In an exclusive, private suite of a prestigious hospital in Spain, where his youngest son is currently admitted, Sheldon Salvador, the man who controls the Salvador family, sat rigidly on an opulent leather couch.
His surroundings were quiet and pristine, but the tension radiating from him was unmistakable.
A phone was pressed to his ear, and despite the calm, even tone in his voice, the tightening of his jaw and the stiffness in his posture betrayed a simmering frustration he was trying hard to contain.
"I'm truly sorry, Anne," Sheldon said, forcing a level tone as he addressed the woman on the other end of the call, an important business associate whose trust he couldn't afford to lose.
"To be honest, I'm just as baffled. Hannah had agreed to meet with your son. She gave me her word, and she's not usually the type to break it." His voice was smooth, controlled, but beneath it was a storm of humiliation.
He had just been informed that Anne's son had waited for hours at a restaurant, only to be stood up by his sister. It was a personal and professional embarrassment, one he hadn't anticipated.
"I'll get in touch with her immediately," he continued tightly. "I'm sure there's an explanation for this." As the call ended, Sheldon's polite expression dropped, revealing a flicker of rage.
His hand tightened around the phone, knuckles whitening. He immediately dialed Hannah's number, his eyes narrowing with intensity.
Though he said nothing aloud, his body language spoke volumes.
His shoulders were tense, his lips pressed into a thin line, and his stare fixed ahead, sharp and burning with barely restrained fury. Staff passing by outside the hall instinctively kept their distance from the suite, feeling that something in the air felt volatile.
The phone rang once… twice… then continued without answer. Finally, a calm, automated voicemail greeted him. He hung up immediately, jaw clenching.
"What the hell is she doing?" he muttered under his breath, the words laced with suppressed anger.
Despite his restraint, it was clear that Sheldon was livid. But rather than explode, he sat back slowly, the fire still smoldering in his eyes, calculating his next move.
"She already agreed to meet the Racca family's young master, why the hell did she back out now?!" Sheldon exploded, his voice sharp with disbelief and fury.
In one swift motion, he slammed his phone down onto the glass coffee table in front of him.
The device shattered upon impact, the sudden crack of breaking glass echoing through the otherwise quiet hospital suite, startling even the nurses stationed outside when the commotion broke the silence in the hall.
Samantha, who had just stepped back into the room with a fresh towel in hand for her son, flinched at the sound. She turned immediately to face her husband, her eyes narrowing slightly as she saw the pieces of his phone strewn across the table.
"Sheldon, calm down," she said, her tone firm yet gentle, the warmth in her voice softening the edge of her words.
"What's gotten into you?" she asked.
Her presence and the concern in her voice cut through the thick fog of anger that clouded Sheldon's mind. He looked at her, his chest heaving slightly from the force of his emotions.
Her calm gaze met his, grounding him in a way nothing else could. The tight lines in his face began to ease, though his frustration still lingered behind his eyes.
"This is about Hannah," he finally admitted, running a hand through his hair as he leaned forward, elbows on his knees.
"I don't understand it, Sammy. She promised she'd meet Anne's son. I trusted her. And now, she just... vanished," he said, always willing to open up his problems to his wife.
Samantha walked over to him and sat beside him, placing a reassuring hand on his back. Her voice remained steady and composed as she spoke.
"Sheldon, I know you're upset, but this is Hannah we're talking about. You know it yourself, she's not the type to flake without a reason. Give her the benefit of the doubt," she said.
Sheldon sighed, the tension slowly draining from his body as he absorbed his wife's words. He knew she was right. As much as his pride and professional stakes had been wounded, the love and trust he had in his sister hadn't vanished entirely.
"I know," he muttered.
"But this project with Anne, if it pushes through, we're looking at an increase of over forty billion in monthly revenue. It's not just about money, Sammy. It's the reach, the global influence. We'd be opening a whole new branch of operations. And all Hannah had to do was show up to one meeting. Just one."
Samantha didn't flinch from her husband's temper, but her eyes sharpened.
"And what? You were going to pressure her into continuing something she doesn't want? Just to keep a deal alive?" Her words were laced with concern more than accusation, but they hit their mark.
She had watched Sheldon dote on his sisters endlessly over the years—buying them gifts, shielding them from family politics, and defending them even when they were wrong. It surprised her to see him this worked up over a business deal, especially one that involved manipulating Hannah's social life.
"Sheldon, are you thinking of turning this into some sort of arranged marriage just because it worked out for us?" she asked, her brow furrowing. "That was our choice. It doesn't mean it should be hers too."
Her words made Sheldon's eyes widen slightly, as if the idea alone offended him.
"Of course not! Sammy, how could you think that? I'd never force Hannah or Shaine into something they didn't want. I don't care if the entire Salvador empire crumbles to dust. They're my sisters. They'll marry who they love, nothing less," he immediately explained.
Knowing how agitated her husband is, Samantha gently leaned her head on his shoulder to calm him down.
"I know you love them," she said softly. "But love also means trusting that they know what's best for themselves, even if it messes with your schedule," she explained.
Years of marriage with the man made her accustomed to calming him down.
Sheldon let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. His fists, once clenched in anger, now rested open on his knees.
"You're right," he murmured. "You always are," he added, kissing the back of her palms.
There was a silence between them for a moment as Sheldon finally calmed down before Samantha decided to break it.
"Look, I know you're calmer now and thinking straight, but there's something important I need you to hear and actually take to heart," Samantha said after a long silence, turning to face Sheldon with a serious expression.
Her voice was steady, but there was an unmistakable edge beneath it.
"I've been around your sisters since we first got together. I've watched them grow up, and over the years, I've come to love them like they were my own sisters. They're not just your family anymore, they're mine too," she continued.
Hearing his wife's heartfelt words filled Sheldon's heart with warmth, but she's not done yet. She paused for a moment, making sure her words sank in.
"I care about them deeply. I've stood by them, supported them, and looked out for their happiness just like I would for a younger sister. And that's why I need to say this clearly."
"If you try to push them into marriages they're not ready for or don't want, it's not just going to hurt them, it's going to hurt me too. I won't sit by and watch you make decisions for them that they're not okay with. And if you go down that road, Sheldon, it's going to cause a rift between us. I'm telling you now because I need you to understand how serious I am," she said.
Samantha's words weren't just out of concern, they came from a place of deep, personal pain. She knew exactly what it felt like to have her choices stripped away from her by the people she expected to love her.
Her own family had forced her into an arranged marriage the moment she turned eighteen, treating her life like a transaction instead of a future to be lived.
By sheer luck, or perhaps fate, she was paired with Sheldon, a man of integrity and compassion. But what if it hadn't been him?
What if, instead of a kind husband, she had been bound to a man with violent hands? What if her in-laws had been cruel or her husband unfaithful and manipulative? These weren't just dark thoughts. They were real possibilities, and they terrified her.
Now, as she thinks of Hannah, still so young and full of dreams, those old wounds burn fresh in her chest.
She knew Sheldon loved his sisters, but love isn't always enough. Money, pressure, and family expectations can twist even the best intentions into something dangerous.
Samantha wasn't afraid of Sheldon's love. No, she was afraid of what that love might overlook. And that fear is what drove her voice to steel and her stance to defiance, because she would not let history repeat itself.
She's going to fight for the girls' future the way her parents failed to fight for hers.
Hearing Samantha's words, a heavy weight settled in Sheldon's chest. Guilt twisted through him, sharp and unrelenting. Her pain wasn't unfamiliar, it mirrored his own.
He, too, had been shoved into an arranged marriage at eighteen, too young for all the obligations he was forced to bear, forced to accept a future someone else had written for him.
That future had turned out to be with Samantha, his greatest blessing, but it could have easily gone the other way.
His voice was quiet at first, raw with emotion. "Samantha…" He called out to her, his gaze soft but unwavering.
"I swear on my life, I would never do that to my sisters or to our children. What was done to us, the way we were forced into something so life-altering without a choice… it ends here. It ends with us," he swore. His throat tightened, but he pushed through, needing her to hear every word.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry I ever made you feel like I'd repeat that cycle. I didn't mean to, truly. And I promise you, if Hannah meets this boy and doesn't feel right about it, that's it. I won't push her. I'll stand by her choice, no matter what, because her happiness matters more than any tradition or expectation," he explained, realizing how wrong he was with his actions.
He reached out, gently taking her hand. "We were lucky, both you and I. But I'll never leave their futures to luck."
He didn't quite understand how things had turned so quickly. Just minutes ago, it had been him—frustrated, pacing, furious with his sister for jeopardizing a crucial business deal.
But now, the tables had turned. His wife, calm and composed moments earlier, now stood across from him with a visible storm brewing in her eyes, her disapproval cutting deeper than any of her words.
And just like that, Sheldon found himself scrambling, not to salvage a multimillion-dollar project, but to soften the growing tension between him and the woman he loved.
Still, even that confrontation seemed to pale in comparison to what neither of them could possibly have known.
Far from the comfort of the hospital suite, high above the city where the lights faded into nothingness and the air grew colder and heavier with altitude, the very subject of their heated conversation now lay helpless, her slender figure sprawled across the backseat of a moving vehicle.
Her breathing was slow but steady, her limbs limp, her head rolling gently from side to side with the motion of the car as it wound its way up a shadowed, forested mountain road.
Behind the wheel sat a man cloaked in black, head to toe, his expression obscured in the dim glow of the dashboard lights. His hands, clad in gloves, gripped the steering wheel with practiced calm, his gaze flicking periodically to the rearview mirror.
Each time, his cold eyes scanned the unconscious girl, confirming she had not stirred. She remained out cold, unaware of the danger surrounding her, her hair gently tangled, her dress wrinkled from the sudden abduction.
Silence blanketed the vehicle, save for the steady hum of the engine and the rhythmic creak of branches brushing against the car as it drove deeper into isolation.
Where he was taking her, and why, only he knew.
And back in the city, neither Sheldon nor Samantha could begin to imagine the peril that Hannah was in, nor the storm that was about to descend upon their family.
***🦋***
Author's note
Can we just take a moment to appreciate Samantha? I didn't plan for her to steal the spotlight, but wow—she commanded that scene. One minute I was writing a casual conversation, and the next, I was knee-deep in raw emotion, past trauma, and a woman rising like fire to defend someone she loves. What started as a simple scene turned into an entire page of heartbreak, strength, and silent promises.
And now? Now I can't stop thinking about where this is all headed.
Because if Samantha's gut is right—and I'll let you guys know in advance, she's rarely wrong—then something darker is creeping into Hannah's path. A forced marriage might just be the tip of the iceberg.
What if Samantha's fears aren't just echoes of her past but a warning of what's to come? What if the boy Hannah's being introduced to has secrets no one saw coming? And what if this family, already frayed by tradition and quiet expectations, is about to unravel in ways none of them are ready for?
Something tells me this is only the beginning. There's a storm coming—one that could test everything Samantha just vowed to protect. And Hannah… well, there's more to her story than even she realizes. You can feel it, right? The tension is building. The sense that something dark is waiting just around the corner?
What do you think is going to happen in the chapters ahead? Is Hannah in real danger? Let me know your theories—I have a feeling things are about to get very intense.