Marcel stiffened behind her, his hand reaching out to touch the screen that was showing a recording of the girl on her bed with her legs brought up to her chest. Although the room was lavishly decorated and it didn’t look like the girl was being held hostage, however, anyone could easily sense the loneliness lingering around the girl.
She couldn’t exactly make out the young girl’s features from the recording but it was obvious that she and Marcel looked nothing alike starting from her dark hair. After all, she had been adopted but Marcel took her as his biological sister – the young girl was the remaining link between him and his late mother.
Arianna turned to look at Marcel in concern and though he had a passive expression, she knew he was not okay. The girl was the only family he had left and yet he couldn’t protect her, Marcel must be blaming himself for what happened.
Knowing that Marcel had to put on a brave front, Arianna didn’t say a word and only took his other hand in hers and squeezed it tight, providing silent comfort to him.
‘Don’t worry, we’d get her back,” Her gaze seemed to communicate with him, and then Marcel took her hand in his instead, caressing the top of her palm while smiling at her.
Arianna stared at the lopsided smile Marcel gave her and she froze. For some strange reason, Marcel looked incredibly handsome and her heart went, “ba-dim!”, “ba-dum!”
Flustered, while her cheeks burned, Arianna looked away at once. She had no idea what Marcel was doing to her.
Marcel’s brows furrowed when Arianna turned her face the other way, as if she didn’t want to stare at him. Hence he couldn’t see her flushed expression, he didn’t say anything as he handed the laptop back to Winters with confirmation.
.....
“Your suspicion is right, she’s my sister Chloe. Tell me then what else you found out before I start working on getting her out of that hell hole,” Marcel was determined.
“Well...” Winters took a mouthful of breath that caused a bit of suspense as they all wondered what she was not telling them.
“That’s the part where we have a tiny bit of a problem,” Winters said and Marcel flinched behind her. Of course, anything titled “problem” was bad news.
“Just tell me the damn truth,” Marcel demanded, having sensed something was not right. His grip around Arianna’s waist was tight as if he was nervous or something and she had no doubt that he probably didn’t know he was hurting her right now.
“It turns out that your sister escaped from your father’s place two weeks ago,” Winters dropped the news.
“W-hat?”
Winters played another recording that showed the girl leaving the room she had been kept in. Winters must have compiled all of the recordings because the next showed the girl successfully running out of the fortress and the soldiers were too late to stop her. The video stopped and a chilling silence took over the room.
No one dared to make a sound until Marcel suddenly shot up to his feet with Arianna in his arms. However, he made her sit back down while he stood up and began to pace up and down the room, anger filling him as he digested the information.
“He lost Chloe! He fucking lost her!” He raged while everyone watched without interfering.
If this was his room and they weren’t present right now, Arianna did not doubt that Marcel would have wrecked the room to blow off some steam. She couldn’t blame him anyway because she was annoyed. How could his father kidnap his sister just to convince him into marriage?
As if that wasn’t enough, Daniel lost the girl and yet he continued to con Marcel into the marriage when he didn’t have her anymore. It was inhumane and she still couldn’t understand how this family worked. How could a father do that to his son?
“This must be the reason he wanted you to get married quicker,” Victor figured it out, his eyes connecting with his cousin’s, “The more time he wasted, the anxious he grew that you would find out. Your father didn’t want you to know that your sister was missing. He didn’t want you to know that he had no more leverage over you,” He reminded Marcel that he was a free man now if that was the case.
Marcel’s eyes grew wide at the realization while Arianna didn’t even know when she released a relieved sigh. He was now free from Clara? The news delighted Arianna the most.
Yes, Arianna was sure that Marcel liked her, but those feelings were not enough to stop him from marrying Clara. Marcel was bound to his duty and family, and if marrying Clara would save Chloe, she was sure he would do it without blinking an eye.
That was why she had worked so hard in that mission just so she could give him a fighting chance against his father and as well, stop the marriage. It finally worked! Now, she didn’t have to worry about Clara stealing her man.
Yes, her man! Marcel was hers.
Marcel should be happy at the news he was no longer bound to his father’s games, but that wasn’t possible, not when Chloe was out there and missing as well. If anything happened to her, he would never be able to forgive himself. How would he be able to face his mother in the afterlife after failing to protect the one person she treasured and handed over to him before she died.
Marcel lifted his head and looked at Winters hopefully, “Tell me that you have a lead on her.”
“Well, I do,” Winters said and everyone sighed in relief, only for her to add immediately, “Just not one you are going to like.”
Marcel clenched his jaw hard showing he didn’t like that response, however, he said, “I’ll take my chances,”
“If you say so then,” Winters said and then her hands flew over her keyboard as she explained to them, “So I hacked every possible camera around the areas that I assumed your sister must have gone through until I came around one that gave me what I wanted. It turns out that your sister ran into the road and almost got hit by a car.”
At the mention of almost getting hit by a car, Marcel’s breath hitched in his throat. His sister almost died and he hadn’t been able to do anything.
“The shock must have been too much for the young girl because she fainted right now and the occupant of the car stepped out and took her.”
“Took her to where?!” Marcel demanded impatiently. He was tapping his feet against the ground impatiently and looked like he would wolf out very soon.
“I could not capture the plate number -”
“Wonderful,” Marcel threw his hands up frustrated.
“Ungrateful jerk, I stayed up all night for this!” Winters glared at him, hating that look he gave her as if she was incompetent or something.
Arianna got up and took matters into her hand before it escalated. She cupped his face, speaking softly to him, “Don’t worry Marcel, we’d surely find her.”
Thanks for her concern, Marcel was about to calm down. He held her face and rested his forehead against hers, trying to draw strength from her.
“Aww, they’re so romantic -” Mimi was about to swoon when Victor reached out and closed her mouth with his large palm. She was not going to destroy that romantic moment for them.
“Well, luckily for you,” Winters continued, “The car is one of a kind, meaning that it’s a limited edition and customized for just one person in the entire world.”