Three Hours Earlier, 17:10 Hours.
Kiara couldn't get her mind off Jessica, so she endlessly nagged Samuel to find out her whereabouts from his coworkers.
Luckily, from some of the employees who had worked at Edward's for such a long time to have met Jessica, he was able to retrieve some info about her. It wasn't much, but it piqued Kiara's interest.
Part of it was where Jessica was last seen before she disappeared.
Lower Lincoln Street? I heard that part of the city was dangerous. I wonder why Jessica would stay in such a neighbourhood. But I guess I have to check it out.
Kiara pondered as she read the details of the text from Samuel.
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Fifteen Minutes Earlier
An Uber taxi came to a stop at Lower Lincoln Street. With a sigh, Kiara got off.
"Wait, miss. It's quite late to be walking around alone in this part of the city. Are you sure you'll be alright?" The driver asked with concern.
"You don't have to worry. A friend of mine will be coming soon."
"Alright." The Uber driver said and reluctantly set off.
Kiara looked around. The street was quiet and almost empty. A few cars were parked across the road. Five men walked down the street in her direction. Then two of the five disappeared into an alley. At the same time, a few others walked up the street across the road.
"Get lost, you fools." A woman shouted through a window at a group of boys who were smoking just next door.
"Shut up slut. We'll be leaving anyway." One of the boys said before they left the place.
Why did I even come here alone? Kiara's worry deepened into fear with every passing second as the three men closed in on her.
"Samuel, where are you?" She got out her phone and quickly dialed his number. The call was answered immediately.
"Sam. Where are you? I'm already here."
"Kiara!!" Samuel exclaimed. "I thought we'd be going there together. Why didn't you tell me you were setting off?"
"I'm here just come right now."
"Alright, I'll be there as soon as possible." The call was disconnected.
"Hey, miss." The three men caught on to her. "You alone?"
"No, I'm waiting for a friend. I'm not alone." She said as she stepped back.
"Don't worry." Another said as he threw a hand around her shoulder. "We can keep you company while they come."
-------
Back to the current.
Ethan took a slow drag from his cigarette, watching Fionn vanish into the alley. Moments later, the wail of sirens grew louder, signaling the approach of the ambulance and police cars.
He got his phone and dialed it. The call was answered immediately. "Bring them out. They are here."
About a minute later, Pete came running, the unconscious woman in his arms. The paramedics rushed to Pete with the gurney stretcher and took the woman from her.
"What happened to her?" One paramedic asked as she checked the woman's pulse.
" We have to hurry; we might lose her." She added. The gurney stretcher was rolled quickly into the ambulance.
With swift movement, she connected a normal saline IV to the woman's hand.
"I asked, what happened to her?" The paramedic rushed back outside.
Confused and not knowing what to say, Ethan moved to and stared blankly at her.
"She overdosed. Cocaine overdose." The 'other man' from earlier said.
"Alright.. That's a great start. I can't guarantee it, but we'll try our best and make sure she survives. It seems it's been a while since it happened." The paramedic muttered, then went into the ambulance, which left shortly after.
"Ooowww. That's gross. At least you should have put some clothes on him." A girl said as she closed her eyes and looked away.
The policemen around laughed at the girl's reaction. "You'd better look closely. Come on, just take a closer look." One of the policemen teased as he held her head and forced her to look at the naked man.
"Hey," A senior officer called out in a hoarse voice. He looked somewhat in his early sixties. All the men stood at attention. "I didn't bring her here for that. Hope you haven't forgotten that she's a minor."
The girl, hearing the man's voice, ran to his side.
"I'm sorry, sir." The teaser apologized timidly.
"You should get to work instead of bullying her around," the senior officer said, then turned to Ethan.
"Five years, five years of futile efforts." He sighed. "And you boys just pulled it off so easily. Great job done." He patted Ethan's shoulder.
With a smile, Ethan and the man exchanged a quick embrace. "It wasn't anything close to easy. It took us two years to prepare for all this."
"Two years, five. I don't need to say more. That explains the saying set a thief to catch a thief," The officer said, which sent the two chuckling.
"Anyway, this is my daughter."
"You brought her here? Levi, are you insane?"
With a chuckle at Ethan's question, Levi replied. "She's soon enrolling in the police academy. I just wanted her to have a prior picture of what to expect."
"You're so unbelievable." Ethan scoffed before he continued speaking. Anyway, can I have a minute with him?" He said, gesturing at the 'other man'.
"Why?" Levi asked, but immediately brushed off the curiosity. "Sure." He said.
"I appreciate," Ethan whispered inaudibly. Levi winked at him before walking away, but paused and turned back.
"Where's he? I thought he would be here."
"He was. And so he is. He's just off to deal with some important business."
"Important business? What could possibly be more important to him than this?"
"Trust me, you don't want to find out."
"I wonder," Levi said with a scoff. "Follow me." He said, turning to his daughter.
Ethan stood looking at Levi and his daughter as they approached Pete and the other men. Turning his focus away from them, he moved to where the two drug dealers were now held.
"Could you get the cuffs off him?"
"Why should they?" The naked man asked.
"Shut up," an officer blurted. "You have no right of speech right now."
"It's alright." Ethan intervened. "He can speak." He then turned to the naked man.
"I want to give him a way out of this."
"A way out!" The naked man exclaimed. "Why does he get yet I don't get one?"
"He deserves one. At least I haven't gotten to learn his entire story. You?" He was quiet for a moment. "You. You're just pure evil. I'm sorry, only Christ can redeem you."
"Let's talk aside." He instructed the other man after the cuffs were removed.
"Hey. He's just another criminal. You don't know what you are doing." The naked man shouted at Ethan.
Turning back, Ethan said to the officer with a smile. "You can now shut him up." He continued with the 'other man' who looked at the naked man with disdain.
"You hate him. I can see that. And you're so young to be associating with the likes. So how did you end up working with him?"
"Can I have a smoke?" The other man requested. Getting a box from his pocket, Ethan handed him a cigarette from the box, which he lit.
The man took a slow, long drag as he listened for a moment. "It's because of her. I was forced to work with him because of her."
"Your sister? Girlfriend? Who is she to you?"
"Wife. We've been married for close to three years now."
He took another puff before continuing.
"I've known her in forever. We are childhood friends. But as we got older, I started to develop romantic feelings for her." He giggled a bit.
"Can you imagine, all that long she'd been in love with me. But...but...I was always afraid of telling her how I felt. Until finally, when I manned up, it was almost late. That's when I found out her dad... her own father had gotten her into trouble." He paused.
"What trouble?" Ethan asked.
"All this. All this shit. Her father owed Victor a large sum of money, which he couldn't pay back. So she was his way out. Victor took her as a wife despite being a minor; she was only sixteen at the time. To help pay the debt, I got into drug dealing, that's how I got to work with Victor."
"How long has it been?"
"Six years. That's when he forced her into marrying him. And it's been five years since I started working with him."
"As I said earlier, I want to give you a way out. If you agree, you'll be able to be with your wife and earn a salary as well. But it all comes with a condition."
The man's eyes lit up in disbelief. "If what you are saying is true. Then whatever the conditions, I'm ready for anything."
"Alright." Ethan leaned in and whispered something inaudibly to him.
"You've got to be kidding."
"No. I'm not." Ethan muttered with a smile.