Chapter 4 - The Ransom of Silence
I stared at the bloody wedding ring, my heart hammering violently against my ribs as sheer panic consumed me.
I immediately dialed the police, but the dispatcher coldly informed me that I had to wait twenty-four hours to file a missing persons report for an adult.
I knew Anna and our unborn baby did not have twenty-four hours to survive whatever twisted game my mother was playing.
I ran into our bedroom and tore through Anna's nightstand, desperately looking for any clue or tracking device.
I remembered that I had installed a hidden GPS location app on her tablet months ago when she kept losing it around the house.
I opened my laptop and typed in her account credentials, praying that the tablet was still in her purse.
A small green dot appeared on the digital map, blinking steadily on the industrial outskirts of the city.
The location was an abandoned shipping warehouse that my late father had owned before his company went bankrupt.
I grabbed a heavy metal flashlight and a tire iron from my garage, throwing them into the passenger seat of my car.
I drove recklessly through the city streets, running every red light until I reached the rusted gates of the warehouse.
The building was entirely dark, surrounded by broken glass and overgrown weeds that looked like a graveyard.
I kicked the side door open and stepped into the cavernous, echoing darkness of the main floor.
I swept my flashlight beam across the empty room, calling out Anna's name with a trembling voice.
The beam of light suddenly caught a wooden chair sitting alone in the exact center of the massive room.
I ran toward the chair, but Anna was not sitting in it.
Instead, I found her digital tablet smashed into pieces, covered in fresh blood, alongside another handwritten note.
May you like
"You really thought I would make it this easy, David?" the note mocked.
Before I could turn around, a heavy metal gate slammed down over the only exit, completely trapping me inside the dark warehouse.
