Return Of The Heiress For Revenge - Chapter 523

Chapter 523: Alive
Nora gripped the phone tightly, pressing it to her ear as her body shook with cold and pain. Her lips parted, but the words caught in her throat. She could hear Max’s voice on the other end, muffled and frantic but she could not speak anymore.

“Nora! Is that you? We left for the highway. I will be there soon. Tell me, where are you? Talk to me!”

“I’m…” she gasped as she struggled to stay awake. Her eyes fluttered. “Off the road, there is a broken path that leads to woods. I am.. near mile three… th-there’s a log, and a slope. I am hiding in a small ditch.” Her words slurred, lips barely forming sound now. “I see… a split oak and a fallen sign.. Max…”

Her fingers slipped, the phone nearly tumbling from her hands.

Max’s voice broke through the static, panicked. “Nora! Stay awake! Keep talking, we will be there soon. You have to just keep talking!”

But her eyelids were already too heavy. Her body listed sideways, barely held upright by the log behind her. Her breath grew shallow, her throat dry like cracked stone. Dots of darkness danced before her eyes as her vision blurred and the sounds of the forest warped into a muffled echo.

The man beside her shifted. He crouched low and eyed her as one might a dying animal. It was cold, detached, weighing cost and gain. The moment her grip loosened on the phone, he snatched it from her hands.

He studied the screen. The call was still connected.He brought the phone to his mouth and murmured into it with a sneer, “She had her one call.” And with that, he ended the call and slipped the phone back into his coat pocket.

Behind them, shouts rang louder. Many men calling out orders on crackling walkie-talkies and searching for her while rustling bushes. Flashlights cut through the trees, sweeping dangerously close. The others were closing in.

“She is not here!”

“I checked that patch!”

“She couldn’t have gone far, there’s blood here, keep looking!”

The man returned to the group, playing it cool as he rejoined them. “Nothing,” he said casually. “I checked the lower edge. There were just squirrels and dirt.” Another man cursed, throwing a branch aside.

“She couldn’t vanish into thin air. Where the hell is she?!” Nobody had an answer.

The clearing lay still again. Only the wind and the crackle of dry leaves answered their frustration.

Back behind the log, Nora barely clung to awareness. Her body was slack now, eyes half-lidded, the sharp stone still clenched in her fist like a forgotten talisman. Her breath came in ragged pulls, every one sounding like it might be her last.

But then, she heard it. It was a low hum in the distance. It was too faint, but she knew it was them. They have come for her.

Slowly, the sound of the engine awoke the night again, headlights pierced the early morning gloom.

The highway was only a few hundred feet away. It was beginning to fill with cars. One, Then three, then several more. Their lights flickered through the trees like salvation. Like dawn itself had come for her.

Nora stirred at the sound. She didn’t open her eyes, but a single tear slipped from the corner of her eye and rolled into the dirt.

Someone was coming. Even if she didn’t make it, someone was coming.

—

Black SUVs skidded to a stop on the edge of the Bargham highway. Doors burst open before the engines even died, and men in dark tactical gear poured out. each one armed, precise, and deadly. They fanned out across the forest trail like a well-oiled machine.

Max jumped down from the front seat, fury already burning in his eyes.

“NORA!” he roared into the trees. His voice cracked from the force of it. “NORA, ANSWER ME!”

Emma was right behind him, her breath visible in the chill air, eyes scanning the dark woods with professional sharpness. “She said the broken trail. . it might be this way!” she shouted, pointing toward the sloping path.

Max didn’t wait for confirmation. He bolted behind her like an animal ready for hunting.

The assassins barely had time to react. Flashlights and red sights cut through the underbrush. One of the men guarding the perimeter turned with a curse only to be knocked flat by Emma’s baton, swift and brutal.

“Contact left!” one of Max’s men called, and gunfire erupted.

The forest exploded into chaos. Bullets ripped through bark, boots thundered across the ground, and cries of warning filled the air. The assassins fired back, but they were outmatched. Max’s team was prepared and furious.

Within minutes, three men were pinned down and disarmed. One tried to flee, but a shot cracked through the trees, and he dropped with a scream.

Another was tackled into the mud by two bodyguards and cuffed before he could raise his weapon again. The last one, the man who had helped Nora stood frozen, hands raised, trying to appear uninvolved.

Max didn’t even spare him a glance. He was still shouting. “NORA!”

The clearing was now lit by the glow of headlights and flashlights. Emma joined him, her voice calmer but urgent. “We have secured the area. They are not going anywhere.”

“Where the hell is she?” Max muttered, eyes wild. “She was just here, she called me! dammit!”

He stumbled further into the underbrush, heart hammering, scanning the shadows until he stopped.

“Wait… Emma..there!” he pointed near the edge of the trail, where the ground dipped slightly beneath a fallen log.

Emma moved first, pushing the log aside and kneeling.

“Oh god, Max!”

There, curled in the dirt like a broken doll, was Nora.

Her lips were pale, her skin streaked with mud and dried blood. She was barely breathing, one hand still clenched around a sharp stone, the other resting limply beside her.

Max dropped to his knees beside her.

“Nora.. Nora, hey. Look at me.” His voice cracked as he brushed the hair from her face. “I am here. I am here now.”

She didn’t stir. For a terrifying second, his world went still. Then just barely her chest rose.

“She is alive,”