Hitched & Hitched Again: A Comedy of Marital Mayhem novel Chapter 1816

Elliot was stunned. "Did Axel send that?"

Tarquin Bradford pressed his lips into a tight line and nodded, his breathing ragged.

Elliot's heart raced. He scrambled out of bed, pulling Tarquin toward Elijah's room. He woke his brother, urging him to trace the message—Elijah was the tech genius between them.

The moment Elijah saw the text, he grew just as tense.

Without wasting a single second, he fired up his computer, his fingers flying across the keyboard.

A moment later, Elijah stopped. He frowned deeply. "The SIM card is dead. I can't track its real-time location!"

Tarquin stared intently at the glowing screen. "Dead?"

Elijah nodded grimly. "Yeah. It looks like the phone and the card were destroyed immediately after the message was sent."

"The best I can do is pull the last pinged location from right before the signal dropped. That's where he was when he texted you."

Tarquin's expression darkened as a heavy sense of dread settled in his chest.

There were only two possibilities here. Either his enemies had done it, or Axel had done it himself.

But the enemy theory made little sense. If they had killed Axel, there would be no reason to dispose of the phone just to hide his location.

That meant Axel had likely done it himself!

He had deliberately destroyed his comms to mask his whereabouts, ensuring Tarquin couldn't find him.

This message wasn't a cry for help; it was a final goodbye. He didn't want Tarquin risking his life on a rescue mission.

Axel had to be in grave danger, fully convinced he wasn't making it out alive.

But why? How had things escalated so quickly?

They had spent years carefully orchestrating this plan, leaving no room for error. Just two days ago, Axel had reported that everything was running smoothly.

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