Richard stared at the door long after Ann was gone. She hadn’t shouted. She hadn’t begged. She hadn’t even cried. She had just left. And she didn’t look back. He thought she would come back in a few hours or maybe a day. Maybe she just needed space. Maybe she was angry, and once she cooled down, she’d call. But two days passed. Then three. Then five. No message. No call. Nothing. Her number was no longer reachable. Her company email was shut down. Even the emergency contact she once gave her friend had moved to another city months ago. She had vanished. Richard had people. He had resources. He had connections. And he used them.
“Find her,” he told his head of security. “I don’t care what it takes. I want to know where she is, if she’s safe, if she’s okay.” But every report came back the
