Chapter 5 - TAKEN
“AVA!”
Lucien’s voice ripped through the room.
He moved instantly.
The chair beside him was overturned.
The file scattered.
Everyone started shouting.
“She was right there!”
“How did nobody see anything?”
Lucien ignored them.
He searched.
Behind the tables.
Under the stage.
Every corner.
Nothing.
Then he saw it.
A small pink bracelet on the floor.
Ava’s bracelet.
His hands shook.
“No.”
For the first time that night, Lucien Vale looked completely powerless.
Adrian placed a hand on his shoulder.
“Lucien.”
He pushed it away.
“You said you knew them.”
“I know who took her.”
“Then tell me where she is.”
Adrian stayed silent.
Lucien grabbed his jacket.
“Tell me.”
Charles stepped in.
“Enough.”
Lucien turned.
“You’re the reason this happened.”
Charles looked hurt.
“I was trying to stop it.”
“You started it.”
The old man had no answer.
Then Rebecca spoke.
Quietly.
“He’s going to kill her.”
Everyone turned.
Lucien stared.
“Who?”
Rebecca looked terrified.
“The man in the video.”
Adrian’s face hardened.
“You know him.”
Rebecca nodded.
“Yes.”
Lucien walked toward her.
“Then talk.”
Rebecca swallowed.
“His name is Victor Kane.”
Charles closed his eyes.
Lucien noticed.
“You’re afraid of him.”
Charles finally admitted:
“Yes.”
That was the first honest thing he had said all night.
Lucien grabbed a weapon from the fallen attacker.
“Where is he?”
Adrian looked at him.
“You’re going after him alone?”
Lucien stared back.
“He took my daughter.”
Nobody argued.
Because everyone understood.
A father searching for his child was more dangerous than any army.
Before they left, Lucien found something strange.
A message written on the back of Ava’s bracelet.
Four words.
DADDY KNOWS THE TRUTH.
Lucien froze.
Because Ava couldn’t write that.
Which meant someone else had placed it there.
Someone who knew exactly what was happening.
Then Charles spoke.
“Lucien.”
He looked up.
“Before you go…”
A pause.
“I need to tell you something.”
“What?”
Charles’s voice cracked.
“Ava is not my first mistake.”
Silence.
“She is my second.”
Lucien stared.
“What was the first?”
Charles looked at Adrian.
May you like
And Adrian answered.
“You.”
