Gayle looked at her as she walked in. Her skin was pale and she was soaked in water from head to toe. A servant came and took her raincoat. Immediately the room's AC was turned to a warmer setting. "Dawn, listen to me carefully," he said.

In those few seconds after listening to his words, dread crept over her like an icy chill. It numbed her mind, her body froze in its place and she stared at him blankly. The wall clock in front of her ticked like it was a timer bomb. She wanted to hold the pendulum to stop the time, no, to reverse the time, to bring Daryn back to where he left her. But unfortunately every movement of the damn pendulum meant that the time was going forward. Helpless and anxious as hell, Dawn continued to stare at Gayle. Her heart pounded so heavily that it would have leapt out of its cage. Dread crept inside her mind like a demon whose horns had straightened.

​​

"Daryn is unreachable. We have tried calling him multiple times, but he isn't responding," Gayle continued.

Nausea gripped her. She looked at Cole who came to her immediately and held her hand.

"I am sending some people over there to find out about him. If he messages you, calls you, keep us informed."

Dawn's throat became desert dry. Fear skittered down her spine. "What is the Manager saying?"

"He is saying the same thing—that he met Daryn and he said that he would call us soon."

"Have you talked to his pilot?"

"We tried, but he is unreachable…"

"Then what the hell are we doing here?" said Dawn with a clenched jaw. "So many warning signs and yet you people are still here?" She felt like picking up a table and throwing it to pieces. "Have you guys gone mad?" she shouted. Suddenly she felt that the ground was about to slip beneath her feet. She staggered. Cole caught her. Her teeth chattered as she held the sofa near her. "I— I want t— to talk to the Manager now!" She looked at Neal and said, "Contact the airport now and seek for the plane's coordinates. How could you guys be so careless about Daryn?" Her eyes were blood red, not because she was holding her tears, but because she was mad at them. This was her husband they were talking about. And he was never this careless.

Gayle got up and walked to his room. He had to talk to his connections in Venezuela. Even he was shaking from the inside. However, he was giving benefit of doubt to Daryn. Boys were like that. No news meant good news.

Neal nodded and took his phone out. He dialed the Manager's number in Arc of Orinico.

Without waiting for him to give her the phone, Dawn snatched it from him. The Manager picked it up on the last ring. "Hello Sir," he said lazily.

"Where is Daryn?" asked Dawn in an intimidating voice.

"And who is this?" the Manager countered.

"Someone who will butcher you the moment she sees you."

She heard him gulp on the other side.

"Ma'am, he has gone to the site," he replied in a low voice.

"Now go to your car and drive to him. I am holding the phone to talk to him."

"But ma'am, the site is an hour away…"

"Then I will hold the phone for an hour."

"It is pretty late here," the Manager, replied shakily. "I will g— go tomorrow."

"If Daryn can go, you can go also, else I am sending your termination letter from here." She growled. "Now go."

"Y— you can't t— terminate me," he said in a defensive tone. "I— I won't go to call him at this hour. The m— mine is towards the jungle."

"Oh I will terminate you now, trust me!" said Dawn and cut off the phone.

She looked at Neal. "This is the man you were speaking with?" Panic was setting in her. The man was speaking a lie. Terror filled her mind. "Contact the pilot. Contact the airport there. I want you all to contact them NOW!" The last word came as an order. "Daryn is most likely missing!"

Everyone in the room, developed cold feet as fear loomed large on them. Their Alpha—missing? All of them scurried away to get things done.

Dawn jerked her hands off Cole and went to her bedroom. She dried herself all the while maintaining her calm, but in the process of it she jittered. "I am coming baby, I am coming," she said repeatedly. "Just give me a sign as to where you are…"

Fifteen minutes later when she came back, she saw that Gayle was back in the main hall, talking on his phone.

A servant brought her hot broccoli soup with cream. She refused it, but Cole looked at her with stern eyes. She accepted it and sat down near the fire that Neal had prepared. Dawn drank the soup and felt warmth running in her body. She realized how cold she was until now.

An hour went by when people were only making calls everywhere. Finally Gayle said in a frantic voice, "Daryn's plane didn't land in the Arc of Orinico." His eyes darted frightfully over his men.

Dawn's head became giddy and nausea came over. She sat staring at him blankly, in deep silence. Her instincts were right about Daryn. Her mouth became drier than a sandbox. She felt she was about to become sick if she didn't hear from Daryn. Her heart beat fast and it burst into tears. The air around her was so brittle that she snapped. Worry clouded her and now it burdened her. Horror suspended in the air like a spider, weaving its web carefully and tactfully so that the prey wouldn't escape.

"Then where did it land?" she asked hoarsely.

Every person in the room knew that it's his mate that is going to be affected the most. Gayle didn't have an answer. He ran his fingers through his hair. "We don't know yet…"

"Then find, damn it!" she wanted to shout, but her voice was a mere whimper. "Find him." Her eyes were full of pleas.

The servant brought the food for her, but she refused. How could she eat when bile was rising in her throat?

More people joined and soon the mansion had over twenty people who were gathering information about Daryn. Gayle called Brenda because he couldn't see the condition Dawn was in. Brenda sat beside Dawn and forced her to eat food, and she didn't leave her side.

Almost three hours later, at about midnight they received a call from the Venezuela airport. "Sir, we are not able to locate his aircraft. However, two days back our tower received a voice message from someone called Daryn Silver, CEO of the Silver House." The message was played for them to hear.

Dawn's face became white as a ghost. She ran to the bathroom to vomit everything she had eaten.

'My plane has cr—' and there was a blast. Those were his last words. Two days back.

The official had confirmed that this plane had crashed somewhere over the Amazon jungles. They were still locating the coordinates where they last heard the message from.