129

129

BETHANY'S POV

The day had started like any other. Zara was dropped off at school, Damien left for work, and I’d settled in with my to-do list. Between errands, work calls, and preparing dinner, it felt like just another busy afternoon. But the feeling of contentment quickly faded when my phone rang, shattering the quiet of the room. The display showed Zara’s school’s number, and a small pang of concern bloomed in my chest.

I picked up, forcing a calm tone. “Hello, this is Bethany.”

“Hi, Ms. Bethany,” the voice on the other end sounded oddly strained, a bit more formal than usual. “This is Mrs. Clarke from the school. I’m calling to verify something with you… it’s about Zara’s early pickup today.”

The color drained from my face, my heart skipping a beat. “Early pickup?” My voice sounded small, almost hollow, as I tried to process her words. “I… I didn’t schedule an early pickup.”

There was a heavy pause on the line, the kind that only deepened the sense of dread clawing at my chest. “Oh… that’s strange,” she murmured, clearly as unsettled as I was. “A gentleman arrived around noon, claiming you’d asked him to pick Zara up due to a family emergency. He identified himself as Mr. Chambers, your cousin.”

I felt like I’d been struck. “I… I don’t have a cousin named Chambers.” My voice trembled, panic seeping into every word. “Mrs. Clarke, please tell me she’s still there.”

Another tense pause, and then, in a voice laced with dread, Mrs. Clarke replied, “I’m so sorry, Ms. Bethany… she left with him.”

A buzzing filled my ears as I gripped the edge of the counter to steady myself. The room tilted, my mind racing as I tried to comprehend the unthinkable. Zara… my baby… gone? It felt surreal, like a bad dream I couldn’t wake up from.

“Did anyone see where they went?” My voice came out in a rush, my grip tightening on the phone as if I could physically anchor myself with it.

“No,” Mrs. Clarke replied, her tone shaky. “He left calmly, so we didn’t suspect anything. He seemed familiar with Zara, and she went with him without protest…”

I barely heard the rest of her words, too consumed by the terror spiraling within me. My daughter, my sweet Zara, was in the hands of someone else—someone who had taken her from me, without warning or reason.

“I’ll call you back,” I managed, barely waiting for Mrs. Clarke’s response before ending the call. I leaned against the counter, my breaths coming fast and shallow. I needed to think, to act, but panic was clouding my thoughts, every logical response buried under the crushing weight of fear.

Suddenly, the front door opened, and Damien walked in, his face lighting up as he saw me. But his smile quickly faded as he took in my expression.

“Bethany, what’s wrong?” he asked, closing the door behind him and crossing the room in an instant.

“It’s Zara.” The words came out barely above a whisper, and the moment they did, the panic bubbling inside me erupted, spilling out in a torrent. “She’s gone, Damien. Someone took her.”

For a moment, he looked at me, stunned, as if he hadn’t understood. But then realization hit him, and his face twisted in a mix of horror and fury. “What do you mean, ‘someone took her’? How could they—”

“I don’t know,” I interrupted, the tears threatening to spill over. “I don’t know. Someone went to the school, said I’d asked him to pick her up, and they let her go with him.”

Damien’s fists clenched, his jaw tight. “Did they see who it was? Did they get a description, a name?”

“They said he called himself ‘Mr. Chambers.’ He claimed to be a relative, but… I don’t know anyone by that name. And they said Zara went with him willingly. She didn’t suspect a thing.” My voice broke, the thought of Zara’s innocent trust being exploited tearing at my heart.

Damien closed his eyes, inhaling deeply to steady himself, then opened them, his gaze hard and focused. “We need to contact the police. Right now.”

I nodded, grabbing my phone with trembling fingers as Damien pulled his out as well. The call felt like it lasted forever, each second stretching as I explained, over and over, the nightmare that had unfolded. Details I barely remembered spilled from my mouth, the image of Zara’s empty seat at school haunting my every word.

After hanging up, Damien wrapped an arm around me, drawing me close. His presence, usually so comforting, only reminded me of the horrifying absence of our daughter.

“She’ll be alright,” he murmured, his voice rough but determined. “We’ll find her, Bethany. I swear we will.”

I wanted to believe him, wanted to hold onto his strength, but the fear clinging to me was relentless, gnawing away at every bit of hope. Zara was out there, alone, in the hands of someone who’d taken her from us, and I had no idea if she was safe or scared, if she was calling for me in a place where I couldn’t reach her.

\---

The next hours passed in a blur. Detectives arrived, questioning us both, asking the same questions I’d already asked myself a hundred times. Did I know anyone who might want to take her? Had I noticed anything unusual leading up to today? Who might have known Zara’s routine?

Every question was like a knife twisting in my chest. No, I hadn’t noticed anything. No, there was no one I could think of who would do this. Yes, Zara’s routine was predictable. She’d always been happy and safe.

But then, a thought crept into my mind, unbidden and unwelcome: Vivian.

My heart stilled, a chill washing over me. Could it be possible? Vivian had always held a certain resentment toward me, always found subtle ways to remind me of her presence, her superiority. But to take Zara? I could barely wrap my mind around it, but deep down, the suspicion took root.

I looked at Damien, seeing a similar realization dawn in his eyes. He knew Vivian, knew what she was capable of. And as much as neither of us wanted to believe it, the possibility was too glaring to ignore.

Once the detectives left to follow up on leads, Damien turned to me, his expression dark. “We need to look into this ourselves. If Vivian’s behind this… she won’t be easy to find.”

“But why?” I whispered, my voice thick with pain. “Why would she go this far? It’s one thing to hate me, but to involve Zara…”

Damien placed his hands on my shoulders, his gaze intense. “If it is her, she’s not doing this for a petty reason. She has an agenda, something she wants from us. And she knows how much Zara means to you. She’s targeting you through her.”

The realization was suffocating, each word settling heavily on me. This wasn’t a random act; it was personal, calculated. I felt both anger and guilt crash over me in waves, the helplessness of knowing my child was being used in a game I hadn’t chosen to play.

“We’ll find her,” Damien repeated, his voice steadier, his determination unwavering. “We’re not stopping until we have her back.”

\---

As the night wore on, Damien and I sifted through every possible lead we could think of. We reviewed old messages from Vivian, contacts she might have kept, any hint that might lead us to her. Each piece felt like a puzzle we couldn’t quite complete, fragments of a picture that refused to come together.

Then, around midnight, Damien’s phone buzzed, breaking the silence. He glanced at it, his face paling as he read the message. He handed the phone to me, his jaw clenched, his eyes filled with a mix of anger and fear.

It was a text. No sender information, no number, just a simple, terrifying message.

“Zara is safe for now. If you want her back unharmed, you’ll listen closely. Do not involve the police any further. Do exactly as instructed, or the consequences will be on you.”

My heart felt like it stopped, my hands shaking as I read the words over and over, each one a chilling reminder of the danger Zara was in. This wasn’t some random kidnapping. This was targeted, planned—every step meant to manipulate and break us.

Damien clenched his fists, his voice a barely controlled whisper. “Vivian.”

There was no doubt left in my mind. Only she would go to such lengths, only she would be cold enough to use Zara as leverage. And I knew, with a sickening certainty, that she wouldn’t stop until she’d gotten whatever it was she wanted.

Tears pricked at my eyes, but I forced them back, a fierce resolve taking root. I wouldn’t let her win. I wouldn’t let her keep my daughter, not for a moment longer than I had to.