Chapter One

She burst through the elevator, Jane Pearson, CEO of the Pearson Corporation, was running through the lobby of her own company. With long black hair flowing behind, her dark blue suited figure streaked past the reception, skilfully navigating through the stream of people, bumping a few in her way.

“Sorry” Jane retorted, still in her stride.

The receptionist, Lisa, and other suited persons were left in utter confusion.

“What’s going on?” “What’s happening?” “Where’s she going?” they mumbled.

Still in the elevator, her personal assistant, Alice Gerrard, could barely keep up. ‘How could anyone wearing heels move so fast?’ she thought, struggling to hang onto some office documents, apologise to everyone, and keep track of her boss at the same time.

Pushing open the doors, Jane quickly hops down the entrance stairs, before jumping straight into the back seat of the company car her assistant called. She sat back, face crunched down in her hands, wishing more than anything for the ground to swallow her whole that very moment.

The startled driver looked out and saw a quick stepping Alice gesturing him to get ready to go as she approached. Starting the car, he zoomed off as soon as Alice got in.

“Why does this keep happening?” her face still buried in her hands, Jane asked, pain and frustration in her voice.

“I’m sorry Miss Pearson, it’s all my fault, if I had arranged the files better this wouldn’t have happened.” Alice said, attempting to console her boss.

“No, no. it’s my fault,” she replied, sitting up straight, head facing upwards, holding back tears. Her spirits were down. “I always jump to conclusions and end up overreacting. I basically scarred that poor boy for life.”

“I think ‘scarred for life’ is a bit of an exaggeration, but he was definitely terrified from the look on his face.”

“Thank god you stopped me before I said something really, really bad.” Jane said, exhaustion written all over her face, as she shoots a sad smile towards Alice. “And now another reason for them to hate me.”

“You’re not hated Miss Pearson, just.…misunderstood.”

“Sure ‘misunderstood’” chuckling, “I seem to be having a lot of these misunderstandings at work lately,” she adds with sad one raised eyebrow, “almost as if…”

For a split second, Jane’s complexion changes, floating a puzzled look on her face. Alice leans towards her, focusing intently on Jane, adjusting her glasses by the frame to get a proper look at her boss, but Jane only stares into space, recalling all the altercations she’s been having.

“You’re not seriously thinking these incidents were planned, are you? Miss Pearson.” Alice askes, fear and concern in her voice.

“Of course not, don’t be silly. What would anyone stand to gain from making me look bad? These have all just been some unfortunate moments, nothing more nothing less.” Jane said, in an attempt to put her assistant at ease. “And also, how many times do I have to tell you that you can just call me Jane.”

“I’m sorry Miss Pears… I mean Jane.”

“No need to apologize, it’s just a bit weird since you’re just a year younger than me. It makes me feel like an old lady, you know?”

“Okay.”

“Anyways, now I just want to go home and have a soak to take all this stress off my mind.” Jane said lowering the tinted window to get some fresh air. She seemed to be feeling better.

But something was off, and Jane knew it the moment she looked out. They were nowhere near her home; in fact, this part of town was completely foreign to her. The air was a bit salty and hinted the taste of raw fish, there were more vans than she would usually see; most of the cars here where totally different than what she would see in her circles.

The only familiarity there was a tinted black executive car on the adjacent lane behind them, which she saw while sticking her head out the window. For some reason she couldn’t keep her eyes of it, it was suspicious, it looked to be on their trail, like it was ‘smartly following from a distance?’ she thought, memorizing its license plate

The sound of a loud horn in the distance brought her senses back, helping her realize where she was. She was at the docks and didn’t know why. Immediately Jane turned her bewildered gaze to the driver, questioning what was happening.

“Amos! What’s going on? Why are we here?” she inquired as her voice rose steadily.

But the man who turned to reply her was most definitely not Amos: Janes company driver. His face looked rugged, like someone who had been in many fights.

“You’ll find out soon enough.” he said with a hoarse voice and a wicked smile which was missing a couple of teeth.

Alice eyes widened as Jane froze in place, confused at what was happening.

“And don’t even think about trying to escape, my partners are out there watching and waiting.” The strange man continued.

Jane recalls the black executive car she saw earlier. “Who are you? What do you want? If it’s money then we can settle this here and now.”

“No. No. No. What we want is a lot more than just money.” their kidnapper replies with a deviant smile supposing foul intentions.

Jane instantly tells Alice to quickly “call the cops.” her demeanour was surprisingly calm given the situation, but her assistant, on the other hand, was the opposite, she was frozen still, petrified by fear.

Alice raises her trembling arm and reaches into her hand, searching of her phone. The panicked look in her eyes gave Jane a lot to think about.

‘This is really bad.’ Jane thought ‘In her current state it would be a bad idea to try anything.’

For some reason both their phones were dead.

“Don’t bother. By the time the police get her we would already be done with you.” The driver said to discourage them.