"Brother, hick, I can’t run anymore! My feet hurt," Minerva whimpered between hups, struggling to keep her voice down to avoid drawing attention to themselves.
She fought back tears, desperately trying not to cry out louder.
How did they end up in this predicament?
Last night, Rafael had confidently spent the night at Dave’s chateau, believing that the handful of bodyguards stationed at Minerva’s door, as well as those positioned outside her window, would keep her secure.
He had left his home with the firm conviction that his sister wouldn’t be able to escape her room without his permission.
The following morning, after disembarking from Dave’s chopper, he headed straight to his office to catch up on work, knowing Luke still had no leads to share.
As he engaged in lighthearted banter with the group online, he received a call from one of the guards monitoring Minerva’s window.
The guard reported a terrifying situation: they had been ambushed and rendered unconscious.
When they finally regained consciousness, they discovered that Minerva was missing.
In a desperate attempt to contain the chaos, the guards decided to keep the incident under wraps, pretending that everything was still normal.
As soon as they discovered that Minerva was missing, the guards immediately called Rafael.
It was at that moment that he abruptly stopped participating in the lively banter with the others.
Heart racing, he hurried to the underground parking garage, rallying his bodyguards to help search for his sister.
Theybed through all the ces Minerva might have gone, trying to piece together why she would escape.
However, unease gnawed at Rafael.
The fact that the guards he had stationed outside had been knocked unconscious meant that someone had orchestrated Minerva’s abduction.
The only name that surfaced in his mind was Alexi.
Without hesitation, Rafael instructed his driver to take them directly to Alexi’s location, while his bodyguards tracked down the ce.
Yet, something felt off—there was a nagging sensation in Rafael’s gut that he couldn’t quite identify.
He couldn’t shake the feeling that there was more to this than met the eye.
Still, Alexi was his only lead, and as he pressed onward, he wrestled with his conflicting thoughts, desperate to uncover the truth behind Minerva’s disappearance.
When they arrived at Alexi’s apartment, Rafael’s bodyguard kicked down the door, revealing a familiar sight—the same t where Hera had once lived with Alexi.
Theyout was unchanged, and the bodyguards felt a sense of recognition wash over them.
After all, they were the same team that had apanied Minerva the day she had confronted Hera.
However, there was a noticeable difference: the few guards who had forcibly thrown Hera out were no longer with them, having been dismissed by Rafael for their actions.
Now, only those who had shown respect towards Hera remained, standing ready to assist Rafael in his search for Minerva.
As soon as Rafael and his team stepped into Alexi’s apartment, they were overwhelmed by the pungent smell of alcohol.
Rafael barely got through the door before he kicked a bottle of tequ across the floor.
There, slumped against the wall, was Alexi—unconscious and still gripping a liquor bottle in his hand.
He didn’t even flinch at the sound of the door being kicked in, lost in a drunken stupor that rendered him oblivious to his surroundings.
His pallidplexion and disheveled appearance made him look almost lifeless. Disgusted, Rafael shot Alexi a disdainful nce.
"Search the ce!" Rafael barked, striding into the apartment’s living room and scanning the surroundings.
It was clear that Alexi hadn’t bothered to clear out Hera’s photos; remnants of their past lingered everywhere.
Ever since Hera left, Alexi hadn’t brought Minerva back to the apartment, knowing that every glimpse of Hera’s pictures would spark an argument between them.
Yet, despite the tension, Alexi remained stubbornly unwilling to part with the reminders of his former life.
"Negative!" one bodyguard called out from the kitchen.
"Not here!" another shouted from one of the bedrooms.
"Clear!"
"Negative!"
Before long, everyone regrouped after thoroughly searching the small apartment.
The swift sweep of the premises left Rafael with a deepening frown.
Hearing that Minerva was nowhere to be found in Alexi’s ce frustrated him; this was his only lead.
He hadn’t equipped Minerva with any tracking device, so he couldn’t even trace her through her phone.
His stomach churned with frustration. "Wake the bastard up!" Rafael snarled as he stormed out of the living room.
He headed toward the two rooms, their doors left ajar after the guards had swept through.
One room resembled a disaster zone, clothes and random items scattered as if a tornado had torn through it.
In stark contrast, the other room was clean and tidy—minimalistic yet warm and inviting. The guards had only nced around, leaving everything untouched.
Rafael stepped into the neater room and scanned the space.
His gazended on a picture of Hera in her school uniform, smiling brightly in the vanity mirror.
She looked so youthful and charming that he couldn’t help but smile to himself.
Carefully, he pulled the photo from its frame and tucked it into his breast pocket.
<strong>-Ssh...</strong>
"Sir! He’s awake!" one of the bodyguards shouted from the living room.
"Hmm." Rafael replied absently, indifferent to whether his bodyguards heard him or not.
He took onest look around Hera’s room before stepping back into the living room, where he found Alexi drenched and coughing as if he had just been pulled from the ocean.
<i>Cough!</i>
<i>Cough!</i>
"Who the hell are you?! What do you want?!" Alexi shouted, still disoriented and only partially sober.
The cold water sshed across his face jolting him from his drunken stupor, but he stubbornly clung to the bottle of liquor in his hand.