Evelyn's POV
"She's not answering!"
I threw my phone across the room, watching it bounce off the expensive couch. Robert jumped up from his desk, his face pale with fear.
"The plane should have landed an hour ago," I said, walking back and forth. "Why isn't Belle calling us back?"
"Maybe her phone died," Robert said, but I could hear the fear in his voice. "Or maybe she's just... processing everything."
Processing. What a nice way to say our daughter's heart had been ripped to pieces by people we should have protected her from.
I'd been waiting four years for this moment. Four years of wondering if Belle was safe, if she was eating enough, if she was happy. Four years of hating myself for letting her leave in the first place.
But now that she was finally coming home, something felt terribly wrong.
"Call the pilot," I ordered.
Robert was already dialing. I watched his face change from worry to fear as he listened.
"What?" I asked. "What is it?"
He hung up and stared at me with dead eyes. "The pilot never filed a flight plan to land anywhere but our private strip. But air traffic control shows the plane arrived at Millfield Airport an hour ago." Millfield Airport. I'd never heard of it.
"That's impossible," I said. "Our pilots would never—" "Unless someone forced them to."
The words hung in the air between us like a death sentence. Someone had taken our girl.
I sank into a chair, my legs suddenly too weak to hold me up. "The Blackwoods?"
"Has to be. But Evelyn, if they have Belle..." Robert's voice trailed off.
I knew what he was thinking. The Blackwoods didn't just want to hurt our business. They wanted to destroy our family completely. And Belle was the key to everything.
My phone rang from across the room where I'd thrown it. Robert rushed to get it.
"It's Jasper," he said, giving it to me.
"Evelyn?" Jasper's voice was tight with worry. "Have you heard from Belle? She was supposed to call me when she landed."
"Jasper, we have a problem. Belle's plane was moved. We think someone took her."
There was silence on the other end. Then: "I'm on my way over. Don't call the police yet."
"Why not?"
"Because I just got another frightening message about Millie. If we involve the cops, they might hurt both of them."
Both of them. My niece and my daughter, both in danger because of our family's enemies.
"How did this happen?" I whispered after hanging up. "How did we let them get so close?"
Robert sat down next to me and took my hand. "We were so focused on protecting the company, we forgot to protect what really mattered."
I thought back to four years ago, when Belle had run away after fighting with us about her future. She'd been eighteen and rebellious, angry that we'd already planned her marriage to Jasper without asking her first.
"I won't marry someone I don't love!" she'd screamed. "I won't be trapped in some business deal disguised as a wedding!"
"It's not a business deal," I'd tried to explain. "Jasper is a good guy. He'll take care of you."
"I don't need anyone to take care of me! I can take care of myself!"
She'd been so young. So sure that love was enough to live in the world. I'd wanted to tell her the truth about why the marriage was important, but Robert had insisted we wait until she was older.
We'd waited too long.
The next morning, she was gone. No message, no goodbye, nothing. Just an empty room and a broken heart she'd left behind.
And nine months later, she'd had a baby she didn't even know about.
The doorbell rang, making me jump. Robert went to answer it, and I heard Jasper's voice in the hallway.
"Any word?" he asked as he walked in.
"Nothing," Robert said. "But we've got people looking. Marcus Chen is on it."
Jasper nodded, but I could see the fear in his eyes. He loved Belle just as much as we did, maybe more. And now he was afraid he'd lose her again before he'd even gotten her back.
"There's something else," Jasper said quietly. "I've been thinking about the timing of all this. Belle finds out about the cheating, comes home broken, and then gets kidnapped. What if this was the plan all along?"
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"What if the whole point wasn't to keep Belle away from home? What if it was to get her to come back angry and hurt? What if they wanted her to come home?"
Robert and I stared at each other. "But why would they want that?"
"Because," Jasper said slowly, "an angry Belle is a careless Belle. She might do things she wouldn't normally do. Sign things she shouldn't sign. Trust people she shouldn't trust."
My blood went cold. "The inheritance papers."
"What inheritance papers?" Jasper asked.
Robert's face had gone white. "When Belle turns twenty-five next month, she gets controlling interest in the company. But only if she's mentally and emotionally sound."
"And if she's not stable?" Jasper pressed.
"Then control goes to the board of directors," I whispered. "A board that's been slowly taken over by Blackwood representatives for the past two years."
We all sat in horrible quiet as the truth sank in. This wasn't just about taking Belle. This was about showing she was unfit to run the company.
My phone buzzed with a text message. Unknown number. " Mrs. Whitmore, your daughter is safe. For now. But her mental state is... worrisome. Perhaps she's not ready for the duties that come with her inheritance. We'll be in touch soon with a plan that benefits everyone."
My hands were shaking as I showed the message to Robert and Jasper.
"They're going to try to prove she's crazy," Robert said. "Kidnap her, traumatize her, then present her to the board as evidence that she can't handle running the company."
"Over my dead body," Jasper growled.
"That can be arranged too," said a voice from behind us.
We all spun around. A man in a black suit was standing in our living room. I had no idea how he'd gotten in.
"Hello, Whitmores," he said with a cold smile. "We need to talk."
Two more men stepped out from behind the curtains. They'd been hiding in our house, listening to everything.
"Sit down," the first man ordered. "And listen carefully. Because your daughter's life rests on what you do next."
Robert started to stand up, but the man pulled out a gun.
"I said sit down."
We sat.
"Here's what's going to happen," the man added. "Belle is going to be returned to you tomorrow. But she's going to be... different. Confused. Scared. Possibly even crazy."
"What did you do to her?" I whispered.
"Nothing permanent. Just some drugs that will make her seem unstable for a few days. Long enough for the board to see that she's not fit to inherit."
"You're monsters," Jasper said.
The man shrugged. "We're businessmen. And business is business."
He pulled out a folder and threw it on the couch table. "These are papers moving Belle's inheritance to the board. You're going to convince her to sign them when she gets back."
"Never," Robert said.
"Oh, I think you will. Because if you don't..." The man held up his phone. On the screen was a video of Belle, tied to a chair, looking frightened and confused.
But that wasn't the worst part.
The worst part was the little girl sitting next to her.
Millie.
They had my child too.
"Now," the man said with a smile, "let's discuss the terms of Belle's release."
And I realized with cold fear that we were completely powerless to save either of them.