Chapter 22: Ransom Money

After Katherine fell down unconscious Tom looked at the men and said "make it look as convincing as possible but don't cause too much damage. "

The men nodded and started beating Tom until he started to bleed, when they were done they assured him "No one will doubt you now. Pleasure doing business, goodbye. "

The men carried Katherine and put her in the van along with the rest of the women who were lying down there unconscious and then they drove off. After a few hours of driving the men arrived to a secret place where a private plane was waiting for them, they put Katherine and the other women inside and the plane finally took off.

Meanwhile, after Tom was beaten black and blue he immediately got inside his car and drove towards the police station, as soon as he arrived he put on a pitiful act and started crying and limping his was into the station. When the officers noticed his condition they immediately helped him to get inside and gave him a place to sit, when Tom was sure that he got their attention he began his performance.

"Please help her, my wife, I mean my ex wife who is also my best friend, we where in the car together driving towards skyline amusement park when suddenly some dangerous looking men came to stop right in front of our car and we were forced to pull over, they took Katherine and when I tried to stop them the beat me up until I was unconscious, it was only a few minutes ago that I regained my consciousness and when I opened my eyes nobody was there and I can't reach Katherine's phone, please save her."

Tom explained pitifully, the officer who was taking the report looked at Tom's bloody and bruised face and said "please calm down sir, do you have any idea who those men might be? Maybe someone you and miss Katherine know or offended in the past?"

Tom pretended to think about it before he said "None that I remember, Katherine and I have never encountered such dangerous people like this before"

After the officers were done taking the report they began searching and looking for Katherine, Tom offered to go with them but they insisted that he needed medical attention because he seemed to have been beaten up pretty badly by the kidnappers.

The next day Tom informed Katherine's family and her two best friends of what had happened. After hearing that her daughter had been kidnapped Katherine's mother fainted and she was rushed to the hospital, Tom never expected to see this reaction from Katherine's mother and he definitely didn't expect any of her siblings to care not even one bit because he knew how toxic and verbally abusive they had always been to Katherine, he knew they never showed her any love or care so what the hell is up with this reaction?

It was a few hours later when Samantha's condition was finally stabilized, when she was settled in the hospital room, Tom, Stephanie and Hannah who were waiting outside along with the rest of Katherine's siblings were allowed to finally step in the room to see Samantha.

As soon as she saw them walk in Samantha began to cry hysterically, "I can't believe my daughter has been kidnapped, why is this happening to us? What if they have killed her already? Oh my God, what if they ask us a hefty amount of money for ransom that we cannot afford? That stupid girl, I always told her to be careful but she never listen to me, why did she allow herself to be kidnapped and cause us trouble."

Katherine's siblings agreed with their mother, they immediately went to her and hugged her trying to comfort her.

Stephanie's mouth twitched seeing the scene before her, she wanted to just knock some sense into Katherine's mother but she controlled herself. She turned to Hannah who was standing beside her watching the show and whispered to Hannah" It seems like Katherine's mother and her family are more worried about the money they will be asked to pay for her ransom than her safety."

"I know right, look at the way she's blaming Katherine as if it was her fault for being kidnapped or as if she asked to be kidnapped. I can't stay here any longer Stef, let's leave" Hannah replied with both concern for Katherine and annoyance for her family marring her face. She couldn't believe that even in this situation Katherine's family were behaving like that, what a narcissistic family.

Tom who heard their little exchange of whisperings subtly smirked evilly in a way that nobody noticed "Since Katherine's family don't care about her and are only worried about the ransom monet that they might be asked to give its only a matter of time before they give up on searching for her and just like we planned, everything will perfectly fall in to place." Tom thought inwardly.

"Don't worry too much Mrs Kenneth, Katherine will return home safe and sound, the police have been searching for her since yesterday and it's only a matter of time before they find her and rescue her" Hannah politely said to Samantha, Katherine's mother.

"yes, Hannah is right Mrs Kenneth. I will do everything in my power to find and save Katherine be rest assured" Tom stated generously.

Stephanie who wanted to lash out at this incompetent family bit her tongue and simply said "Yes that is right, and none of you should worry about paying ransom money, if the kidnappers ever happened to ask for it the three of us will pay for it so please throw away your worries regarding the money and just pray that we find Katherine soon."

Having said that, Tom, Hannah and Stephanie went out of the room and left the hospital. The girls decided to inform the media about Katherine being missing and offer reward money to anyone who was able to find her.

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It has been three days since Katherine went missing and there was still no clue about her whereabouts, the police were doing their best to find her but it has been extremely difficult because there was no cctv or any other witness on the path that Katherine was taken.

The only information they had was the one that was provided to them by Tom who was the last person that was with her.

Katherine's disappearance caused quite the buzz on the news, It was all over social media. The people and her fans were so worried that their beloved goddess was missing, it became a national issue and many of Katherine's fans also joined the search for her, Katherine was an international Supermodel so people from all over the world had volunteered to search for her.

A man was sitting in a VIP section in a luxurious restaurant in Japan reading a document as the people across him were eagerly waiting for his response, when he was satisfied with the contract he lifted his gaze away from the papers and looked at the the men and said "we have a deal" and the men were beyond happy to sign a business contract with Xander Ling and be a part of his multi-billion dollar company.

After signing the contract they peacefully continued to eat their dinner while further discussing how they were going to carry out the assignment when Xander's phone suddenly rang and he answered the call, as soon as Xander heard what the person who called him said all hell broke loose.