Misfortune.
1124 Words
ARIEL’S POV.
I didn’t expect the next day to be complete chaos.
Mom had been kidnapped right under the noses of her bodyguards while she was doing grocery shopping and Dad is going crazy, mobilizing his men to find her.
My fingers are trembling and Audrey is by my side, patting my back in reassurance that she will be fine but I don’t think so.
What if it was him? And what if he does something to her?
“Oh God I can’t sit still and do nothing.” I stood and pace around in unrest then Avery comes in and I rush to her.
‘” Please tell me Dad found her and the bastard who took her.” Tracking Mom down should be easy for him with all his networks so why does Avery look so sad?
She slowly shook her head. “They were so good that they didn’t leave a single trace. Dad doesn’t even know where to begin to look.” She chuckled like it was all over. “Isn’t that crazy? It’s all over Ari.”
“It’s not over. Nothing’s going to happen to Mom.”
“You think so?” I could see her trying to hold back her tears. “Don’t you think he’ll do to us what grandfather did to them?”
I still don’t believe the story she told me but if it were somehow true then Mom is in real danger. And maybe our fears might come true.
Maybe Dad knew it too. That is why he drove out madly while screaming into his phone. He looked really terrified and Dad has never looked that way. His motto was to never show fear in any situation but he did when it came to Mom just now.
Just how bad is it?
I don’t know how I manage to pull myself together but I knew I have to do something. Something Drastic.
“Where is Dad right now?” I ask.
“Where do you think?”
“Finding Mom.”
“He is ransacking as well as destroying every secret base of Gael Fordson he knows about. Dad is going crazy because he knows what is going to happen. You’re the only one who doesn’t believe it yet.”
She ran inside and I stood there for a minute until Audrey holds my shoulder. “Be calm Ari, always remember to be calm.”
I took in deep breaths. Somehow it helps me control my emotions and avoid a panic attack in the process. I can’t have that now when I should be helping out.
I need to see Dad. I need to ask him and be sure of who our enemy is.
Oscar runs in at that moment. He doesn’t look at us. He rushes straight to Dad’s bedroom and I don’t hesitate to follow him.
He is Dad’s right hand man and I’ve known him ever since I was little. He was usually calm but right now, panic was written all over his face that he doesn’t even notice us in the room as he pushes a button and the closet turns over, revealing a passage to a secret room.
“What are you doing Oscar?”
“I suggest you stay out of this ma’am. And it’s best you all remain at home.” He told me like I didn’t know that already and then he breaks open a storage door to reveal tons and tons of machine guns.
My mouth dropped. Dad has never showed me this part of his collections. They were probably new.
He pulls them out one after the other. He cradled about five of them to his car and I help him pack some even though he didn’t ask but I know he’d be grateful since he was obviously in a rush.
I can’t even begin to imagine the kind of war Dad was raising out there or the amount of people he had already killed and injured.
“Is it him?” I ask just as we put in the last batch of the guns. “Did Gael Fordson take Mom?”
Oscar looked taken aback before he’s coming closer to me with an intimidating look. ‘Who told you that?”
“Just f*****g answer me. Is it him?”
“What if it’s him? What do you know?”
“Nothing.” I say. “How about you tell me? She’s my Mom and I deserve to know how serious this is.”
Oscar looks away from me and sighs. “Those people are monsters Ari. She might die any second or maybe she already is. No one knows.”
And that was all it took for my knees to grow weak and give out. Oscar drives out immediately and Audrey helps me up.
He will kill her. No he can’t. Not Mom.
I have to do something. I chant in my head for the hundredth time.
Oh God, Ariel, think in his shoes. Think in the shoes of the asshole that hates your family so much.
I tried and it wasn’t working. But there’s something that crossed my mind.
“I think I know what to do.” I whisper to Audrey and she looks at me worriedly.
‘You have reporter friends right?” I asked and she frowned.
“I do but there’s no way I’m letting you announce something like this on the news.”
“I’m not stupid Audrey. I don’t have any evidence to point fingers at him publicly.”
“Then what?”
“We can buy time if we get his attention.”
“And how do you plan to get his attention?”
We stared at each other for a while and I took in a deep breath, hoping what I was about to do would work.
A few minutes later, Audrey turns on the TV. And there it was.
The Headlines.
The Goldens announces marriage with the Fordson’s?
The Second daughter of the Golden’s who ran away from her own wedding only a few days ago has announced marriage with the current president of W, Mr. Gael Fordson.
I didn’t bother to listen to the rest of the reporter’s words.
I collapse on the couch, shaking like a leaf.
I hope this works.
If Mom dies, Dad will be destroyed completely, but if I marry that man, Dad will blame himself, which in turn will destroy him slowly. Gael f*****g Fordson knows this, and I’m almost sure he will choose it over killing Mom.
Avery rushes out barefoot, her face red from anger. And I’m sure she has just seen the news.
“What the f**k have you done, Ariel?!”
- Writer
