His Perfect Wife Strikes Back

103 In Private

"Liv, where are you?" I asked over the phone. "Liv, are you okay?"

But the phone hung up. I tried to call her, but there was only voice mail. An ominous feeling came over me, and I clutched my phone in bewilderment.

"What happened?" Frade asked.

"My friend, she just called me for help," I said in a panic. "I think something bad happened to her. Frade, you have to help me."

"Calm down, Eva." Frade came to me and put his hand gently on my shoulder. "Do you know your friend's home address? We can go to her house right now."

I calmed down and thought. I immediately remembered that Liv had told me that she was attending her mother's funeral, so she would be in her mother's hometown. But what if she's already back?

"I know where she lives," I said to Frade. "Can you drive me to her apartment?"

"We're leaving now," Frade thought. "I think we need help. Give me a minute to call Mark and get him to help me."

The waiter came to the door with a nice plate of sushi. The kimono-clad waitress looked at us in surprise as we were leaving. Frade said nothing, left the waiter a few bills and hurried me out of the restaurant.

Back in the car, I gave Frade the address of Liv's apartment and he drove off immediately. In less than 15 minutes, we were downstairs in Liv's apartment. I ignored the apartment manager's questions and went straight into the elevator to Liv's floor.

When I arrived outside her apartment, I found that the door was ajar and I opened it with a push. Is Liv back?

"Here?" Frade whispered, glancing around. "Let me go in first."

He walked in front of me, leaning over carefully to open the door. I followed him and found a mess in the room. There was a visible trail of blood on the floor, which stretched all the way to the master bedroom. My nerves immediately tensed up and my heart became more and more flustered. My gut tells me Liv must have been taken by someone.

I went to the master bedroom and saw that the closet containing the safe was open. The clothes hanging in the closet were littered on the floor. When I saw that the open safe was empty, I immediately understood.

Liv must have come home and been threatened to open the safe. The robbers were after the flash drive. I almost collapsed on the bed. What rattled me was not the loss of the flash drive, but Liv's safety.

If anything were to happen to her, I would never forgive myself. So who did it? The cops who were following her?

"We didn't find anything useful in the house," Frade told me after checking all the rooms. "I'm sorry. It looks like something happened to your friend."

"I have to save her," I said, gripping Frade's hand. "Please help me. Liv is my best friend. I can't let anything happen to her."

"We have to get out of here and talk about this when we meet Mark," Frade comforted me. "I promise I will help you find your friend. Right now, I have to get you somewhere safe."

Then Frade took me to the hotel, where Mark arrived less than five minutes after we arrived at the suite. He was wearing a black coat with two pistols at his waist. As soon as Mark saw me with Frade, he had a look of displeasure on his face.

"Mark, we have to find someone right now. Her name is Liv. I'm sending you her address," Frade told Mark, "You need to find the security camera footage from her apartment today. Fast."

"Better to get a hacker," Mark said deadpan. "But I'm not sure he's available. Besides, what does this Liv have to do with you?"

I could see that Mark was resisting. It must be because of me.

"I thought I made myself clear to you," Frade said in a commanding voice. "Do as I say, now."

"Well, you're my boss," Mark said reluctantly, and then he started walking to the windowsill to make a phone call.

Soon, Mark turned on the computer on his desk and said to us, "Here's the surveillance footage. You can come and take a look."

Soon we saw Liv on the computer screen. She dragged a suitcase. Even through the screen, I could see the fatigue and sadness in her eyes. The time stamp says this happened half an hour ago. Less than 10 minutes after Liv returned to the apartment, I saw three tall men in baseball caps enter the elevator. They looked around warily in the hallway and then came to the door of Liv's room.

But the surveillance video stopped there. The next video is about 30 minutes apart from the previous one. So what happened in the last 30 minutes? Where was Liv taken by those three men?

"The original surveillance video was deleted, and this is what the hackers recovered," Mark said, "The person who deleted the video was professional."

"Could it be the police?" I asked.

"It's possible, but why would the police kidnap a woman," Frade said. "The police could have found a reason to bring her in and interrogate her. There are many ways for the police to get what they want."

"I still don't understand. Does this woman named Liv have anything to do with us?" Mark questioned. "If she's missing, then you should call the police."

He looked at me when he spoke, which made me feel a little embarrassed. What am I gonna tell him?

"Mark, cut the crap," Frade said unhappily. "Have the hacker send over more information about this woman, including her recent daily movements."

"You're the boss. I can only do as you ask." Mark's eyes returned to the computer screen. In less than a few minutes, the hacker sent over personal information about Liv. The information, however, is of no help in finding her.

"That's all we can do," Mark said, as if he wanted to end the case immediately.

"Wait, let me see the security footage," I said to Mark. "Start from the beginning and zoom in."

The video was played again. I stared wide-eyed at the three men walking down the hallway of my apartment, one of whom had a distinctive M tattoo on his wrist. I remember. It's a symbol for a special bodyguard.

Mikeal's bodyguard.

My father has a special habit. His bodyguards must have his initials on their bodies. This is not only to remind the bodyguards who they are serving, but also to highlight Mikeal's rights. To ensure their loyalty, Mikeal employs bodyguards for life. It means that the bodyguards are getting paid a lot of money and selling their lives to Mikeal. If Mikeal were to terminate the contract, the bodyguards would not only have to pay a high penalty for breach of contract, they would even be secretly killed.

That's how Mikeal works.

He kidnapped Liv to get his hands on the flash drive, but how did he know that Liv had it?

"Eva, have you thought of anything?" Frade asked.

I looked at him and wondered if I should tell him the truth. The flash drive is what I was going to give Daley to bring down the Moors. The flash drive decided the battle between him and Daley. If he knew the truth, would he still help me?

Maybe I can ask Daley for help, but he's in Vegas right now, and if he finds out that the flash drive is missing, will he blame me?

I'm so confused. What do I do? I can't put Liv in danger. The longer we wait, the more danger she'll be in.

"Eva," Frade whispered. "Are you listening?"

"Frade, I want to talk to you," I resolved. "In private."