Sebastian’s POVTo think that he might really know my wife better than I do is the worst feeling in the world. It’s like the most intimate corner of my heart is stained by another man, like untouched snow with an ugly, foreign footprint.“You--”“He’s here,” Adrian cuts me off, pulling up the car before he jumps off. I have to follow.We arrived at the building of Aurora’s apartment, and she was standing right in front of it, talking to a tall guy. The guy has soft, blonde hair. His figure is bulky with clear muscles under his police short sleeves. But when he turns around to us, his round chin instantly lights up a flare in the back of my head--The Three Musketeers! Not the book. It was us!I used to play fencing with Adrian. We met another boy at the fencing class and we became friends first, and later “the three musketeers”. It was decades ago though. I was only around ten when I dropped fencing.I wanted to keep visiting Ava, so I begged Granny to quit fencing and play football i
Scarlett’s POVWhen I woke up, everything was dark. For a moment, I thought it was still at night, only to see that I’m in a dark room when my eyes got used to the darkness.My mind is like a mush, and it’s adjusting even slower than my eyes as if someone injected fog into my brain.What happened? Where am I? I was in a car...? The last thing I could remember was Ava’s scared eyes.Ava!My memory of last night rushes into my mind as that name wakes them up, also is waking up is a throbbing pain in my temples. I frown, trying to rub my temples, only to realize that my arms are tied to the arms of a wooden chair.Now I remember.I didn’t want to go out to meet Ava when I got her message. She never reaches out to me, ever. She has got an army to do that if she ever needs me. Nor was there anything for us to talk about. The last time she “talked” to me, she showed the video of Sebastian when he confessed his feelings toward her, thinking Ava was the little girl he saved.I replied with a
Scarlett's POVThe man stands up with a hand supporting his heavy body on the table, then starts stretching his limbs in a string of painfully slow moves, ignoring me and Ava in total. His hair is messy, and his smelly clothes loosely hang from his beer belly. Then he opens a bottle of water, rinses before he swallows the water in his mouth, and splashes water on his face and head until the bottle is empty. He grabs what looks like a dirty shirt and wipes his head.He doesn’t look like a thug. Thug has better bodies...and probably healthier lifestyles, too.But that doesn’t mean he is not a predator. He abducted two girls -- I’ll take Ava’s words on this for the sake of argument -- tied them to chairs in a dark room of what looks like an abandoned building, and it seems that his intention behind his slow movements is intimidation. Like the play before a cat kills a mouse it caught.Then all of a sudden, he pulls a string hanging in the room and lights penetrate my eyes, leaving a sour
Sebastian's POVI split from Adrian after his horrible accusation.Ava doesn’t like Scar, sure. But she would never commit a crime. I don’t believe the innocent angel I met would suddenly turn capable of harming someone with cold blood.24 hours have passed, and the cops found nothing. All they were able to do was to determine that both girls left home willingly, and disappeared from the security camera’s blind spots. How much does it take to fucking cover the city with some damn cameras?!I don’t fucking need Adrian and his police bud! I’ve got friends, too! I filed a formal missing person’s request through a friend, claiming that I have reason to believe that my wife was abducted and being transported out of the city, and the feds were more than happy to intervene.With one of the girls missing being my wife, and both of them my close acquaintances, I was questioned thoroughly before being kept on site --The FBI determined this abduction case a crime targetting me, and though it’s
Sebastian’s POVI mean, I can’t be sure that I have never seen him in my life, and that can be the smidgen of familiarity I feel looking at his photo. And my heart drops--It’s much harder if it’s a random guy instead of the owner who did this.“Fuck!” I rub my head, throwing the photos on the sofa hard. The splash does not ease my nerves.“It’s okay,” Jim is leaving, but he stops and pats my shoulder instead, “We are not tracing the owner, but the car. Don’t be too hard on yourself.”“So what’s your deal with Adrian?” I ask Jim, knowing he is trying to comfort me. He knows Adrian, too. Actually, I knew Jim through Adrian. Jim is two years our senior in college.“We let him know, if the kidnapper ever calls you.” Jim shrugs.He doesn’t think the kidnapper would. After all, it has been more than a day. If it's ransom a kidnapper is after, they would contact immediately. So why haven’t they??Anything could have happened in 24 hours. What if it wasn’t abduction? What if it was human tra
Scarlett’s POVThe guy left the room, leaving us tied to the chair for a whole day.I know because while the window opens to what seems like the inside of an abandoned building, the change of light still somewhat indicates time. But knowing that doesn’t help us at all. The dangerous stranger is no longer our biggest threat --Hunger is.We haven’t had food, or even water for a very long time.“Where did he go?! Is he just going to leave us like this forever?!”Some hours ago, Ava was capable of vigorous complaints like this, and now she can barely talk.But she has a point. If the guy just left us at a random abandoned building, then there is less of a chance for anyone to locate us while he can go and get all the alibi he needs. And condemning him is not even the problem because we would have died way before that could happen.My stomach groans.My appetite has grown bigger since the pregnancy. The baby has grown used to his aunt Aurora and aunt Lilith feeding him all kinds of cuisine
Scarlett’s POV“I’m sorry for your loss, but this is the first time I’m hearing about this,” I talk to the guy, and taking a glimpse into his sad story, I find it easier to talk in a sympathy tone, “May I know her name?”He shoots me a glare, but he grumbles: “Sparrow. Sparrow Ryan.”“That’s a cute name,” I try to smile at him. I actually feel like I do know that name. My brain stores a glimpse of that name because it was so special. But I can’t remember what happened to her. It wasn’t registered anywhere near Sebastian though.If her death had anything to do with Sebastian, I would know. I picked up everything about him like drops of treasures.“Wait, I know her!” Ava suddenly takes a surprised gasp, “She jumped off a building for Justin Roland! She was his stalking fan--”Did her energy-lacking brain malfunction? All words out of Ava are products of serious calculation, always. I have never seen her blurting things so recklessly against her innocent act.She realized her mistake eve
Sebastian’s POVHis name doesn’t ring a bell, but his daughter’s does.The moment I realized it was the kidnapper speaking, I put the call on speaker and wrote down the name for Jim. They pulled out his whole life with lightning speed.But I didn’t need that anymore.Justin Roland was a talented actor, but being a nobody, he had never got any role deserving of his talent before I signed him four years ago. Struggling with tuition for college, he was going to drop out of high school to be a model. Upon hearing that, I offered him a movie under the condition that he would go through college. He did, with excellent grades.The girl, Sparrow Ryan was a high school classmate of his. I don’t want to speak ill of the dead, so let’s just stick with the fact that Roland had a high school sweetheart who he married last year, and the Ryan girl did not like that.She jumped off a building on Roland’s wedding day.I normally don’t follow this detailedly into events like this happening in one of my