30. Price of your daughter will keep increasing
Adrian's POV:
It was almost midnight now, and the cold had become even harsher.
No one had left the police station.
Even the officers had repeatedly asked us to go home and rest, but none of us wanted to leave.
As for the call I had received...
The police immediately traced its location, but it turned out that it had been made from a public phone booth.
I was ready to pay the four million.
I had already instructed my manager to arrange the money.
Now all I could do was wait for the second call...
Wait for them to tell me what to do next.
Where to go.
How to reach them.
I would hand over the money...
...and bring my Lily back.
It was around 12:30 at night.
Evan had dozed off while sitting on the bench.
I had asked him to go home several times, but he refused every single time.
June had also almost fallen asleep beside Sophia, her head resting on Sophia's shoulder.
But Sophia...
She was wide awake.
Her eyes were still glassy, and her fingers remained tightly crossed, as if she had been praying continuously for Lily's safe return.
Suddenly-
Sophia's phone rang.
The ringtone instantly woke both Evan and June.
Sophia picked up her phone and frowned at the screen in confusion.
She showed it to June.
"Why is he calling me?"
Still half asleep, June replied groggily, "Sophia... he's calling you, so how would I know why he's calling you? And even if he were calling me, how would I know why?"
By the time she finished speaking, the call had disconnected.
Sophia looked at the screen again.
"It must have been by mistake."
June simply hummed, closed her eyes again, and hugged Sophia's arm.
Just then-
June's phone started ringing.
It was the same person.
I noticed Sophia's brows furrow as she looked at June's screen.
June answered the call.
I couldn't hear what the person on the other end was saying, but after listening for a few seconds, June spoke.
"Oh... you heard about Lily? But how?"
The caller must have replied because June nodded.
"Oh... yes, yes. The missing posters are all over the city now. And the news has also circulated online... hmm."
Then she looked at Sophia.
"No, of course she's not fine. She hasn't eaten anything since morning."
The person on the other end must have offered to help because June immediately replied,
"Oh, there's no need. We're already at the police station right now. Adrian and his friend are here too."
After saying goodbye, she disconnected the call.
Then she turned to Sophia.
"He knows about Lily... and about Adrian."
Sophia nodded.
"Yeah. He got to know today. He saw us together in the morning."
So...
It was Oliver.
He was the only one who had met us that morning.
June hummed.
"He was asking about you and what happened to Lily. The news has spread everywhere now-online as well as through Lily's missing posters and Vanessa's wanted posters."
Sophia simply nodded.
Her hands had turned red from clutching them together for so long.
Her face was flushed from the endless crying.
She looked utterly exhausted.
---
It was morning.
During the night, the officers had once again requested us to leave, assuring us that they would inform us the moment they found any lead.
But none of us could leave.
Instead, we spent the night sitting-more like trying to rest-in our respective cars.
Evan and I stayed in mine.
Sophia and June stayed in June's car.
It was almost five in the morning now.
More than twelve hours had passed...
And yet there was still no clue.
No second ransom call.
I kept staring at my phone, checking the screen every few seconds, hoping another call or even a message would appear.
Then-
Someone knocked on my car window.
It was Sophia.
I immediately stepped out.
Her face was streaked with dried tears.
Her lips were parched.
Her eyes were swollen and glassy.
It was painfully obvious that she had cried the entire night.
She looked at me and began to speak, her voice trembling.
"Adrian... I think we... we should leave the police station..."
She struggled to continue.
Then she pointed towards my phone.
Her voice broke again.
"Yesterday... in the ca... call, they said they would harm... Lily if we took help from the police."
"If... if they see that we're with the police... then... you know... they might... they might hurt Lily..."
She couldn't continue.
She broke down.
Instinctively, I held her by the shoulders.
"Sophia, please calm-"
But she immediately stepped out of my hold.
Then, wiping her tears, she forced herself to continue.
"You understood what I mean, right?"
"If we want another call from the kidnappers... then we have to leave the police station."
"They must be watching us."
Her words...
They made sense.
Maybe staying here really was making the kidnappers suspicious.
Maybe this was the reason they hadn't contacted us again.
I slowly nodded.
"Yeah..."
"You're right."
She gave a small nod in return...
...and quietly walked away.
Sophia had barely taken a few steps away when my phone rang.
An unknown number.
I picked it up instantly.
The moment Sophia saw my expression, she understood.
It was the kidnappers.
"Hello?" I said urgently.
A cold male voice answered, "Is the money ready?"
"Yes," I replied without hesitation. "All four million is ready. Just tell me where to meet you."
The man let out a cruel laugh.
"Oh? I thought you didn't want your daughter back. You're still with the police, I believe."
My heart skipped a beat.
"No... no, don't worry. I won't say a word to the police. You just keep my daughter safe."
At that moment, I wanted nothing more than to slaughter the man.
But I was helpless.
My daughter was in his hands.
He hummed mockingly.
"Hmm... so now you want your daughter back? Funny... because I thought you didn't care much about seeing her alive. After all, you stayed with the police."
His words snapped something inside me.
Clenching my jaw, I growled,
"Don't you dare touch my daughter."
He chuckled.
"You cannot even touch me, Whitmore."
I was about to speak again when Sophia suddenly snatched the phone from my hand.
"Hello... hello... I-I'm Lily's mother." Her voice trembled. "Please... please don't hurt my daughter. We'll fulfill all your demands. Please don't harm her. We won't say a word to the police."
I couldn't hear what the kidnapper said next.
Then Sophia looked at me in confusion.
"But... but yesterday you asked for four million..."
She immediately put the call on speaker.
The kidnapper's amused voice echoed through the phone.
"Yeah, dear. One day... four million. Each passing day, the price of your daughter will keep increasing. So now we want eight million. "
Sophia slowly looked at me and silently mouthed,
Reply.
I immediately answered,
"Yes... we'll arrange it. We'll arrange eight million."
The kidnapper laughed again.
"And Whitmore... keep one thing in mind."
"Your daughter is with me."
"So control your anger."
The call disconnected before we could even ask where to meet him.
Sophia immediately redialed the number.
Nothing.
Just like before...
Another phone booth.
She lowered the phone and turned towards me.
Her eyes were filled with both anger and helplessness.
"Are you out of your mind?" she snapped. "How could you talk to him like that when you know our daughter is with him? He can harm her!"
For the first time in years...
I couldn't defend myself.
The tears burning behind my eyes refused to fall.
It felt so suffocating.
I had power...
Money...
Influence...
Yet I couldn't even protect my own daughter.
Lowering my head, I said quietly,
"I'll... keep that in mind."
She stared at me for a moment before asking,
"Will you be able to arrange eight million?"
I nodded immediately.
"Yes. I will."
"Don't worry about the money."
I had barely finished speaking when Sophia's phone rang.
She picked it up.
Before she could even say hello, the person on the other end spoke rapidly.
Her eyes widened.
"What?!"
"Where?!"
I couldn't hear the other side of the conversation.
Then she said hurriedly,
"Okay... okay... send me your location. I'm coming."
She ended the call and immediately looked at me.
"It was Oliver."
"He said he saw Vanessa."
"He's following her."
The moment those words left her mouth...
I knew exactly what I had to do.
----------------------------
Vanessa's POV:
Right now, I was returning from a 24/7 pharmaceutical store.
Lily had developed a severe fever.
We were hiding in an abandoned bungalow, so of course there were no proper facilities. And that little rich brat couldn't handle it. She cried the entire night, and by morning she was burning with fever.
Charles had come yesterday in the evening, but before leaving he told me that it would be difficult for him to return at night. He had to keep travelling to different phone booths on the other side of the city to make ransom calls to Adrian and confuse the police about our actual location.
So...
It was just me and Lily here.
When her fever got worse, I had no choice but to go out and buy medicine.
I had no phone and no way to contact Charles, so I had to go alone.
That's why I chose to leave early in the morning.
It was winter, after all. People usually preferred staying indoors instead of roaming around at this hour.
I had covered myself completely-a muffler wrapped around my face, a cap pulled low, and my hands tucked into my pockets.
Everything had gone smoothly...
Until my muffler slipped off while I was walking back.
I quickly pulled it up again, but I had a strange feeling.
Someone had seen my face.
And now...
I had this nagging feeling that someone was following me.
Charles had already warned me.
Because of Adrian's influence, the police had sprung into action almost immediately.
The entire city was crawling with officers.
Vehicles were being checked at every intercity checkpoint.
And within just one day...
My wanted posters had been plastered all over the city.
So there was a very high chance that the person following me was either a police officer...
...or someone who had recognized me from those posters.
Or...
Maybe I was just overthinking.
Maybe no one was following me at all.