Chapter 3

Alarm bells rang out in my head, washing out all other sounds around me. I leapt to my feet and rushed to the washroom.

The washroom was filled with silence. No one was in there.

My secretary said to me with a serious look on her face, "I'm certain that everything happened in less than ten minutes. There is no way that anyone could hide a five-year-old child without anyone noticing.

"I have informed the security team to look into the surveillance footage from the entire building. We will be able to find her soon."

I attempted to call Olivia on her smartwatch, but it just showed that her phone was switched off the entire time. I managed to locate her smartwatch's GPS coordinates. It was less than 300 feet away.

I followed the signal, only to find the watch lying on the floor in a corner with no one in sight. I clenched my hands into tight fists, fighting to calm myself down.

"Ask around with the people around here and see if they have seen Liv."

Soon enough, an employee recalled, "I remember Liv heading out through here earlier, but she moved so naturally that I did not pay any particular attention."

A few minutes later, the security team knocked on my door, bringing surveillance footage with them. Much to my disbelief, I saw that Olivia actually walked out of the office building on her own!

"This is impossible."

A security guard pointed at the surveillance footage and said in a firm tone, "This girl walked out on her own accord, exactly like you see on the surveillance footage. I remember seeing this, too."

The footage showed Olivia exiting the main entrance with absolutely no sign that she was being forced in any way. She would never wander so far without telling me. Why did she walk out of the office building?

I could not wrap my head around it. I wanted to know where Olivia went after leaving the office building.

The security guard, however, said helplessly, "Once she left the office building, she was out of the range of our surveillance. We can't find where she went either."

Left with no other choice, I called the cops immediately. The officers reviewed the surveillance footage, their expressions grim.

"Ms. Lisbon, your daughter entered a blind spot after she left the premises of this building. We have not found any new leads for now.

"The perpetrators might be an experienced group of traffickers. We have dispatched manpower to search for her." If this were human trafficking, how did she end up falling off a building in the end?

I thought of the warning that came from three years into the future. There was only an hour left until the incident. My heart sank uncontrollably.

I rang my future self up to plead with her, asking, "Why did this still happen to Liv when I brought her to the office?"

I heard a heavy thud through the call. "I saw it… Even when Olivia disappeared from the office, she was still found to have jumped from the 20th floor."

My head spun. I grabbed my car keys and rushed back home. It was only on my way back that I thought of telling Norman about this. He freaked out instantly.

"Don't worry. I will be home right away to search for her alongside you. I'm sure Liv will be fine."

As I listened to Norman's voice, I almost couldn't hold back my tears. Everything was clearly going fine. How did the situation end up like this?

I sped all the way back to our residential area. The security guard at the entrance also said he never saw Olivia or any strangers pass through.

I dashed up to the rooftop. For safety reasons, the rooftop door was always locked. At this moment, it was also shut tight with no signs of anyone entering. However, there was not much time left.

Right at this moment, my phone rang. The future "me" exclaimed in an urgent voice, "No, we were all deceived. Liv didn't fall from the rooftop at all!"