Owen, wake up!
While Raffy was contemplating on who to call first, his phone rang. “Sir, I checked the security cameras, and it showed that Miss Regina was dropped off by Mr. Jason last Saturday afternoon while I was doing my rounds.” “And then?” Raffy asked impatiently. “Then she was fishing out for her keys when someone honked and she went to see that person.” “Who is it, Jeffrey? Don’t keep me waiting.” “I don’t know, sir. The car was out of range from the camera. But it showed the license number as it left. And I believe it was Mr. Bennet that picked her up.” “Are you sure about that?” “No sir. I was doing my rounds when this happened, so I did not witness it personally.” “Fuck!” Raffy swore under his breath. “Thank you, Jeffrey. Owen is in the hospital. He did not pick her up.” Raffy heard Jeffrey gasp before he dropped the call and thought maybe he should not have informed the doorman about what happened. Raffy paged his brothers on their phones and sent their emergency signal so they
“Who changed the locks on the door? Even the keyless entry is different.” Richie was getting impatient as he called the lobby from his phone. “Jeffrey, we can’t get into our own place. What is happening here?” “I’ll be right up, sir.” “Try your birthday—” “Or mom’s—” “We did that—” The three brothers were arguing about the codes when Jeffrey arrived. “I’m sorry, sir. Mister Bennet asked that the locks be changed when he found something suspicious inside the house that did not belong to him or Miss Regina. His brother was here with the security people in an instant, installing these new things.” “Why were we not informed? This is still my place. Or did you forget that?” Richie glared at the old man. “Miss Regina said she did not want to alarm anybody because Mister Bennet was just overreacting.” “Overreacting? She’s missing Jeffrey, and Owen’s lying in the hospital. I don’t think he was overreacting.” Raffy yelled at the poor doorman. “How do we get in? Did she give you a spar
“Regina!” Owen woke up and discovered his hands had been tied to the bed. He looked around and found a confused Yvan standing by the side. He had never seen his brother with this angry expression before. “You twerp, get me out of here. Regina is in trouble.” “Owen, do you know where you are and what happened to you?” “Yes, I was leaving Regina’s place when that fucking Arthur ambushed me and beat me up. He was muttering something about keeping Regina safe.” “The doctor needs to see you, Owen. You have stitches on your head.” “Get these restraints off of me. I need to get out of here. Are you going to help me or not?” “Of course,” Yvan answers as he unhooked the belt around his brother’s arms. “Sir, you can’t remove that. The patient is violent.” “He will be more violent if we do not let him go. Don’t worry. Just call the doctor and tell him my brother is awake and wants to be discharged.” “Did you bring me a change of clothes, at least?” Owen glared at his youngest brother. He
“We couldn’t find any pictures of the best friend, Jacob Shipman, on any surveillance cameras, on and off the streets, because he altered his face to look like Arthur so he could use his identity.”“He did what?” Myles asked before Owen could say another word.“Her brothers are here,” Clara reported. “Save the story so you can tell everybody at the same time.”“Yeah. I still have to put everything together,“ Jeremy answered, oblivious to the people buzzing around him, amazed at his talent. “We found you, motherfucker!” He yelled at the screen. He was passionate about his work. And finding the bad guys always gave him the satisfaction that he could locate them when no one else could.“Okay folks, settle down.” Clara gestured as Regina’s brothers arrived. “We’re moving to the meeting room to accommodate everyone. Jere, we’ll wait for you there.”“I’m sending the files now,” Jeremy answered.“What you see on the screen is a picture of Jacob Shipman, 29, Arthur Johnson’s best friend and l
“We don’t know, son. We have to investigate the evidence and see if they tell us anything. But for now, our guess is as good as yours. They could be anywhere.”Raffy massaged his head, thinking about what else they could do.“I asked the team to search more about Jacob, check his credit cards, and see if he has another apartment or anywhere he could go with Regina.”“Jacob? Who is this Jacob? Johnson, are you keeping information from me again?” The chief looked at Jeremy and knew he had information he was not sharing with the police.Jeremy shared barbs with the chief about past information as the other men looked at each other and gauged what they should do.“Where else can we go? Jeremy is our best chance at finding Regina. But we have no clues to follow right now.”“How about we check Regina’s condo and see if we missed something? The angles on the pictures came from the living room, the bedroom, and the pool.”“Yes, let’s do that. Our wives will meet us there and bring us food.” R
Owen took a paper plate and poured out some of the contents, and he stopped when a few candy wrappers rolled out. “I thought Regina was smoking and hiding this in the hedges.” “Regina never smokes. Are you insane?” One of the women defended their sister-in-law. But Owen did not care. “Something about the color of the contents reminded me of the candy wrapper the detective took from the bottom of my shoe earlier.” “Owen, nobody can understand what you are saying.” Richie interrupted his mumbling. “I found this bottle among the hedges, along with four cameras, and I just show someone has been up here watching us.” “How are you so sure?” “We were on the couch, I was—and she was—” Owen turned red, remembering the day they got interrupted while Regina was giving him head. “What? Speak up,” Ronnie frowned. “Someone threw dead birds at the windows while we were kissing on the couch, but I found nothing outside, so we forgot about it.” “This happened, and you just shrugged and forgot
Nobody suspected Arthur of being a stalker or kidnapper because of his shy and friendly personality. From an onlooker’s perspective, he seemed very likable with his easygoing smile, the dimple that always attracted women, and the grey eyes that drew people in, making them want to trust him. He was what everyone assumed a nice, respectable man would look like. There were only a few short-term living accommodations in the area, so the group easily narrowed Arthur’s hiding place down to one building. And because of the data they uncovered about him, nobody flinched when they found him hiding in a hotel that was not so reputable. The hotel was known as a themed hotel, where each room had its individual style and decoration. This establishment was frequented by individuals who hired their partners for the night and had fetishes that normal women, their wives, or girlfriends would frown upon. So they hired experts in their fields to give them their pleasure. The townspeople did not like h
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Owen struck Arthur against his jaw. “Who tied you up? Do you have a partner?” “Please, you have to save Ginny. I tried my best, and he almost overpowered me.” “I’m not stupid. You did this to Regina. I thought you loved her?” “I love her so much, but you filthy bastard tarnished her body by fucking her.” Arthur’s demeanor changed from playing innocent to vengeful lover as he strained against the cuffs on his hands and feet. “Shut up! You’re the filthy bastard. You’re going to rot in jail for this.” “This is all your fault, Owen. I was there the first time you had sex in her apartment. That was supposed to be me. I was supposed to surprise her, but you came along. My pure Ginny turned out to be a whore like everyone else. Now she got what she deserved.” Owen slapped Arthur across the face to shut him up. “So you admit you did this to her?” “No, why would I hurt her? I love her.” When his feigned innocence did not work, Arthur began laughing