The next morning, the hospital felt unusually quiet.
Too quiet.
Lina woke up slowly, her body still weak, her hair falling softly across her face.
She glanced at the chair beside her bed—
Empty.
No Jack.
No half-open jacket tossed over the armrest,
no juice bottle left on the table,
no faint smell of his cologne lingering in the air.
She frowned.
"…Jack?"
No answer.
She shifted, trying to sit up.
Her voice trembled as she called again, louder this time:
"Jack?"
Still nothing.
Her heart skipped uncomfortably.
He told her the night before:
"I'm not leaving you anymore."
So where was he?
She pressed the emergency button.
A nurse rushed in.
"Is everything alright?"
Lina swallowed hard.
"Where is Jack?
He… he should've been here.
He never leaves this early."
The nurse looked confused.
"I haven't seen him since last night."
Lina's stomach dropped.
Her brother entered the room next—
out of breath, panic in his eyes.
"Lina—have you seen Jack? Saly is looking for him everywhere."
"What?" Lina whispered.
"He's gone?"
Her brother nodded, trembling.
"Sally said he didn't come home.
He didn't contact anyone.
His phone is off."
The world around Lina began to tilt.
"No… no, that's not possible… He wouldn't just disappear."
Sally burst into the room then, her heels hitting the floor in sharp, frantic taps.
Her face was pale—
paler than Lina had ever seen.
"He's not in the hospital," Sally said, voice tight.
"He's not outside.
He's not answering.
The cameras show him walking down the hallway around midnight… then nothing. He just vanishes."
Lina felt her breath quicken.
Her brother stepped closer.
"Maybe he went somewhere?"
Sally shook her head instantly.
"Jack doesn't go anywhere without telling me.
Not after everything that happened.
This isn't normal."
Lina's pulse pounded in her ears.
Suddenly—
Something caught her eye.
A small white paper
was tucked under her blanket near her leg.
Her blood turned cold.
"What's that?" her brother whispered.
Lina picked it up slowly—
her hands shaking violently.
The paper was folded once.
Neat.
Deliberate.
She opened it.
Her breath stopped.
Three words.
A street address.
Nothing else.
No name.
No explanation.
No message.
Just the address.
Sally snatched the paper from her hand.
Her eyes widened.
"Oh my God…" she whispered.
Her brother stepped back, heart pounding.
"W—What does it mean?"
Sally's voice was barely audible.
"It means someone took him.
Someone wanted us to know."
Lina felt her vision blur with tears.
"No… no, this can't be happening… Jack wouldn't leave me. He wouldn't—"
Sally caught her shoulders before she collapsed.
"Lina… listen to me.
This is a message."
"A warning," her brother whispered, voice shaking.
"A threat," Sally corrected softly.
Lina covered her mouth as a sob escaped her.
"W-We need to go there," she said frantically.
"NOW—before something happens to him—before—"
Her brother grabbed her hand tightly.
"We'll find him.
I promise."
Sally's face hardened.
Her voice steadied into something cold and commanding:
"We leave in ten minutes.
We're not letting them keep him."The hospital room had turned into a war room.
Sally stood at the center, pacing back and forth with sharp, anxious steps.
Lina sat on the edge of her bed, hands balled into fists, her breathing uneven.
The boy stood near the window, pale, trembling, but trying desperately to stay calm.
Sally finally spoke.
"We don't have much time."
She held up the crumpled paper with the address.
"This place is outside the city. An abandoned warehouse district. No civilians, no cameras.
Whoever took Jack knew exactly what they were doing."
Lina felt her stomach twist.
"W-We have to go there. We can't wait—"
"We won't," Sally replied firmly.
"But we can't storm a place like that blindly."
The boy swallowed, forcing words past the fear choking him.
"What do we do then?"
Sally exhaled hard.
"I'll call my security team. We have men trained specifically for this kind of situation.
But we need to arrive before the kidnappers move Jack somewhere else."
She looked at Lina—softening only slightly.
"You can't come."
"I'm coming," Lina said instantly.
"No," Sally snapped.
"You're still weak. You just collapsed two days ago."
"I don't care," Lina shot back.
"He's out there alone. I'm going."
Sally rubbed her forehead.
"Fine. But you stay behind the team. You don't enter unless I tell you."
The boy stepped closer.
"I'm coming too."
Sally hesitated.
Lina looked back at him, eyes gentle.
"I need you with me," she whispered.
That sealed it.
Sally nodded.
"Then get ready. We leave in twenty minutes."
Lina gripped the note tiA cold metal chair.
Rough ropes digging into his wrists.
A dim flickering bulb above his head.
Jack groaned as consciousness seeped back into him.
His head throbbed violently.
His arms ached from the restraints.
His lip was split, blood drying on his chin.
Marcus Hale stood a few feet away—
smiling like he had already won.
"Awake?" Marcus asked mockingly.
Jack glared at him.
"You… won't get away with this."
Marcus laughed.
"I already have."
He stepped closer, tapping Jack's cheek lightly—mocking, cruel.
"You know why you're here, don't you?"
Jack spat blood to the floor.
"Because you're pathetic?"
Marcus slammed a fist into Jack's stomach.
Hard.
Jack gasped, doubling over as much as the ropes allowed.
Marcus leaned close.
"You're leverage," he hissed.
"And your father… is going to pay for what he did to my company."
He held up his phone and pressed play on a recording:
"Bring one million dollars by midnight…
or your son dies."
Marcus smirked.
"Your father will hear that message soon."
Jack's chest rose in ragged breaths.
"One… one million?"
"Yes," Marcus said coldly.
"The price of your life."
Jack looked away—jaw tightening, eyes darkening.
He hated feeling helpless.
He hated being restrained.
He hated being the reason someone else suffered.
Marcus continued, pacing slowly.
"You were always the weak link.
The angry son.
The reckless one.
Your father's embarrassment."
He leaned in.
"Now you're his burden."
Jack's breath hitched.
A strange pain rippled through him.
Not physical—
deeper.
Emotional.
Sharp.
He remembered something suddenly.
A hospital hallway.
A crying boy.
A voice breaking:
"If you never wanted me… why did you have me?"
Jack froze.
For the first time in his life…
he understood that feeling.
The feeling of being unwanted.
Abandoned.
A problem.
He swallowed hard.
He whispered to himself—
"…so this is what it felt like."
His own words hit him like a blade.
He had made the boy feel this too.
Small.
Alone.
Powerless.
Jack clenched his fists.
"Damn it…"
Marcus pulled out a knife and held it under Jack's chin.
"Your father has until midnight."
Jack stared back with fire in his eyes—
but inside,
something else was burning:
Regret.
Guilt.
And fear…
Not for himself—
But for Lina.
For the boy.
For Sally.
"I can't let them suffer because of me…" he thought desperately.
He forced his voice steady.
"You won't win."
Marcus smiled darkly.
"Oh, Jack…
I already have."
The door sSally closed her bag.
"Get in the car.
We're going to bring him back."
Lina squeezed her brother's hand tightly.
The boy whispered:
"We're coming, Jack…
just hold on."
Fade to black.
EndThe hospital room felt too quiet.
Lina was sitting on her bed, her fingers trembling as she reread the address note.
Sally was outside, speaking with her security team.
The boy stood by the window, staring at the city lights through blurry eyes.
His phone buzzed.
A single notification.
Unknown Number.
1 Video Message.
His blood ran cold.
He tapped the screen.
The video opened.
And the world dropped away.
Jack—
tied to a chair,
face bruised and bleeding,
one eye swollen shut,
a cut dripping down his cheek.
His breath was shallow.
His head hung to one side.
His lips trembled with pain.
A man's voice behind the camera spoke coldly:
"Tick-tock, Blackwell. Midnight is coming."
A fist slammed into Jack's ribs—
he choked out a sound between a gasp and a cry.
The boy covered his mouth, eyes filling instantly.
"No… no, no, no—"
He almost dropped the phone.
Another voice followed:
"Tell Daddy to hurry… or we'll send him back to you in pieces."
The video ended.
The boy stood frozen—
paralyzed, shaking violently.
Then suddenly he ran.
Straight through the hallway.
Straight to Sally.
She turned just as he reached her.
"Hey—what's wrong—?"
He shoved the phone into her hands.
"L-Look—just look—!"
Sally pressed play.
For the first time since the kidnapping…
Sally's face turned white.
Dead white.
"Oh my God…" she whispered.
Lina limped out of her room.
"What happened—?"
Sally snapped the phone off.
"Lina," she said firmly, voice shaking just slightly,
"you don't need to see this."
"That means it's bad," Lina breathed, tears rising instantly.
"Jack… is he—?"
"He's alive," Sally said quickly.
"But we're running out of time."
The boy wiped his face with trembling hands.
"We have to go. Now. Right now."
"We are," Sally said, snapping back into command mode.
She turned to her security team.
"Prepare the cars.
Call Team Bravo and Team Delta.
We move in ten minutes."
One guard stepped forward.
"Do we have the ransom?"
Sally's eyes hardened.
"Yes."
She motioned to a black suitcase on the bed.
The boy blinked.
"But… we don't have a million dollars—"
Sally opened the suitcase.
Stacks of perfectly printed, high-quality fake bills.
She shut it with a sharp click.
"They won't check immediately," she said.
"And we only need Jack out of there before they do."
Lina swallowed.
"That's dangerous…"
"Everything about this is dangerous," Sally replied.
"But Jack doesn't have until midnight.
That video was taken recently—
his condition is worsening."
The boy's voice cracked.
"They're hurting him…
and we're just—standing here—"
Sally placed a firm hand on his shoulder.
"We're going to save him."
Lina grabbed her brother's hand.
"We won't leave him there. I promised him."
The boy nodded, wiping his tears.
Sally spoke to the team again.
"Delta Team goes inside through the back.
Bravo Team blocks exits.
Alpha Team escorts me, Lina's brother, and the ransom."
A guard asked cautiously:
"And Lina herself?"
Sally glanced at Lina—who was pale, trembling, but determined.
"She stays in the car," Sally said.
"At least until Jack is secured."
Lina wanted to argue—
but the fear in Sally's voice silenced her.
The boy clutched the phone tightly.
"What if they hurt him while we're arriving…?"
Sally's jaw tightened.
"We'll be there before they expect us."
She turned to her team.
"Everyone—move out!"
The hallway burst into motion.
Guards in black uniforms.
Weapons concealed.
Communication earpieces being checked.
Boots hitting the ground.
Lina grabbed the boy's arm before they left.
"Whatever happens…
we bring him home."
He nodded.
"Alive," he whispered fiercely.
Sally stepped toward them.
"This ends tonight."
She grabbed the suitcase of fake money.
"Let's go get Jack."
The doors swung open.
The rescue mission began.
Fade out.
lammed shut.
Jack was left in the cold darkness—
breathing hard,
bleeding,
thinking only one thing:
"Please don't come here…
please stay safe…"
ghtly.
"Hold on, Jack…" she whispered.
"We're coming."
Cut.
Lina looked at the paper again.
The address stared back at her like a nightmare.
Her tears fell silently.
"Hold on, Jack…" she whispered.
"Please… hold on."
Fade out.
"Don't forget to add the book to your library 💗"