Valerie's Gone

Nolan and Mrs. Ashford—Natasha—finally got to relax on the living room sofa. Discussing business and introducing Valerie had been quite exhausting that day, even though the person they'd introduced hadn't been around for the whole event.

"I haven't seen Valerie since she slipped away when she met that Morvane. Where has she gone?" Nolan asked his wife, rubbing his temples as he felt a little dizzy.

"Last I saw her, she was on her way to the back garden," Natasha replied.

Nolan let out a deep sigh. "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 gift on the table.

"Weren't you with her all day? You were showing Valerie off to the guests like she was some kind of exhibit," Nolan's dad, Jaden Ashford, said.

Nolan let out another sigh, he hadn't even noticed when Valerie had slipped out of his sight because there were so many guests.

"I'll check on her. Natasha, you need to rest. You've been busy all day getting everything ready," Nolan's mom said. She had also joined them.

Nolan's mom went upstairs first, and Nolan stood still for a second, looking at his dad, who still looked angry.

"NOLAN! NOLAN!"

Everyone in the mansion immediately started heading towards the noise, and Nolan's mom was screaming bloody murder.

Nolan panicked when he saw his mom kneeling at the doorway to his daughter's room, sobbing uncontrollably.

"What's wrong, Mom? Chill out..."

"Valerie's been kidnapped!"

Nolan saw that Valerie's room was a total mess and completely unrecognizable. How could this have happened when security at their home was so tight?

He stepped into Valerie's room, which looked like a shipwreck, and saw a message written in lipstick on the mirror.

‘MY PREY.’

Nolan almost lost his balance. Some of his staff showed up, including security, and they were shocked at how messed up Valerie's room was.

Natasha hurried up from the bottom to the top floor, giving Nolan a big hug. She was amazed by Valerie's room.

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

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

No one had left the main hall, which was being closely monitored. Even during dinner, all his guests were still there.

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

Could it be Rovano Morvane? He was rejected, so he might've done it out of spite. No way! Nolan couldn't just make accusations, but he had to find his daughter right away, wherever she was. He had to check every single guest.

Right now, the main suspect is Rovano, who's been acting weirdly, but Nolan can't jump to any conclusions either.

"FIND MY DAUGHTER!"

"Sir!" A guy shouted from far away. He was on the CCTV control room team.

"Hey, just a heads-up, all the CCTV access has 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 everyone in the building was in panic mode. Nolan tried to keep his family calm, Valerie was the jewel of the family, but there was a big secret too.

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

The wind was so strong it made the window curtains billow, and the sun was about to rise. Rovano stood at the edge of the balcony railing, took a few deep breaths, and then went into a room.

He was currently staying in a fancy house near the coast—maybe in Langholmen? Yeah, 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 picked.

The man even gave Valerie a little bit of a sedative so she wouldn't wake up during the trip.

He'd had a bunch of business ventures in this city for the past two years, so Rovano could come here whenever he wanted without worrying about his business back home.

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 while running a small business.

Rovano climbed onto the bed, taking his time since he wasn't alone.

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

He successfully abducted Valerie Ashford, the target.

When did he start going after women? This was the first time, especially since finding out about the Ashford family. As it turns out, they were right. They had been hiding a girl this beautiful.

Just like he remembered from over 10 years ago when he first visited the Ashford Mansion, there was a young girl he'd seen, and she'd always haunted him.

Rovano felt like something was off. But seeing the girl next to 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 dying to see her cry as she was covered in blood.

This psychopath was truly out of control, his mental illness was hard to treat.

Rovano was lying next to Valerie, his back to her. His hands were itching, but he wasn't going to do anything because he was still thinking about a few things.

Up until now, he had always tortured men of his own age. No matter who they were, once he got what he was going for, if any of them died from it, he'd have someone get rid of the body. If they made it through, he'd bribe them with cash and let them go once they got the medical care they needed.

Simple. He didn't have any 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 stop thinking about 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. The men were pretty similar too. The thing is, he'd never really thought about love or any of that silly stuff.

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

"Hmmm..."

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

She looked up at the ceiling, where she had woken up, and realized something, this wasn't her room.

She looked at the plain white blanket covering her body up to her chest. This wasn't her blanket.

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

"R-Rovano?! Where am I?!"

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***