?Chapter 1116:


    “Freya,”


    “Hmm?”


    “Don’t you think you’ve been brushing me off a bittely?” Ellis stepped in close, his voice dipping low. “I came all this way just to see you, and you refused to share a bed with me. Now I’m asking you to hang out, and suddenly you’re too busy?”


    Freya didn’t say a word. What was she even supposed to say to that?


    “Or is it that you’re hiding something from me?” Ellis asked again, half-serious, half-joking. “Maybe seeing someone else and too caught up to make time for me?”


    “No!” Freya jumped in quickly, anxious he might actually start digging.


    If he decided to investigate, there was no way she’d be able to cover it up. Sure, Riley and Greta had her back—but under Ellis’s intense “interrogation,” they’d probably let something slip, thinking it was nothing.


    And as for her schedule—it wasn’t exactly subtle.


    “I’ll work overtime tomorrow and let Melvin take over the meeting the day after,” Freya lied with smooth ease. “Then I’ll go out with you. Deal?”


    “Now that’s more like it.” Ellis gave her nose a yful tap.


    These days, every time he needed to travel abroad, it requiredyers of clearance from the organization—he didn’t leave the country unless he had to. This trip came with a rare, tight approval window, and he wanted to take Freya out to experience everything worth seeing while itsted.


    Once they settled on the n, Ellis stepped out first, and Freya headed off to freshen up.


    The next morning, Ellis left to take care of his business. Freya handled part of her workload, passed the rest off to Melvin, and went out to follow up on the ring. What she hadn’t anticipated was something going sideways halfway through—a kidnapping.


    She now sat quietly inside a car.


    Calm andposed, she nced at the men around her and asked, almost casually, “Who are you guys?”


    g?lnσν????s is where magic happens


    “Don’t be scared, sweetheart. We’re just having a little fun.” The bearded man riding shotgun grinned—but when he straightened up, his expression turned sharp. “Your boyfriend is Ellis Lambert, right?” At that, Freya’s defenses snapped into ce.


    Maybe life had been a little too calmtely, or maybe she’d just never imagined a kidnapping happening here—either way, she’d been caught slipping and dragged into this vehicle.


    Still, if she wanted out, she could break free easily. But something about this felt useful.


    For reasons she couldn’t quite exin, she wasn’t ready to bolt just yet.


    Who were these people? What did they want with Ellis? Until she got some answers, she wouldn’t rest. If they were gunning for Ellis, it was no joke—his enemies were never just run-of-the-mill types.


    “No need to be so icy.” The bearded man kept shing that grin, trying way too hard to seem approachable. “We’re really just ying around.”


    “ying around? While pointing guns at me?” Freya’s voice stayed eerily calm. Two pistols were aimed right at her inside the car. One wrong twitch and they’d open fire without flinching.


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