Luke walked slowly to the stage, knowing that he was aware of the truth but did not have any means to prove it. The CCTV footage was in his attorney’s custody, and the man didn’t appear to be here yet. “Mr. Luke, do you know that such a wrongful accusation is a punishable offence? Mr. Humsworth here is willing to sue you in court if you fail to withdraw the case.” The reporters bombarded as soon as he climbed the stage. Luke had enough. He was tired of being trampled on by these people. He shot the reporter a glare.“Mr. Humsworth and his company are jointly responsible for the collapse of the orphanage and I can prove it.”Shouts of, “prove it! Prove it!” rent the air.After waiting for ten more minutes and his attorney still failing to show up, the clipboard guy came over to walk him off the stage.“I’m sorry, sir, but you are wasting all our time. You should leave now.”Luke’s heart raced.“Please, just give me…”“We’ve given you more than enough time, sir.” The guy cut in. “Ple
“Mr. Humsworth, do you care to address this man’s claims?” One of the reporters asked.Camera lights flashed as Wilhelm and his son walked to the podium.“We all know that these are false accusations. Luke and his lawyer are only making baseless claims which they have no means of proving. I’m a respected London citizen. I will never stoop to that level.”Luke ignored Wilhelm’s fake anger and turned to his attorney,“Marcus, where’s the evidence tape for the orphanage?”“It’s right here.”Everyone looked on in shock as Marcus provided a small flash drive. Luke lifted the flash drive so they all could see, his eyes burning with fierce determination.“This here is the evidence that proves that Humsworth and his company are in-fact responsible for the collapse of the orphanage.”He handed the drive over to the clipboard guy and he quickly inserted it into a laptop connected to the big screen. Tense silence reigned in the room as the video began loading.Finally, a dull, grainy scene appea
Wilhelm was almost livid with rage. “If you do not explain yourself right this minute, you will lose your job.”His secretary lifted her chin, her lips twisting with disdain.“I’m sorry, but you no longer have the power to fire anyone in this establishment, Wilhelm Humsworth. Only he does.”She stepped aside and revealed a tall, brown haired young man behind her. “Meet your current boss and the new owner of Elites Construction.” She bowed slightly to the newcomer and stepped back to watch the drama unfold.Wilhelm collapsed into his seat as he took in the person before him. From his luxurious shoes and gleaming wristwatch, he could tell that this was one wealthy young man.“Hello, Mr. Humsworth. We meet again.”“L-Luke?” Wilhelm stuttered, his eyes gleaming with disbelief.Luke spread his arms.“In the flesh.”Wilhelm finally recovered from the shock and shifted to a better sitting position, puffing out his chest.“Who the hell let you in here? My attorney had specifically said tha
Back at the Humsworth mansion, David paced from one end of his father’s study to the other, his fists clenching and unclenching with rage. When he could no longer hold it back, he grabbed a five thousand dollar flower vase and threw it against the wall. Wilhelm slammed his palm on the table.“Get a hold of yourself, David. Don’t trash my fucking office.”David turned cold, angry eyes at him.“We can’t just sit back and watch that worthless prick take over everything we’ve worked for! We have to do something, Dad.”“Don’t you think I know that? Turns out, he’s the heir to the Diamond empire. Those people own London, son. How on earth do you reckon we stop them?”David collapsed into his seat, his brain whirring in a billion different directions. “Let’s just hope the fool will return the company to us once he’s generated the fifty million dollars.”David didn’t reply. He was completely lost in thought.Then it hit him.He leaped to his feet.“That’s it, dad. I got it.”“You got what?
Nina hadn’t seen Luke for the past five days and she was extremely worried. Of course she’d heard about the building collapse from TV and they had spoken about it, but that was almost two days ago. She was becoming increasingly worried with each passing day.She stepped into her kitchen to fix herself a cup of cofffee and realised the trash needed to be emptied. She readied the garbage bag and proceeded to the downstairs trash can to empty it.The sound of her phone ringing startled her. She looked down and realised it was nearly nine PM. It was not safe to be outside this late. The caller ID read “Luke,” and her heartbeat hitched with excitement.“Hey, Luke”“Nina. How are you?” “Good. Good. How are you?”She pressed the phone against her ear as she listened to Luke talk about the developments on the case.“The Humsworths are very horrible people. Serves them right.” She chipped in.She arrived at the trash can and was about to dump the trash when she felt a prickling sensation on
Luke was worried.It’s been twenty four hours since Nina and her friend, Kayla were last seen. The police were currently questioning Lacy, but she’d already told them everything she knew, nothing which proved useful.The last time they were seen was when they both went to the alleyway. The police had conducted investigations but other than traces of Nina’s vomit and suspicious footprints, nothing else had been recovered.Luke was currently questioning the manager of the place.“Why on earth would you allow two unprotected women to go to an alleyway alone. Didn’t you realise how dangerous that was?”“Once again, sir, I sincerely apologise. Please exercise a bit more patience. They will be found soon.”Luke paced from one end of the office to the other. This was all his fault. He should’ve never allowed Nina to go to that party alone at such a late hour. He should’ve accompanied her.Just then, an officer barged into the room, appearing out of breath.“Sir, there’s been a development.”
“We’re unable to track the number, sir. It’s been badly scrambled.” One of the hackers said to the deputy.The hackers had been trying to trace the number which delivered the kidnap video for hours. Apparently, there was still no luck.“That’s not good. Send it to our hackers at headquarters. Let them give it a shot.” The deputy ordered.“From the state of the building, it doesn’t look like they’re in the country.” One of the officers observed.Luke turned to him,“What do you mean?”“I’m just saying.” He walked over to the computer, restarted the video and zoomed in on the plants peeking from the ceiling,”this kind of vegetation will never survive in the London cold. That video was probably shot in warmer areas, like Las Vegas.”“Wonderful job there, Kent.” The deputy clapped him on the shoulder and turned to Luke.“I think he’s right. This means that our investigations may not be centred on London alone.”Luke could not believe this.“Are you telling me that within twenty four hours
Luke watched closely as the trackers, the size of a grain of rice, were planted into the bag.“How does it work?” He inquired.The deputy was happy to explain.“The trackers are wirelessly connected to our central computer right here. Not only does it tell us where the money goes, but it’s also fitted with a tiny camera that even though isn’t wide ranged, helps us with hints on what the environment where the kidnappers are operating from might look like.”Luke was awestruck.“Cool stuff.”“Thank you. Oh, and Mr. Luke?”“Yes?”“Have you perhaps received another video from the kidnappers? We need a drop off location for the money.”Shit. That was true.“No. No, I haven’t. Maybe they’ll send one later.”Luke paced the room nervously and tried to do some homework while they waited for some kind of message from the kidnappers. He tortured himself with countless images of Nina probably lying dead and broken somewhere. All that did was shoot up his blood pressure even more.Seconds ticked i