I finally finished all my work and decided to go to the kitchen for a drink. Anthony enters the kitchen and says, "Hey, Sunshine, how was work?"

"Boring, but at least I'm done for the week!" I say as he wraps his arms around my waist.

He smiles and leans down to kiss me. He lifts me and places me on the countertop. "I love you." He murmurs against my lips.

I sigh with joy, and he asks, "Where's Adalynn?"

"I told her to go get some groceries..." I look at the clock and see it's 5:00 pm. "She should be back by now... She left two hours ago."

"I'm gonna call her," I say. I press on her contact, but it goes straight to voicemail.

"She's not picking up..." I say, turning to Anthony.

"I'll check her room. Can you try calling her?" I ask him.

"Of course." He says, quickly getting his phone out. I bolt up the stairs and knock on the door. When I get no answer, I open it and see no one in sight.

I sprint back down the stairs and shout, "She's not here! I'm checking her tracker on her phone."

I feel my heart drop when it shows her phone went offline. "Adalynn would never turn this off. She's the one who wanted to make sure we knew where she was at all times." I say, starting to panic.

"Let's drive to the store and see if she's still there," Anthony says, grabbing his keys. We get into his car and get on the road.

"What if she got taken?" I ask anxiously.

"We'll find her." He says, trying to reassure me. But we both know deep down there's something wrong.

We finally get to the parking lot and spot my car. But that doesn't ease my worry. We walk towards the car and notice the door is slightly open... "The car is unlocked," I say, even more worried.

Anthony opens the trunk and says, "The groceries are here..."

"She was kidnapped," I say. "Evanescent took her!" I say, trying not to cry.

"I tried hacking the security camera footage, but some of it was erased." He says.

"How are we going to get her back?" I ask, feeling a few tears trickle down my cheek. Anthony leads me back to the car so that we can make a plan.

I was watching a random movie when my mom barged into my room. "We need to go to Adalynn's house." My mom says in an urgent voice.

"Why?" I ask, confused.

"Adalynn's been kidnapped." She says. The second she says those words, I stumble out of bed and bolt down the stairs.

We all head for the car in silence, and I hear I'm breathing louder. When we arrive at Adalynn's house, Mr. Ryder leads us to the basement.

The whole place is tricked out with computer screens and other technology. "The tracker on her phone is disabled, so let's assume they destroyed her phone."

"Her necklace." I blurt out.

I grab my phone and show them where she is. "She said she thought she was being followed, but then she said she was being paranoid. I should have met up with her. I could have prevented-"

"It's not your fault." Mr. Ryder says, placing a hand on my shoulder.

"All that matters is that we have a location." Mrs. Ryder says, looking something up on a screen.

"She's at an abandoned building near fifth street. There's a ton of underground tunnels that used to be for sewage."

"Let's go save our future daughter-in-law." My mom says, grabbing a gun from Mrs. Ryder.

😜

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