Submitting to my Ex Uncle-Chapter 241

Celeste picked up the last folded towel and placed it gently into the bag. The air was cooler now. It touched their skin softly and carried the salt of the sea.

The beach was almost empty. Only the faint laughter of two women who hadn’t yet decided to leave could be heard.

Amara stepped into the sea one last time.

The hem of her white wrap fluttered in the breeze as the water brushed her feet. She smiled quietly, as if she wanted to remember this moment, the way the ocean never rushed her, and the way it welcomed her no matter what it had taken before.

Celeste watched her. Her hair was tossed softly by the wind, with her eyes soft. "You’re not cold?"

Amara looked back, her feet sinking lightly into the sand. "I’ll miss this," she said instead.

Celeste’s smile deepened, though something in her chest felt tight. "We’ll come back. I promise."

She reached for the duffel bag and slung it over her shoulder. She had already called Rodger to bring the car closer. The sound of tires crunching against the gravel reached them faintly from the hill. The headlights flickered in the distance.

"Rodger’s here," Celeste called out.

Amara lingered for another breath, with the moonlight tracing her face like a secret. Then she turned, her bare feet brushing the sand as she walked back toward Celeste. "Alright, Mrs. Cross. Let’s go before he starts pacing like your husband."

Celeste laughed. "He’s not my husband yet."

"Yet," Amara teased.

Their voices melted into the night as Rodger approached. He rolled his sleeves higher as he stepped down from the path. "You two are going to catch a cold out here," he said, reaching for the bags.

Amara passed hers to him with a grin. "You sound just like Dominic." She eyed him. "I never noticed you’re this attractive."

Rodger smirked. "And you sound like someone who doesn’t listen." He ignored her comment about his look, but gave her a little smile.

Celeste shook her head, amused, as she walked beside him toward the car parked up the incline. "You didn’t have to come down. We could’ve brought the things up ourselves."

"Boss’s orders," Rodger said simply. "You two don’t lift a thing."

Celeste rolled her eyes, but her heart softened. Dominic always overdid his protection. Even now. Even when she told him she’d only be gone for five hours.

The sea roared faintly behind them. The night was thick with salt and silence.

As they reached the car, Amara’s phone buzzed once. She glanced at it. It was an unknown number. She frowned, then tucked it away, assuming it was nothing.

Rodger dropped the bags in the trunk and turned to shut it. "Alright, ladies. Let’s head back—"

A sharp sudden loud sound cut him off.

It wasn’t a sound, at first. It was light, and then the night split open.

The car exploded right in front of them, fire tearing through the metal like it had been waiting all evening for the right breath of air. The blast threw sand and heat into the air. The sound was so violent that it cracked through the waves themselves.

Celeste stumbled back. Her scream was swallowed by the explosion. Amara’s hand grabbed hers instinctively, and the two of them dropped to the floor violently, the shockwave rushing past them.

Rodger reacted first. He lunged forward, throwing his arms around both women, dragging them down further. He shielded their heads as debris rained around them. His voice was sharp, and commanding, "Stay down!" he roared.

The car was gone. Just flames were left where the car once was. Black smoke spiraled into the night sky. The heat was unbearable, and the scent of burning metal choked the air.

Celeste’s heart was pounding so hard she couldn’t tell if she was breathing. "Rodger—"

"I’ve got you," he said through gritted teeth. He reached for his gun, with his eyes darting through the smoke, scanning for movement. His body was trembling. Not from fear, but from the instinct of someone who’d seen ambushes before.

Also, he was right here with Amara, and the whole of Dominic’s world.

A shadow moved behind him. The shadow was quiet, clean, and deliberate. The blow came fast. He didn’t see them coming, as a steel rod slammed into the back of his head. The crack of it echoed just under the roar of the fire.

"Rodger!" Celeste screamed, catching his weight as he crumpled on her. Blood immediately streaked down his temple.

Before Amara could move, a hand covered her mouth from behind, dragging her backward. She thrashed, her nails clawing against leather gloves, but another hand caught her wrists and twisted them cruelly.

She screamed into the palm covering her mouth in horror, as she saw her life flash before her eyes.

Celeste turned just as a second man grabbed her. His arm locked around her waist. She kicked hard, her voice breaking through the smoke. "Let go of me!" she rasped.

However, the grip only tightened.

"Quiet," one of them hissed against her ear. The scent of sweat and metal burned into her mind.

She struggled again, her heartbeat deafening, but a cloth was pressed over her mouth. It was sharp, chemical, and dizzying. Her screams faded to a gasp, and then to nothing.

Amara’s legs kicked weakly against the sand as her vision blurred. The last thing she saw before her world went black was Rodger lying still by the fire, and Celeste, her friend, being pulled into the darkness beside her.

The beach went quiet again.

Only the fire dared to make a sound.

It crackled, and its reflection burned red across the water like a cruel, distorted moon.

Rodger’s body twitched once, before falling completely still. The side of his face was streaked with blood and sand.

His gun lay a few feet away, half-buried, and half-lit by the flames.

The air smelled of smoke, sea, and chloroform. A strange blend of violence and salt.

Farther ahead, shadows moved through the darkness. Two men carried the limp bodies of the women through the dunes as they disappeared toward the cliffs.

The waves broke harder now.