Chapter 40
“Ms. Grant, it’s been ages. Finding someone is a breeze. 30 thousand dollars, and I’ll have what you need by tonight. That’s how we roll,” the man said over the phone.
“Sure. I’ve just sent you the name. I need those results tonight, no later,” Tracy responded, her voice firm and resolute.
“Money talks and I’m all ears. You’ll have your answers,” the man replied with a light chuckle.
As the call ended, Tracy abandoned her shopping spree, her mind solely focused on the task. She drove back to her apartment with anticipation building up.
At exactly 8 p.m., an email pinged in her inbox with the information Tracy had been waiting for.
The report showed that after her divorce, Natalie had moved to Yvengard and had two children. Her marital status was marked as divorced, and the kids, just a bit over three years old, were in preschool.
Tracy’s intuition had been right; Shawn was the father of Natalie’s kids.
She thought, ‘Natalie, why did you have to bring the kids back here? Shawn can’t find out about them. No, I have to…
She dialed the number again, her fingers moving with a sense of urgency.
“Ms. Grant, you’ve got the info. What’s the next move?” the man asked.
“I have another job for you. Pull it off, and you’ll get 300 thousand dollars,” Tracy said, her voice steady and determined.
“Easy does it. The right stack of bills makes miracles happen,” the man replied, his tone as smooth as ever.
After listening to Tracy’s request, the man set his terms. “Ms. Grant, this isn’t a small fish we’re frying. A 300 thousand dollar deposit to start, with the same amount again once it’s done.”
“Fine by me. Just make sure it’s clean. I don’t want any loose ends,” Tracy instructed, her voice sharp.
“You’ll have no complaints. We’re no strangers to making things happen,” the man assured her.
“Save the small talk. I’ll initiate the transfer. Get this done quickly,” Tracy commanded.
“Haha, you’ve got spunk. I like that,” the man said with a laugh.
As the call ended, the man muttered to himself, “When a lady goes all in, she can outclass us any day.”
He gestured to the two guys with him. “We’ve got a job to do.” Then the three of them got in their car and took off.
Early the next morning, Sherry had already ventured out and returned with a box of fresh beignets.
Natalie, who had received a call from James, decided that saying goodbye in person was the right thing to do before she left town the following day. Zayn and Emma were bouncing with excitement to join, so Natalie brought the twins along for the trip.
As they reached the bustling food court of the mall, Emma’s eyes widened at the sight of a clown near the entrance, balloons in tow, with a crowd of kids and parents gathered around. Without a second thought, she dashed over, Zayn hot on her heels.
While Natalie was on the phone, she noticed the clown and balloons caught the twins‘ attention. “James, we’ve made it but we’re still outside the restaurant,” Natalie said, her gaze shifting between the phone and her children.
I’m just pulling in now. Are Zayn and Emma with you? Plan on grabbing some more stuff for them to take home later,” James replied, his voice upbeat yet focused.
Yep, scored some great deals yesterday. Let’s grab a bite first when you arrive,” Natalie responded, her attention torn between her conversation and keeping an eye on the kids.
“Deal. See you in a bit,” James said, wrapping up the call as he made his way to the food court.
After ending the call, Natalie turned to find that Zayn and Emma had vanished from the balloon vendor’s vicinity. Her heart lurched, and she pushed through the crowd, but the twins were nowhere to be seen.
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Chapter 40
Anxiety quickly turned to panic as she called out for them, her voice growing more urgent as she questioned the surrounding shoppers, but she only received sympathetic head shakes.
James arrived at the scene to see Natalie in a state of distress, her eyes brimming with tears.
“Nat, what’s going on?” James asked, his face a mask of concern.
Upon seeing James, Natalie collapsed and sobbed. “Zayn and Emma… they’ve disappeared. They were just here, looking at balloons, and then… They’re gone. What do we do, James?” she cried, her voice cracking with fear.
Seeing her crying, James placed a comforting hand on Natalie’s shoulder. “Let’s stay calm and get the mall manager to review the security footage. I doubt they’ve gone far. Once that’s done, we’ll file a police report. Even though they can’t officially act until the 24–hour mark, it’s important to have this situation documented as soon as possible.”
“Okay, okay,” Natalie said, her mind whirling but beginning to steady with James’s reassurance. She knew they needed to move fast, and checking the mall’s surveillance was their best shot at figuring out where the twins could have gone.
With a gentle hand, James led Natalie to the mall’s security office where they laid out the distressing situation to the manager. The manager, upon hearing about the two missing kids, didn’t waste a moment and jumped in to help review the security footage.
But the spot where the children had vanished was a camera’s blind spot. The footage showed Emma running excitedly toward a clown with balloons, Zayn closely in tow.
Suddenly, something caught Emma’s attention, and she ran into the unseen area, Zayn following right behind. The last image on the tape was the two of them disappearing from view, never to be seen by the cameras again.
Watching the footage, James felt a sinking feeling in his gut; the whole thing looked too orchestrated, like the work of pros who knew how to dodge surveillance. He kept this suspicion to himself, knowing Natalie was already on edge and wouldn’t handle such news well.
With a supportive arm around Natalie, James suggested they call the police. Although the 24–hour threshold for missing persons hadn’t been crossed, the police took down the report and promised to start the investigation as soon as the time was up.
Remembering the twins had smartwatches, Natalie frantically pulled out her phone to call them. The calls went through at first, but there was no answer, and then the line went dead.
Feeling utterly helpless and swamped with guilt, Natalie was lost. The police were stuck following protocol, and she was supposed to leave the next day. She blamed herself for not keeping a closer watch.
Seeing Natalie’s tears and her emotional state, James thought it best to take her home. “Don’t worry, the police will help us search tomorrow. We’ll find Zayn and Emma,” he assured her.
“It’s all my fault. I wasn’t watching closely enough. If anything happens to them…” Natalie’s voice broke, tears streaming down her face, her heart heavy with guilt.
The twins had never been away from Natalie since they were born, and now, faced with their sudden disappearance, she was on the brink of breaking down. The lack of any trace on the surveillance and the failure to reach them by phone only heightened her fear that they were in serious danger.
Back at the apartment, Sherry noticed Natalie’s red, swollen eyes and the absence of Zayn and Emma. “What happened? Didn’t Zayn and Emma come back with you?” she asked, her voice laced with concern.
As soon as Sherry finished, Natalie hugged her, crying, “Zayn and Emma are missing, Sherry. They went to get balloons right beside me… and then they just disappeared. What am I going to do?”
Seeing Natalie’s breakdown, Sherry looked to James for answers.
“We’ve gone through the surveillance; there’s no sign of them. We’ve reported it to the police, but they can’t file a case until it’s been 24 hours,” James explained to Sherry.
“Alright, Nat, we’ve done what we can by reporting it. We have to trust the police will take it from here. Zayn’s so smart; they’ll be alright.” Sherry comforted Natalie, though the uncertainty was thick in the air.
It took some time for Natalie’s sobs to case, her mind constantly racing with thoughts of her children, wondering if they were safe.
While Sherry and James comforted Natalie, their own worry was clear, the unknown intentions behind the children’s disappearance and the police’s delay in filing a case adding to the anxiety.
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Chapter 40
James, as if an idea had just struck him, broke the heavy silence. “Nat, there’s actually something else we can do.”
“What is it?” Natalie asked, her eyes reflecting a spark of hope.
“We could reach out to Zayn and Emma’s father for help,” James advised, offering a new angle in their desperate search.
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