“I’m on my way to Eden.”
Belle informed Nathalie as she got inside a cab. She received a call from her friend around lunchtime telling her that she needed to talk to her about Jacob.
As Belle got excited after hearing the name of her favorite co-worker, she immediately agreed. She couldn’t help but think about what they’d talk about.
As soon as she got out of the cab, she walked towards the aisle next to the club. Since it was still early, Belle assumed that Nathalie was still in the dressing room so she intended to go through the backdoor.
Midway down the aisle, a burly man grabbed Belle by the arm and covered her mouth and nose. The strong scent affected Belle right there and then. She lost her senses and eventually fainted.
The burly man was quick to catch her. He immediately took Belle inside a blue car and asked the driver to take them to the south side of Bree, where he had already set up a place for her to stay.
Belle felt like she was suffocating. She tried standing up but she couldn’t move her hands and legs. All she saw around her was darkness.
Then something flashed before her, it was a child falling into the sea after a bullet hit her shoulder. Belle tried squeezing her eyes shut and yet, another moment flashed.
It’s a scene of a pond with purple water lilies and a grotto on the side. After that last scene, Belle felt water on her face. She tried screaming but no voice would come out.
She tried inhaling and exhaling a few times to calm herself. When she opened her eyes, she saw a red-orange bulb flickering on top of her. Belle tried moving but she still couldn’t.
‘What’s going on? I’m already awake, why can’t I move?’ she thought to herself.
Looking around, she realized that she was just there, sitting on a chair. She looked behind her and saw that her hands were tied. Looking down, her feet were tied as well.
Belle tried to move around to loosen the rope but to no avail. She let out a long sigh. She can only wait for what will happen next.
‘I’m not rich, why would someone even kidnap me? My parents won’t have the money to pay for my ransom. Will I just die here? Alone? Unmarried? I haven’t even had my first real kiss!’
She shook her head to get rid of the thoughts running through her head. ‘Should I try to call for help?’ she thought, but just as she was about to give it a try, the door opened and a silhouette of a burly man appeared.
“Oh! You’re awake!” The man lit up a cigarette and blew a ring of smoke on Belle’s face, making her cough.
“Who are you?” she asked.
The man took a few steps back and sat on the table right in front of where Belle was seated. No matter how she tried, she couldn’t make out the man’s face. Even his build was unfamiliar to her.
“You don’t need to know that. You’re not here to make friends with me,” he responded. “Someone needs something important from you. So you just sit there, relax and wait. They’ll be here in a moment.”
Belle can’t only sigh, ‘Who will need anything important from me?’ “I have no money to pay for the ransom, Mister. Can’t you please just let me go?” she begged, but the man just grunted at her.
“They don’t need your money, they’re rich,” then his phone rang. “They’re here,” then the man stood up after ending the call and headed out the door.
“Give these to her and make sure she signs the papers properly. You can’t allow her to see this, so make sure to cover her eyes and just guide her. She just has to write her name and leave her signature,” the woman instructed, and he quickly nodded.
Turning on his heel, he went back in. Pulling a handkerchief from his back pocket, he covered Belle’s eyes with it.
“You’re having it easy today!” he told her as he secured the handkerchief at the back of her head. “Now… take this…” he handed her a pen.
“What is this? What do you need me to do?” Belle’s voice was shaky. She wasn’t feeling nervous earlier, but now she feels like her entire body is trembling.
“Just sign your name here,” the man guided Belle’s hand towards the paper. “Make sure to sign it properly, stop shaking,” he ordered. As soon as Belle was done, he moved her hand lower. “Now sign here.”
He took the paper from her to check if it was done properly. Then he headed for the door again. “Here!” passing it onto the woman he was talking to earlier.
The woman checked the paper and smiled. “Good job!” then she patted his shoulder. “Keep her here for a few more days.”
The burly man went back in as soon as he got the money. “What to do? The money’s just enough for me to spend on myself, but I was told to keep you here for a few days more. You won’t die without eating for two to three days, right?”
Belle didn’t bother to answer. She has already accepted the fact that she’s dying there, wherever she is.
The man who abducted her was nice enough to pull her next to the table. He even placed a glass of water close to her, with a straw in it, so she could drink easily.
The man also removed the handkerchief that was covering her eyes. “Behave and you won’t suffer long,” he reminded her.
At De Clarion Empire, “Belle’s still not here?” Tristan asked when he went to the executive office. It’d been two days since she last saw her and she didn’t even call Jacob to let him know that she couldn’t come to work. “Is she sick?” he added.
After their conversation at Eden, even Jacob noticed that Tristan and Belle had gotten closer. They don’t argue at all anymore, they always go out for lunch, and, at times, they would even spend time at Eden.
“I’ve been trying to call her but her phone is off. I dropped by her apartment last night but she’s not opening the door either,” Jacob informed his boss.
Tristan scratched the back of his head. He was starting to get worried. It is so unusual for Belle not to show up without letting anyone know.
“Did you try calling Nathalie?” he asked, as he was aware that Jacob’d been hanging out with her too, after that night at Eden.
“I haven’t seen Nathalie for three days, we’ve been busy,” he responded. “But I’ll drop by Eden tonight.”
Tristan nodded at him before closing the door. He went back to his office to check his phone if there was any message from Belle, but there was still nothing there.
Instead, he got a message from Esme asking him if he wanted a copy of their marriage certificate. Tristan smirked, ‘How thick-skinned,” he thought.
“You don’t have to send me a copy, I can request a copy of that from the City Hall if I ever need it.”
He then placed down his phone after replying, then turned his attention to the documents piled up on his table. He hadn’t been able to work properly ever since Belle’s absence.
That night at Eden, Jacob went straight for the dressing room to look for Nathalie. “Oh hey, why did you come here?” she asked, surprised to see the man go through the backdoor.
“I need to talk to you, are you off for the night?” Nathalie nodded, then he pulled her out.
“What’s up? Your hands are cold as ice,” she furrowed her brows at Jacob, confused as to why he was acting weird.
“You see, Belle’s been absent for two days now and she didn’t call to inform me about what’s going on with her. Have you talked to her recently?”
Nathalie curled her lips, now that she thought of it, she hadn’t heard from Belle either. Her friend would usually send her a message when she was on her way home or when she was already home.
Belle used to do that daily. But she hasn’t gotten any messages from her in the past few days. A thought suddenly popped into her head.
“Oh I remember, I lost my phone, that’s why we haven’t contacted each other. She doesn’t know my new number yet. I was thinking of dropping by the company earlier, but I had to relieve someone so I wasn’t able to go,” she explained.
She totally forgot that she lost her phone when she went grocery shopping the other day and she wasn’t able to tell Belle about it. She wouldn’t even have recalled if Jacob hadn’t shown up.
“Should we go to her apartment?” Jacob suggested, thinking it was the only possible way to get a hold of the woman they were looking for. Nathalie was quick to nod so they headed for the car and drove to Belle’s apartment.
“Hi, Miss Nathalie!” the guard on duty greeted the woman as soon as she stepped out of the car.
“Hi, Michael! We’re here for Belle, is she upstairs?” she asked, smiling widely.
The guy named Michael furrowed his brows. “I haven’t seen her, I thought she was staying with you,” he responded.
Jacob and Nathalie exchanged glances. Nathalie started feeling nervous after hearing what the guard said.
Jacob also felt something was amiss, so he pulled out the phone from his pocket and quickly dialed someone, “Tristan, Belle is missing.”