The Forgotten Luna (Adessa)
Chapter 13

KAEL.

"If you press a fucking alarm, you will surely not like what I'm going to do with you."

"This is harassment, sir."

"No. This is frustration, sir! I want my ring back. My wife is missing. She has that ring, and I want to know who sold it here!" I snapped at him.

He swallowed.

"Do you have a wife?" I asked him.

He nodded.

"Do you love her?"

He nodded again.

"I have a wife, too. I want her back, but I don't know where to start." I put my hand in my back pocket and pulled out my wallet.

I opened it and took out stacks of bills, placing them on the counter in front of him. "Now, I just want to see the CCTV of the person who left this ring. And who bought it. Also the buyer's information on when he will come to pick it up. I meant no harm. I want to know so I can buy it from him." I was talking calmly this time.

He didn't talk, but his eyes were on the cash in front of him.

"You can buy many things with that money. Buy something for your wife or kids if you have any. I'm not even going to take the tape or the recording. I just want to see it."

"After this, you will leave?" He asked in a low voice.

"Once I see the video and after you give me the information about the buyer." I made it clear.

He grabbed the cash on the counter, inserted it into his pocket, and walked to the back of the shop. He then led me to a door that had a narrow hallway before it came to another door.

The security room. I didn't say anything and watched as he operated it, rewinding the recordings for the day, and my heart dropped because I was sure I saw Adessa.

"That one..." I didn't know where I found the voice to speak.

He stopped and rewinded a bit more before playing it all.

The door opened, and Adessa stepped in, looking at her back before going directly to the counter. She spoke to the woman behind the counter. It took a while before she finally took the ring from her pocket. My hands coiled onto my tight fist as my breathing hitch.

"Do you want to record it?" The man spoke.

"What do you mean?"

"Record it from your phone. I'm not going to replay it again for you on another day. You know, after this, I might lose my job."

I should feel guilty for putting him in this position, but I didn't. I was desperate.

I took the phone that Dexter had bought for me earlier and asked him to start the video again. It took a lot of effort on my part to refrain from punching anything while watching the same scene.

Adessa disappointed me. I expected more of her. But I could see why Dexter said he expected her to take that ring. She was probably with me because of my money. She didn't even wait for a day to sell or pawn it.

I wondered if she had been stealing from me while we were married.

I didn't know how I was able to get back inside my car. He informed me that, according to their records, the individual who had reserved the ring would pick it up next Friday before the shop closed.

I didn't say anything to Dexter and just told him to drive home.

It was the longest three hours of my life. I was drowning in silence. I felt betrayed.

I had no idea why I was hurting.

I was still quiet when we arrived home. Desiree met me by the entrance and began chattering about how inconsiderate of me to leave the territory without letting her know. I didn't say anything. I didn't try to explain. I just walked away and locked myself inside my office. My eyes fell on the trash bin. It was untouched.

I grabbed the crumpled piece of paper and brought it to my table. The folders were still stacked up, and I opened the first one.

The same person clearly wrote the signature and her instructions.

I just kept giving her the benefit of the doubt, but they seemed right about her.

It was already past ten in the

evening when decided to go to my room. I expected to see Desiree there, but was glad she was not inside. She was probably sleeping somewhere, pissed off at me. But if she expected me to come to her tonight, she'd be waiting in vain.

I was not in the mood to console or pamper someone. I just wanted time alone.

After I showered, I closed the curtains and was about to charge my new phone when I suddenly had the curiosity to watch the video again.

So, instead, I connected the phone to the TV and checked where the remote control could be. I opened the drawers until I finally found it, and beside it was another phone.

I took the phone and turned it on.

The wallpaper was me and Adessa. She was smiling, and I was smiling too. We looked happy, and it left a pang of pain inside my chest.

Maybe I could replace answers here.

The first one I went to was the photo section. I only had a few, but all of them were of me and her or just her alone. I took too many photos of her.

I went to the videos and played the first one.

"Happy birthday to you. Happy

birthday to you... Happy birthday, dear Alpha. She sang, and it was so sweet and angelic. She approached me, holding a cake with a candle in just her nightwear, But she had her golden robe on her. The recording started midway. Thad probably grabbed the phone to record her when she appeared

singing.

I watched her sit in the space next to me. I wasn't even capturing the cake at the angle of the video. It was all on her face.

She let me make a wish and blow the candle, which I did.

"How did you even hide that cake in the bathroom?" I asked in the video.

"I have magic. I'm a witch. I can hide things and make them appear out of nowhere..." She winked at me.

"That I know," I said, and she giggled again. "A beautiful witch."

"Can you stop filming me? Turn the video around..." She pretended to scowl, making her more alluring.

"It's my birthday. I can do what I want." I teased her, making her giggle more.

"Happy birthday, Kael." Her face softened, and her voice turned serious. She smiled sweetly at me, and for some reason, the tears fel from my eyes. I was not there, but it seemed I knew how I felt that night. "I know you don't want a big party or things like this, but I want to celebrate you."

"Thank you," I replied.

"I'm happy you found me..." She said as her eyes watered. "Even if what we have is unusual, I hope I'm making you happy."

The sincerity in her voice and the words she used confused me. She said I found her. And what we have was out of the ordinary.

"I am happy. I'm glad it was you I found that day, Adessa." I replied before my hand reached for her arm, rubbing it gently. "Are you happy?" I asked her.

She nodded her head, and the camera moved too fast until the video was cut.

I was thinking, I kissed her.

I played another video, and her giggling voice came again. "Stop that. I'm trying to write something."

I moved the camera away from her face toward the paper in front of her.

The table was familiar. It was on my office desk in the central hall, and I could see her legs on top of mine. She was sitting on my lap and writing on my desk.

"Why do you always write in cursive? Try writing in block and print letters."

"My hands are shaky if I write separate letters. looks distorted. I can control my hand more with cursive." She replied.

"You write beautifully," I told her, and the camera shook but remained focused on the paper. She had stopped writing and just kept giggling.

"Thank you, sir. But can you stop..." She giggled more. "...kissing my neck? It tickles! I can't write.."

I checked other videos, and they would always start and end the same-focused on her and then would be cut off because it seemed I would grab and kiss her.

The birthday video and the others were taken before my accident.

This didn't look like we were having trouble in our marriage. Plus, I had taken pictures of her almost every day. The last one was the day of the accident. If I were leaving her, why would I keep taking pictures of her?