Valerie Is Vanished

Nolan and Mrs Ashford—Natasha—were finally able to relax on the living room sofa; discussing business and introducing Valerie had been quite exhausting today, even though the person they’d introduced hadn’t been around them for the duration of the event.

“I haven’t seen Valerie since she slipped away whilst meeting that Morvane—where has she gone?” Nolan asked his wife, massaging his temples as his head felt slightly dizzy.

“Last I saw her, she was heading towards the back garden,” replied Natasha.

Nolan sighed heavily, “Let’s check her room. She hasn’t even opened my present, even though today is her birthday. Has she forgotten?” He pointed to a wrapped present on the table.

“Weren’t you the ones with her all day? You were parading Valerie around to the guests like some sort of object,” asked Nolan’s father, Jaden Ashford.

Nolan sighed again; he hadn’t even realised when Valerie had slipped out of his sight because there were so many guests.

“I will check on her. Natasha, you need to rest. You’ve been busy all day getting everything ready,” said Nolan’s mother, who had also joined them.

Nolan’s mother went upstairs first, whilst Nolan stood still for a moment, watching his father, who still looked angry.

“NOLAN! NOLAN!”

Everyone in the mansion immediately rushed towards the source of the sound as Nolan’s mother’s loud, desperate screams rang out repeatedly.

Nolan panicked when he saw his mother kneeling at the threshold of his daughter’s room, sobbing uncontrollably.

“What’s wrong, Mum? Calm down…”

“Valerie… Valerie’s been kidnapped!!”

Nolan saw that Valerie’s room was in complete disarray and unrecognisable; how could this have happened when security at their home was so tight?

With a look of disbelief, he stepped fully into Valerie’s room, which looked like a shipwreck; on the dressing table mirror was a message written in Valerie’s lipstick.

‘MY PREY.’

Nolan nearly lost his balance; several of his staff members arrived, including security personnel, and they were stunned to see the state of Valerie’s room, which was in complete disarray.

Natasha ran up from downstairs to the top floor; she hugged Nolan tightly, her eyes widening at the sight of Valerie’s room.

“How could this have happened?!” Her voice boomed, sounding desperate.

Who had kidnapped her? Who knew about his daughter? He had only just introduced his daughter to his business associates today; just today, all the guests were within his reach.

No one had left the tightly guarded main hall; even during the dinner, all his guests were still present.

Nolan remembered every detail. He tried to think clearly and look for any overlooked clues.

Could it possibly be Rovano Morvane who did it because he’d been rejected? No! Nolan couldn’t just make accusations, but he had to find his daughter immediately, wherever she was; he had to check every single guest.

At present, the prime suspect is indeed Rovano, who has been behaving suspiciously, but Nolan cannot act rashly either.

"FIND MY DAUGHTER!"

"Sir!" A man shouted from a distance. He was part of the CCTV control room team.

“All CCTV access has just been hacked! We can’t check anything! Everything’s gone! Including the recordings from the past few days.”

That night, heart-wrenching sobs could be heard from Ashford Mansion and panic swept through the entire building. Nolan tried to calm his family; Valerie was not only the jewel of this family but also a big secret.

...****************...

The wind was blowing so strongly that it made the window curtains billow; the sun was about to rise. Rovano stood at the edge of the balcony railing, taking several deep breaths, before stepping into a room.

He was currently in a luxurious house near the coast—perhaps in Langholmen? Yes, Rovano was in Stockholm, Sweden.

It had taken nearly eight hours to fly directly here from Boston since last night. That was the fastest flight he’d chosen.

The man had even given Valerie a small dose of sedative so she wouldn’t wake up during the journey.

He’d had numerous business ventures in this city for the past two years; Rovano was free to come here whenever he pleased without having to worry about his business back in his home country.

If there’s a meeting? He just video calls; unless there’s something urgent, he can’t stay in Europe for long because he’s here to have fun whilst running a small business.

Rovano positioned himself on top of the bed; he moved very slowly, because he wasn’t alone there.

There was a girl fast asleep, even though the effects of the sedative might have worn off half an hour ago.

Valerie Ashford, the target he had successfully abducted.

Since when had he started targeting women as his prey? This was the first time, especially since receiving information about the Ashford family. It turned out to be true; they had been hiding a girl this beautiful.

Just like his memory from over a decade ago, when he first visited the Ashford Mansion, there was a young girl he’d seen, and she’d always haunted him.

Rovano felt something was wrong with him. But seeing the girl beside him drove Rovano mad; he wanted to devour her immediately, carving wounds and gashes with his trusty little knife.

Her skin was so smooth and unmarked; Rovano was itching to see her cry as she was covered in blood.

This psychopathic man was truly mad; his mental illness was difficult to cure.

Rovano lay beside Valerie, his back to the girl; his hands itched, but he refused to do anything because he was still weighing up a few things.

Up until now, he had always tortured men of his own age. Regardless of who they were, once he’d had his fill of torturing them, if any died from the ordeal, he’d order someone to dispose of the body; if they survived, he’d bribe them with money and release them once they’d received medical treatment.

Simple. No long-term plans; at most, he’d keep his victims locked up for about four days.

But with this one, how many days? Rovano couldn’t even think of anything other than whether to torture her or not.

The girl was on the verge of tears at the slightest touch, and that instantly satisfied his desire, so there was no need to torture her until she bled, was there?

Rovano cursed again; he’d never been interested in women in his entire life. Men were the same. The point was, he’d never given a thought to love or any such ridiculous notion.

He heard a faint sound; Rovano also felt the mattress shift slightly. Had Valerie woken up? Rovano decided to stay where he was and close his eyes; he was curious to see how the girl would react.

“Hmm…”

Valerie opened her eyes slowly and blinked; she gathered her wits completely, as her head was still a little dizzy.

She stared at the ceiling where she had woken up; she realised something—this wasn’t her room.

Her eyes shifted to the plain white blanket covering her body up to her chest; this wasn’t her blanket.

This wasn’t her pillow or her bed, then her head turned to the side where Rovano was lying with his eyes closed.

“R-Rovano?! Where am I?!”

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