Chapter 22
1708 Words
Chapter 22
Missing kids
Third Person Pov:
Next Day
To gather the money I needed, I accepted multiple projects. Six small ones in a week. Work piled up, but I didn’t want to burden my employees. I met clients, presented designs, and delegated only what was manageable for them.
By afternoon, exhaustion clung to me like fog.
My phone rang. I answered without checking.
“Hello? Who is this?”
“When you answer a call, you usually check who’s calling,” Alex’s voice replied.
I froze. He never calls me.
“S-Sorry. I was busy. I didn’t see.”
“We have a meeting tonight at 8 PM with Locson Company. About materials for the Maldives project.”
“Do I need to be there?” I asked before I could stop myself.
“Why? Do you have other plans?” His tone sharpened.
“…No. I’ll be there.”
“Good. I’ll send the details.”
He hung up.
So much for resting.
I rushed to finish everything and completed my tasks by 6 PM. After a short break, I dressed and drove to the restaurant.
Alex stood at the entrance.
“Hello, Mr. King. What are you doing here?” I asked.
“Waiting. I just got here,” he said. “Come. They’re inside.”
I checked the time. 7:55 PM. Not late at all.
Inside, we met Angel—whom I recognized from a previous meeting—and the CEO, Mr. Locson. The discussions went well. We finalized material quantities, delivery timelines, and transportation, then signed the contract.
It was professional. Smooth. Efficient.
And yet, every second, I felt Alex’s presence beside me like gravity.
Third Person POV:
A few days passed. Everyone had returned to their routines. Ana was drowned in work, juggling the Maldives project alongside several smaller commissions. Alex, meanwhile, had been traveling across countries for corporate meetings—until a call forced him back. There were reports of illegal activities rising across the state, and the situation demanded his personal intervention. Along with his closest friends—Nick, David, and Zack—he began investigating.
They gathered in a government office for a confidential meeting with state police officers. The air was thick with tension. These four, despite being businessmen, held enough influence and resources to support national development and crime investigation. Their involvement wasn’t just power—it was responsibility.
An officer stepped forward, greeting them respectfully, and placed several files on the table before Alex, Zack, David, and Nick.
While the men flipped through papers, the officer began, voice strained with worry.
“Recently, we’ve been receiving reports of missing children. One after another. There are no clues—no ransom calls, no demands—simply… disappearances. The parents are devastated, but we’re unable to trace any leads or suspicious communication.”
Zack’s jaw clenched. “How many cases have been reported so far?”
“Between six and eight officially,” the officer replied. “We suspect there may be more unreported.”
Nick looked up. “Are all the cases from the same area or spread out?”
“Different localities. There is no pattern in their locations,” the officer said, shaking his head.
David leaned forward. “Any ransom demands? Any attempt at contact from the kidnappers?”
“No, sir. Nothing. Not even an anonymous message.”
Zack slammed the file shut, temper snapping. “Then what the hell are you doing? These many children vanish, and you have *no* clues to show for it?”
Another officer spoke up nervously, “We’ve searched every possible route, sir. There are no traces—no evidence, no witnesses. We don’t know where or how they vanish.”
Alex, eyes narrowed, spoke as he analyzed the paperwork. “There *are* common points. You’ve simply failed to connect them.”
His friends exchanged glances—they’d seen it too.
Nick asked sharply, “Did you ever consider grouping these cases and studying them together?”
“No, sir,” the officer admitted. “They’re from different districts, so we filed them separately. Only recently did we realize the pattern—we just started focusing our search again.”
Alex’s voice hardened. “Bring every missing-child case from every district in the state. Now.”
Within minutes, dozens more case files were delivered. They divided them and read in silence. Ten minutes later, the picture became horrifyingly clear.
David exhaled heavily. “There are nearly twenty-five confirmed cases across the state.” He pointed to the pages. “In every file, the victims share the same conditions—
1. They’re all from low-income, local areas.
2. Their ages range between eight and twelve.
3. They disappear when their parents are at work—hours where no supervision is available.”
Nick added darkly, “These kidnappings aren’t for ransom. If money was the motive, they’d target wealthy families, not the poor.”
Alex spoke next, voice cold and decisive. “Their motive is to take children whose parents lack the resources to fight back. No money… no influence… no help. They’re selecting targets who will disappear silently.”
Zack nodded grimly. “Twenty-five children. That means they’ve been operating for a while. They’re collecting specific children for a reason—a plan. They wouldn’t risk exposure unless they needed these kids for something.”
Alex closed the file slowly. “We don’t have time. They already have enough children to attempt whatever they’ve planned. We must tighten surveillance immediately. Check every suspicious individual or vehicle. No one leaves or enters without verification.”
He issued orders rapidly—some officers were assigned to monitor transportation routes, others to investigate unfamiliar people in rural areas.
Many affected locations lacked technology or CCTV coverage, so Alex arranged for temporary surveillance units to be installed—portable cameras at entry points leading to rural zones. He recruited locals to assist the police, ensuring both manpower and insider knowledge.
A storm was brewing. And Alex intended to meet it head-on.
---
For the next two days, everyone was completely involved in gathering details. Jen and Fiona already knew about the missing children, but Ana was unaware. She had buried herself so deeply in work that she barely knew what was happening in the outside world.
The companies were being handled by their parents, and Jen and Fiona helped them after learning about the kidnappings.
Ana had been in the Maldives for the last half week, and when she returned, she hadn’t seen Jen for two days. She wanted to call her, but work kept stealing every minute. Today, Ana had a meeting with clients to submit design plans for a small hotel near a rural area. Ana never chose projects based on money, location, or social status—she chose based on character. The hotel owner was a couple, around fifty-five, using their retirement money to start a small business to live the rest of their lives peacefully.
The meeting began at 5:00 PM and ended by 6:00 PM. She parked her car a little farther away because the road was too narrow to drive through. While she walked back to her car and reached for the door, a small girl—no more than eight—collided with her and fell.
Ana immediately bent down, helping her up.
“Hey, are you okay?” Ana asked gently.
The girl looked terrified, eyes darting around as if searching for something. She didn’t respond. She wore a torn dress, her hair messy, her face streaked with dirt—clearly a child from poverty.
“Where are your parents? Why are you running alone? You shouldn’t be out here like this,” Ana said, scanning the area for anyone searching for a missing child. But no one was there.
The girl still didn’t speak. Her eyes only widened, staring behind Ana, and her body trembled like she might cry.
Ana turned to follow her gaze.
A man stood a distance away, holding another girl in his arms—limp, unconscious.
Before Ana could speak, the little girl choked out, “He’s taking my best friend. Please… help me get her back.”
Ana froze. 'What?'
She tried to rationalize, “Maybe her parents are taking her. It’s already late. You should go home—your parents must be waiting. You can meet her again tomorrow.”
The girl shook her head, tears falling.
“I don’t have parents.”
Ana’s heart clenched. “Then… where do you live?”
“There,” the girl whispered, pointing toward the rural settlement. “It’s just me and my friend. She’s all I have. That uncle… he put something in her mouth, and she fell asleep. I don’t know him. I followed him. I don’t want to lose her.”
Ana’s blood went cold.
She knelt, cupping the girl’s cheeks.
“Okay. I’m going to help. Get in my car.”
The girl silently nodded and climbed in.
Ana slipped into the driver’s seat, watching the man from a distance. He looked around constantly, like someone doing something wrong. He passed the unconscious girl to another man standing beside a van, and that man tossed the girl inside like luggage. The van engine coughed, ready to move.
'This is wrong. This is so wrong.'
Ana started the engine, following the van at a safe distance. The small road was clogged with traffic, slowing them down. Her hands trembled, but she kept her voice steady for the girl sitting beside her.
“Tell me everything you know,” Ana asked, eyes fixed on the van ahead.
Conference Room
On the other side of the city, inside a high-security conference room, the atmosphere was tense. All the higher police officials sat around a long table, submitting the clues they had gathered so far. Files, photographs, and reports were spread open before Alex, Zack, Nick, and David as they listened.
One senior officer began summarizing.
“According to recent witness statements, several residents reported seeing a few unfamiliar men roaming the area days before each child went missing. These men would approach the children and help them with small things—fixing a toy, buying snacks—slow
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