Chapter 2
The call connected, but it wasn’t my dad’s voice.
The kidnappers caught on immediately.
One of them flew into a rage and threatened to cut off my ear as punishment.
“Wait! Don’t do anything rash!” the voice on the other end pleaded.
“I’m Roger Quinn’s superior. This is the only way we could track you down!”
“You’ve got the wrong person.”
“Everyone in the department knows Roger Quinn only has one daughter–Lila.”
“The whole family’s on vacation overseas right now.”
“If you’ve got demands, just say them. Leave the kid out of this!”
The kidnapper didn’t care. He grabbed me roughly, dragging me forward until I was forced to kneel in front of the
camera.
The chair I was tied to scraped loudly against the floor, and when my knees hit the ground, the pain shot through every inch of my body.
But even that didn’t hurt as much as what I felt inside.
He sneered, yanking my hair to force me upright.
“Take a good look at this face,” he said, gesturing at me like I was an object.
“This is Roger Quinn’s real daughter. Call him. Right now. Or I’ll kill her.”
The man on the line hesitated, then sighed.
He had no choice.
He called my dad.
But the first voice that answered wasn’t his.
“Dad, both dresses are just too expensive,” a girl whined.
“Maybe I should just save money and… Oh, wait, Dad, someone’s calling you.”
Finally, I heard his voice. Calm. Collected.
“Hello, sir. What’s going on?”
08:12
Fingerprints of Betraval
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Chapter 2
The man on the other end jumped straight to the point.
“How many daughters do you have. Quinn?”
Without a second of hesitation, Dad replied, “Just one. Lila. Why? Is something wrong?”
The man explained the situation.
Dad’s response? A slight sigh, as if mildly inconvenienced.
“Looks like these criminals aren’t very bright. They don’t even know they’ve kidnapped the wrong person.”
He paused for dramatic effect, then added, “I mean, I feel bad for the poor kid. Really, I do.”
“It’s a shame they’re going through this because of me. But my family’s overseas right now.”
“Even if we wanted to help, we wouldn’t make it back in time.”
“And honestly, where are this kid’s parents? How have they not shown up yet? So irresponsible.”
The man pressed him.
“Quinn, just in case, could you come back anyway? Maybe it’d convince the kidnappers to let the kid go.”
There was silence on the line.
Then, in a teary voice, Lila chimed in.
“It’s okay, Dad. My birthday isn’t important. That poor girl is going through so much.”
“And if bad things keep happening every time I celebrate, I’ll just stop having birthdays altogether.”
“No. We’re not going,” Dad said firmly.
After comforting Lila, he turned back to his superior.
“I’m sorry, sir. My wife and I have spent years risking our lives on the job.”
“All we wanted was to celebrate a birthday with our one and only daughter.”
Their one and only daughter.
But I’m their only biological child.
Because I was kidnapped as a baby and raised in the countryside, I wasn’t pretty or smart.
I didn’t fit in with them.
They never acknowledged me in public.
Never even got me an official ID.
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Chapter 2
My chest burned, the fire spreading through my ribs, my lungs, my stomach.
It felt like everything inside me was crumbling, breaking apart.
I couldn’t even stop myself from retching.
While the superior kept pleading on the call, the kidnappers ignored him.
One of them yanked off my shoe, holding a pair of pliers.
His voice was low, cruel.
“Remember this, kid. Every bit of pain you’re feeling right now? It’s all because of your parents.”
Then he crushed one of my toes.
The sharp, blinding pain sent me thrashing.
In my struggles, I kicked over the streaming phone, sending it crashing to the ground.
As I lay there, tears and blood blurring my vision, I caught sight of a glowing comment on the livestream:
[I’m Lila Carter’s classmate. I swear I just saw her celebrating her birthday here in town. What’s going on?!]
