Chapter 2

Realizing that made me breathe a little easier. As long as I stayed inside the airport, I should be safe for now.

I tried to sort through the clues, but no matter how hard I thought, I couldn't come up with anything new.

The frustration started getting to me, so I went to the restroom.

While washing my hands, I looked into the mirror and noticed a pair of large, rough feet under one of the stall doors.

A second later, I locked eyes with someone through the gap.

I was a small guy and didn't look like much of a fighter. When the man realized I had seen him, he didn't hide. Instead, he threw open the stall door, covered my mouth, and tried to drag me inside.

He was incredibly strong. His thick body hair and foul smell nearly made me pass out.

I kicked the floor with all my strength and fought back. Then he said something that made my eyes go wide. I stopped struggling at once.

"I've got your little brother. If you want him to stay alive, don't do anything stupid."

My little brother? I was an only child. I didn't have a brother.

My instincts told me this might be the key to finding out why I was going to die. I let him drag me into the stall.

He reached for my wallet. But before he could grab it, I pressed a small paring knife against his throat.

I had quietly pulled the knife out of my backpack while he was dragging me, just in case I needed to defend myself.

"Did you hurt my brother?" I asked, playing along with his story. At that moment, I caught the sharp smell of urine.

The kidnapper immediately started begging for mercy.

"I'm innocent! I overheard your dad making a phone call. He said he'd pay after he got the money, and he begged the kidnappers to let his son go. I swear I'm innocent! You looked rich, so I just wanted to rob you and make a little money."

When had my dad gotten another son?

Who was he making a deal with?

My mind was full of questions. The kidnapper took advantage of my distraction and ran away.

But I didn't care about chasing him. I only wanted the truth.

When I returned to the terminal, I saw Hugh happily chatting with Elodie.

Lilly tried to join the conversation, but Hugh snapped at her impatiently and cut her off.

Watching the way Hugh treated Lilly, I suddenly remembered things I had never paid attention to before.

Years ago, Lilly had suffered a miscarriage after a serious accident. She had been carrying a baby boy. Because of the heavy bleeding and her age, the doctors had been forced to remove her uterus to save her life.

After that, our family was never the same. Lilly and Hugh argued all the time. Our financial situation also got worse.

I had always believed Hugh changed because his business failed and he lost a child.

But when he was with Elodie, he acted like the same charming and successful businessman he used to be.

One time, I complained to Hugh while we were eating because Elodie was too stingy with money. I thought he would take my side.

Instead, he frowned. "Elodie's right. Smoking a pack of cigarettes every week is a waste of money. Women are just better at saving money than men."

We got into a huge argument that day. Later, he apologized and promised to buy me some gold jewelry to make it up to me.

I clearly remembered that he had bought me a gold chain and a gold pendant. I was still wearing the chain. But I hadn't seen the pendant in a long time.

Thinking about what the kidnapper had said, along with Hugh's behavior lately, I came to an unbelievable conclusion.

Hugh had been having an affair. He even had an illegitimate son.

That child had been kidnapped. Could that kidnapping somehow be connected to our deaths?

I only had six hours left to live. I desperately wanted to confront Hugh and demand the truth. But I was afraid of alerting him. While I was still hesitating, a group of armed airport security officers surrounded me.

One of them said, "We found the body of Justin Lindsay in the restroom. Security footage shows that you were the only person who entered during that time. You'll need to come with us for questioning."