"No... impossible..."
I rushed to the library. Darkness. I shoved open the door—her art supplies sat neatly on the table. Sketchbooks, charcoal pencils, paints.
I opened the sketchbook. Inside were her drawings. Iceland's glaciers, the black sand beach's basalt columns, and... me.
Me sleeping on the plane. Me smiling in front of the blue ice cave. Us embracing under the aurora. Every stroke was tender and detailed.
"Noelle..." My voice cracked. "Why... why..."
If you hate me, why leave these behind? If you wanted to go, why not take everything?
I carried the sketchbook back to the master bedroom and collapsed to my knees.
The polar bear plushie from Iceland sat on the windowsill, the unfinished Norway travel book lay beside the bed, and her orange blossom scent still lingered in the air.
Everything was unchanged, as if she'd just stepped out.
"AHHH—!!"
A roar tore through the night's silence, like a wounded animal's wail. I pounded my fists against the floor, knuckles splitting, blood staining the carpet, but I felt nothing.
"Boss!" Dmitri burst through the door.
"Find her!" I looked up, eyes bloodshot. "Use everything we have. Turn over every stone if you have to, but bring her back!"
"Yes! I'll immediately—"
"Check Zoe, Isabella, Sofia, Lorenzo," my voice was ice-cold. "I want every movement and communication record they have."
"Understood!"
Dmitri rushed out.
I stood in the empty room, taking in the traces she'd left behind.
Only now did I realize—somewhere along the way, this supposed prisoner had become the only queen of my frozen kingdom. Her presence had seeped into every corner, her laughter echoed in every room, her image was burned into every inch of ground I'd walked.
And now she was gone.
"Noelle..." I whispered. "What have I done..."
Savior, family vendettas, betrayals—losing her, it all seemed so ridiculous, so meaningless.
Why had I taken my rage out on her? Why had I hurt her?
"Because you're a bastard," I told my reflection. "Kholod Morozov, you're a complete bastard."
In the days that followed, I barely slept. Two or three hours, maybe. The rest were buried in family business and chasing leads.
"Boss, you need rest," Dmitri said for the tenth time.
"Did you find her?"
"Still searching..."
"Then keep searching. Expand the range to the entire East Coast."
"Yes..."
