Obedience No More He's the One I Deserved novel Chapter 353

**TITLE: Beseeched 353**
**CONTENT: Chapter 353 She’s Gone**

Eventually, Lucas could no longer maintain his balance. The weight of dread bore down on him, and he found himself crumpling to the floor, his knees buckling beneath him.

“Mr. Jackson, please! This has nothing to do with me! You have to believe me!” His voice was a frantic plea, a desperate attempt to claw back some of the control he felt slipping away.

“Dawn is my niece! Why would I ever want to hurt her?” He felt a surge of indignation, but it was laced with fear—fear of the truth that loomed just out of reach.

“I even sent people to search for her, but we still couldn’t find her…” His words spilled out in a chaotic tumble, each phrase colliding with the next, revealing the raw panic etched across his features. It was a panic that seemed far too genuine to be feigned.

Ethan, however, rose with a deliberate calmness, each movement measured and steady, as if he were a predator surveying its prey. He advanced with purpose, halting directly in front of Lucas, who felt dwarfed by the intensity of Ethan’s presence.

As Ethan looked down at him, his gaze radiated a quiet authority that made it nearly impossible for Lucas to lift his eyes.

“You claimed you knew nothing. And now you’re saying you dispatched people to search for her?”

“I… I got flustered and misspoke,” Lucas stammered, panic tightening his throat. He slapped himself across the face, the sound echoing in the tense air. “My mistake!”

“But I had nothing to do with Dawn’s car accident! I am her real uncle! Why would I ever harm her?” His voice trembled, a mixture of desperation and indignation.

“Real uncle?” Ethan’s voice dripped with skepticism as he leaned in closer, his presence now sharp and suffocating.

“You even betrayed your own sister for money. And you expect me to believe that you wouldn’t sell out a niece you barely care about?”

Lucas’s heart plummeted, his wide eyes reflecting disbelief and fear.

“What? You thought I wouldn’t find out?” Ethan’s icy stare bore into him as he straightened, retreating to his seat with a cool detachment. “Perhaps I know more than you realize. So, spill the truth. Because if my patience runs thin and I decide to throw you in jail, it will be a regrettable outcome for you.”

Lucas swallowed hard, his breath coming in ragged gasps as he wrestled with his conscience.

“I…”

He paused, wrestling with the weight of his own choices before finally relenting. “Alright. I’ll tell you.”

“Someone texted me. They said they wanted Dawn to have a ‘small’ accident and instructed me to pick her up under the overpass in Southville. I never thought it would escalate to this!”

Fearing Ethan’s disbelief, Lucas hurriedly added, “I swear it, Mr. Jackson! My men were there the entire time, monitoring every route your team overlooked. We came up empty-handed.”

Ethan’s brow knitted deeply, concern etching lines across his forehead. After a long, heavy silence, his voice emerged low and gravelly. “Who sent you those messages?”

A flicker of uncertainty crossed Lucas’s features.

He feigned contemplation, his voice shaking slightly as he replied, “I don’t know… He never revealed his identity. It was all through phone calls. But he knew everything about my family and Dawn.”

In that moment, Lucas appeared small and pitiful, the bravado stripped away, leaving only vulnerability in its place. “Mr. Jackson, I had no choice. He threatened to harm my wife and daughter. He assured me Dawn would remain unharmed. How could I have known—”

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify