DAMIR
"Lan, pick up. Pick up the damn phone!" My voice cracked as I shoved the phone against my ear, pacing in sharp strides across my study.
Lan finally picked up. "Boss…."
"Eli is missing . Send my men. Right now!!. I want every street, every alley, every damn sidewalk covered! If one of those guards saw him last, question him. If they failed to follow…fire them on the spot!"
"On it! I'm already tracking the vehicle logs. Deploying five bikes and two trucks. Should I alert…"
"EVERYONE!" I shouted. "Now!"
I ended the call and rushed down the stairs, skipping steps. Something in me churned like a storm was coming.
And then my phone buzzed again.
A name I never wanted to see again.
Philip.
My breath caught. The edges of my vision blurred with heat as my thumb hovered. Why him? Why now?
A video attachment.
I swore under my breath and tapped.
The footage opened and my soul split.
Eli.
Eli. Held down. Writhing. In his school uniform.
A man behind him forced something down his throat, something translucent that caused vapor whenever it touched his skin. Acid.
Eli screamed. His back arched unnaturally. His voice shattered:
"Appaaa!!"
I dropped the phone.
I couldn't breathe.
My knees buckled and I slammed a fist into the banister, teeth clenched, blood boiling in my ears.
"DAMIR! DAMIR OPEN THE GATE!!"
The iron gates shook. The walls of the estate echoed.
"DAMIR!!FUCKER!!"
It was Lian.
The guards ran past me, shouting.
"Open it! It's the boy's friend! Let him in!"
Lan's voice cut through the radio: "We've got a location pinged! Sir….someone's sent the coordinates. We're mobilizing."
I grabbed the phone again, hands trembling. A second call. Juseon.
The man who hadn't called me in months. The father who didn't want me near his son.
I answered.
"What did you do?!" he screamed. Raw. Broken. Terrified.
"Juseon…."
"WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY SON?! I was sent a video! My son! DAMIR!!"
"I saw it too…."
"HE CALLED FOR ME!" Juseon wailed. "You were supposed to protect him!"
"I will. I WILL! I'm going to kill whoever did this."
Lian burst in. Hair wild. Shirt soaked in sweat. He collapsed onto the floor, sobbing, holding up his own phone, same video playing.
"He was smiling this morning…he was happy…what happened…what…what the fuck…..DAMIR DO SOMETHING!!"
I could only listen to the both of them. Juseon still shouting through the phone. Lian sobbing at my feet. The estate filled with guards running and barking orders.
My knuckles were bleeding from punching the wall.
Philip must have had a reason to send the video to people closest to Eli.
"Lan! Get the SUV, NOW! Bring the vest. And a gun. I want Philip's throat in my hands by midnight!"
The last image in my head: Eli's tear-stained face screaming for his father.
And I wasn't the one he called.
But I would be the one to bring him home. Or burn the world trying.