Twenty minutes ago.
The Larson Group executives were in a conference with another high-profile company.
Sebastian’s phone had been vibrating for quite a while, but he chose to ignore it the first couple of times.
When the phone buzzed again and he finally glanced at the caller ID, his frown relaxed.
He raised a hand to signal a halt to the meeting.
“I’m sorry, but I need to take this call,”
he said, proceeding to answer his phone without waiting for the other men’s response.
As Sebastian listened to Natalie’s words, his face slowly darkened.
His body grew tense, and a heavy pressure was palpable in the air.
Garrett turned to Sebastian and noted how tight his grip was on his phone, as well as the slight tremor of his hand.
“What happened?” Garrett asked as soon as Sebastian hung up.
But the latter barely acknowledged him.
“Sorry, this meeting will have to be postponed,” Sebastian announced.
He stood up and walked out of the room.
The men looked at each other, dumbfounded, but none of them dared to raise a question.
Garrett hurried after Sebastian and asked him again, “What’s wrong?”
Sebastian closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
“Send out all our helicopters to look for a maple forest in the periphery of the city.”
Garrett needed no further explanation.He nodded and rushed to do as he had been ordered.He knew that something had happened to Sebastian’s wife.
Moments later, five helicopters hovered over the city, scouring for a particular patch of woods.
Sebastian was on one of the machines, siting with back ramrod straight and his eyes straight ahead.
He was barely keeping his anger in check.
Just then, the radio crackled, and Garrett’s voice came through the noise of the propellers in full action.
“We’ve found it. There’s a maple forest just outside the main highway into the city.l’m sending the exact location to your phone.”
Sebastian cursed under his breath and instructed his pilot to turn around.
The helicopter took sever seconds to make a turn, and then it was speeding toward the southeast part of the city.
— Meanwhile… After being slapped and then running for a long time, Natalie now had no strength at all, but she was still struggling.
She stared up at the sky in despair, and thought she heard the distant rumble of a helicopter approaching.
“You bitch, I’m gonna fuck your brains out,” the driver said with an evil grin on his face.
He undid his belt, took it off, and used it to tie Natalie’s hands together.
Before he could tighten the binding, however, someone pulled him by the shoulder and sent him falling on his back.
Dazed and disoriented, the man had to blink a few times and collect his bearings.
When his vision finally cleared, he found himself surrounded by a group of people wearing all black.
“Cut his balls off,” Sebastian commanded, his voice cold as steel.
He stood against the light streaming through the trees, so the driver only caught his tall, suited silhouette.
“Who are you people?” the driver demanded as he cowered and tried to crawl away.
No one answered him, but one of the men in black stepped forward, brandishing a knife.
Shortly after, a howl of agony rang out in the woods.
Sebastian strode over to a barely conscious Natalie.
He crouched beside her and untied her hands before carefully wrapping her in his suit jacket.He gathered her close in his arms and whispered, “Don’t be scared, baby.”
Natalie’s eyes were still glazed, and she instinctively panicked at his sudden proximity.She flailed in his embrace.
“Let go of me! Somebody, help! You bastard! If you dare to touch me, I will kill you!”
The sheer desperation in her voice made his heart ache.
Sebastian grabbed both of her hands and tried to soothe her.
Although his voice was calm and comforting, his face was the complete opposite.
His brows were knitted, his lips tight, and a deadly storm was brewing in his eyes.
Sebastian carefully carried Natalie into the car.
As he laid her down on the backseat gently, the cool breeze of early autumn blew on her ruddy cheeks.
“Do you know who I am?” he whispered.
Seeing Natalie in such a state made Sebastian feel terrible.
He ran his fingers through Natalie’s messy hair.
There were two obvious palm marks on Natalie’s face, and there was a streak of blood at the corner of her mouth.
His heart ached so much that he didn’t dare to touch Natalie’s face.
Holding Natalie’s shivering body in his arms, he gently tried to cornfort her.
“It’s okay now.I’m here. You’re safe.Don’t cry.”
Natalie clenched the waistcoat of Sebastian’s striped suit and looked up at him, tears rolling down her cheeks.
Only then did she return to her senses.
She threw herself into Sebastian’s arms and sobbed, “Oh, Sebastian, it’s really you…”
“Yes, Natalie.It’s me.”
Sebastian was very patient.He gently fixed the suit jacket he put on her and put his arm around her shoulders.
With his head slightly lowered, he was able to press his forehead against hers, He kissed her earlobe gently.
“Does it still hurt?”
Natalie couldn’t answer him.She could only sob uncontrollably and bury her face into Sebastian’s chest.
It was as though a boat that had sailed alone for so long had finally found a harbor amidst a violent storm.
Sebastian rubbed her back reassuringly and gestured at his men to bring some tissue.
His men, on the other hand, were in a state of shock.
Their boss had always been an icy cold, serious man.
Yet here he was now, wiping the tears of a woman as though he was patiently coaxing an aggrieved child.
“Your eyes are all red and puffy from the crying. They won’t look pretty for a while,” he whispered in a low voice.
Only Natalie could hear him.
At that, the woman stopped crying abruptly.
Her teary eyes tumed angry.
“Calm down, babe. You look good no matter what-even if your eyes are red and puffy.So stop crying. It hurts me to see you cry.”
Seeing that she still had the energy to glare at him, Sebastian finally heaved a sigh of relief.
But when his eyes landed on the stark slap marks on her face, his expression darkened once more.
Damn it.
Castration was too good a punishment for the driver.
It took a few more minutes for Natalie to calm down.She was really scared.
As Sebastian’s men castrated that damned driver, piercing shrieks echoed across the forest.
After screaming in pain for a while, the driver finally ran out of breath and fell silent, whimpering quietly.
Sebastian covered Natalie’s ears before turning to his men and ordering coldly, “Keep him alive.No matter what, get him to tell you who’s behind this.”
A few minutes later, Sebastian’s men dragged the driver away.
With a tissue in her hand, Natalie blew her nose and wiped her tear-stained eyes.
The tip of her nose and cheeks were red, and her eyelashes were wet with tears.
“Sebastian, were you able to find Hannah? How is she?” Natalie asked in a broken voice.
Sebastian cupped Natalie’s face and wiped her remaining tears with his thumb.
“Don’t worry.I’ve asked someone to look after her.”
When Natalie finally calmed down, Sebastian took her to see Hannah.
