Hellbound With You

Kai let out a sigh of relief once Alex left.

"Are you okay?" he asked the still mute Kelly who was hiding behind him.

"Y-yeah," she replied. Kai turned around to see that she had started sweating, despite the cold wind. He knew that Alex scared the hell out of her.

"Don't worry. We'll find her. Stay here and wait –"

"No, I'm coming with you." Kelly clung onto the man's arm tightly as she looked at him with an expression that said she wouldn't let go. "I want to go and look for Abi, too. Please."

Kai saw a mixture of worry and determination on Miss Hooligan's face, so in the end, Kai could only give in.

They finally left the study and joined the search outside the ballroom, along with the many guards who were also searching for Abi inside the palace. No one inside the ballroom knew what was going on outside apart from the people that were secretly searching for Abi inside the ballroom. The royal family, who also knew nothing at this time, kept the guests entertained with dinner and dancing and speeches and because Kelly and Abi didn't know anyone else at the party, they weren't missed by any of the guests.

The palace was huge but the guards seemed to be able to go through the whole place in a matter of hours to search for Abi. As time passed, Kelly didn't hear any good news and her worry increased. No matter where they looked, they just couldn't seem to find her anywhere.

After some time, the guards looked through the security footage. They found no footage of Kelly nor Abi at the verandah where they were standing so they couldn't tell if Abi had walked off by herself or if someone had taken her. They did find that there were three cars that left the palace after the girl's disappearance.

"She might have been kidnapped, Alex," Kai said while Alex remained silent. "I'll have the troops search for her outside the palace."

"Have them track those cars," Alex finally spoke and Kai left him, along with Kelly.

Alexander stood there by the main gate, his face hard as stone, as his fingers curled into tight fists. He stared outside the huge palace gate and looked at the lights of the vast city with eyes covered in danger and pure darkness.

However, instead of going after those three cars, he stayed right where he was. He slowly turned and gazed up at the old majestic castle towering before him and his eyes squinted.

"Abigail…" he muttered before his feet moved forward towards the palace entrance.

…

By this point, the ball had already ended. It actually ended an hour earlier because the news had reached the King's ear. Of course, they didn't let any of the guests find out about the missing person. They simply reasoned out that the king wanted the party to end a little early because he was tired. Of course, all the guests knew how old the king was so they completely understood and left early, as requested.

The King and Queen were inside the throne room when Alexander barged in.

Looking like a villain, Alex stood there, looking very calm. However, the royal family, who knew what Alexander was like more than anyone else, felt tensed when they saw him look like that. They knew that he was like an unpredictable volcano that could erupt without any warning and once he erupted, he would be unstoppable. There was no telling the extent of damage he would cause.

"Alexander, is there something wrong?" the King spoke. King Livius Reign was already quite old but he still held himself with the dignity of a powerful and commanding king. His wife, Queen Leah, who was only a few years younger than the king, still looked younger than her age. She was elegantly beautiful even with most of her hair already gray.

Alexander didn't answer him and just smiled as he scanned all the faces of the royal family, as if he was looking for something, a clue maybe, from their expressions. Apart from the King and Queen, the four princesses, still dressed in their finery, were also in the room as well as some high officials. None of the princes were present in the throne room.

The queen then approached Alex carefully.

"Alex, is this about the missing girl?" her voice was sincere and filled with concern as she spoke to Alex.

Again, the man didn't answer. His eyes squinted as he continued to search each person's face, almost as if he was trying to read their mind through their eyes.

And then…

"Bring her out," he suddenly said but his tone was still quite calm.

"Alexander, what are you saying?" The old King finally lost his patience and his voice thundered inside the hall.

Alex smirked, completely unfazed by the King's tone.

"Don't test my patience. Where is she?" he again asked. His voice was melodic and his lips curved up into a sardonic smile which didn't reach his eyes. Though his expression looked pleasant, the temperature in the room suddenly dropped to below freezing and everybody felt themselves tense up involuntarily.

"Alex, I heard that the guards are chasing some cars that left the palace after the girl disappeared. Shouldn't you be out there searching for her rather than looking for her here and asking us? You already searched the entire palace, right?  The guards already said she's not here."

One of the princesses, the second to the youngest one, named Mira, was the one who spoke.

The tall, elegant, beautiful and youthful princess talked with a confidence that could only be gained from being born as a royal. However, her confidence soon faded once Alexander set his eyes on her.

The princess held her breath as Alex stepped towards her, locking her with the intensity of his gaze. Those calm and dangerous eyes of his never moved from her face as he walked closer to her, his dark cold aura blazing with the fires of hell.

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Dear readers,

I just want to vent out my frustration as the author of this book. Please don't call me greedy and curse me because I locked my chapters too early and even put privilege chapters. To all the readers who think I'm just into money, please leave this book and leave me alone. You guys don't have any idea how hard I work just for this book. I'm telling you again, I have a full time job. Writing is just my part time job. I write after my work, during breaks, holidays and weekends. I always wonder why I am working this hard. Honestly, I don't earn that much. This book is not even in top 10 to give me a decent earning. I don't even have time to edit my chapters and I don't want to publish unedited chapters filled with errors like what I did to all my other books. I love this book so I want it to at least be decent.

I know that I have real readers who understand me and love me and appreciate my hard work from the bottom of their hearts. I love you all, you guys are the reason why I'm still writing.

Love,

Kazzen lx