Chapter 364

The three entered the room. Only the cold, mechanical beeping of the monitors broke the silence.

After all, Quincey had known Zinnia for over a decade. He’d watched Zinnia grow up. No matter how hard-hearted he tried to be, Quincey could never bring himself to harm her, especially in her current vulnerable state.

All the medical equipment here was identical to what she had in the hospital. But now, the girl who should have been lying in that hospital bed was gone.

“No way. I left Zinnia right here in this room,” Quincey blurted out. He stared blankly at the empty room, frozen in shock.

“She’s not here at all. She was already gone when I came in. Where the hell did you stash her? Don’t you know her condition is critical? She could collapse at any moment. You’re going to get her killed,” Yannis snapped.

He seized Quincey by the collar, a dark, menacing aura emanating from him.

‘She’s already so weak. How could she possibly endure being put through this again and again?’ Yannis thought.

Now that she was missing, her whereabouts and condition unknown, Yannis was frantic, on the verge of losing his mind.

Zinnia was gone, completely vanished without a trace.

Yannis ordered his men to comb through every inch of the island, but Zinnia was nowhere to be found.

Yannis pulled every string he could, mobilizing all possible resources in a desperate, all-out search, but there was still no sign of her.

Wave after wave of search parties combed the waters around the island, but all efforts were in vain.

They scoured the maritime surveillance footage repeatedly, yet found no trace of Zinnia.

Zinnia was nowhere to be found. She had simply vanished into thin air. After all she had endured, Zinnia’s chances of survival were next to zero.

The biting sea wind lashed at Yannis’ gaunt frame. His hollow cheeks were pale and sharply defined, a cold severity etched into his brow, and his eyes were webbed with angry red veins. His hand hung at his side, raw and bloodied.

Yannis plunged into the sea, meticulously combing the waters with the rescue team again and again. His eyes were utterly lifeless, and not a single spark of light remained.

Every inch of ground beneath Yannis’ feet had been turned inside out from relentless searching. The once tranquil and picturesque island now lay in complete desolation.

They had searched for a full month, a month in which Yannis hadn’t slept a wink.

“Yannis, let’s go back. We’ve scoured every inch of these waters and land.” Devin approached him and gently draped a blanket over Yannis’ shoulders.

Yannis showed no sign of sorrow or joy. The biting sea wind lashed at his cheeks, leaving them pale and peeling. His gaze was utterly lifeless, devoid of all hope.

“Yannis,” Devin said gently, “let’s look on the bright side. Since we haven’t found Zinnia’s body, there’s still a chance she’s alive."

“Get off me. I need to find Zinnia.” Nathan’s voice came out as a ragged snarl, edged with madness.

Yannis and the others turned to look.

Nathan stumbled out of the tent behind him. His frame was hollow and skeletal, his brow etched with an icy severity.

Jackson hurried after Nathan and grabbed his arm from behind. “Nathan, stop. You can’t keep going like this. Your body can’t take it anymore."

Beside them, Nathan’s face was deathly pale, his eyes filled with desolation. His already weakened condition deteriorated further under the grueling strain, leaving him thin.

Again and again, Nathan collapsed from exhaustion, only to wake each time and resume his dogged search for Zinnia.

“Zinnia’s still missing. How can I stop looking now?” Nathan’s voice came out hoarse and ragged, every word scraping painfully from his throat. Waves of pain crashed through his chest.

A whole month they searched, but Zinnia was still nowhere to be found.

The small island lay in the heart of the sea, surrounded on all sides by water. Its desolate shores were rarely touched by human presence. No one knew how Zinnia had vanished without a trace.

Quincey said that after bringing Zinnia to the island, he had settled her in her room. After that, Quincey left the room and waited outside for Nathan and the others. But Zinnia had simply vanished into thin air.

Quincey wouldn’t lie about this, yet they had scoured every inch of the island and the surrounding waters without finding a single trace of Zinnia.

Zinnia was still in a coma. She couldn’t possibly have left on her own. Zinnia’s disappearance remained a complete mystery.

Jackson grabbed Nathan and snapped, “Zinnia fought tooth and nail to save your life. If you keep destroying yourself like this, how could you ever look her in the eye again?”

None of them wanted to see Zinnia come to harm. Giselle and Yvette had cried themselves unconscious again and again. Maisie had cried so much that her eyes were swollen shut.

Henry was so furious that he nearly had a heart attack, and now both he and his wife were hospitalized.

James also mobilized all available forces in the desperate search.

They all cared deeply for Zinnia. Her disappearance tore through their hearts like a knife.

Nathan was far too weak. With just one tug from Jackson, he staggered and collapsed to his knees on the sand.

Nathan’s skeletal hands sank weakly into the sand, his tattered, filthy clothes hanging in disarray on his gaunt frame.

Filthy from head to toe, his exposed skin was a patchwork of wounds, old scabs torn open, fresh cuts layered over half-healed ones.

For a whole month, as wave after wave of search parties came and went, every trace of their former grace and dignity had utterly vanished.

“You’re not the only one grieving. If you keep tearing yourself apart like this, you’ll end up dead.

“Everything Zinnia did to save you will have been for nothing. If you die, how could you ever face her again?” Jackson’s voice caught in his throat, thick with emotion.

If Nathan kept going like this, he would be dead, and all of Zinnia’s efforts to save him would be for nothing.

For an entire month, they scoured every corner of the sea, yet found not a single trace of Zinnia.

“It’s my fault, all my fault,” Nathan whispered, his voice breaking with guilt. He sank into the sand, the briny wind clawing at his lungs. His body throbbed with pain, as if sliced apart by knives.

Even breathing was agony. It really, really hurt. Nathan thought, ‘Everything was finally looking up. Why does fate have to be so cruel to us?’

“Ah.” Nathan let out a raw, anguished scream. He thought bitterly, ‘It’s all my fault. I dragged Zinnia into this…'

Bloody tears streamed down Nathan’s crimson eyes. Nathan’s eyes, once so composed, never flinching even in the face of death, now burned with boundless guilt and anguish.

It hurt too much. Fate had never shown him any mercy. Nathan had lost both his parents, and now even his only pillar was gone. Nathan’s life had been nothing but suffering.

Yannis and the others had to leave. After a grueling month here, their resources and manpower were drained. They simply couldn’t afford to stay any longer.

They were shouldering far too much, the weight crushing down on them, leaving little room to even breathe.

“Yannis, they’re closing the cabin door now.” Devin watched Yannis at the cabin door.

The oppressive darkness pressed in, swallowing everything. Yannis stood there in all-black attire, his sharp features coldly handsome, his expression chillingly calm and distant.

Behind him lay the brightly lit cabin; before him stretched the oppressive, swallowing darkness of the night.

The biting, briny sea wind lashed at him in relentless waves. He stood at the threshold between light and crushing darkness, like a lost soul caught between heaven and hell. His tall silhouette looked desolate and forlorn…

Yannis’ gaze fixed on the darkness outside, his eyes so hollow that it sent chills down one’s spine. “Devin, Zinnia gets scared easily, and she’s terrified of the dark. She must be so frightened out there.”

“Yannis, don’t do anything foolish. Zinnia would want you to be okay.” Devin grabbed Yannis’ wrist, his voice steady and grave.

As the cabin door slid shut, Yannis stared unblinking into the night. Just before the cabin door sealed shut, the overhead lights caught the glimmer of tears at the corners of Yannis’ eyes. Devin saw tears slip down Yannis’ face.

On the anniversary of Grace’s death, Yannis lost Zinnia once more. It was a painful day.

Seventeen years ago, Yannis lost his mother. Seventeen years later, on that very same day, he lost Zinnia, the one who meant the world to him. Twice in his life, fate had robbed him of his most beloved.