C26 Chapter Twenty-Six

"It's Melissa! Bro I swear to God it's gotta be Melissa!" Michael held his best friend's hand tightly, the veins in his neck stretching. It had been over an hour since they'd been trying to guess who was behind the kidnap of Emily. Mc looked around Michael's room aimlessly and just said the words, " She's capable of doing that, I know."

"Yes! Look at it this way, she was your wife, she lost you and now you've become the man of any woman's dream. Boom! She wants you back but can't get you. She figures out that you've fallen for Emily and she sees Emily as a threat..."

"And then she tries to get Emily out of the way!"

"Exactly! That's it Mc! That bitch did it! She got Emily. She's been wanting you for herself the whole time."

"But I never thought she was capable of doing something like that."

"Everyone's capable of everything Michael. Everyone!"

“I've been calling her since yesterday.”

“And let me guess, she's not picking up?”

“Yeah she's not.”

“She must have left the city, she hasn't been stable for a long time.”

“No Michael, I think she's around. She wanted to come visit two days ago.”

“We better speak to her real quick!”

*****

Melissa was in the kitchen making some food for her mother who had done nothing but cry in the past days. She stayed in the house with her since the father left but never left the house, Paula did all the groceries and Melissa did the chores.

"Melissa you got to see this!" Paula called, a notification popped up on her phone and it was news about the kidnap of Emily Wilson.

"What's there mum?"

"The Emily girl you told me about, she's been kidnapped!"

"Oh!" Mellisa didn't seem surprised and Paula could only wonder why.

"You don't seem shocked!"

"I'm shocked but not so much because it's normal for this kind of stuff to happen to rich people."

"I feel so sorry for the girl."

"It's the price to pay."

"Price to pay for what? Why are you being so odd Melissa? Are you sure you don't know anything about this?"

"Mum! Why would you even say that?"

"Because it's what I think! You've changed a lot recently and I noticed you've been trying hard to win Mc back."

"Yeah, I want him back and that's no secret. But why would I kidnap Emily? Do I even have the money to hire a kidnapper?"

"Sonia talks too much sometimes and you know it!"

"How does Sonia connect to this?"

"The other day she visited, you guys got drunk and she said something she didn't mean to say."

"What did she say? What did she say mum?"

"The thing about you being ready to eliminate anyone who would stand in your way of getting Mc back to yourself."

Melissa never expected her mother to know about that and she was electrified hearing it from her lips.

"That was just a normal way of expressing how serious I was about getting him."

"Now the one girl who was in your way is missing, what do you expect us to believe?"

"Believe me! Mum, I expect you to believe me. I would never do anything like that."

"I hope so."

*****

"The money is not a problem, but my problem is, will he let her go if we give him the money?" Mc whispered to himself pacing with an anxious energy that mirrored the pulse of distant sirens below, in the opulent penthouse that loomed over the city like a fortress of wealth.

"You need to stay calm." Michael advised, seeing how weak his friend's eyes were. One could tell he'd experienced sleepless nights just by looking at him. The news had been flying around but one thing everyone questioned was "Why does he care so much about a maid?" The rumours reached climax when a blogger wrote "Billionaire loses his mind following kidnap of his girlfriend." Many began to believe Mc was dating Emily.

Detective Armando, a seasoned investigator with a no-nonsense demeanour, briefed the young worried billionaire on the ongoing investigation. He had a good record in his precinct and was the best for the case.

"Mr. Mc Ethan, we're doing everything we can to track down the bad guy. We've triangulated the location, but there's a twist. He's a really smart guy. The signal places them somewhere offshore, in the middle of the ocean."

Knowing the location was a good start, but Mc was still worried, he clenched his fists "The ocean? What the shit is this? Some sick power play? Armando, you must help me find Emily. Money's no problem. Just get her back."

Michael listened carefully without saying a word, he watched Armando nodding in a solemn acknowledgment of the gravity of the situation, then talked to his friend "Has Melissa answered any of your calls yet?"

"Not yet."

“That's someone who's been craving to talk to you, craving for your touch. Emily is missing and now she can't even pick your call? It's just getting more suspicious.”

Mc's urgency was palpable, the kind that cut through bureaucracy and demanded immediate action. He never saw this coming, never thought he would one day live a life with enough money to get whatever he wants but see people try to take it from him by any means. It was a whole different feeling from waking up beside an ungrateful wife, but deep down, he preferred this.

A sleek, black helicopter awaited Detective Armando on the helipad. It whisked him away from the towering steel and glass of the city to a yacht already waiting for him. He looked closely as the technicians hunched over screens, tracking a blinking dot that represented the experienced kidnapper who'd taken one of the most valuable persons in the city, a cook. "She's not just any cook, the Billionaire's got an affair with her." That was one of the common phrases heard from the public in the last few days.

One of the tech experts in the helicopter turned to Detective Armando, "Sir, the signal is unstable, but we're getting data. The bad guy seems to be moving on a boat, but we can't pinpoint their exact location."

Armando scratched his head quickly then leaned over the technician's shoulder "Launch a rescue team. I want eyes on that boat now."

It looked set to be one of those successful findings he had made, but he had never had to find a kidnapper anywhere around the ocean before, it was new despite his experience. “Come on, now guys!”

The team, clad in black and armed with night-vision goggles, descended from the helicopter with ropes onto the swaying deck of the yacht.

"We're gonna get this sumbitch! And he better be ready to rot in jail!" Armando threatened the air.

They were all wired and a team member talked to him by whispering into a headset "Armando, we're on board. The yacht appears empty, but we'll search every nook and cranny."

Mc couldn't hide his frustration and Michael couldn't calm him down either, they were stationed in a dimly lit room which was converted into a nerve centre, they both stared intently at the live feed transmitted from the rescue team's helmet cameras. This was it, this had to be a successful find! Every flicker of movement on the screens heightened Mc's tension.

He closed his eyes for a few seconds muttering to himself "Come on guys, damn it. She can't be far. Hurry!"

His hands were cold, he only waited for good news as the team meticulously combed through the yacht. The tension was on a rise, it thickened like a fog. Then, it all came to an end with a phrase of disappointment "We searched everywhere but there's no sign of her. That sumbitch tricked us!" A team member said disappointed.

"Shit!" Mc couldn't believe it.

"The asshole is good at this, his phone was purposely left in the boat. That's what we've been tracking all this while, he's not here himself!"

"Dammit!”