309— Abducted (2)

Back in the car, Li Chuanmo waited for the person that was sent to bring his clothes for a few minutes. But when the man did not appear, Li Chuanmo made as if to get down from the car, only to find the door locked.

He looked questioningly at the man in the driver's seat before saying, "Open this door."

In response, the man started the ignition and drove away from the hotel at an alarming speed. Seeing this, Li Chuanmo said nothing more and sat back.

Then almost in a leisurely manner, he removed the handkerchief he always carried in his pocket for Pei Yueran's needs and deftly twisted it into a rope.

The man driving suddenly felt his throat tighten due to a constricting force.

"If you don't stop this car now, you can bid your life goodbye." Li Chuanmo said, as if he was simply stating that the weather was just fine.

Beads of sweat began to gather on the young man's brow. He tried to ignore the discomfort as he drove faster. The life of his family members depended on him getting this job done properly.

But as Li Chuanmo tightened the makeshift rope one more time, the man began to feel dizzy and short of breath. With red eyes, he brought the car to a stop and grabbed at his neck.

Once the hold loosened, he took in gulps of air with his nose as he coughed with his mouth. One strike to his neck later, he was passed out cold.

After dropping him by the side of the road, Li Chuanmo got into the driver's seat and reversed the car in one smooth motion. With one hand, he turned on his phone and searched for the location of her smartwatch.

Seeing the way it moved quickly all over the place, his hands clenched. Just a few minutes ago, it was stationary, which meant she didn't leave the room. But now, he could tell that something had happened to her.

He called Gao Tinghua first, but there was no answer after multiple tries. He almost cussed. This was why he was always referring to him as an idiot. The guy was so unreliable!

Since Gao Tinghua wasn't responding, he called Qiao Mingran, who picked on the third ring. When she asked if they were on their way back, he sidestepped the question and instead asked her, "Where's Gao Tinghua?"

"He hasn't come back in after all these while. I don't know where he went." Qiao Mingran complained as she scanned the hall for him again.

"How about your husband and daughter?"

"Zhipeng is talking to another business partner and Tingxiu is still on the phone with her manager. That girl! Was that what she came here for?" Qiao Mingran spoke angrily again, but then she noticed something and paused, then spoke with fear.

"Why are you asking for them? Did something happen? Where is Yue'er?"

"Don't worry about her. How about Director Zhou? Is she still with you?"

That was when Qiao Mingran noticed her absence, "Oh no! She's not here!"

"When last did you see her?" Li Chuanmo asked as he drove the car to the hotel entrance.

"She said she wanted to go to the washroom, but that was already about ten minutes ago. I wanted to go with her but a guest needed my attention at the time." Qiao Mingran's face was full of worry.

"Okay. You find Gao Tinghua as soon as possible without disrupting the party and tell him the situation of things. I'll keep in touch."

He said before ending the call.

Qiao Mingran nodded as if he could see her and tried not to cry as she called Gao Tinghua's number over and over again. She was already beginning to feel lightheaded from fright.

When he didn't pick, she went over to Gao Tingxiu and interrupted her call.

"Tingxiu, where's your brother?"

Gao Tingxiu sighed, "I don't know." Her manager had called to say that she had to return to the filming site as soon as possible to reshoot some already concluded scenes because the supporting character she was acting with had to drop out of the production.

Needless to say, she wasn't in a good mood.

"Quickly go to the washrooms and check for your sister's adoptive mother. She said she was going there some minutes ago, but hasn't returned yet."

She didn't want to leave the hall as it would draw unwanted attention.

Gao Tingxiu did not understand, "Could it be that she got lost? The washrooms are not that hard to find and are not too far from this hall either."

"Just do as I say." Qiao Mingran said, slightly pushing her daughter in the direction of the doors.

After watching her leave, she continued dialing Gao Tinghua's number, but he was still not picking. She also sent him multiple messages, still nothing. She even wrote that it seemed his sister was missing, but the messages all remained unread.

She only hoped her Yue'er was fine. If anything happened to her, she wouldn't want to live.

Resigned, she decided to go out looking for Gao Tinghua and had moved in that direction when Gao Lanmei came to talk to her.

"Are you going somewhere, Sister-in-law?"

"I was thinking of going to use the washroom." Qiao Mingran improvised.

"Oh, that's great, I wanted to go too. Let's go together." Gao Lanmei invited.

"On a second thought, I just realized that we can't leave the party unattended to. Your brother is busy talking to his business partners and I don't know where the children are." Qiao Mingran said to cover up the earlier lie.

"The party will be fine, don't worry. Infact, let us tell my brother about it."

Qiao Mingran wanted to say no, but at that moment, she spotted Gao Tinghua and prayed with all her might that he would check his phone.

When she saw him look at his phone and talk to a young man before dashing off, she exhaled and spoke, "I don't think it's necessary, but alright."

As she allowed herself to be dragged in Gao Zhipeng's direction, she nodded and agreed absentmindedly to whatever Gao Lanmei said, hoping all the while that nothing would go wrong.

*****

On Li Chuanmo's end, he had parked the car in a secluded spot and locked all the doors.

Then he called Charlie, who picked on the first ring.

"Yo Boss, how are things going?" Charlie's ever cheerful voice greeted him.

"I'm not in the mood for jokes. Where is she? How is she doing?"

Hearing that icy voice, Charlie also became serious. "She's fine, I'm trying to follow them as we speak."

Then correcting himself, he said, "I mean, using my binoculars. I'm about to get cross-eyed by how fast they are moving. Once they get out into the open, I'll take action."