside the premises of the winery offices, the two detectives pulled up. Immediately they stepped out of the car, a beautiful receptionist greeted them,

"Welcome, Detectives, you can go right in. Assistant Currey will meet you at the elevators..."

"Oh, wow! Thank you!" Evans replied, overly flustered. The two walked behind the the receptionist and into the plush lobby.

"Why are we here?" Evans turned to Leona and whispered,

"I thought we were going to respond to that call earlier..."

"Yep, we are responding to one of the calls. We can’t be in two places at once, so..."

Leon shrugged as they were ushered into the elevators.

"Ah!!! It goes down!"

"Stop making a fool out of yourself! Idiot!" Leon tapped Evans on his head, but deep inside, he could not hold his trembling. He had never been in an elevator that went down that deep. Didn’t all elevators go up?

After what felt like forever, the elevator came to a smooth stop, and the two came out. Their legs were like jelly, but their thoughts were like one, ’The rich are indeed crazy!’

Soon, the terror they felt turned into wonder and awe as they walked along the corridor to Ian’s office.

"I would never have believed that I am down instead of in a skyrise building! This is breathtaking!" Evans commented, making Leon roll his eyes, but he also felt the same.

Currey opened the door at the end of the corridor and ushered the two in.

"Please have a seat, gentleman...."

Leon and Evans shared a look. Their unease was apparent, but so was their excitement. The office was splendid! It w-

"Do you have an update for me?" Ian went straight to the point.

"Ah, Yes, Chairman Thornston. Thank you for giving us this case to work on. We-"

"The update?" Currey nudged gently, making Leon pause.

"Oh yes, my apologies, Chairman. We have searched, but there are limited clues since Ms. Aliya does not remember much. She unfortunately refuses to see us nor talk of her fiancé and the day of the accident. I know that she does not remember much, but I find it stra-"

"Yes! That’s true, Chairman!"

Evans interjected and then, looking at the faces of the other me, lowered his head in embarrassment, "Oh, my apologies for interrupting. Please continue, Leon,"

"I find it strange that she does not want to look for her fiancé that she has had children with.... But-"

"I don’t know if you have seen the news, Sir-"

"What has that got to-"

Ian paused and then looked over the detective’s head to meet Currey’s eyes. He felt uneasy. When Currey had basically run off to pick up the detectives, he had not bothered with him because Ian suddenly felt a foreboding feeling settle on him. It was kind of a numbness to something about to happen.

It was fleeting, and by the time he tried to examine his thoughts, whatever it was had passed. Ian had let it go temporarily as he tried to understand what may be the details that Currey had of Aliya.

’Is it the same?’ Ian pondered, leaning back in the chair in thought. This was just as the two detectives came in. But then, as they were talking, the same feeling came back. This time it was intense.

He sat up straight in his chair. This was the same exact feeling he had felt at the soiree and when Shelby had faced that accident in the park.

Ian closed his eyes and tried to reach Shelby on their mind link, but even before he made that attempt, Ian’s fingers went numb; there was a block there, but this one felt different. It was very different!

’Elfin? Can you hear me.... Elfin! Damn it! Are you there? Don’t scare me!’

He was only met with silence!

"Try to reach Murray!"

Ian shouted, his voice was tight, barely controlled, as he barked the order, throwing the two detectives into confusion.

Were they not just talking about something else? Why was the chairman talking of Murray?

"Yes, your Highness!" Currey moved quickly, his own worry evident in the stiff motions of his hands, but when he dialed Murray’s number, Ian nearly lost all reasoning, for he understood that the mind link might not have worked!

Currey’s crisp response came, further alarming the two.

They turned to look at each other, ’Your Highness? Are we in a cosplay movie of some sort?’

Ian was not even looking at them. He felt his panic bubble up, sharp and unrelenting, surging past his composure and spilling over into his every action. Ian’s hands trembled as he fumbled to clasp them together, the world around him narrowing to a singular, desperate thought: ’Please be okay. Please be okay.’

Seconds ticked by with agonizing slowness. Finally, Currey looked up, his face pale, shaking his head. "No response."

The words hit like a sledgehammer. Ian’s breath hitched. It felt as though his entire world had shattered in an instant, the weight of his worst fears crashing down on him. A low, shaky exhale escaped his lips as his mind raced, as he tried to grip on anything. This was different because he had not been ’pulled’ through time for her.

’Where is she? Why isn’t she answering?’ The questions clawed at him, relentless and merciless.

The two detectives exchanged bewildered glances, their confusion mounting with every passing second.

"What’s going on?" Evans murmured, his brow furrowed.

"I don’t know," Leon whispered back, shifting uneasily.

"Who’s the Chairman talking about? What’s happening?"

They watched the scene unfold, their eyes darting between Chairman Ian, whose panic was now barely restrained, and his assistant, who looked equally distressed but powerless to fix the situation.

They had never even heard of the fact that Ian could react this way to anything! Let alone see it for themselves. The tension in the room was suffocating, yet neither of the men dared to interrupt.

"Should we ask?" Evans whispered nervously, for it seemed as if they were invisible in there. Leon shook his head, his gaze fixed on Ian as he whispered in confusion, "No. Not now. Whatever it is... it’s bad. The only thing that can make the most powerful Chairman react this way is his wife!"

Ian, oblivious to their murmurs, clenched his fists tightly, his voice a low, fervent plea as he whispered to himself,

’This can’t be happening. Not now. Not again!’ Then time itself seemed to freeze; Ian’s eyes shone bright, the colour fading from his iris as the powerful light surged around him. Ian disappeared from the room and in front of the dazed officers.

"Ah!!!!!!!!!!!!" Evans screamed!

"WHERE DID – AHHH!" Leon echoed the same.

Thank you so much to all for your votes and comments! I hope we can keep it up ^_^

Support the author by reading only on NovelHub :) ~Uploaded only on NovelHub by Loctovia ~