Melissa gaped in shock. She hadn't believed that Alex would actually kill anyone. Even though he was much more important than people realized, killing people was an entirely different matter.
She had no idea how powerful his family was. Killing two people was nothing to the Ambrose family. It was like simply squashing a couple of bugs.
Melissa's heart thundered as she stared at Lou's body. His vacant eyes looked right back at her.
The rumble of thunder grew stronger, and the sound of rain grew even louder.
Alex turned and pointed the gun at Melissa. Lightning flashed, highlighting his face and making him appear especially menacing. She couldn't stop shaking.
"Alex, what are you going to do?" she asked. She had already seen that he knew how to shoot.
"How could this have happened to Debbie unless you were involved?" he asked, his finger tightening on the trigger.
"You can't kill me!" she shouted. "I'm your girlfriend. You can't touch me, no matter what I've done. We spent the night in bed together, and now you're treating me like this? What kind of man are you?"
"Ha!" One of the men slapped her hard. "Don't speak to Mr. Ambrose like that. Not unless you have a death wish."
"How dare you hit me?" she screamed. "I am Alex's woman, and I'm going to marry him!" She stood up, took the hospital report from her bag, and threw it at Alex. "Take a good look at this. I have internal damage which is likely to get infected. And you did this to me! The doctor also said that there's a high chance of pregnancy. I might give you a son, and you're treating me like this? Don't you have a conscience?"
She walked toward him. "Didn't you say you were going to kill me? Well, come on then! Kill me. What else do I have to say? Just shoot me and let me die!"
"What are you doing?" Ken demanded, stopping her. "Get back on your knees." He wouldn't allow Melissa to be so disrespectful to Alex.
"I never want to see you again," Alex told her, lowering the gun. "Get lost!" He had been with her, and now he wouldn't be able to bring himself to kill her.
"Mr. Ambrose," Ken said, a little confused. Even if Alex had slept with Melissa, it didn't make any difference. He had a hundred ways to make sure Melissa aborted any child and kept her mouth shut.
"Get out of here before I change my mind!" Alex shouted at Melissa.
She was terrified that he would go crazy and kill her, so she turned around and ran. But it seemed like he had listened to her, so she would come back and speak to him again after she had given him enough time to calm down.
Five minutes later, Ken received a call from one of his men.
"Mr. Ambrose, we haven't found any trace of Miss Stonehill in any hospital in New York," Ken reported.
"Check again," Alex said, his face ravaged with grief. "And also check hospitals outside the city. I need to you dig deep and find Debbie for me."
A man with a gloomy expression walked in and informed them that Lou had taken Debbie to the Pavilion Hotel, and Ken told him to investigate further.
"Mr. Ambrose, Mr. Stokes, we've checked the surveillance footage outside the Pavilion Hotel," one of the men reported. "It appears that Miss Stonehill was taken away in a car. We're currently searching the city for it. In the meantime, this is the surveillance video." He held out his phone and showed Alex the footage in question.
On the screen, Debbie fell from the fourth floor and hit her head. Then a car stopped next to her, and a man and a woman got out of it. They observed Debbie for a few seconds before lifting her into the car and driving away.
Although the couple's faces were not particularly clear in the video, it should still be possible to identify them.
Alex ordered his men to find them as soon as possible and bring Debbie back to him.
He sat down on a stone bench in the courtyard and waited for news.
He watched as a river of blood flowed from the corpses of Lou and his wife. It was still raining, and he was completely drenched, but he refused to move. Debbie's fate was still unknown, and he didn't care about anything else.
"Mr. Ambrose, you should go in out of the rain," Sam said, worriedly. "You'll get ill if you stay out here." Sam, Ken, and six of their men remained outside with Alex.
"No," Alex said. "Mr. Woodsworth, Mr. Stokes, you can go back inside. But I'm going to wait here for Debbie." Rain ran down his face, but his expression was firm. He was confident that Debbie would return safely.
"But—" Sam wanted to persuade Alex to move inside, but Ken stopped him, pulling Sam away.
"Mr. Ambrose won't listen," Ken told him. "He doesn't care about anything except Miss Stonehill's return."
"But with our resources, it shouldn't take us long to find those two people and bring Miss Stonehill back," Sam said. They remained standing next to Alex in the courtyard with the cold rain falling around them.
One hour passed.
Then two hours.
Then five hours
Then an entire night.
To Ken's surprise, they still hadn't discovered Debbie's whereabouts by five o'clock the next morning. Even more shockingly, he hadn't managed to find the couple who had taken her away.
With Ken's resources, he should have been able to track them down as soon as they stepped foot in any hotel, restaurant, or supermarket in New York.
But neither of them had shown up in any of these places, and he hadn't been able to find any trace of them within the past ten hours.
He didn't dare tell Alex, knowing it would only make him even more worried about Debbie.
The rain still hadn't stopped.
"Mr. Stokes, is there any news yet?" Alex asked, turning his head toward Ken. His face and lips were pale, his voice shook, and his body trembled.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Ambrose," Ken said, feeling guilty. "My men are useless—" He broke off when Alex's eyes rolled back in his head as he fell to the ground, landing in a puddle.
"Mr. Ambrose!" Ken exclaimed as he and Sam rushed to his side.
They called for a doctor, who told them that Alex had a fever from staying out in the cold rain for so long.
It took five days for Alex to get better.
During those five days, Ken actively searched for traces of the couple who had taken Debbie.
Unfortunately, no matter how hard he searched New York and the surrounding areas, he didn't find any clues. It was as if they had just vanished into thin air along with Debbie.
During those five days of being sick in bed, Alex had looked through Debbie's diary every day, and he had realized that he couldn't afford to sink into depression. He had to pull himself together if he were to have any hope of finding her.
Alex understood that Ken's failure to find Debbie within twenty-four hours meant that she might have been taken elsewhere, and the search for her might become an extended one.
Every day, he listened to Ken's progress report and then directed his men to keep searching. As soon as they found any clues about Debbie, they were to report back to him. Ken gradually expanded the scope of his search to cover the entire East Coast. Alex felt that they were getting closer and closer to finding Debbie.
He had been staying at the Azalea Guest House for long enough, and now he was growing bored and wanted to return to Preston University.
After thanking Ken for his assistance, Alex dragged himself outside and got on a bus back to the university.
He walked over to Ramsey Lake, where he had the most beautiful memories of Debbie.
He slowly approached the lake and was stunned to see Debbie standing there, looking the same they had first met. She looked like she was about to jump into the water.
"No! Debbie, no!" he shouted, rushing toward her.
At the sound of his voice, she turned her head in surprise as he rushed toward her, knocking her to the ground before she could react.
"Debbie! What are you doing? Where have you been these past few days?" he asked, rolling on the lawn with her.
"Alex?" Debbie said softly.
"You…" Alex watched in disbelief as her face seemed to change in front of his eyes, and he realized that this wasn't Debbie. It was Kelly. He quickly let her go and stood up.
"Where have you been?" Kelly asked, slowly getting to her feet. Her face was slightly flushed. She had made a point of asking around about Alex and Debbie, and she had learned about some of their histories. To tempt Alex, she had even started to wear the same kind of clothes as Debbie. She knew that Ramsey Lake was a meaningful place for them, so she had gone there to look around.
"I'm sorry," Alex apologized. He sat beside the lake, looked out at the rippling water, and remembered everything that had happened there.
"Where's Debbie?" Kelly asked, walking over to him. His behaviour was a little strange. Why was he so flustered?
"She's been kidnapped," he said in a flat voice. He had to find her quickly and bring her back.
He coughed a few times and then sneezed.
"Are you sick?" Kelly asked, her expression serious. His face was very pale, and it was obvious that he was ill. "Come on. I'll help you inside. It's too windy out here, and you don't want your health to get any worse."
She started to help him up, but he shook her off. "I'm fine."
Kelly was used to his behaviour. She simply sighed and stood quietly beside him, keeping him company.