Time dragged on in the suffocating silence, with the man keeping them confined, neither assaulting them nor offering food or a drink.

In this eerie hush, seconds turned into minutes, and Tom’s restlessness grew, hanging over him like a storm cloud, threatening to burst at any moment.

He cast a glance at Ariana, who had maintained an unflinching composure throughout, and voiced his guilt in a hushed tone, “This whole mess is on me. It’s obvious they came after me, but I’ve dragged you into this, Ariana. Are you holding up okay?”

“I’m fine.”

Kidnapping was something she’d been into before, and given their current captors, their attitude was relatively calm.

She turned to reassure Tom, “Don’t blame yourself for this ordeal.

It’s a trap set for us. Carl anticipated we’d return to inspect the surveillance, and they deliberately left the back door open. Trust me; others will take notice of our absence and come looking for us.”

had made plans to take young Melon to the children’s

Angela’s Library

learned that Ariana hadn’t returned home since

making it inconvenient to respond to calls. Yet, after conferring with her assistant and other colleagues, it happened that no one had seen

something was awry, vivid memories of the harrowing discovery of Ariana’s condition after the car accident five years ago rushing back. Even now, the mere recollection of that incident sent shivers down

hastened to inspect the surveillance footage near the police

Tom’s number, but it went unanswered as

a sentiment she couldn’t afford to ignore. Upon her visit to the police station to report

rallied her friends for assistance while also apprising Mitchel of the unfolding crisis. She divulged the particulars

leveraging his connections to

indoors, complying obediently. Although both Sonia and Mitchel strove to wear brave countenances in his

from uttering a word until the following morning when, as was his custom, he went to find Ariana and didn’t find her.

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