"It's you and me. Together," he says. "Us against the world."
*****
All my life, I've never trusted men. The image of them planted in my head is the figure of my abusive stepfather who has made my mother and I live in hell.
But then, an encounter w...
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This can't be happening.
My heart thumps hard against my ribs as I rake my fingers through my hair, sitting at the dining table inside my house.
Yes, I'm back at home now.
I've been looking for Lais the whole day, but she's nowhere to be found.
No way. She can't be suddenly missing like this. Where is she? I've searched inside the hotel, but she's not there.
She was supposed to wait for me at the lobby, but when I arrived there, she wasn't there. The receptionists and the other hotel guests looked at me like I was some kind of a lunatic, looking for her.
The most I could do was forcing the staffs to send me to her room, only to find that it was empty.
Yet, there was no sign that she'd checked out. Her clothes and suitcases were still there.
I'd called her. I'd texted her.
I'd run around the place like a mad person, but still, I couldn't find her.
Fuck the procedures. They didn't allow me to go through the CCTV recordings because of some dumb protection for their guest's privacy and safety, so much for a five-star hotel.
But ironically, they were stupid enough to not realize that she might have been kidnapped inside their own property.
In their eyes, I was just a psychotic man who might be stalking his ex-girlfriend. In fact, they were thinking of calling the police to get rid of me.
I was so mad, to the point that I could burn the entire building down to ashes.
Kidnapped. The thought of it is enough to make my mind go crazy. All the horrible things fill my head.
I can't bear thinking that Lais is in danger. The only thing that can help me to investigate the hotel further is if the cops are on my side, but even though I've made a report, I still have to wait for 24 fucking hours.
And now, we're close to reaching that time frame. I haven't got any sleep at all, and it's almost dawn again. But it feels like ages to me.
Every second passing by without knowing her whereabouts is torture. Something is terribly wrong. Lais wouldn't have ignored me.
It's like she just vanished into thin air.
The only suspect I can think of is her stepfather, Tuck. I've told the cops about this.
If only I knew where his house is. However, based on Lais' story about her last conversation with James inside the alley, the guy said that Tuck was missing, running away from his debt collectors.
I swear that if he ever lays his hands on her again, if he hurts her again, I'll make sure that he'll regret ever being born.
My jaw clenched, I look up to see Dad speaking on the phone furiously, negotiating with the higher officer in the police to start the investigation as soon as possible.
