Chapter 49 Security footage
Chapter 49 Security footage
Alex
✦
By the time the warrant finally comes through, it feels like my whole body has been running on fumes and adrenaline alone.
Morning has fully broken over town, but nothing about it feels normal.
Too bright.
Too calm.
Like the world didn’t just swallow Chelsea whole.
Kyler is already in motion beside me as we pull back up to Rave with uniformed officers behind us. The tape from earlier is still up, flapping slightly in the morning wind like it means something. Like it can hold answers in place if we stare at it long enough.
It can’t.
Not even close.
We move fast through the entrance.
Different energy now. Not waiting. Not asking.
Warrant in hand.
Police presence behind us.
The club owner—Mr. Nightly—is waiting like he knew this moment was coming.
He’s calmer than I want him to be.
That alone makes my jaw tighten.
Kyler steps forward first, voice firm, controlled.
“We have a warrant. Security footage. Now.”
Nightly exhales like this is an inconvenience, not a crisis involving two missing women.
“Follow me.”
We don’t hesitate.
We go down a hallway behind the main floor—dim lighting, security doors, cameras mounted in every corner. The deeper we go, the more my stomach tightens.
This is it.
This is where it happened.
He leads us into a small security room lined with monitors.
Screens everywhere.
Live feeds.
Archived footage.
Angles of every inch of this place.
Kyler immediately moves to the console, flashing his badge as another officer takes position behind him.
“Last night,” Kyler says. “Start from mid-evening.”
My hands are clenched so tight my knuckles ache.
I don’t sit.
I can’t sit.
I stand just behind Kyler, leaning forward like I can force time to move faster.
The footage loads.
Chelsea.
Livia.
My chest tightens instantly.
There they are.
Alive.
Laughing.
Chelsea’s head tilted back mid-laugh, Livia leaning into her. They’re line dancing near the center of the floor, completely unaware that their night is about to split in half.
For a second, my throat burns.
That’s her.
That’s Chelsea.
Whole.
Unbroken.
I swallow hard.
“Fast forward,” I say.
Kyler does.
The footage jumps.
Time slipping.
People coming and going.
Music fading into late-night chaos.
Then—
Closer to midnight.
The girls move toward the hallway.
The bathroom hallway.
My stomach drops a little lower.
Chelsea glances back once, smiling at something Livia says.
Then they disappear into the women’s restroom.
Minutes pass.
Then more.
Kyler leans closer to the screen.
“Why aren’t they coming out?”
I don’t answer.
I can’t.
We watch.
And then—
A club employee appears on camera near the restroom hallway.
Quick.
Nervous.
He steps up to the women’s restroom door.
And places an OUT OF SERVICE sign on it.
My entire body locks.
“What the hell…” I murmur.
Kyler’s jaw tightens.
The employee turns his body slightly, blocking the entrance.
He starts turning women away.
One by one.
Pointing them in the opposite direction.
My pulse starts to spike.
“Replay that,” I snap.
Kyler rewinds.
Slower this time.
And then we see it clearly.
Two men enter the hallway from a side exit.
Not the main floor.
Not the entrance.
A back corridor.
They’re huge.
Dressed in black.
Masks over their faces.
Moving like they already know exactly where they’re going.
Like they’ve been here before.
The employee steps aside immediately.
Lets them in.
No hesitation.
No resistance.
My stomach drops so hard it feels like it hits the floor.
“They were let in,” I say, voice sharp.
Kyler doesn’t respond right away.
He’s watching.
Focused.
Then: “Keep going.”
We do.
The men disappear into the restroom.
Seconds stretch.
Then minutes.
Too long.
Way too long.
My mind starts filling in the blanks whether I want it to or not.
Chelsea inside.
Chelsea not knowing.
Chelsea—
I cut the thought off.
“Fast forward,” I say again.
Kyler does.
And then it happens.
The men exit.
Carrying bodies over their shoulders.
Chelsea.
Livia.
My chest caves in.
I actually take a step forward without realizing it.
“Stop.”
Kyler freezes the frame.
My vision narrows.
Chelsea’s head is limp against one of the men’s backs.
Livia the same.
Unconscious.
Motionless.
No struggle visible.
Just taken.
Just gone.
Something in me goes cold and violent all at once.
My jaw tightens so hard it hurts.
Kyler zooms in slightly.
The club employee is visible again in the background.
Watching.
Not stopping it.
Just watching.
My hands curl into fists.
“Replay the exit,” I say through my teeth.
Kyler switches cameras.
Now outside.
Back alley.
And there it is.
A white van.
Cheap.
Beat up.
Idling like it’s been waiting.
The men carry the girls through the back exit and load them into the van.
No hesitation.
No rush.
Like this is routine.
Like this is organized.
Like this is planned.
One of the men steps back to the restroom hallway camera view.
Grabs something from the ground.
Keys.
Chelsea’s keys.
Livia’s keys.
He tosses them onto the pavement like garbage.
Then the van doors slam shut.
And it pulls away.
Fast.
Gone.
The screen shows empty alley again like nothing happened.
Like two people didn’t just disappear from the world.
Silence fills the room.
Heavy.
Kyler exhales slowly, already reaching for the radio.
“We’ve got vehicle description,” he says into dispatch. “White cargo van, no plates visible, last seen heading east from Rave.”
I don’t move.
I can’t.
My eyes are still locked on the frozen frame of Chelsea being carried out.
Something inside me is splitting open.
Because now it’s real.
Not suspicion.
Not theory.
Evidence.
Kyler looks at me, voice lower now.
“We’re going to find her.”
I nod once.
But my chest is on fire.
Because all I can think is—
I saw her.
On a screen.
Alive.
And still lost her anyway.
✦
authors note:
Hey everyone,
First of all—thank you for staying with this story through all of its tension, chaos, and emotional weight. I know this part of the book has been intense, and I appreciate you sticking with it as the stakes continue to rise.
In this section, we finally reach a turning point in the investigation.
Alex and Kyler now have something real to work with: a confirmed vehicle description and a direction of travel. That might not sound like much, but in cases like this, it’s the first real break in what has been an otherwise overwhelming and fragmented search. It means the girls didn’t just “vanish”—there’s a trail. A path. Something that can be followed.
For Alex, this shift is huge emotionally. Up until now, everything has been panic, guilt, and reactive urgency. But now there’s a direction to move in. That doesn’t erase the fear or the anger, but it does give him something to anchor himself to: action. Forward motion. Purpose.
For Kyler, this is where the investigation starts to sharpen. Eyewitness gaps, camera angles, vehicle tracking, patrol coordination—this is the point where law enforcement moves from “what happened” to “where do we intercept them.” It becomes a race against time instead of just a search through uncertainty.
And for Chelsea and Livia… the story is only getting more dangerous.
If you’ve been reading closely, you already know how quickly things are escalating, and how fragile every moment of delay really is. Now that there’s a direction, the pressure on both sides increases dramatically.
Alex and Kyler are no longer guessing.
They’re hunting.
The question now isn’t just what happened to the girls—it’s how far ahead the abductors are, and whether they can be stopped before something irreversible happens.
As always, I’m really curious how you’re all feeling at this point in the story. Do you think this lead is enough? Do you think they’re close? Or do you feel like the worst is still ahead?
Either way… this is the beginning of the pursuit.
And everything from here moves faster.