Frank’s tall, broad–shouldered frame actually swayed, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he almost failed to find his voice. “What did you just say?”

    Beside him, Marcia had heard every word Bernard said, and her mind wentpletely nk.

    She never imagined that Frank would discover the truth at a moment like

    this.

    What now??

    How was it that Elissa, that wretched woman, always managed to slip through disaster unscathed?

    No.

    She couldn’t let this happen.

    Jealousy was about to drive Marcia mad. Her eyes shed with venom as she red at the Scarred Man, frantically signaling for him to do it–now! Just one shot. All it would take was one shot, and Elissa would be dead.

    Then everything would finally be over.

    But the Scarred Man wasn’t an idiot. Ever since he’d learned Elissa’s true identity, he’d made up his mind–not to actually kill her. Tricking this conniving woman, Marcia, out of her money was reward enough.

    Frank stood frozen for a long moment before slowly, painfully turning around. He couldn’t even bring himself to look at Elissa.

    On the other end of the phone, Bernard’s voice was steady and earnest. “They covered their tracks when the adoption happened all those years ago, but I personally verified it–the woman is exactly who you’ve been searching for.”

    “The timeline matches perfectly. The day she joined the Murphy family. was the same day the little girl was adopted from the orphanage.”

    12:08

    A thunderous silence fell. Frank’s phone slipped from his hand and ttered to the floor.

    The person he had spent years searching for, the one he’d moved heaven and earth to find, was the very woman he’d neglected all this time–his

    own wife.

    She’d always been right there beside him.

    His wife.

    He was breathing hard now, chest tight with shock and regret. When he finally mustered the courage to look at Elissa, their eyes met—and what he saw was utter disappointment.

    She was calm.

    Cold.

    Nothing like the little girl from his memory who used to chase after him, pleading, “Promise you’ll never forget me!”

    But he was the one who’d turned her into this–he’d done this to her, with

    his own hands.

    It felt as if a knife had been jammed straight into his heart. Frank’s hands shook violently. Suddenly, as if possessed, he lunged for Elissa, voice raw and desperate. “Let her go!”

    The Scarred Man hadn’t seen iting–he froze for a split second, but that was all Frank needed. With a swift, powerful kick, he knocked the gun from the man’s hand.

    In the blink of an eye, Frank seized the weapon and shoved Elissa behind him, shielding her with his body.

    “Fire!”

    Someone shouted the word, and Elissa whipped her head around to see mes racing across the floor, igniting barrel after barrel of gasoline.

    Marcia and her son were nowhere to be seen–they’d already slipped

    12:08

    away.

    “Who the hell started the fire?!”

    The Scarred Man panicked, and, terrified Frank would turn on him, quickly warned, “Mr. Atwater, once the mes get any higher, the bombs rigged upstairs are going to blow! You need to get out of here–now!”

    Even as he spoke, the fire surged, and the Scarred Man bolted for the exit with his crew, abandoning everything in the chaos.

    “Elissa! Elissa!”

    Frank’s eyes were bloodshot as he tore at the ropes binding Elissa’s wrists, his hands working frantically.

    Elissa didn’t know why Frank was suddenly so determined to save her, but there was no time for questions. As soon as she was free, she tried to get up and run with him, but her body betrayed her–she’d been tied up for too long, her wrists raw and bleeding from the rough rope.

    The moment she stood, her legs buckled from numbness and pain, and she nearly copsed.

    “Don’t be afraid,”

    Frank swept her into his arms, clutching her tightly as if she were the most precious thing in the world. “I’ll get you out. I promise–I’ll get you out of here.”

    “I’ll never leave you behind again,” Frank vowed.

    Maybe it was her imagination, but Elissa thought she heard a tremor in his voice, as if he were on the verge of tears.

    Frank carried her toward the exit, only to find the factory’s heavy iron doors had been locked from the outside.

    Those people shouldn’t have had the guts to do this.

    The heat was nearly unbearable, mes licking at their heels. Frank had no idea where Bernard was or what he was doing, but they were running

    12:08

    out of time.