Chapter 51
Ares had been locked in a closed-door meeting for one hour.
Exactly sixty minutes.
The same hour Shay disappeared.
The timing was too precise to be a coincidence. Too clean. Too deliberate.
It felt engineered.
As if an unseen hand had moved the pieces across a chessboard… or worse, like some master gamer had selected Shay and Ares as characters and was now playing with their lives for sport.
In that one hour, a lot had happened.
By the time Ares got the call, the trail was already dead.
No Shay. No Lara. No witnesses.
“I want Xander at the penthouse. Now p>
His voice was low, controlled — the kind of calm that frightened people more than shouting.
His eyes slid to Jack, cold and cutting.
“And you… you said there were no blind spots p>
Jack stiffened. That was the report he got.
Besides, the initial footages he reviewed showed Shay or someone who looked like her, treasure hunting with the rest of her classmates.
“Bring me all her guards. And her nanny. All of them. Now p>
Ares didn’t panic.
He never panicked.
Even with his chest tightening at the thought of Shay in danger, his mind worked like a machine — calculating, eliminating, mapping outcomes.
Fear could wait.
Logic came first.
Who would dare kidnap his daughter?
Who had the resources? Who had the motive?
The answer surfaced almost instantly.
The Orion acquisition. A billion-dollar deal. A startup company that boomed overnight focusing on AI and defense contracts. A corporate warfare dressed as business.
That must be it.
Or it could be a business rival. He had plenty of enemies, plenty of people who could be ruthless enough to do such a lowly tactic.
Footsteps echoed down the hallway.
The head guard and Sarah were dragged in followed by the five other guards.
Six men were too many to guard a little girl, and yet she disappeared right under their noses.
Sarah was already crying. Her pathetic, broken sobs irritated Ares even more.
“Speak p>
Just one word, and one icy glare.
The head guard felt like he’d just been marched to a guillotine.
Sarah’s knees buckled. She collapsed to the floor. Her crying ceased.
The guard reported first, voice shaking but steady enough.
The timeline. The positions. How they were deceived by a girl who looked like Shay. There were no gaps.
Then Sarah.
She cried again, and it only got louder.
Ares didn’t even raise his voice.
“If you don’t stop crying, I’ll have your tongue cut out p>
The silence was instant.
She swallowed hard and tried to explain, twisting her story.
“I thought that the girl was Shay. Like him, I was deceived,” she said, glancing at the man who stood beside her, head lowered.
“You’ve been with Shay longer. How can you not know it wasn’t her p>
Ares’s voice was like the North Pole’s temperature in deep winter.
“Larissa was just with her a month, and yet the moment she came back, she knew right away, it wasn’t her p>
Sarah trembled.
“She told you to contact me,” Ares stepped closer. “Why didn’t you p>
“I—I did, Sir Ares. Your phone was off p>
“You could’ve called Jack p>
“It was a mistake, Sir. It won’t happen again p>
Ares stared at her. Long, hard and unblinking.
Like a judge already deciding the verdict.
Sarah’s breathing quickened.
Then she blurted, desperate—
“Sir— Larissa is missing too. Maybe she’s involved, in cahoots with them. Maybe she ran with them. How else could she just disappear p>
Ares, who already looked away, turned sharply.
His gaze hit her like a metal claw wrapping around her throat.
She couldn’t breathe.
He said nothing, just pressed a button on the remote.
The glass wall behind her flickered to life.
Security footage of the park and the teepee entrance appeared.
Children laughing. Running out one by one.
Then, the little girl with curly hair who looked like Shay came out. She has Shay’s backpack.
But a closer look would reveal it wasn’t her.
Someone who knew her enough could tell, but she was seen talking happily with that man.
Could he be working with the kidnappers?
Sarah’s face drained of color.
Then Sandro’s face appeared on the frame. The orphan boy. He looked nervous as he was looking for someone before his gaze landed straight on Sarah.
He hesitated, then he turned and entered the teepee, never coming out.
Instead, two men dressed as maintenance workers emerged minutes later.
Each carrying a rolled carpet that looked too heavy, too suspicious.
Sarah’s hands started trembling.
Then another clip.
Larissa was on a motorcycle, chasing a truck like a madwoman.
Road cameras picked up the pursuit — one after another — Xander stitching the footage together.
The final frame played. A head peeked from the passenger side of a black sedan.
Then Larissa slumped sideways as the tranquilizer hit.
The motorcycle skidded across the asphalt. Then the screen went black.
“Boss, someone shot the camera in that section.” A man wearing a half mask that covered his upper face entered from the door.
It was Xander.
The room went silent.
Dead silent.
Sarah realized then— Ares hadn’t needed her story.
He already knew everything. And that terrified her far more than his anger.
“Lock everyone down p>
A pause, cold and absolute.
“Until Shay is back p>
His voice dropped low. Final.
Deadly.
His eyes hardened into something inhuman. Something built for war.
Guards grabbed Sarah and the others, escorting them out like prisoners.
Like liabilities.
“Did you bring the girl and her parents?” Ares asked without looking up.
Jack hesitated.
“Boss… the kid panicked when our men showed up. Passed out. Parents made a scene. Hospital staff threatened police involvement. We had to back off p>
Ares didn’t blink.
But the air around him changed.
Colder.
“How about the man who approached Sarah p>
“Dead. Hit-and-run outside Wonderland. Clean job. Too clean p>
Ares’ fists clenched.
His enemies weren’t reacting. They were predicting.
Every step. Every move.
“Boss,” Xander said, pulling off his mask, placing two shattered phones on the table. “Found something interesting p>
He tapped one.
“Larissa’s. This one’s high-end. But this p>
He lifted the second phone, simple looking.
“This is what she used to hack Wonderland’s security. That’s how she tracked the delivery truck p>
For the first time, Ares’ eyes flickered.
Curiosity. Dangerous curiosity.
Larissa p>
Who the hell are you?
Jack swallowed. “About that truck… it just crashed. Exploded. No survivors. Our guys are heading to the scene p>
“Don’t waste manpower,” Ares cut in. Too fast. Too certain.
“Show me the surveillance around where Larissa was hit. Pull satellite feeds p>