A Billionaire's Runaway Wife

Chapter 9: The mysterious car

"Do you remember the car's license plate number by any chance?" the police officer inquired patiently, leaning forward slightly over the wooden counter and looking intently into the shopkeeper's eyes, hoping against hope to catch even the smallest spark of memory, recognition, or a sudden breakthrough in this baffling case.

The shopkeeper shook his head helplessly, letting out a deep, weary sigh as he wiped his sweaty, stained hands on his faded fabric apron. He looked at the officer and replied, "No, Sir, I honestly don't remember at all. This is a very busy commercial area, and so many different kinds of vehicles pass by this crowded road every single day. Is it really possible for a simple, ordinary shopkeeper like me, who is constantly busy serving customers, to notice and remember the license plate numbers of every car that stops here?"

"Well, can you at least tell us what color it was, or what kind of car it looked like?" the police officer asked again, refusing to give up and desperately searching for any useful clue, no matter how small or insignificant it might seem, to finally move this challenging investigation forward.

The shopkeeper paused for a moment, narrowing his eyes and thinking deeply to recall the exact memory from a few days ago. Finally, he looked up and said, "Yes, Sir, that much I can remember very clearly. It wasn't an ordinary taxi or a local car. It was a big, luxurious, and highly expensive-looking white-colored car. The kind that rich people travel in."

"Alright," the officer sighed heavily, pulling out his official pocket notebook and a pen, carefully writing down this crucial new piece of information regarding the mysterious white vehicle.

Standing nearby, Aryan felt his mind racing with intense anxiety, dread, and a wave of terrifying thoughts. He began to pace around silently, wondering to himself, 'Whose car could that possibly be? Under what kind of dangerous or desperate circumstances would Mimi get into a strange, big white car all by herself? Did someone force her into that vehicle against her will, or did she go with them willingly because she knew them?'

Breaking his sudden train of dark thoughts, the police officer turned toward them, adjusted his cap, and said in a reassuring tone, "Don't lose hope just yet, gentlemen. This gives us a specific direction. We will try our absolute level best to investigate this new lead, track down all large luxury white cars registered or spotted in this specific jurisdiction, and find out the ultimate truth about where she went."

After that extremely tense, dramatic, and emotionally exhausting conversation, the police officers, Aryan, and Mimi's completely heartbroken father slowly walked away from the busy paan shop, their steps heavy with fatigue and disappointment.

Meanwhile, the bright afternoon sky began to fade away significantly as the cold, dark evening slowly fell over the sprawling city, perfectly matching the gloomy, desperate mood of the searching party.

Feeling somewhat helpless and restricted due to the frustrating lack of immediate, solid leads or eyewitnesses in the dark, the police officer turned toward the family before getting into his jeep and said, "Alright then, it's getting late. We will try to track down the white vehicle through our local police network and CCTV footage if available, and we will let you know as soon as we find out anything concrete or helpful. For now, there is nothing more we can achieve here tonight in the dark. You should both head straight home, try to calm your minds, and get some rest."

Mimi's father instantly stepped forward and gripped the officer's hand tightly with both of his trembling hands. His eyes, already red and swollen from crying, welled up with a fresh wave of painful tears as he pleaded, "Please find my daughter, Officer. I beg of you on my knees. She is my only child, my entire world, and the light of our home. Please bring her back to us safely and soundly before it's too late."

The police officer patted his shaking shoulder consolingly, offering a deeply empathetic and supportive smile, and said, "We will definitely find your daughter, Uncle. Our entire team is fully dedicated to this case and we won't rest until we trace her. Please try to be strong for your wife at home and don't worry yourself to death."

Then, Aryan set off for home, starting the engine and carefully navigating the heavy, chaotic evening traffic with Mimi's completely quiet father sitting in the passenger seat next to him. Since both of them were completely shattered, emotionally drained, and deeply consumed by terrifying worst-case scenarios about what might have happened to Mimi, a heavy, suffocating, and incredibly uncomfortable silence filled the entire inside of the moving car. Neither of them uttered a single word to one another during the entire long journey; Aryan simply drove on silently, his focused eyes staring blankly at the road ahead, but his troubled mind was completely lost in anxious, chaotic thoughts about Mimi's safety and well-being.

On the other side of town, back at their quiet, dark house, Mimi's mother was pacing up and down the living room floor restlessly, waiting anxiously with a racing heart and a prayer on her lips. Every single tick of the wall clock felt like a painful eternity to her, and every passing minute increased her dread as she constantly wondered when Mimi's father and Aryan would finally return through that front door with her beloved daughter safe in their arms.

After what seemed like a considerable, agonizing, and completely endless amount of time, the headlights of Aryan's car finally flashed against the window pane. A few moments later, Mimi's father and Aryan arrived back at the entrance of the house. As soon as the sharp, familiar sound of the doorbell echoed through the quiet, tense rooms, Mimi's mother rushed over as fast as her trembling legs could carry her to open it, her heart pounding wildly with a mixture of intense hope and suffocating anticipation.

Opening the heavy wooden door with a bright, hopeful smile on her face, she eagerly looked toward the threshold, expecting to see her daughter. Instead, she only saw Mimi's father and Aryan standing right there on the doormat, looking exhausted and broken.

With a sudden burst of pure, desperate maternal hope and joy, Mimi's mother eagerly looked right behind their shoulders into the dark, empty corridor outside and asked, "Where is my daughter? Where is my Mimi? Is she hiding behind you to surprise her mother? Tell her to come out now, I've suffered enough!"

Mimi's father slowly hung his head low, utterly broken, defeated, and completely unable to face his anxious wife, and gave absolutely no answer to her question.

The sudden, heavy, and ominous silence terrified her to her very core, sending a chill down her spine. Mimi's mother stepped forward out of the doorway, gripped her husband's arms, and asked again, her voice trembling violently with rising fear, "Tell me, please! Why are you looking down at the floor like that? Why aren't you saying anything? Where is my Mimi? Where is my baby?"

Mimi's father still couldn't bring himself to look her in the eye, nor could he find the physical strength or words to answer her agonizing, desperate question, tears silently rolling down his cheeks.

Seeing his painful, tearful silence, a massive, uncontrollable wave of panic, dread, and horror washed over Mimi's mother. She pushed past his shoulder roughly, entering the living room and turning her attention to the younger man. She cried out, "Move aside, you don't have to say anything to me if you are going to be this cruel! Aryan, son, you tell me the truth right now. Where is my little girl? Why is everyone standing here staying so completely silent like someone has died? Give me a straight answer right now! Where is my daughter?"

When Aryan also remained quiet, looking away toward the wall with a deeply pained and guilty expression, she desperately tried to deny the reality and convince herself of a happier, fake scenario. She continued with a nervous, forced laugh, trying to brush off the choking fear building up in her throat, "Oh, I get it now! You two are playing a cruel, elaborate prank on me, aren't you? Yes, that must be it! You've hidden her somewhere nearby in the garden or downstairs just to give me a big surprise and make me cry, haven't you? That's it, right? Please tell me that's the reason!"

Her fragile voice then completely cracked, turning into a desperate shriek as the harsh, painful reality finally began to sink deep into her heart, shattering all her illusions. "Look, please stop this horrible joke right now. I really can't lose my patience anymore. My poor heart cannot take this immense tension and agony. Please, bring her in front of me right now! Why are you torturing a worried, helpless mother like this? Aryan, son, please tell me where my daughter is. Please, I beg you on my knees, don't do this to me!"

Aryan finally swallowed the hard, painful lump in his throat, took a deep, shuddering breath, and replied in a broken, sorrowful, and completely shaky voice, "Auntie... please try to calm down and listen to me. We tried our absolute best to search for Mimi everywhere possible today. We went to the police, we went to the tracks, we asked everyone... but... we couldn't find her anywhere tonight. We don't know where she is."

Mimi's mother gasped loudly for air, the cruel, definitive words hitting her ears like a devastating, violent physical blow that shattered her world into a million pieces. "What??? What do you mean she couldn't be found anywhere? You went out this morning with so much confidence, promising me that you would bring my daughter back home safely! Then why on earth have you returned completely empty-handed? Answer me! Where is my innocent child?! What have you done with her?!"

The overwhelming shock, the immense grief, the terrifying uncertainty, and days of pure emotional and physical exhaustion finally became too much for her fragile, weakened body to bear. With a final, devastating cry of pure maternal agony that echoed through the entire house, Mimi's mother broke down into hysterical, uncontrollable tears. Her vision blurred completely, her knees gave out, and she fainted, collapsing helplessly onto the cold, hard tiled floor in a completely unconscious state before anyone in the room could react or step forward to catch her.