The atmosphere inside the penthouse felt so gloomy and sad. Nobody said anything. They knew Elios and Aleksis had arrived in Paris and were heading to the Nobel Hotel.
They felt it was better to wait for the two before discussing what has happened. When a knock on the door came, all of them almost jumped off of their seats because of the tension surrounding them.
Marion immediately got up and opened the door for Aleksis and Elios and his entourage. Aleksis immediately rushed to Finland and cried on her mother's shoulder. The two women wept and immediately broke the silence, which had put them under so much stress.
The sound of their cries made Altair and JM awake. With sleepy faces, both of them walked out of the bedroom. As soon as Elios saw his son, he rushed towards Altair. He pulled the teenager into his arms and cried.
He was very relieved that Altair survived. He was very depressed on the journey to Paris. When he saw one of his children in front of his eyes, he could no longer hold back his sadness. Elios immediately vented his grief due to Vega's disappearance.
Aleksis then freed herself from her mother's arms and hugged Altair. The three of them cried together. The people present could only hold their breath and join in grieving for this family.
After some time, finally, Lauriel got up and cleared his throat so that everyone noticed him. He felt it was time they all acted and did everything they could to find his granddaughter.
"Nicolae, have you been tracking what happened in the Eiffel Tower last night? Can you share what you found?" asked the man, looking at his son, sitting on a chair with a glum face while holding his tablet.
Nicolae nodded. He took a deep breath and began his explanation.
"I managed to hack all the pictures and footage from CCTVs around the Eiffel Tower, as well as from inside the restaurant. There were ten mysterious people wearing masks who watched the place from 8 pm, once Vega got out of the taxi and went up to the restaurant.
"They then moved at 9:45 pm and immediately killed the two bodyguards who were protecting Vega secretly. One man managed to escape and went up to the restaurant to save Vega, but he was chased by two masked criminals who then killed him in the restaurant.
"After they killed and injured many guests, they then kidnap Vega. They use several cars with stolen license plates. The cars then all went to different directions, some entered a tunnel and never got out again, some drove out of town. It's possible that they swapped cars under the tunnel very quickly.
"One of the cars that passed and then exited the tunnel must be filled with the kidnappers and Vega. Unfortunately, even though I tried to calculate the time they used to do the exchange, I still could not find the replacement car they used. They also prepared everything beforehand. They turned off all the CCTVs in the tunnel and its surroundings so that I could not see what was happening there."
Nicolae's explanation made the men in the room clench their fists. It was clear the mastermind was definitely not an ordinary person. They had thought of everything very carefully. Vega must have been targeted for a long time.
"Can you find Mischa?" Elios asked.
"I have mobilized a group of French mafia to look for him and Vega. I'm afraid something happened to Mischa. Altair said that Vega was going to have dinner with Mischa, but apparently, Mischa never came," Marion said.
Elios frowned. He didn't understand why Vega wanted to have dinner with Mischa just the two of them. Why didn't she ask Altair to come?
He pulled out his cellphone and again tried to call Mischa. After his many calls were left unanswered, he wanted to hang up. But before he could do it, suddenly Mischa picked up, and Elios could hear Mischa's voice at the other end.
"Sir ... Sir ..." The man's voice sounded so pitiful. "Please forgive me..."
"What happened?" Elios asked, struggling to keep himself from lashing out at Mischa. "Where are you?"
His foster son was gone without news for hours, making himself and everyone worried to death. Elios also felt annoyed because he did not know why his daughter had dinner together with Mischa, and the young man did not come.
If only Mischa was at the restaurant last night, maybe Vega wouldn't be kidnapped like this. Elios clenched his fist. His face was red with anger. But he managed to keep his cool. He knew Mischa must have a reason. His foster son could not possibly endanger Vega's life on purpose.
"Sir ..." Mischa didn't say anything for several moments. Elios could only hear his heavy breathing from the phone. Everyone in the room became more frustrated. Finally, half a minute later, unexpectedly, the man's tears broke, and he cried very poignantly. "They ... they killed Lisa ..."
Elios' hand dropped to the side when he heard those words. His foster son sounded so sad. He knew how much Mischa loved the woman and that they had lived together for six years.
Elios actually didn't like Lisa who had broken Mischa's heart when she left him after Mischa shared his past as a former assassin. However, since he understood what it felt like to love a woman so deeply, he knew that what Mischa was feeling right now must be horrible. He still remembered feeling so heartbroken when he heard the news of Aleksis' death sixteen years ago.
"What happened...?" Aleksis whispered worriedly. She had never seen her husband look so worried and nervous like today. Apparently, even though he managed to contact Mischa, the man must have brought very sad news.
Elios shook his head. "They killed the woman he loved..."
Simultaneously everyone in the room gasped. Aleksis cried in surprise and sadness, and Marion was so moved that tears dripped down her cheeks. She had met Mischa several times and knew how sad he had been over the past two weeks because of Lisa. She had no idea that Lisa was dead now.
Who ... who killed Lisa? What did they really want?
Elios took a deep breath and then returned the phone to his ear. "Mischa, can you come to the Nobel Hotel? We are all waiting for you here. Otherwise, you can stay at your place. I will send someone to pick you up."
"I'll pick him up." Nicolae hurriedly offered. He could immediately track Mischa's location and go there. He also felt indebted because Mischa helped him a lot this past week to help Marie and look after his children in Bordeaux.
Elios nodded at Nicolae, then returned to talk to Mischa. "Take good care of yourself. Nicolae will be there soon."
"I am coming with you!" Marion exclaimed. She immediately rose to follow Nicolae. She also wanted to help Mischa.