Stolen (Joe Sugg AU)

Chapter One: The First Victim

I examined myself in the mirror. My light brown hair was pulled up into a high pony tail, a few strands pulled out to frame my small face. My green eyes shone brightly in the over light, and I smiled. I was wearing a maroon velvet swing dress and black stockings. I pulled on some black lace up platform heels and grabbed my purse, ready to explore London.

"Dexter!" I called out to our driver, aka my best friend. "We're going on a field trip."

From around the corner, Dexter appeared. He was a man in his late sixties, but had the energy and compassion of a twenty year old.

"Through the town?"

"Yes," I responded. We walked side by side to the new BMW my dad had just purchased here. Dexter opened the door for me and I sat down. He opened his door and got in, starting the engine.

"Anywhere specific?" Dexter asked.

"Let's find a coffee shop. I need to find a place where I'll be going a lot."

"And we all know you love coffee," Dexter chuckled.

We drove out of the tall gates that surrounded the house. The drive from here to the busy streets was just ten minutes, and soon enough we found a nice but not too busy café shop.

"Would you like me to accompany you Alexandra?"

I shook my head. "No. You can venture around if you'd like. I'll call you when I need to be picked up."

"Okay, be safe."

"Thank you Dexter," I said before getting out of the car. I walked into the café shop and was welcome by the sweet aroma of pastries and coffee.

I walked to the counter and ordered regular coffee, a cheese strudel, and a bottle of water. Sometimes, it was overwhelming to just drink coffee so I always made sure I had water.

I sat down in the back of the café, wanting to examine the place whole. It was a cute and cozy place, with a tree house kind of theme to it. The tables were designed as the trunks of trees, and the chairs looked like something out of a fairytale.

"Shit," I heard a guy mumble at the table next to me. I turned and saw a guy about my age, maybe a year older sitting there, maps and notebooks sprawled all over the table. He looks like he was lost, but his accent sounded native to here.

"Excuse me, are you okay?" I asked.

The guy turned to me, and the bags under his eyes made me feel bad, but also scared. He might be irritated, and I didn't want to make things worse.

"I'm fine," he responded, his voice was well, irritated. I looked away as a waitress came along, bringing me my order.

"Thank you," I told her, taking a sip of my coffee. I stole glances at the guy next to me. He was fairly attractive, but the way he was hunched over the table and how frustrated he seemed to grow every minute, I felt nervous. But the side of me that recognizes signs of stress thanks to all the online psychology courses and books I've been reading (behind my dad's back), I decided to do something nice.

I stood up and took the cheese strudel over to the guy, placing it on the table.

"Hi, I'm sorry to bother you but you I just thought you were hungry. It looks like you've been up all night working."

The guy looked at the pastry before looking up at me. He stood up straight, and I saw that he was shorter than I thought. I mean, taller than me, but still, short.

"That's very kind of you," he said.

I smiled. "I'm Alexandra, but you can call me Alex," I said, extending my hand. He took it and gave it a firm shake.

"Joseph, but you can call me Joe."

"It's nice to meet you," I said. "Do you mind me asking what are you working on?"

Joe seemed to go defensive when something on the television caught my eye. It was the local news, and a woman was speaking about local kidnapping.

"Another girl has been taken again last night around eleven pm. She goes by the name Zoe Sugg, aka Zoella. She's an internet personal and vlogger, and her recent disappearance has caused an outrage over the internet.

"Inspectors believe that this has to do with the chain of young woman that have been disappearing lately in London and surrounding cities. And recently, it was discovered that this kidnapping may be used for human trafficking."

The news shocked me, and I was frightened. The moment my dad and I move here, that's when these things start to happen. Especially me, I had just arrived here this morning. My dad was here for two weeks already, making sure everything was settled before my arrival.

What welcoming news.

"That's what I'm doing," Joe said, and I was shocked.

What does he mean that's what he's doing? I took a step back before he continued.

"I'm looking for Zoe. She's my sister, and she was the most recent victim of a string of kidnappers."

~

I sat there in the café with Joe for about two hours. He told me about how this has been going on for a few months already. He told me about how he and his sister were out and about last night, grabbing late night snacks when a van pulled up and took Zoe.

"I only saw one man's face, and he was just sitting inside the van, smiling. He had to be the leader, or something. The others just took her, and I couldn't do anything about it. I immediately called the police but they couldn't find her."

I felt pity for Joe. "I'm so sorry. I wish I knew a way to help, but I'm not even familiar with this place. I just arrived here today."

"You moved here?"

"Yes. From California."

"That's some bad timing," he said, continuing to scribble things down inside a spiral notebook.

"I know. I wonder if my dad knew about this."

"Probably not. I would never move to a place where this was happening, especially if I had a daughter of my own."

I stared at Joe, and I wish there was a way for me to help. But I barely knew him and I barely knew this place.

"I have to go now. I hope that they find your sister soon," I said, getting up from my seat.

"Thank you. And it was very nice to meet you," Joe said.

I nodded and took out my phone, calling Dexter to come pick me up. I went straight home, not wanting to be outside after the news I've just discovered.

This was going to be an interesting stay.

Woo! I'm so excited for this series. I feel like it's going to be really intense. But, I'm sorry if this has a weird start. I usually don't like reading stories with a super rich family but also one with a poor want. I like normal ones with actualy problems, but this is a serious problem going on all over the world and I would like to bring enlightnment to it.

Human trafficking is a serious problem and I feel like people need to understand it better, so that's what I'm going to do in this story, but in a fun, interseting kind of way.

I hope you enjoy it. Don't forget to vote and give feedback.

Thanks x