Substitute Wife for the Mafia King R18-Chapter 408: Hopeless Hope

"Where is this?" I asked without hiding my suspicion.

I knew very well where the Vulkan mansion was located and also what it looked like, and the place that we had just parked in front of couldn’t look more different than the mansion that I remembered.

"You didn’t think that we would take you to our home, did you?" Mrs. Vulkan snapped before looking away with a clear look of disgust on her face.

"I guess your home would be the first place that Bradon would look when he finds me missing," I replied dismissively.

"No more chit chat," Bradon’s father said as he urged me out of the car.

I told myself that it did make sense that they would find a place for me to stay, but did it have to be such a shabby-looking place? 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

The isolated low-rise building looked like it could use a round of maintenance. The room that they led me to was simple, with a single bed, a television, a desk, and absolutely no windows.

"How long am I supposed to stay here? I thought we made an agreement that you would help me leave the country as soon as possible," I quickly reminded them as I folded my arms over my chest.

"You have to stay here for at least a week. We’re arranging for a safe way for you to get out of the country undetected," Mr. Vulkan replied.

I nodded my head a couple of times as I considered what he had just said. I guess leaving the country discreetly without leaving any traces was what they had in mind for me, and I started to feel surprised at the number of times that our minds were thinking alike.

"I just don’t want your son to find me," I said softly.

"He won’t find you here. Just make sure that you stay inside until we send someone to escort you when it is your time to leave," Mr. Vulkan replied sternly.

"Don’t worry, I won’t leave this place," I promised without missing a heartbeat.

Without another word, the two of them left me alone in the room. Silence wrapped around me as I stood there staring at the bare walls. I should have felt peace, but all I could feel was a dreadfully heavy feeling in my chest. By that time, I knew that Zain would have already informed Bradon of my escape and also of the surprising identity of my accomplice. I wasn’t sure what Bradon’s reaction was, but undoubtedly he was extremely angry with what I had chosen to do. However, I had already made up my mind and it was too late to turn back now.

My first night in the windowless room was sleepless. I got out of bed the next morning without catching a wink of sleep. All I could think about was Bradon and what he was thinking and what he was doing. I wondered if he was looking for me and then realized that he was probably looking for me. More than anything, I realized that I was hoping that he would look for me. I scoffed at the ridiculousness of the idea because only disaster awaited if he were to find me.

Days felt so long and so boring, but nighttime felt even worse. As I lay alone on the small bed, I couldn’t help but think of Bradon and the warmth of his arm around my body as he held me. His hand would curl around my waist as if it was born to belong there. The way that his low voice would softly call my name came back to me as if he would never let me go.

I hated the fact that my body missed him, but even more than that, I knew that my heart missed him even more. I tried my best to shake away all thoughts of him as if it was a weakness that I wanted to get rid of, but it just seemed impossible. It felt like I had let myself fall into a trap, and if I turned around, I would just go running straight back into his arms.

Instead, I tried to think about the future, of what I would do when I returned to the life that I had left behind when I returned to this country. I thought of all the things that I could do and all the new people that I would meet. It didn’t take long for me to realize that I couldn’t fool myself any longer. The future that I saw was bleak, with nothing interesting, as if everything had been painted in various shades of gray. There was no light and no color in the future that I saw for myself, and I knew that it was because he wasn’t a part of it.

My thoughts wandered right back to Bradon as if that was where they belonged. I pictured him in the mansion, his face contorted into a mask of anger when he realized that I was truly gone. In my mind, I saw him working with his men to locate me. I could imagine him approaching his parents to ask about my whereabouts and where they had taken me.

As time went by, I found myself thinking about him all the time, as if I was about to go crazy. Sometimes late at night, I thought I could hear the engine of his car and then his voice calling out my name from the opposite side of the door. It felt like he was just standing there, and I couldn’t help but hold my breath as I waited for him to knock or for him to simply kick down the door.

When the third day came along, I felt a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach that I quickly realized was disappointment. Although I was supposed to be relieved, I felt disappointed that Bradon had failed to find me. For a moment, I wondered if he had even spared the effort to look for me at all. Perhaps he simply gave up on me the moment that he found out that I had betrayed him.