Chapter 3: The Misunderstanding

Chapter 3: The Misunderstanding

Arthur's POV

At maximum speed, my driver navigated the car home, while I was occupied with thoughts of work and the meeting that had probably started without me, my secretary equipped to handle the situation while I retrieved the files.

"You said it's in a few minutes, sir?" Gerald was very worried about the meeting like I was.

"Yes," I replied with a sigh. "Any faster than this would be considered overspeeding, right?" I asked him while checking my watch.

"Yes sir," he wished he could help. "Don't worry sir, we'll get there soon."

When we passed one of the many places where policemen were usually mounted, he drove a lot faster. Way above the speed limit, but we didn’t get stopped on the way this time.

"Wait here, I'll get the document and I'll be out in a few minutes," I said to Gerald, who waited in the car as I rushed into the house.

Unusual silence greeted me, which was odd except when Hayley was asleep. My girl was vibrant, energetic, and always making noise. Maybe Jenny succeeded in putting her to sleep or taming her? Either of which I would be very grateful.

I was getting close to the living room when I noticed that something wasn't right. The door was open, which was strange. An unopened box of food lay unattended at the door, and there were foot marks everywhere, made with dirty shoes. The inky black reside made anxiety crawl at the pit of my stomach as a sense of foreboding hung in the air.

"Isn't this the meal I ordered for Hayley?" It made no sense.  "Jenny?" I couldn't fathom what was going on. "Hayley?" I was getting nervous.

I became instantly alert, my mind filling with questions yet I didn’t have anyone to ask them to. "Koko?" Even my chef was away too. There was no sign of life in the whole house.

Not only were all my workers absent, including those who lived in the staff quarters. There were signs of struggle in the living room.

As I took more steps into the house, I noted that the table had been overturned and there was broken glass on the floor. Shoe prints were visible on the floor too. And it made my heart thrash against my ribcage even as I tried to gauze the situation past the worry gnawing at me.

"Alvin," I was calling my bodyguard who had been in the car with me.

"Sir?" He came rushing in within a few seconds. "You called me sir, what's going on?" Even before I said a word, he already noted everything had I had. “Goodness, what happened here? Have we been robbed? I'll get to the bottom of this, right away."

Alvin was an exception man at handling such situation, being an ex-SEAL member. He was my bodyguard for a reason. But at the moment, the robbery or lack thereof wasn’t my primary concern.

"My girl is missing and I need you to find her right now." I snapped at him, even as I called out Hayley’s name over and over again. Where was she? Where was all the goddamned staff?

"Hayley is missing?" Alvin panicked. This was the first time I saw pain in his eyes. "We'll find her, sir. I’ll look for her immediately!"

"My daughter is missing. Everyone is missing.” I snapped at him, even though I knew that it wasn’t his fault. “I can't find anyone here."

"Including the chef?" Alvin asked astounded.

"Every fucking person is missing, you fool. I think my daughter has been abducted." I didn't mean to be rude to Alvin, but I bet he understood how I felt to know that my daughter was missing, a few minutes after she pranked me that she was missing.

"Sir," Alvin said in deep thought. "When we were coming in through the gates, I saw tire tracks outside. I was going to point it out but you seemed very busy and in a hurry. Those tracks might give us a clue. I feel like whatever happened here is related to those tracks I saw outside."

"Show me where the tracks are," I replied, growing eager as a flicker of hope bloomed in my chest.

Alvin dashed out, and I followed suit.

"Right here, sir." He pointed at very bold tracks that didn't seem like they were made by any of my cars. The tire marks seemed dirty, as if they had been through something similar to soot…just like the shoe marks in the living room.

"This seems like tire tracks made by a van. Since it was parked here and footprints are leading to it, it means it might have to do with your daughter's disappearance." He paused to observe it closely, pacing back and forth and staring keenly at the tracks.

"Why is this taking so long? They're probably driving away. Can we get going already? I don't want them to hurt my daughter. I wonder if Jenny is hurt or bound as well. And where the hell are the rest of my workers!"

I was myself talking nonsense, which was very unlikely of me, but it was all because I couldn’t bring myself to stay calm. The only family I had was missing and there were no hints at to what could’ve happened to her. I was on the verge of panicking.

"Speaking of the track, I think it goes all the way down there towards that road behind the mansion.” Alvin concluded finally, looking up at me with concern. “We can trace it, and maybe know what direction they went."

"Perfect. Let’s go!" I got into my car, and so did Alvin. Gerald took the wheel without asking questions, even though I could tell he wanted to. "Any second wasted is a threat to my daughter's life, so step on it!" I said to Gerald, my heartbeat a tattoo against my ribcage.

Gerald did as I asked, driving at a crazy velocity as we left the mansion to follow the tracks. As we got closer to the end of the track, Alvin found something that made him ask Gerald to stop.

"Hold on," he said, looking out through the tinted windows.

"What is it?" I looked in the same direction, wondering what made him want to stop at such a time of urgency.

"The tracks ended here, sir.” Alvin turned back to explain. “There's a major road ahead of us and it has two bends. Which means we'll need to go either left or right."

Shit!

"I was about to ask," my driver added. "Maybe they headed to the left. The right leads to a highway and no sane kidnapper would go in that direction, knowing that there are CCTV everywhere and they could be easily traced at any point after we find out." 

"Actually," Alvin paused, still looking through the window the whole time. "Wasn't Hayley wearing a red dress with white dots on it…and a bow on her hair this afternoon when we left?"

"I think so," I responded. "I think that’s what she had on."

When she had been playing that game of hide and seek with me this morning, I had been out of my mind to even properly notice what dress my child had been wearing. But now, I regretted not paying closer attention to her clothing, so I could help in her search.

My palms were damn as I rubbed them against my pants, eagerly waiting for Alvin to tell me why he asked about Hayley’s clothing. And when he finally did, I felt like the breath had been knocked right out of my lungs.

"Well," Alvin said, this time leaning his head further out of the car. "I see a woman carrying a girl in a brightly colored red dress down that road…and she's trying to hail a cab."

"Where?" I looked in the direction he was pointing at, squinting my eyes, but saw nothing. 

Before Alvin could respond, my driver swerved to the left and headed for the spot. As he got closer, I saw the woman Alvin had mentioned. In a black polo shirt and blue jeans, with a blue vest on top with the name ‘Moore Chicken’ written at the back. She had my Haley in her arms.

"What the fuck!" I didn't wait for my driver to stop the car, I alighted immediately.

"What do you think you're doing with my daughter?" I was speaking to the woman who noticed our vehicle coming close and began moving away from us immediately. "Hey!" I yelled, chasing after her. "What do you think you're doing with my daughter? You abducted her."

The woman seemed very scared and was going to cross to the other side of the road, but Alvin appeared in front of her right then, stopping her flight.

“Get the abductor, Alvin!” I ordered and Alvin immediately grabbed her shoulders.

However, when she turned to me, the sight of blood on Hayley’s forehead made the blood freeze in my veins in fear.

The woman who was trying to abduct my daughter turned to me, her eyes shining with relief. "Are you her father?" She responded with a sigh. "Thank God you're here. My name is Kat and I'm-"

I didn't care to hear the lie she had planned out. I had caught her red-handed trying to abduct my daughter and I was going to make sure she paid for her sins.

"I don’t want to listen to you filthy lies!” I snapped at her, snatching Hayley away from the scheming woman and holding her tightly in my arms. “You kidnapped my girl, you hurt her! I guess your van broke down and that’s why you were trying to flee by a car?”

“What? No!” The woman shook her head, panic evident in her eyes. “That’s not what-”

 “And even though I caught you red-handed, you're still trying to deny the obvious?” I spat. “Do you think I am so stupid!" 

"No! Please!” The woman begged me, her green eyes desperate. “Listen to me. I’m-”

I didn't care to listen. I turned away with my daughter in my arms, motioning for Gerald to open the door. For once, I was grateful that I had forgotten the documents at home, because now, I was at least able to save my daughter in time from being kidnapped.

"This is a misunderstanding! Please.” The woman kept on saying. “I saved your girl-"

I whipped around to face her, Hayley’s unconscious form held tightly to my chest as I sneered at her. "What annoys me the most is the audacity with which you can lie. What do I look like? A fool who would fall for your tricks?" I hissed, before calling out to my bodyguard. "Alvin!"

"Sir?" He held the woman in place despite her struggles to break free. "What should I do with her?”

"Make sure this woman ends up in jail.” I snapped, meeting green eyes gone wide in fear. “My daughter is my life and you do not mess with her and get to walk away freely. Alvin! I need you to put her in prison. Do you understand?"

"Yes sir," he nodded in response.

The kidnapper watched dumbfounded, not saying another word. I think I saw tears in her eyes when Alvin held her hand behind her back and pushed her in the opposite direction. I was surprised to see that a woman so beautiful would stoop so low as to abduct my child. But what did she do to my employees? And what happened to Jenny?

Kat; that was the name, right? Maybe I should have heard her out? Maybe I should let her explain things better?

But looking down at my unconscious girl in my lap as I entered the car, I concluded that Kat, or whatever the kidnapper said her name was, was the least of my problems. The police would be a better option to deal with her.

"Step on it, Gerald!” I instructed as the car started to move. “My daughter is unconscious and I need to get her to the hospital as soon as possible. I don't want to lose her like I lost her mother."