Chapter 21
Kiara stared at Zyan, completely bewildered.
“You know them?” she asked.
“Hmm,” he murmured, his dark eyes still fixed on the faded photograph. “It was years ago.”
“How… come?” Kiara asked, still in shock.
Zyan finally looked up, his expression distant as memories resurfaced.
“When Kade and I were younger, he was kidnapped.”
Her eyes widened. “Kidnapped?”
Zyan nodded grimly. “Yes. The people who took him weren’t after a ransom. They wanted him dead.”
Kiara’s expression softened with sympathy.
“I was only seven at the time, and Kade was five,” Zyan continued, his voice dropping to a quiet, dangerous tone. “I spent three days tracking them down.”
“Three days?” she breathed.
“Yes.” His eyes darkened as he recalled the bloodshed and fear. “I eventually found them and rescued Kade. But by then, we had been dragged so far away that we were starving, dehydrated, and completely lost.”
He paused, his jaw tightening.
“We had no idea where we were. That night, while we were walking along a deserted road, we came across a small, isolated house.”
“That was where we met the couple.”
Kiara listened in silence, captivated by this rare glimpse into his past.
“They found two terrified, starving children wandering in the dark, but they didn’t ask any questions. They simply took us inside,” Zyan said, a faint, nostalgic softness touching his features. “They gave us food, clean clothes, and a safe place to sleep. They even had a little daughter. She was very young.”
Kiara kept her eyes fixed on him.
“They hid us and helped us until we were strong enough to find our way back to Grandfather,” Zyan concluded. “That’s why I recognized them.”
Kiara finally understood.
“So, you knew them because they saved your lives.”
“Yes.”
She nodded slowly, processing the information. Then she crossed her arms.
“If you and your brother were close enough for you to go that far to save him, why did you strangle him?”
“I told you, we had a little conflict,” Zyan replied smoothly, evading the question.
Kiara gave him a flat, unimpressed look. She didn’t believe him for a second.
“Fine. Let’s put that aside for now. Why were you avoiding me?”
Zyan’s eyes met hers, and the hard, guarded look in them softened.
“I didn’t want you to see that side of me.”
“Why?”
“I thought you would be scared of me.”
Kiara stared at him for a moment before shaking her head.
“I wasn’t scared. Not really. And technically, you’ve done the same thing in front of me before.”
Zyan frowned, trying to understand what she meant.
“What?”
“Rafael,” she replied simply. “Remember? You strangled him in front of me.”
Zyan stared at her, completely speechless. He opened his mouth, then closed it again.
He had been so focused on protecting her pride that day that he hadn’t considered how his actions might have appeared to her.
“I wasn’t scared,” she repeated softly. “I was just angry because you refused to explain anything to me.”
A comfortable silence settled between them as the heavy tension of the past week finally began to melt away.
Kiara’s expression softened, and a genuine smile touched her lips.
“You could have just tried to explain.”
Zyan returned a faint, charming smile.
“Maybe I should have.”
Kiara smiled back, and the warmth in her eyes made Zyan’s chest tighten.
For a few precious seconds, they simply looked at each other, completely forgetting that they weren’t alone.
Standing by the door, Alex shifted awkwardly. He cleared his throat loudly and offered them a strained, polite smile.
At the sound, Zyan and Kiara snapped back to reality. Their smiles disappeared almost instantly, replaced by serious, professional expressions.
A faint blush spread across Kiara’s cheeks, and she quickly looked away.
Zyan cleared his throat before turning his attention to his assistant.
“So, what do you plan to do?” he asked, looking back at Kiara.
“I think we should look for the couple first,” Kiara replied, her business like demeanor returning. “Find out if they’re still alive and whether we can bring them to our side to testify against the Vales.”
Zyan nodded in agreement before turning his sharp gaze toward Alex.
“You know what to do.”
“Yes, boss.” Alex gave a slight bow and turned to leave.
Kiara watched him go before looking back at Zyan in confusion.
“He knows what to do without you giving him specific instructions?”
“Hmm,” Zyan murmured, his eyes following her movements. “He’s been working for me for years. He knows how I think.”
She nodded slowly, impressed.
---
The Search
Alex stepped out of his black SUV, his eyes scanning the area.
The surroundings were a stark contrast to the glittering skyline of the city. This was a small, rundown community filled with old brick buildings, overgrown bushes, and dusty farms stretching into the distance.
He began asking the locals about the couple, showing them the photograph.
Most people ignored him, brushing him off or claiming they didn’t recognize the faces.
Eventually, an elderly woman sitting on her porch agreed to speak with him.
“Good afternoon, ma’am,” Alex greeted politely.
“Good afternoon,” she replied in a raspy voice.
Alex showed her the photograph.
“I’m looking for this couple. Do you know them?”
The woman squinted at the picture for a while before her eyes widened slightly.
“Yes, I remember them. How do you know them?”
Alex’s attention sharpened.
“The couple helped me a few years ago, and I promised to repay them. That’s why I came back looking for them.”
“That sounds like them,” she said with a small, toothy laugh. “They were always willing to help everyone.”
“What happened to them?” Alex asked.
“They died several years ago,” she replied sadly.
Alex frowned.
“Do you know if they had any children?”
The woman nodded.
“Yes. They had a little daughter.”
“What happened to her?”
“She was only about five when her parents died.” The woman sighed heavily. “Not long after the funeral, some people arrived in expensive cars. They claimed to be distant relatives and said they had come to take the child away to give her a better life.”
“Did you know them?”
“No. But they looked convincing enough, so nobody questioned them.”
Alex’s expression darkened.
“What happened after they took her?”
“I don’t know.”
The woman suddenly seemed to remember something.
“Wait. Stay right there.”
She disappeared inside her small house.
A few moments later, she returned holding an old, dusty photograph in a cracked frame.
“When those people came to take the little girl, they left some of the family’s belongings behind in their hurry. I found this photograph among them,” she explained, handing it to him. “I kept it because I always wondered what happened to that poor little girl. I thought that maybe, one day, I would see her again.”
Alex accepted the frame and looked down at it.
It was a family portrait. The kind couple stood in the middle, smiling warmly. Between them stood their little daughter, holding her mother’s hand.
Alex’s eyes widened.
His breath caught in his throat.
He stared at the little girl’s face, studying her delicate features, the shape of her eyes, and the unmistakable spark in her gaze.
Something about her looked strangely familiar.
Very familiar.
He looked up at the woman again.
“Are you sure this is their daughter?”
The woman nodded.
“I’m certain.”
Alex lowered his gaze to the photograph once more, his heart beginning to pound against his ribs.
He knew exactly who the little girl resembled.
Boss needs to know about this, he thought, tightening his grip on the frame. Immediately.
---
Vale Corporation
Meanwhile, the atmosphere inside Vale Corporation was suffocating.
Richard Vale paced furiously around his office, his face pale and slick with sweat.
“We’re losing contracts by the hour!” he roared, slamming his fist onto the mahogany desk. “Employees are resigning! Investors are pulling their money out! Every single day, there’s a new disaster!”
His wife, Helen, stood nearby, wringing her hands nervously.
“Please, Richard, calm down.”
“How am I supposed to calm down when my empire is collapsing?!”
She hesitated, glancing at the door before stepping closer.
“Even if we lose this corporation… we still have the other company. The shadow one. Remember?”
Richard stopped pacing and slowly turned to look at her.
“Yes,” he muttered, a dark, desperate smile creeping onto his face. “Yes… you’re right. We still have that.”
Helen nodded, but her eyes quickly filled with tears.
“But, Richard… when are you going to release our children?”
Richard’s expression instantly turned vicious.
“I’ll never release them.”
“What?!”
“They will rot in prison for what they did!”
Helen stared at him in absolute disbelief.
“They are your children!”
“I don’t care!” he bellowed.
“You can’t leave your own flesh and blood in a cell!”
“They caused this!” His anger flared, and his face turned red. “And that useless son of yours is never going to touch this company either. He can rot in the same cell for all I care!”
Helen shook her head desperately, tears spilling down her cheeks.
“They are your flesh and blood, Richard!”
“I said I don’t care!”
He slammed his fist against the desk again, the loud crack echoing through the large office.
“They are destroying my life! My wealth!”
His breathing grew heavy, and his shoulders slumped as the crushing reality of his downfall began to sink in.
“When Kiara was here, everything was peaceful,” he muttered bitterly, staring blankly at the floor. “The company was thriving. She fixed everything.”
Helen remained silent, wiping away her tears.
“We don’t even know where she is,” Richard continued, his voice cracking with hollow regret. “She could be alive… or she could be dead in some ditch.”
He stared at the floor, his expression clouded with desperation.
If only she were here to fix this mess.