Broken Bond: Between Vices and Virtues (BL)
Chapter 91: Kidnapped

Chapter 91: Kidnapped

A man in a black leather jacket and tight pants flicked his lighter open and the fire flared. He tilted his head to light the cigarette on his lips. The smoke floated in the air as he blew upwards. Looking down at the unconscious guy on the floor in his feet, he wondered why his boss asked him to kidnap the guy.

The man’s name was Philip. He was in his thirties, with a lean build but formidable aura. He was a recessive alpha who worked under Rage Del Valle, one of the orphaned kids he raised alongside his son Azrael to become a reliable lackey.

Philip, being older than Azrael, was prepared to serve the sole heir to the company, yet when Azrael grew older, he chose an older man as his second-in-command. Philip then became Rage’s dog, doing all his dirty work and obeying all his commands.

He never questioned his boss’ intentions as he swore loyalty to the man who basically raised him and took him out of that dreadful orphanage.

He bent down to the sleeping omega. A whiff of a flowery smell caught his nose. Blowing up the smoke again, he brushed the omega’s hair away and stared at the pretty face. He thought as he did so, ’The boss’s type, eh...but he’s too young for him.’

A gruff voice came from behind, "Sir Philip, the chairman is here."

Philip stood. He waited for the chairman to enter inside that wreckage. The place where they ran off was an unfinished warehouse in the middle of a redeveloping area. The construction was halted for half a year now, so the surrounding was covered in thick dust, broken debris, hanging rusty metal beams, and piles of reinforced deformed steels and other materials, and half of the room was occupied with unkept metal scaffoldings.

The rustic and dusty smell of the place was thick, yet the man who made his entrance in that wreckage showed no reaction despite being a billionaire. Philip straightened his back and gulped. The presence of Rage Del Valle was so overwhelming that even a recessive alpha like him felt discomfort and nervousness.

"You didn’t even bother to lay him on clean ground. Have you been this cruel, Philip?" Rage Del Valle broke the tense atmosphere.

Philip quickly answered, "Shall I move him then, chairman?"

Rage walked to the unconscious Knox and grabbed his chin. The middle-aged man turned Knox’s face left and right quite aggressively as though he were double-checking a product to be sold in the market. He snickered afterward and unhesitatingly let go. Knox’s head hit the floor, but he still didn’t wake up.

Seeing this, Rage looked at Philip and asked, "What did you do? He’s not waking up. Did you kill him already?"

Philip shook his head. "It was just a light sleep-inducing perfume. Maybe the poor omega was sleep-deprived."

Rage raised his brows, "Oh?" Grabbing Knox’s collar and forcefully ripping his shirt off, his upper chest was revealed and it was covered in red marks and bites. Rage chuckled deviously. In the background, some of the men whistled and exchanged glances.

The chairman stood and cocked his head, "Tie him up. Let him sleep for a while. He’ll be needing his strength to entertain us later."

Philip gave his men a meaningful look. They took Knox and tied him to a metal post.

Rage smirked in satisfaction. ’Who would have thought his son whose hatred toward omegas would end up losing his mind over one?’ he amusingly thought, still in disbelief to find that the reason behind his son’s changes in behavior was just an insignificant rat.

"Lock him up. Did you erase all your traces? I don’t want Azrael to find this place too quickly."

Philip, "Yes, chairman. I asked one of my men to search the omega’s house to find a weakness, but I made sure to tell them to be careful and leave no traces."

"Good job. If I can’t convince Azrael, then I can just threaten the pretty one to submit to me," Rage threw a glance at the slumped and tied body before turning away. His phone rang as he exited, and as soon as he saw the number on the screen, his grin grew wider.

At that moment, in a four-hour drive away from that abandoned redevelopment area, two mansions were in chaos.

In the Horace Mansion, the news of Knox’s sudden disappearance threw the whole place into disorder. Everyone felt like treading in a thin line. The two dominant alphas’ enraged pheromones filled the entire surroundings, almost choking everyone with their tense atmosphere and deathly gazes.

Steve stood by the edge of the desk; his head lowered and he breathed with caution, as though a slight noise erupting in the deadly atmosphere would result in everyone finally witnessing the chairman’s outburst.

"How did this happen?" Athan muttered after a while, his eyes focused on the footage caught when Knox entered his unit, but after a few minutes, the video jumped a few minutes, signifying that some scenes were deleted from the record.

Athan seethed. His voice was as cold as ice, and his eyes were red. The veins in his neck creeping to his jawline and becoming more visible was proof that he was trying his best to stay calm and subdue his wrath.

"We searched the house but there were no signs of forced entry. And it seemed like some of the clothes were taken. We also found all valuable things, and they were left untouched. Right now, we’re still investigating whether it was a kidnapping or the missing person just...ran away," Emil, a police officer acquainted with Athan, stated with a bit of hesitation. He was the only one able to talk without stammering in that suffocating room, yet when he spoke the last two words, it seemed like the temperature in the room decreased and he felt a prickling gaze directed to him.

Athan grabbed his head, and muttered with certainty, "That’s the last thing Knox will do."

’Knoa was here, so how can Knox leave his son? That’s complete nonsense!’ Athan screamed inwardly. He was sure something bad happened. "Knox was probably kidnapped. They must have kidnapped him after learning the truth of his identity!" he exclaimed frustratedly.

A dreadful feeling of guilt and self-blaming slapped him. If that really was the case, then it means one of his employees who was present at that time spilled the news to another, despite his strict demand to keep to themselves. But who was he kidding? He was a fool for trusting those people!

Athan slammed the armrest of the single sofa he was sitting on. A crack sounded, and everyone gulped in nervousness.

A cold voice followed Athan’s outburst, "Monitor all the huge companies acquainted with Horizon, most especially the ones holding grudges against the family. Athan, ask around the people acquainted with your brother. Maybe they know where he went."

Athan halted. He turned to his father with disbelief, "Are you thinking Knox did run away, Dad?!"

The chairman averted his eyes from his son. There was a slight tremor in his emerald eyes that he refused to show to another. "That...could be a possibility."

There was meaning behind his words, and Athan understood them. Still, he believed Knox won’t leave his son in the hands of someone he once hated.

Chairman Nathaniel moved his eyes to Steve and strictly ordered, "Bring your nephew here right away. I want him to track every last trace of Knox’s phone signal before it disappears. Athan, send all your men to places Knox frequents, and cooperate with the authorities."

Steve answered, "Right away, chairman."

Athan sighed, "Yes, Dad."

Steve left the room and called Shawn, while Athan brought up his and typed on it.

Emil stood after that, along with two other officers silently standing behind his seat, and informed the father and son, feeling a bit nervous, "Chairman Horace, an absent person may only be officially declared as a missing individual after twenty-four hours of their perceived disappearance. Until then, we can’t organize a search party to specifically focus on this case. If there is strong evidence that the youngest son was kidnapped, then we can assure you the authorities will quickly look at it."

Athan gritted his teeth, "Isn’t that footage evidence enough?!"

"We’re still investigating the cause of this, Athan," Emil wearily explained. The Horace Family was one of the richest, yet the chairman never demanded the commissioner or a higher-ranking officer to look into the case immediately.

Is it because the missing son isn’t really that important to him, or is it because he wanted to uphold his integrity, refusing to use money and power to force someone to do his bidding? Those thoughts ran through the three police officers’ minds as they walked out of the room.

Until the end, Chairman Horace did not threaten or bribe them to act according to what he wanted.

Athan stood and bolted out the door. He was greatly disappointed by the turn of events and that unyielding conversation. Wait for twenty-four hours? Need stronger evidence of kidnapping and housebreaking?!

Does a seasoned kidnapper leave traces of his crime and risk their hideout? Athan fumed. He wanted to spit at those absurd conditions and stomp on the law that upholds it. Whether his younger brother just ran away or got kidnapped, he won’t just sit in the corner and wait until confirmation! He pulled a crumpled business card from his pocket and called the number on it.

Soon after, a female voice answered him.