Chapter Twenty: 'Napped (2)

Pain! Intense pain muddled Charlotte's head. She struggled to open her eyes but when she did the horrible stench of oil invaded her nose. There was no to little light, the only source was the tiny tea candles placed randomly around the room. Charlotte looked around and saw herself strapped to the chair. Her mouth was taped and her wrists were tied to the chair along with her feet. She tried to free herself but only the red burns remained on her hands after rubbing them against the ropes. Her wrists were burning and her head was throbbing in tremendous pain and her throat felt parched. 

Charlotte listened to the padding of footsteps. She closed her eyes and pretended to be unconscious. She heard the door open with a creak and shut with a loud bang. Ginger steps marched towards her.

"You're so pretty, my darling sleeping like that." A cold sinister hand slithered on Charlotte's face. She suppressed the urge to slap the hand away. "If only you saw my love and devotion."

The oddly familiar voice itched Charlotte's heart. A familiar fear arose in her heart. She heard the steps become distant and after she heard the same slamming sound of the door, Charlotte opened her eyes. 

— –

4 hours after Charlotte's disappearance 

Sofia drove to the police station. The guilt gnawed in her heart. Charlotte has always been a best friend and a sister to her. Although she first approached Charlotte with bad motives along the way, she made an impact on her. She couldn't imagine what Douglas would do. She had helped him escape his prison sentence many years ago when he deserved to rot in there in the name of familial relationship. Now she knew how much of an idiot she was. 

Sofia had always been indebted to Douglas since he was the one who helped her escape their abusive father when they were little. She felt her elder brother would never do anything bad but hadn't she helped him do the exact same thing. Sofia gripped her steering wheel. She had parked it right outside the police station. She hesitated at first. She knew she would be arrested since she was an accomplice but the thought of Charlotte encouraged her to open her car door. That's right Charlotte had suffered way much more and what was worse it was mental trauma and that sticks with you for life. 

Sofia confessed to the police everything she knew along with fact being the sister and accomplice of the kidnapper. She told them how they had monitored her 24/7. Broke into her privacy and had been stalking her. 

As soon as the police got all the information they then immediately informed Carlos. He instantly went up in anger. He ordered Charlotte be found at once and had Sofia detained. After ending the call he used his personal connection and deployed his mens to search everywhere while they tried to track her. He informed Alexa of this information and told her not to get out of her house in case anything happened. He also assigned a group of bodyguards to keep her safe.

The new bodyguards had reached Charlotte's house but before that they did a perimeter search and happened to find the four elite soldiers that were previously there to protect Charlotte drugged in the corner. They knew the perpetrator could not be simple, they had planned this meticulously and had help from trained specialists. The bodyguards informed the newly found information to Carlos who then shared it with police. As a VVIP, Carlos received the help of the FBI. Together they tried to somehow track Charlotte.

Since Alexa was not allowed to leave the house she could only inform Elliot through her phone but he wasn't picking up. It only meant he was busy. She texted him of Charlotte missing but for hours there was no reply. Since there was no other way, Alexa could only stay at home. She paced the house and looked for anything to distract her when she suddenly spotted a cracked tile that wasn't there before. She lifted the piece and saw a ladder going down. She went down slowly and jumped down the ladder to see a tunnel leading somewhere. She turned on the torch on her phone and walked into the tunnel.

By the time Elliot read Alexas message it had already been 10 hours since Charlotte went missing and half an hour since Alexa disappeared into the tunnel.