Chapter 353: Where Are You?

It has been more than a week since then the picnic. Daniel had enrolled baby Ashton into a baby's swimming lessons wherein Ash gets to learn together with babies from three months to one year old. Daniel and Samantha had already attended the first session and today was their second. The two of them wanted to be part of the lessons so that they can still practice with him even at home.

One of the reasons why they enrolled him in the Training Program in the swimming school was because they wanted him to meet other babies and possibly have a playmate. Ash was always surrounded by adults at home and he needed to be able to interact with babies his age. 

In the pool, Daniel held Ashton as he followed the instructor's guide while Samantha watched the two of them play at the same time. Unlike other babies who feared the water, Ashton was so brave that he enjoyed being in the water so much. He was smiling the entire time that they played in the water, wiggling and waving his stubby arms splashing water everywhere.

Seeing his son enjoy the activity so much, Daniel couldn't help but kiss Ashton's cheeks; he was just so fond of him. The little boy squealed in delight it warmed his father's heart.

"Alright, babies, mommies, and daddies… that's all for today. We'll see you again next session." The instructor helped other parents out of the pool.

"Honey, you change clothes faster than me. Why don't you go first while I change Ashton so when you're done, you can hold him." Samantha said as they got out of the pool.

"Okay, I'll be right back." 

While Daniel was in the men's bathroom, Samantha quickly rinsed baby Ash and then dressed him up. She was already used to it that it did not take her a long time to finish and just in time, Daniel had also already come back wearing dry casual clothes.

"Wow, my baby's looking good. Did you enjoy swimming? Hmmm?" Daniel received Ashton from Samantha and held him in his arms. 

"Love, can you dry his hair? There's a small towel in the bag. I'll go change." Samantha said quickly while heading towards the women's bathroom.

As if he had done it a lot of times in the past, Daniel gently wiped Ashy's hair with a soft towel. "You're hungry huh?" Daniel whispered when Ash started chewing on his fingers. 

"Da!" Ashton uttered, making Daniel smile.

"Yes, I'm your Da." He rubbed Ashton's tummy. "Let's wait for mommy a bit."

Twenty minutes had passed and Samantha was still not coming out from the bathroom. Most of the parents were already gone and it was only Daniel who was left at the bleachers waiting for Samantha.

Daniel glanced at his watch and was starting to get worried. He took his phone out and called Samantha's number but the ringing that sounded from inside Ashton's diaper bag indicated that she left her phone there. 

"Let's go see if mommy's okay." Daniel lifted Ash up and headed towards the bathrooms. When he reached the door, he called, "Sam?"

There was no answer.

"Honey, are you in there?" Daniel's brows furrowed when it was still quiet. Ashton had already fallen asleep on his shoulder so he had to put his hand on his son's ear, careful not to wake him up. But how was he going to call Samantha from outside?

He slowly peeked in and saw that it was empty from where he stood. There was a cleaning lady that passed by and Daniel called her attention. "Excuse me, can you go inside and check on my wife? She's been in there for a while."

Nodding, the cleaning lady went inside and checked the stalls. However, she didn't find anyone inside. 

"I don't see anyone there but this was on the floor. Is this your wife's?" She handed a red hair tie to Daniel.

Receiving the tie, Daniel instantly recognized it as Samantha's. "Yeah… this is hers. Are you sure there's no one there?"

"Yes, I checked twice. Maybe she went out through the back door." The cleaning lady pointed at the door a few meters away from the bathrooms before she walked away.

Daniel was even more perplexed. It didn't make sense to him that Samantha would just suddenly leave without telling him. His heart started to beat fast and without thinking twice, he went inside the women's bathroom to personally check but just like what the cleaning lady said, no one was there.

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Clenching his jaw, he went back to the bleachers and looked inside the bag wherein he found her wallet and cellphone. "Where are you, Sam?"

Ashton suddenly woke up and started crying. Daniel had to stroke his small back to calm him down but it was as if the little boy knew that his mother was missing.

"It's okay, baby. Mommy will be back." Daniel told Ash while he took his cell phone out and started calling. 

Logan and Philip arrived twenty minutes later and tried to search the entire complex but did not find Samantha. To protect people's privacy, there were no CCTV cameras in the swimming complex except at the parking lot and the exits. However, after checking the footage, they did not find anything. There was a video of them arriving and going inside the swimming complex but there was no record of Samantha going out from any of the exits.

It was as though Samantha was still inside but after searching everywhere, they did not find her.

After a couple of hours later, Ashton had woken up again and wailed – he was obviously missing his mommy.

Worried, Logan told Daniel, "Boss, why don't you go home first? I will deploy our men and continue the search. I think the young master needs to rest."

It was almost getting dark and because Daniel was very much worried about his wife, Ashton was feeling uncomfortable. So after Logan's reminder, Daniel went home and told Samantha's parents what had happened, making everyone at home distressed.

The night has fallen and there was still no sign of Samantha. 

Daniel had become restless but he remained calm as much as he could because if Ashton could sense his worries, the little boy would also be restless. Burying his emotions deep inside, Daniel made extreme efforts to feed his son and put him to sleep before he was able to finally focus on Samantha's disappearance.

He had been waiting for updates from Logan and Philip all night but it wasn't until ten in the evening when he received a phone call.

"Boss, we found something. You need to see this." Logan said and Daniel immediately grabbed a coat and went out of the bedroom but he abruptly stopped by the door and looked at Ashton who was fast asleep in his crib. He did not want to leave him alone for fear that he was going to wake up in the middle of the night. 

"Have they found something?" Seo Joon appeared from the stairs and walked towards Daniel who only nodded as he was still feeling anxious. 

"Joon, I need to go. Can you-" 

"Of course. Don't worry, I'll stay and watch over Ash." Seo Joon was also very much worried that he couldn't rest. Even though he wanted to find Samantha himself, he offered to keep an eye on little Ashton instead. 

"Thank you. I'll call you right away." Daniel said as he rushed down the stairs and ran to his car. He sped through the roads, avoiding cars and ignoring traffic lights. When he reached the swimming complex, Logan and Philip were waiting for him at the parking lot.

"What did you find?" Daniel immediately asked the moment he got out of his car. 

Philip handed a small tablet to Daniel where a video was waiting to be played. "We couldn't find anything from the footage of this complex no matter how many times we went over it. We figured that they have been tampered with. But, after scouting the area, there were two buildings that had cameras, one that faces the backdoor exit and the other towards the main road." He pointed at the cameras.

"It took us a while to get this video because we had to wait for access," Logan added before he tapped the play button on the screen.

Daniel watched the video carefully, waiting for something to happen until he saw a man carrying an unconscious woman and placed her in the trunk of the car. Even though the angle of the video was taken from afar, Daniel was sure that it was Samantha judging by the features of the woman. 

A new video played and they saw the sedan driving north.

A murderous aura emanated from Daniel, making the air chilly. He clenched his fist so hard that his knuckles turned white. "Find her," he said through gritted teeth.

His gaze and expression turned dark as he thought about the person who was trying to hurt Samantha. "And find whoever this person who took my wife.. I want him begging for his life."

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