CHAPTER 78: SEARCHING FOR EVA

Nathan sat in his office, a glass-paneled room on the top floor of his corporate building. The air was heavy with the scent of fresh paper and stale coffee, a combination that had become his new normal.

He shuffled through the files stacked neatly across his desk. The pile was thinner than he had expected, though not because the workload had decreased. He had been ruthlessly overworking his employees, forcing them to remain long past their contracted hours. Despite their efforts, he still hadn’t paid them.

It wasn’t out of oversight. He was deliberately holding back, waiting for a single deal that could change the trajectory of his company. The deal with the De Rossi family.

Specifically, Dante De Rossi.

Dante was the only one in that powerful family who maintained a legitimate business front. Nathan knew that if he could secure him, he would not only elevate his company’s name but also legitimize his empire.

Unfortunately, Dante had already made it crystal clear he wanted nothing to do with Nathan or his corporation. Yet Nathan was not the type to give up easily. Persistence had built his empire, and persistence would get him what he wanted.

A knock broke through his thoughts.

"Come in," Nathan called.

The door opened, and in stepped the private investigator he had hired a few weeks ago. The man closed the door behind him, moving with a professional stiffness.

"Good day to you, Mr. Cross," the investigator greeted, bowing slightly before taking a seat at Nathan’s gesture.

Nathan leaned back in his chair, eyes sharp. "Did you find anything about her?"

The investigator’s expression fell ever so slightly. "I’ve tried, but there’s no trace of Evangeline Montclair," he admitted.

Nathan’s brow furrowed, his grip on the armrest tightening. "How is that possible?"

"It’s as if she has vanished. No paper trail, no social records, no activity. It is as though she disappeared into thin air," the investigator explained with an edge of frustration in his tone.

Nathan’s jaw clenched. He had been suppressing the need to find Evangeline for months, but now the absence was eating at him in ways he couldn’t explain. The last memory of her burned vividly in his mind.

The night she found out about his infidelity.

He had expected screaming, accusations, maybe even a storm of thrown objects. Instead, when he returned home, he found silence. Her wedding ring had been left on her vanity mirror. Just the ring, sitting there alone, mocking him with its simplicity. Eva herself had vanished.

At first, he brushed it off. She had wanted a divorce, and if she thought leaving silently was her form of punishment, he would accept it. But days turned to weeks. No calls, no texts, no attempts at closure. She ignored every message he sent, every call he made.

And strangely, that silence began to bother him more than her anger ever could.

Eva had been loyal throughout their dating years, loyal even in marriage, standing by him through everything. Yet he had ruined it. And for what? Now, all he had left was Katherine.

Katherine, who was carrying a child he wasn’t even sure belonged to him.

The investigator’s voice pulled him back to reality. "I even reached out to some of my most reliable contacts, men who usually dig up information no matter how deep it’s buried. Even they came up empty-handed. It is almost as if someone is deliberately erasing her presence."

He reached into his bag and retrieved a photo, sliding it across Nathan’s desk. "This is the last known image of her. It was captured on a street CCTV camera. After this, nothing."

Nathan picked it up. His heart constricted as his eyes scanned the photo. Eva’s face was familiar, yet altered. Her expression wasn’t one of anger, nor was it disappointment. Instead, she looked stressed, almost burdened, but also determined.

"This isn’t enough," Nathan said finally, voice cold but strained. "Continue looking. She couldn’t have disappeared from the face of the earth without leaving something behind. Keep searching."

"I do have one suggestion," the investigator said carefully, testing his words. "If you truly want results, you could meet with her family. Ask them for information. They might not trust you, but if you tell them you want to apologize, they might give you her details. It would speed the search."

Nathan’s head snapped up. His voice cut through the room. "No."

The investigator flinched.

"I will not go to the Montclairs," Nathan said, venom dripping from each word. "They never liked me. They wanted her to leave me from the very beginning. I will not crawl to them. Not now, not ever."

His ego burned hotter than his longing. He couldn’t stand the idea of lowering himself before the family that had looked down on him since the start.

The investigator exhaled quietly, realizing how futile the search would remain without that lead. "I understand. But without them, this may take months. Maybe longer."

"Then let it take months," Nathan snapped. "She will slip eventually. People always do."

The investigator nodded reluctantly, resigned to his employer’s stubbornness.

Just then, the office door opened again.

Nathan didn’t need to look up to know who it was.

Katherine.

His expression darkened immediately. She walked in without knocking, as though she owned the space, her heels clacking against the floor. It was becoming a habit, one he despised.

"Nathan, I need to speak with you," she demanded, her tone sharp and entitled.

Nathan gritted his teeth, swallowing the retort that almost slipped out. Instead, he flicked his hand at the investigator. "You may go."

The man gave a short nod, gathering his files and leaving the room.

The moment the door shut, Nathan’s glare snapped to Katherine. "What do you want?" His voice was low and edged with irritation.

Katherine opened her mouth, ready to launch into her demand, when her eyes fell on the photograph on his desk.

Nathan hissed under his breath, realizing too late what had caught her attention. He moved to snatch it, but she was faster. She ripped it from his hand, holding it up.

Her expression twisted instantly. Her body trembled, her lips pressed into a thin line, and her eyes darkened with something close to fury.

"This is Eva," she spat, still staring at the photo. "Why do you have a picture of Eva?"

Nathan didn’t answer.

Her mind spun quickly, the puzzle clicking together. She remembered the man who had just left. "Was he a private investigator?" she demanded. "You hired him to search for Eva?"

Still, Nathan stayed silent, his eyes narrowing but giving nothing away.

Katherine’s blood boiled. The calmness of her morning shattered in an instant.

Nathan was looking for Eva?

Why now?

Hadn’t she destroyed every reminder of that woman? She thought the dress drenched in blood, sent anonymously to their home, had been the final nail in Eva’s Chapter. She thought Nathan had forgotten her. Yet here he was, searching for her as though she were some missing treasure.

Her voice cracked with rage. "Answer me!"

Finally, Nathan met her glare. "I am looking for her. Is that a problem?"

The casual tone cut deeper than a scream.

Katherine froze, her chest rising and falling sharply. He had said it so plainly, so unapologetically.

This wasn’t the Nathan she thought she had secured. This was a man who was no longer looking at her, no longer obsessed with her.

She had spent years eliminating obstacles to keep him by her side. She had sacrificed her own reputation, burned bridges, and buried secrets. And still, his heart was wandering back to Eva.

The realization sank into her bones, cold and suffocating. Nathan never loved her. He never had. She was a convenience, a body to warm his bed, nothing more.

Rage and humiliation wrapped around her like chains. She wanted to scream, to break something, to claw that photograph to shreds.

Instead, she clenched it in her fist, her nails digging into the paper.

If this was how Nathan wanted to play, then fine. She would drain him dry, take every last thing he had to offer, and leave him with nothing. If he thought Eva was still worth searching for, he would soon realize Katherine was the one standing in front of him, the one capable of ruining him completely.