Chapter 437

The auction was about to begin, and guests were arriving in elegant waves. Joshua checked the time. Shermaine should be landing in about ten minutes. He hadn’t seen her in days, and the distance was starting to wear on him. Knowing she was pregnant and traveling alone only made it worse. He’d barely slept these past few nights, plagued by worry. Since they got married, he’d grown used to shielding her from everything. He’d pampered her and wrapped her in comfort, so much so that she had become more delicate than before. Pregnancy often came with fatigue, nausea, and occasional vomiting. But aside from needing more sleep, Shermaine seemed perfectly fine. If anything, her appetite had improved.

Just then, Bradley came hurrying over, his expression tight and voice low. “Mr. York.” Joshua looked up. “What is it?” Bradley hesitated, as though still struggling to believe what he was about to say. “The helicopter lost contact while flying over Mount Hordeum. We haven’t been able to reach them. Nothing on satellite either. It’s like they just… vanished.” There had been no warning. It was the kind of disappearance that hit like a punch to the chest. Bradley had been by Joshua’s side for years. He had seen him face crisis after crisis without blinking, had watched him stare down boardrooms, scandals, and even death with that same unshakable calm. But this was different. This time, it was Shermaine. And she was carrying their child. If something had happened to her, it would be a double tragedy. Even if she hadn’t been pregnant, Shermaine was the one person Joshua would never risk losing. She was his compass, his still point in a spinning world. If anything happened to her, it would be like someone had torn his heart out and left nothing behind. Statistically, survivors in helicopter crashes were rare. Joshua’s face darkened. His jaw was tight, his eyes bloodshot. “Send a search team. Now!” He refused to believe she was gone.

Shermaine jolted awake as the cabin shook violently. They were already inside the black vortex. Neil Frederick, the pilot, was pale with shock. In all his years of flying, he had never experienced anything remotely like this. Everything outside the window was pitch-black. Ten, maybe fifteen seconds passed before a blinding white light exploded in front of them. Then the aircraft broke through, into somewhere completely unknown. They hovered over a barren, alien terrain. One side stretched out in volcanic peaks glowing faintly red, the other was a frozen wasteland cloaked in ice and snow. Not a single sign of life anywhere. Shermaine unbuckled her seatbelt and slid into the co-pilot’s seat. Her voice was calm and steady. “Stay with me. Don’t panic." “Mrs. York…” Neil’s voice cracked. “Where the hell are we?” She looked out the windshield, gaze sharp. “I don’t know.” Without warning, the scorching sun above them vanished. The sky twisted, and a tornado began forming in the clouds, bearing down fast. Shermaine saw it first and issued her command without hesitation. “Hard turn. Get us out of its path.” Neil’s hands were slick with sweat as he gripped the controls. He banked the aircraft sharply, narrowly veering away from the funnel cloud.

Back at the auction, the bidding had already begun. Molly, still scanning the crowd, noticed Shermaine’s absence and felt a prickling unease at the back of her neck. “Where’s Joshua?” she asked quietly. “Let me give him a call,” Roy replied. Only moments later did they learn Shermaine’s helicopter had vanished over Mount Hordeum. And Joshua had already left for the mountain to lead the search himself. Mount Hordeum was vast, its terrain treacherous. Without a precise signal or location, finding a single person out there would be like looking for a needle in a haystack. Still, there was no other option. A search team had to be deployed. Molly watched Roy as he ended a call, his expression grim. “Sheary’s in trouble, isn’t she?” Roy nodded. “Her helicopter disappeared somewhere over Mount Hordeum. Joshua’s gone to look for her.” Molly’s face hardened. “That’s impossible. How does a helicopter just vanish?” Complete radio silence required a catastrophic event, like a crash into the ocean. But Mount Hordeum sat on land, right between Horington and Basterel. There was no sea, no storm, no plausible reason. And in an era of satellite coverage, nobody just disappears. It didn’t add up. Something was very wrong.