Chapter 1. She Is Gone

"Why is all the furniture falling apart like this?" murmured Stanley—Mr. Rodriguez's personal assistant—with a tense face.

The situation in the room was not so bright, there was only lighting from across the street that entered through the apartment's open glass windows.

Stanley searched for the light switch, he slowly scanned the room, and had no intention of changing the location of things that looked messy here and there, left them as they were.

There was an inexplicable feeling landing inside Stanley's chest.

When he found the light switch button, and turned on the lighting. His eyes widened as if he wanted to jump out.

The whole room was really messy and chaotic, like a war had just happened.

"Where is Young Lady?"

The question was asked to himself.

Hurriedly, he ran towards another room, surprisingly there were bloodstains in Lylia's room, but no one was there.

Her engagement dress that was supposed to be worn to attend the event was still on the bed in a neat state as if no one had ever touched the dress.

Stanley follows where the bloodstains are coming from, and he finds them coming from a window wide open, but when he pokes his head out, there's no one.

...

There were already a lot of people in the ballroom of the Seven Six Hotel building. The moment that the two families have been waiting for are planning to formalize the engagement of the two people who love each other.

"In the end the Jones and Crawford families will be united," said Alan proudly watching his son Amier.

Amier looks so charming in a white suit from head to toe, looks like a prince.

The big room looks so sparkling, Amier can't stop smiling at anyone who greets him. His own family business relations praised how lucky Amier was to have Lylia who was so beautiful and graceful that nothing could be matched in the East City.

"Congratulations, in the end Young Master Amier has finally managed to land his heart on one woman. When are you planning to get married after this?" asked Mr. Baron from the banking company Century Bank.

Baron Muller, one of the wealthiest of the 3 influential families in East City. Even though he was only thirty years old, he already had a success that anyone could envy him.

"The plan, one month from now."

"Where's Lylia, is she coming soon?"

"The last time she contacted me was half an hour ago, her family was already here, but she hasn't arrived yet. Maybe soon," replied Amier.

Two hours passed, the guests who were present at the engagement ceremony began to whisper, Amier also felt restlessness in the bottom of his heart. Lylia is never late, she always values ​​time.

Was she late tonight?

It's been two hours, she still hasn't come, what happened?

Anxiety started to come to Amier's mind at that moment.

Amier walked over to Alan Rodriguez—his father—with a worried expression on his face.

"Father, Lylia hasn't come yet. I tried to call her cell phone, but it's off. Did something happen to her?"

Old Master Rodriguez shifted slightly and whispered something to his only son, "I've ordered someone to check on Lylia. You know, the woman you want to marry is someone who never tolerates being late. Even Lylia being late like this makes me a little uneasy."

If Lylia made a mess, it was certain that Old Master Rodriguez would never forgive the girl even though he knew that his only son loved Lylia very much.

He sent someone to the girl's house.

Arriving at Lylia's apartment, the man sent by the Big Master found something very odd according to him. The apartment door was very wide open, and when he went inside, no one was inside.

For the past four years, Lylia has chosen to live alone, buying a large, fully equipped apartment.

Just so you know, Lylia never got along with her half sister—Myra. Lylia felt that her father was too different between the two of them, even though she knew that Myra, who always looked sweet, polite, gentle, and full of love, was full of fakes.

It was so repulsive that she was forced to leave the Crawford House.

Meanwhile Alan received a call from the person he sent to pick up Lilia. Alan hastily picked up the phone from his messenger.

"Hello, what's wrong?"

"Big Master, I have news to share. This concerns the Young Lady, she—"

"Tell me, Stanley. Don't give a shit by chit chat. What happened?"

Amier who was standing beside Old Master Rodriguez, brought his ear closer to the cell phone in his hand. Stanley's voice sounded quite clear, his breath ragged,

there was concern as he spoke to his father.

"Young Lady… she disappeared!"

"What do you mean!"

"I arrived at her apartment, the whole room was a mess, but I couldn't find anyone in the room. I also got bloodstains pointing out the window, and that's about it. There's no other clue."

"Ask the apartment, try to check their CCTV. We'll be right there!"

Amier's knees felt weak, today should be a happy day for him. With him engaged, and having Lylia by his side forever, meant the Crawford company was ready to invest in the Jones company.

When he heard Lylia was missing from the apartment, he immediately confused how to explain to the invited guests. Not to mention, it didn't seem like the Crawfords had learned of the news of their beloved granddaughter's disappearance from Lylia's private apartment.

Alan—Amier's father—approached the Old Lady Crawford.

"Mrs. Crawford, I have something to say to you," said Alan. He gently tugged Helena's wrist—Lylia's grandmother—to move away from the crowd of guests.

"What is it, Mister Rodriguez?"

The old woman smiled, her gaze deliberately warmed so Alan couldn't tell the truth.

"Why didn't you take Lylia out with you guys earlier?" whispered Alan, not telling the truth right away.

"Oh that, she didn't say much. She just asked us to leave first, even though at that time we had offered to pick her up, but she said he would ask to be picked up by the other driver?"

"H-how should I tell you. Lylia—"

"She hasn't arrived yet?"

Helena's body stiffened, she could sense the anxiety in Alan's tone to her just now. It was just that she hoped what she was feeling right now was something wrong. She was afraid, something on the way when—maybe—Lylia was on her way to the building there was a crash, or something bad.

'Don't let that girl mess up this event, from the beginning, it was very difficult to make her obey me!' Helena thought at that time.

"Not at all. That's not really what I would say."

"Say, don't play riddles, Mr. Alan!"

"My assistant, he picked up Lylia to the apartment. There was no one there, the whole room was a mess, and Lylia wasn't there. Stanley found bloodstains in the room, he—" said Gerald carefully.

Helena felt a very painful blow as it landed on her head. Her chest felt tight and sore. If only Lylia had wanted to go with the family, she wouldn't have needed to hear the words she had just heard from Gerald's mouth.

If only Lylia hadn't insisted on going alone, she wouldn't have felt the tightness in her chest. Not out of worry, but anger that her granddaughter was thought to be so stupid!

"Impossible!"

"The engagement ceremony can't seem to go ahead."

"Call the Police!" Helena exclaimed with the last remaining strength, clutching her chest which was getting worse, making it hard to breathe.

"Mother!"

Selena, Helena's second daughter, Lylia's biological mother, ran up to Helena and Alan, when she saw Alan bent over trying to lift Helena's body which had fallen to the floor.

"What is it?"

"Old Ma'am fainted, Lylia disappeared. This engagement cannot be continued, it has been postponed for some time," replied Alan.

"Sorry, for everything. Tonight's engagement has been postponed due to something very important!" Alan exclaimed making all eyes turn to him.

"The first daughter of the Crawford Family has disappeared, apologize once again!"