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PROLOGUE

Aidan stood looking in the mirror feeling his heart pound in his chest. One year ago, if somebody would have told him he would have ended up in marriage, he would have probably strangled that person. But now as he stood in his tuxedo, he felt none of the nervousness he should be feeling when he was going to face his worst fear. His commitment phobia.

Trying to stifle his impatience, he checked his reflection one last time and looked up at his best man for support.

“Ryce ? Is she ready yet ?” he asked for the tenth time. He was supposed to already waiting for her in the church but was being delayed because the bride was not ready yet.

“No, Jennifer just texted me. Kate is not ready yet,” Ryce repeated and Aidan felt he was trying his patience.

But he could not help it. He was impatient to go to the church and make her his wife and she was not ready yet. Hell, why was she taking so much time to get ready. The Kate he knew would have been more eager than him and pressing him. He frowned. Was there something wrong ?

“Put me through with Jennifer please,” he said roughly feeling nervous now that something might not be happening like planned.

“Aidan ! Relax. You wait here. I’m going to see what is wrong,” Ryce almost ordered him but he was not fooling Aidan. He could pick up the worry in his best friend’s tone even as he was trying not to show any of it. Damn !

Silently, he watched Ryce fled from the room to head in the direction of the north wing where Kate was getting ready. They had decided to get married in Manhattan itself where the castle was being used for their reception after the wedding ceremony. They were supposed to head for the nearby church where the minister must already be waiting for the groom.

But Jennifer had called asking Ryce to wait before they went to the church as Kate was not ready yet. And it was already one hour since her first call and in spite of all his phobia gone, Aidan could not help feeling a bit apprehensive. What the hell was going on ?

Sighing, he sat on the nearby sofa. He had waited six months to be re-united with the love of his life so he could make it for another few minutes. Trying to keep busy, he got lost in a business magazine reading the latest stock figures which would help him later.

Ten minutes later, he flipped the magazine shut as he could hardly concentrate checking his watch for the hundredth time. There was still no news of Ryce now and he was starting to get worried. What the hell was going on ? He knew he should go and find out but his mother must be guarding the door like a watchdog since he was not supposed to see his bride yet.

Another ten minutes later, he marched out of the door and headed to the north determinedly. As soon as he caught sight of his mother, the latter signaled him.

“Aidan ? What are you doing here ?” she whispered in a horrified tone pulling him towards the end of a corridor. “You are supposed to wait until we ask you to go to the church.”

“I know but it’s been more than one hour. I think the guests are waiting and I should go but my best man has disappeared and my bride is not ready yet,” he said frowning at his mother when she blocked his way towards the door where Kate was getting ready.

“You can’t go in there !” she cried outrageously. “You must not see the bride before the ceremony. It’s bad omen.”

“Mom, I have to see her. I’m sure there’s something wrong !” he said setting his mother aside gently before barging into the room without giving his mother time to react this time.

As soon as he opened the door, everybody froze and he searched desperately for his bride in the room. Kate was nowhere to be seen and he felt panic starting to grab hold of his body.

“Aidan ! What are you doing here ?” asked Jennifer with Ryce right behind him.

“Where’s Kate ?” he rasped impatiently. “I need to see her now !” he said trying hard not to give in to the feeling of dread which was threatening to swallow him.

“She’s in the washroom. She’ll be here soon enough. Ryce, why don’t you take Aidan to the church for the time being ?” Jennifer addressed her husband but Aidan caught the look of alarm on his best friend’s face and confirmed that something terribly wrong was happening.

Without waiting for anyone another attempt of convincing him otherwise, he dashed to the washroom and found the room empty as he had suspected. Kate was nowhere to be found.

“Where is she ?” he barked furious that they were lying to him.

“Aidan, son. Please try to keep your calm.” Alex got closer to him and placed his hand on his shoulder as guise of support. But he was beyond comforting at this stage.

“Just tell me where she is damn it !”

“We don’t know. We have searched for her everywhere in the house but she cannot be found. She’s gone,” Alex announced in a dull voice.

“Gone ?” he repeated like a parrot. “Gone ?” he tried again but nothing came out except for the very same word.

“Aidan !” somebody cried in the background but he could no longer focus as his limp body fell down on the floor in shock. Kate was gone. And for the first time in his life, he felt his heart break into millions of pieces. There were so many questions in his mind right now that he thought he would just go crazy.

When was she gone ? Where was she gone ? Why was she gone ? Hell !

01

Still in deep shock, Aidan Waldorf could still not focus what was happening in reality. It was as if he had zapped out to another universe where his mind was bombarded with questions one after the other. Why was Kate no longer here ? Where was she ? Had she freaked out at the last minute and decided to skip the wedding ? Or has something happened to her ?

The only thing which kept him sane was the fact that Kate might be in some kind of danger and all he knew was that he had to find her. It was what his instincts were telling him and for the first time of his life, his heart was in synch with his mind. But it didn’t make him feel better.

Standing up still in a daze, he ignored the noises around him and ran towards the door focusing only on what he was supposed to do. Only to be stopped by a pair of hands and he whirled round to see it was Ryce Vin Connor. His best friend. His brother.

But he was in no mood for the comfort Ryce as offering. It would serve no purpose until he had Kate with him. Nothing was making sense as he was having the constant zing in his head. Without saying a word, he shrugged off his hold and made for the door again. Only to be stopped by his mother who stood between the door and himself blocking his exit.

“Aidan, where are you going ?” Meredith Waldorf shouted and he could only look back with unfocused eyes.

Suddenly, he felt his body shake and his teeth rattle. Snapping out of his daze, he saw that his mother had been shaking him and had repeated the question. Hell, where was he going ? His ears were ringing and he could feel himself sway before slumping down on something he could hardly register.

“Find Kate,” he mumbled his jaws feeling like lead. The initial shock had subsided and he no longer felt numb. But his initial instincts were still kicking in ; Kate was in danger. He could feel it. Kate would never leave him like that without any plausible reason.

“Where ??” Ryce growled and he looked up in the pair of grey eyes in front of him.

Where ? Where what ? Then he registered that Ryce had asked him where he was going. And he did not know where to go because he did not know where Kate was. The gravity of the situation finally dawned on him as he sat defeated on the sofa staring into space.

“We must inform the police,” he finally heard the anxious tone of Alex Thornton his future father-in-law and he still looked up with a dazed expression. His mind was still lingering in the fact that Kate was no longer around. How would he be able to bear that ?

What would he do without her ? He had already kicked her out of his life before having taken her for granted and now that he knew how much she counted for him, she was gone. Life was so unfair sometimes.

“Are you alright ?” his mother asked him and he nodded absent-mindedly. He was obviously not alright. But he could not let his misery apparent to anyone else ; they were already as flustered as he was by the sudden disappearance of his bride.

“Aidan, love. I’m so sorry,” Mrs. Judith Thornton was saying her eyes filled with tears. His mother in law was a nice person even if she got on his nerves sometimes but since she was close to her daughter, Aidan could never show her any disrespect. What he couldn’t understand was why she was apologizing ; she had nothing to do with the disappearance of her daughter, had she ?

Suddenly as the idea bloomed in his mind, it stuck and wouldn’t go away. Judith Thornton had never approved of their relationship. Not when she had wanted Kate to marry Edward Bigfoot. The son of her closest friend.

But Kate had never loved anyone else apart from him. Even since the university days and had agreed to marry Edward only to please her parents. Something which he could not resent since it had brought them together.

Frowning, he looked at her mother-in-law closely trying to decipher something in her expression. What if she had been the one who had asked Kate not to marry him ? But why would her mother talk to her out of the marriage on his damned wedding day ? Heaven knew how difficult it had been for them to finally be together.

It had been only after six months that they had become official with their relationship. Alex had asked him to wait for some time after the previous wedding had been cancelled. And Aidan had given his father-n-law his word that he would not see Kate for the coming seven months and he had kept his word. But Kate had not agreed with the deal.

Reluctant at first not to see for such a long time, she had finally acquiesced because she too had been worried what the world would think of her. Not that Aidan had given a damn.

But it had mattered to her and her family. And he had needed to prove how much she counted for him too and he had not wanted her reputation to be compromised at any cost. So no matter how hard it had been, he had left her and moved back to New York.

And had counted the days when he could finally meet his love. But after six months, every gossip about the cancelled wedding had died and he had felt it right to meet her again. He had been the only one who knew how difficult it had been to finally see her after such a long time. It had been a hell of a reunion and he had never had such an emotional high in his life.

Just when he had thought that he was going to get his forever and ever kind of ending, he had been left stranded on his wedding day. He didn’t give a damn about the gossips or bad mouthed people who was sure to speculate on the lost bride.

No, he had seen worst in his life ; he had grown up without a father and was made of tougher stuff than that. What mattered to him was Kate. What could break his heart was that if something major had happened to Kate. And he had a premonition that something like that was going to fall on him soon.

“Do you know anything ?” he asked in a cold voice which made Judith freeze. “Anything at all ?” he emphasized unaware that he was holding his breath and that his green eyes were as cold as ice as he stared in the woman’s eyes.

“No, of course not ! The last time I talked to her, she was smiling like never before. It was as if she was mad with happiness.”

Her words made him release his breath. So he was not the only one who had noticed how happy Kate had been. Especially during the past two days. And that was why it was hard for him to believe that Kate had ran from him. She had loved him even when they had been best friends ; even when he had been too dimwit to realize the true emotions he had for her.

Such kind of love could never be faked and he was damned sure that Kate must have left for a very specific reason. Unless she had been a really good actress. Which Aidan doubted. He had known her since she had been nineteen and there was no one so honest as her in the contemporary world. It was what had attracted him to her so damn much ; her innocence and perseverance in life.

As he stared into the woman in front of him, he saw that Judith had no guilt written on her face and he cast the silly thought aside. How could a mother stop her own daughter’s wedding especially since she had been saying that her daughter had looked happy ?

“I’m sorry. I think I’m getting paranoid,” he finally said and thankfully Judith dropped the matter refraining from any further comments.

Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Ryce picked up his iPhone which had been ringing.

“Yes ?” he barked right into the device as if it was the one responsible for the whole thing. “Okay, we’re coming right away,” he continued in the same brusque tone and disconnected the phone immediately.

“The police is here,” he stated blandly to no one in particular.

There was a hush as everybody walked out of the room hurriedly but Aidan leant back with his eyes closed. He needed a few moments alone before getting back his strength. Hell, he felt like someone had cut off his right arm right now.

Where could she have gone ? Had something happened to her ? His headache was back with a vengeance and suddenly a thought occurred to him. What if she had never left on her own will ? What if someone had broken into the house for some robbery and had seen her getting ready with expensive jewels ? There was a wedding in the house and the security guards must have been careless.

Or worse ? What if she had been kidnapped ? Of course ! There were several exits from the castle and not every one of them was guarded. That was a more plausible explanation to him and the more he thought about it, the more he was sure of his hunch.

But it was futile mopping around what had happened ; if he wanted his Kate back, he had to get up like a man and find her. He had to be strong enough to survive this and be there for her when she would need him the most. If he found her. When he found her, he corrected himself with a new determination.