Chapter 114 Into The Lion's Den

• Jeremy POV
• The Los Angeles sun blazed overhead, its golden light glinting off the polished hood of my truck, a stark contrast to the storm of anticipation and dread churning in my chest. Beverly Hills sprawled before us, a maze of manicured lawns, towering palms, and opulent mansions, each one a fortress of wealth and secrets, none more daunting than the one we’d come to breach—Scarlett’s retreat, a small but imposing estate where Rachel was recovering, held captive by her parents’ fear and control. I gripped the steering wheel, my knuckles white, the leather warm under my palms, the truck’s familiar rumble a faint echo of the drives Rachel and I had shared in Miami, her laughter filling the air, her hand in mine, a world now fractured by Nick and Scarlett’s interference.
• Bonnie sat beside me, her eyes scanning the street, her posture tense but resolute, while Gabriel, in the back, checked his phone, his investigator’s instincts sharp, his presence a steady anchor. We were here for Rachel, my Rachel, the woman who’d faced Celine’s gun, who’d bled for our love, who’d left a breadcrumb—a location pin—before her parents stripped her of her freedom. The journey from Miami had been a grueling odyssey, three days of highways and desert, the truck’s tires humming over asphalt, the landscape shifting from Florida’s neon glow to the arid expanse of the Southwest, each mile a testament to my need to find her.