Dominic's plane landed, and his phone rang. Axel's name flashed on his screen and he shook his head, smiling to himself.

"Axel?" He answered

"I have been tracking your flight---"

Dominic laughed. "Patience, Axel!"

"Dad, when you see her... Just... Just call me first, okay?" Axel said through the phone.

"Fine, now stop calling me!"

"Yeah, yeah, okay" Axel laughed and hung up.

Dominic descended the airstairs, his guards and staff all around him. He saw Gabriel standing before him. With hurried steps, Gabriel approached Dominic.

"Sir, there is something you need to know" Gabriel informed with a frown.

"Everything's okay, Gabriel?"

"I got a call from a police station this morning when we were searching for Chloe Jones, I also filed a missing person report"

Dominic raised an eyebrow. "And?"

Gabriel took a deep breath. He knew how desperately Dominic wanted to meet Chloe. "They found a body this morning"

Dominic frowned. "What does it have to do with Chloe? Wasn't she working as a waitress---"

"It's hers, sir." He informed with a blank look.

Dominic scoffed. "Bullshit!"

"I'm afraid it's not bullshit, sir. We should... We should get to the police station"

The sudden shock made him tense his muscles. He nodded as Gabriel led him towards the car. His mind failed to accept this piece of information. He hoped that the police had misunderstood, maybe it was another girl with the same name. Gabriel had told him that there were five Chloe Jones in the entire California State. Must be one of them. It can't be Axel's Chloe. Bile seemed to rise to his throat. He loosened his tie and exhaled deeply. His hands were shaking, he kept tapping his foot.

The car came to a halt, and Dominic straightened up. The door opened, he stepped out. He buttoned his suit jacket and Gabriel led the way.

Dominic only looked around the busy precinct with fearful eyes. He walked further in until they reached the officer who was working on the case.

"Hello, I'm officer Ackerman," they shook hands. "Take a seat gentlemen"

Dominic sat down. "How do you know it's the same Chloe we're looking for?" He questioned

The officer looked between Gabriel and Dominic. "Mr. Gabriel Williams filed a missing person's report and all the description matched with the victim"

"But it can also be a coincidence," Dominic said ignorantly.

"How are you related to the victim, Mr. King?"

"We're not related, she's my son's girlfriend"

"And where is your son?"

Dominic stared him dead in the eye. "He isn't here! Do you have proof that it's the same Chloe we were looking for? A DNA test, anything?"

"We ran the DNA sample but we couldn't find her in our database neither we could find the rapist"

"Ex--- Did you just say rapist?"

"According to the autopsy report, the victim was run over by a car, raped, and shot in the face multiple times. She had multiple broken bones and a fracture in the skull"

Dominic swallowed uneasily. "I'm sure you have the wrong girl."

"We found her stuff in her bag, Mr. King. Her social security card among other things that proves that she was indeed Chloe Jones. We interviewed every employee of the restaurant she used to work at. She exited the restaurant at eleven p.m. and the accident took place around eleven-thirty."

Dominic's phone rang and Axel's name flashed on the screen. The earth shifted below his feet and his mouth ran dry.

"Where was your son last night?" The officer questioned

Watching Dominic's distress, Gabriel answered for him. "He was in Richmonte, he is still in Richmonte. Officer, Chloe ran away from home a few months back and Mr. King came here to take her back----"

Their voices faded in the background and Dominic stared at Axel's name. Not knowing what to say to him. Not knowing how he'll react.

"I have to take this," Dominic said and stood up to leave.

Taking a deep breath, he answered the call. "Did you see her? Is she coming back with you? Is she angry?" Axel flooded him with questions. 

"Uh, Axel..." Dominic thought deeply. He was thinking of something. "She doesn't want to see you" he lied, thinking maybe then Axel would stop.

"Dad, can you please tell her that it was your fault. Say; Axel didn't know anything, I kidnapped him. Just bring here and I swear I'll tell her everything..."

"I--- I don't know, Axel. She seems really pissed" Dominic knew, he was digging a deeper pit for himself with all the lies but he knew this will devastate Axel.

"Dad, just bring her here... Apologize to her, I know her, she'll feel bad for you in a second. She has a soft heart, tell her that her dad is sick. Just do something!" His frustrated voice came from the other end.

"I'll try but you need to stop calling me. I think it'll take her some days to finally come with us"

"Yeah... How does she look?" Axel asked biting his fingernails.

Dominic choked. "She... Um... She looks great"

Axel laughed lightly. "Tell her, Axel loves you"

"I have to go, Axel" saying that Dominic hung up the call as he couldn't take it anymore.

Dominic strode into the police department. He walked towards officer Ackerman. "Officer, I would like to see the body" he demanded.

"I'm afraid we don't have it here, sir. If you need to see her, you have to visit the morgue at the medical examination center. We need to question all your men including yourself as we have no leads or suspects. We're gonna need your DNA---"

"Do what you have to. I need to find the person who did this to her!"

Officer Ackerman nodded. "This way, sir"

They questioned all of Dominic's men who were searching for Chloe for the past few months. They also questioned Dominic as he told them everything there was to know about Axel and Chloe.

They took the DNA samples and Dominic and his men were free to finally leave. They drove straight to the medical center, where they were keeping Chloe's body.

Everything happened so fast and all Dominic could think about was his son and the fact that he left a poor little girl alone in this world.

They took them to a morgue. Dominic entered and covered his nose with a napkin as a vaguely chemical-like smell fell on his nostrils.

They walked to where her body was. It was covered with a white sheet, with only her feet peeking out of it. There was a tag around her big toe. The tag had her identification information.

Name: Chloe Jones
Height: 165.10cm
Eye color: Green
Cause of death: Multiple gunshot wounds to the face
Time of death: 11:45 p.m.

The medical practitioners uncovered her face and Dominic looked away immediately. She laid on the bed, unresponsive, wrapped in bandages from head to toe. Only one of her closed eyes was exposed.

Dominic staggered back. The sight horrified him. He couldn't stay there anymore, he ran out of the morgue and breathed out heavily as he stepped out. He slumped on the bench and held his head in his hands.

Gabriel followed his boss out. "Sir?"

"I didn't mean for this to happen, Gabriel. I didn't want her to die" he looked down as he controlled his emotions. "She was just a child, much like Axel and Charlotte, and now... She's dead. If I had fulfilled my promise to Axel, she would've been alive right now. If I had protected her the way Axel asked me to. It's my fault that she's dead. I didn't mean for a child to die... She was raped and tortured before that fucked up goon shot her... She was a fucking child"

"Sir, it isn't your fault"

Dominic glared at him. "It is! I took my son and left her here to die. She was innocent in all this... I blamed her for taking Axel away but it was Axel who took her away from everything. I have never felt this helpless and ashamed"

"Sir---"

"What am I going to tell, Axel? Do you know how excited he is? He is waiting for her, what am I supposed to say to him?! How will I show up with her dead body?!"

"I'll take care of everything"

Gabriel took care of all the paperwork as Dominic wasn't in his right headspace. Axel called him multiple times but he declined all the calls.

Dominic decided to take her dead body back to Richmonte, close to Axel. He'd want that; he thought. Dominic pressurized the California state police to solve Chloe's case as soon as possible. He bribed the officer that whenever they'd find the person responsible for her murder, he'd let Dominic King deal with him.

Now sitting in his personal jet with Chloe's body resting in a casket in another room. He thought about what to say to Axel but nothing came to his mind. How can he tell his son that the girl he loved was brutally murdered because his father failed to fulfill his promise? Axel will hate him forever. He has seen the craze he had for Chloe, he couldn't get over her when she was alive, and now how will he cope up with her death.

Dominic felt helpless. His children meant the world for him. Yes, he was a little tough on Axel only because he knew how troublesome teenage boys could be.

But he never wanted this for Axel...

-ˋˏ ༻𐀔༺ ˎˊ-

Axel paced back and forth in his living. "She's gonna be here any second now, Charlie"

Charlotte laughed. "I'm excited to meet her as well. But you need to tone down the excitement. You look desperate."

"I'm desperate! But I'm also happy and I'm dreading the moment when she'll be here. I mean, we got into a big fight before I left. She asked for some time but I left her alone. I left for a walk and then I never went back" he explained with a solemn look. 

Charlotte nodded. "Of course, she will be angry but she will calm down in a few days. She loves you, right?"

"I don't know I think she might hate me more than she loves me" he sighed. Suddenly, his face lit up. "I'm gonna stick to my plan. I'm gonna tell her that dad kidnapped me and kept me hostage here. I'll put the entire blame on dad" he laughed.

"You're mean, Axel"

"Then Chloe will be all sympathetic. She's a sweetheart. She'll be like; oh Axel, baby, I didn't know, sorry for not trusting you. I love you, Axel. I love you" he said in a girly voice.

"Ew, save the lovey-dovey stuff for the bedroom" she cringed.

"You have no idea what I have in mind for the bedroom" Axel retorted with a smug smile.

"Ew, no! No! No! I don't wanna hear it!" Charlotte covered her ears.

Axel laughed wholeheartedly. A guard walked into the living room. "Sir Axel, Mr. King is here" he informed.

"Fucking shit!" He jumped on his feet. He looked here and there. "Whew! Deep breaths, Axel, deep breaths" he turned towards his sister. "How do I look?" He asked

"Ugly as always" she rolled her eyes.

They heard multiple footsteps approaching and Axel hid behind a wall.

Charlotte laughed. "What is wrong with you?" She asked

"I don't know what to say to her" he whisper yelled.

Dominic entered the living room followed by Gabriel and his guards. Charlotte stood up and faced her dad with a wide grin.

Dominic's face was set in stone as he looked for Axel. "Where's Axel?"

"Where's Chloe?" Charlotte asked

Axel frowned at her words.

"Didn't she come with you?" She asked as Dominic's face fell and he looked down. "Dad, what's wrong?"

Axel stepped out from behind the wall and looked around searching for Chloe between his father's men. A second later, a group of men emerged in the living room holding a casket.

Axel looked between his father and the casket. "Where's Chloe, dad? And what is that?" He asked as his heart pounded against his ribs as if trying to fulfill a thousand beats.

"Axel... She's gone"

And

A/N
Hey!
I hope you like today's chapter!
Comment and Vote!
XOXO, Jane Doe! 🖤