Chapter 4: The missing sister
523 Words
"My sister is missing."
The words hung heavily in the room.
For a moment, nobody spoke.
I stared at Zayan.
His face remained expressionless, but something in his eyes had changed.
The cold confidence was still there.
But now there was tension beneath it.
The commissioner rose from his chair.
"When did this happen?"
"Less than an hour ago."
Zayan slipped his phone back into his pocket.
"She left her university campus this afternoon and never arrived home."
I frowned.
"Have you tried calling her?"
His gaze shifted to me.
"More than twenty times."
"And?"
"No answer."
Something about the situation bothered me immediately.
People didn't simply disappear.
Not in broad daylight.
Not without leaving something behind.
"What about her driver?" I asked.
"He was found unconscious."
That caught my attention.
Now we were talking about a possible crime.
The commissioner grabbed his coat.
"Where was he found?"
"Near the university parking lot."
I stood as well.
"If there's a chance she's been abducted, every minute matters."
The commissioner nodded.
"Agreed."
For a second, I forgot who I was talking to.
Forgot that Zayan Khan was standing in the room.
Forgot his reputation.
At that moment, he wasn't the ruthless heir everyone feared.
He was simply a brother looking for his sister.
Then reality returned.
The Khan family didn't attract ordinary enemies.
If someone had taken his sister, there was a reason.
And I doubted it was a simple kidnapping.
---
An hour later, police vehicles surrounded the university parking area.
The evening sun was beginning to disappear.
Students gathered behind police tape, whispering among themselves.
I crouched beside the unconscious driver as paramedics loaded him into an ambulance.
A bruise marked the side of his head.
Single strike.
Clean.
Professional.
Whoever attacked him knew exactly what they were doing.
I looked around the parking lot.
No signs of struggle.
No blood.
No damaged vehicles.
Too clean.
Much too clean.
My eyes swept across the ground.
Then something caught my attention.
A broken silver bracelet.
Half-hidden beneath a parked car.
I carefully picked it up.
"Detective."
I turned.
One of the officers approached.
"Do you know what that is?"
I looked at the bracelet.
A small letter A was engraved on it.
Before I could answer, a shadow fell beside me.
Zayan.
His eyes immediately landed on the bracelet.
For the first time, genuine emotion broke through his calm exterior.
Fear.
"It belongs to Amina."
Silence settled between us.
The bracelet suddenly felt heavier in my hand.
This wasn't just a missing person's case anymore.
This was proof.
Proof that Amina Khan had been here.
And proof that something had happened to her.
I stood slowly.
"Who would want to take her?"
Zayan's jaw tightened.
"There are too many people who would benefit from hurting my family."
That wasn't reassuring.
Not even slightly.
As I stared at the bracelet, a strange feeling settled in my chest.
The murder.
The fake death records.
Now a kidnapping.
Three separate incidents.
Yet somehow, I couldn't shake the feeling they were connected.
The question was—
How?
And whoever was behind it was making their first move.
- Writer
