When Hillary Blake's phone rang again, he could barely hear it. His thoughts were on Kimberly. He wasn't a religious man, but he prayed Kimberly was fine. That they wouldn't hurt her. Kimberly was all he had.
"Your phone is ringing, Hillary" Christopher said. He looked worried too. "We can't start panicking now. You have to pull yourself together so we can figure out how to help Kim. Before they hurt or God forbid, even do something worse."
Hillary nodded in agreement and checked the caller ID. It was Phoebe. He held the phone to his ear with shaky hands.
"Mr Blake, I can't reach her" Phoebe said. She sounded so distressed and obviously she had been crying. "I went to apartment. It was open. Someone messed with the lock. The living room was scattered. Like there was some kind of fight in it. I think something really bad has happened to Kim... And no one knows where she is".
"I know" Hillary said, almost surprised he could even speak. Though he hardly recognized his own voice. "I just got a call for a ransom. They didn't even waste any time. Kim has been kidnapped and they threatened to hurt her if I involve the police"
Phoebe burst into tears. "Oh my God. I'm coming over. Mr Blake" she said, before she hung up.
When she got to the house, the guests were leaving. Hillary had announced that he had to end the party because some important family matter had come up and it had to be handled immediately.
Phoebe met Christopher in the living room. He was talking to some guest who were wanted to know why such a nice party had to end so abruptly. "Where's Mr Blake?" she asked him sniffing, her eyes red and swollen from all the crying she did on her way there.
"He's in there" Christopher said, gesturing with his hand. But you have to calm down a bit. I know Kim is your best friend and it's okay to be scared for her safety. I am too. Very scared. But right now we have to encourage her father and be there for him. Try to make him see that we will do everything possible to make sure Kim gets out of this. If he sees you this way he's only going to get more worried. Please"
Phoebe nodded. Knowing he was right. When she saw Hillary, seated in his office, looking lost. She wanted to start crying all over again.
"This is partly my fault" she said to Hillary.
"How?" Hillary asked.
"Two weeks ago, Kim told me that she had a feeling that she was being watched and followed. I should have made her come to you to talk about it. But instead I laughed about it and convinced her she was just being paranoid. If only I hadn't, she wouldn't be in this mess. This is all my fault. She's in this situation because of me" Phoebe said. The tears fell freely again. She couldn't help it.
"No, it's not your fault" Hillary said. "How could you have known? What we should focus on right now is ensuring that Kim stays safe and find a way to bring her home.
Phoebe nodded." But how can we do that without involving the police?"
"Did she see anything suspicious?" Christopher asked Phoebe as he appeared in the doorway.
"No", Phoebe shook her head. She said it was just a weird feeling. I guess she just knew something was wrong some how.
Christopher nodded and Hillary stood up.
"Where are you going?" Christopher asked as Hillary walked out of the office.
"I really don't know" Hillary replied. "Gonna go think of a way to save my daughter"
When he got into his room, he locked the door and sat on the bed and then buried his face in his palm. He had to come up with something... and fast.
He couldn't just trust that idiot with his daughter's life. What if he killed her even after getting his god damn ransom. He wasn't just going to sit and wait like a coward. He thought.
Few minutes later, he picked up his phone and made a phone call.
----------------------
Kimberly had been awake for a while now. At first when she woke up. She had banged on the door of the little room in which she was kept.
"Let me out." She had screamed." Look, you guys don't have to do this. Just tell me what you want. Let me out of here"
She moved back when she heard footsteps coming closer to the door. She stepped back and the door flew open. Wicked eyes came into the room, looking furious.
"Shut the fuck up, bitch" he yelled. "Don't you ever stop talking? You can scream all you want. No one is going to hear you. But I promise you, if you try to scream again, I will slice off your tongue. After all, I only told your father I would return you to him alive. I never said anything about a few parts missing ".
He grinned at her as he shut the door again and Kimberly sat on the floor and wept.
It was even harder when he had his men drag her out and put a phone to her ear so she could talk to her father. The worry in his voice made her cry all over again.
Now she listened to the raised voices coming from one of the rooms.
"We almost lost her because of your stupidity" wicked eyes was saying to someone.
"Relax, Alex" another voice said. So Alex was wicked eye's name. Kimberly thought.
The other person was still speaking, so she listened. "We have her, don't we?" he said.
"Well, we would have lost her because you decided to take your damn sweet time" Alex yelled again.
"I told you I had some personal stuff to handle"..
"Well handle your personal stuff on your own time" Alex said. "All you had to do was show up with the stuff and knock her out. Still you were late.
"I'm not the one who couldn't handle one girl" the second man said and he laughed scornfully. "He got beat up"
"Fuck you, Johnny" Alex said with some heat. "You better hope I don't tell the boss about this. Stupid mother fucker"
"What did you say?" Johnny asked.
Kimberly heard more yelling come from them and she heard voices. Apparently other members of the gang were trying to prevent Johnny and Alex from getting onto a fight.
She pulled her knees to her chest and wept some more. She just wanted to leave this horrible place and people.