Billionaire, Let's Divorce!

ANASTASIA

In just a day, I've had to sit through and listen to so many more interrogations than I have in my entire life.

All the staff in the store and even bystanders were politely questioned. They were all asked if they had happened to come across a woman with a child. They'd ask along with the description of both the woman and Amie, but no one, not even a single person had seen them. It was as if they disappeared through thin air.

I couldn't stop the tears from rolling down my eyes.

Poor Amie. She had just managed to get out of months of being confined to a hospital bed only to get kidnapped by some unfortunate person. It was so unfair to her.

What could they possibly gain from this?

I wondered how she was doing now. Where did they keep her? Has she eaten? Is she thirsty? She must be cold.

I glanced at her medications that still lay untouched on the counter, waiting for its owner to use it. I had spent the night watching them and at some point, even Justin had begun to cry. He must have noticed that his big sister was not around anymore.

Aiden and Dennis were still going around, looking for ways to find her. In a matter of hours, they both had posters with Amie's pictures printed out with a ransom for whoever finds her. They pasted the posters at different locations.

They were surprisingly working fine together and I briefly wondered why it had to be Amie's disappearance that'd bring about this unity.

The store had been nice enough to send us a copy of the footage of the woman walking out. And whenever I wasn't trying to get Justin to stop crying or taking care of him, I was hunched over either my phone or laptop, eyes squinted as I peer at the video, trying to figure out who the woman was.

At some point, I even wondered if it was Clara. Was this another sick way of paying me back? I confided in Dennis. He stared at me for a long while. "Why then will she call me if it was her?" He finally asked.Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

I shrugged. "So she doesn't appear as a suspect?"

He ruminated on my response for a while then he shook his head. "Nah, babe. It isn't Clara. I'm sure of it."

Several hours into the second day of Amie's sudden disappearance, Dennis and I received a video on our respective phones.

I covered my mouth, tears rolling down my eyes as I watched Amie come on the screen.

"Mommy," she called softly. There was a tight smile on her lips, but I could tell, everyone of us could tell, that she was scared and she must have cried at some point as her eyes were puffy.

I was slightly relieved that she was doing fine. She had no scratch on her so they hadn't touched her or harmed her.

A few seconds into the video, someone put their face before the camera, blocking Amie from our view.

It was obviously the kidnapper and the kidnapper's face was obscured and their voice was distorted with some intense edits.

"If you want her to return," the electronic voice said slowly, "bring the sum of five million dollars."

"What the fuck!" I heard Dennis mutter beside me, his arms still around me. Aiden also cursed under his breath by my other side.

"You'll be doing her a favor if you desist from involving the police. So do not involve the police." Then they said the location where the exchange will happen.

The video ended with Amie's face back on the screen.

"What do we do now?" Dennis ran his fingers through his hair, while Aiden stood up from where he was seated.

"We shouldn't waste time. Let's take the money to the location," Aiden said.

"We can't just do that." I watched as Dennis raised his head and looked up at Aidem who was already rapidly tapping on his phone's screen. He glanced up at Dennis, a mixture of confusion and anger in his eyes. "What do you mean?" He demanded incredulously.

"We have to inform the police first," Dennis said as a matter of factly.

I watched as Aiden gaped at Dennis. "Are you serious right now? You just watched the video," he gestured towards our phones. "They said we shouldn't involve the police

Kevin's brows furrowed. "We aren't obligated to listen to them. Do you intend to call them and tell them?"

Aiden scoffed. "You must be kidding me right now," he muttered under his breath. "We aren't involving the police, Dennis," he said firmly with finality. That was the first time I've heard him utter Dennis' name since this whole unfortunate fiasco began.

"We have to, Aiden, think of it, what do you think they have planned in that sketchy location they gave? We have to involve the authorities."

It was also the first time Dennis has said Aiden's name.

"What do you mean we should involve the authorities? What if they harm Amie? Let's just give them the money they asked for and get the girl back." "We can't just do that, we-"

"Do you even care about her like you claim?" Aiden's accusing eyes shot at Dennis.

"How dare you say that?" Dennis got on his feet, angered.

I held my head in my hands and cussed under my breath.

"I care for Amie more than you ever would," I heard Dennis continue heatedly, "You think I don't want to just go get her and bring her back home? You think I'm overjoyed that she's with some cruel stranger? I'm trying to avoid another crisis here, dude. For these people to take her, they obviously have an aim. What if they return for Justin or Ana? What then? We'd up and pay whatever sum they demand again?"

"Look, all thes-"

"Enough!" I yelled. "You two shut the fuck off and let's come to a decision."