That was the only way left.

Luca closed her eyes and lay down on the bed as she listened to the footsteps of the two men leaving. She did not see how many ropes he carried in his hands. However, she knew there were at least six ropes tied around her hands just from looking at the man's gestures earlier.

It had become even more difficult for her to break free now.

Luca thought she would not be able to save herself anymore. It was too difficult for her, and she did not have much energy left. She could only rest up and wait for another chance.

The next day.

Jason realized Luca did not check in at her new office. Thus, he went downstairs to look for her. It was then he found out that Luca was not in the office downstairs either.

She did not come to the office at all.

Jason knew she was not someone who would not skip work without giving notice. Hence, he called her and noticed that he could not get through to her phone.

He immediately informed Luke about this.

Luke frowned and kept silent when he heard what Jason told him. Text content © .

This morning, Tommy was whining to him that Luca did not call him back after she rejected his video call request last night. She did not reply to his messages either.

Hence, the child thought she did not like him anymore and complained to him about it.

Luke took no notice as he thought Luca must be in the middle of something and that was why she did not reply to the child's messages. However, she did not ask for leave nor inform anyone that she was not coming to the office today.

Luca was fine when she left last night. Could it be that something had happened to her when she was on her way back home?

Luke rose immediately when he thought of the possibility. He said, “Call the police."

Jason was startled. "Call the police? Boss, even though I can't get through to Luca's phone, the police won't make a case out of this even if we call them. Maybe she overslept and is at home?"

What he said made sense too, but Luke was certain that Luca was not that kind of person.

He grabbed his coat and walked out.

Jason instantly followed behind him. "Boss, where are you going?"

"I'm heading to the apartment," said Luke.

“You have to attend an important meeting later." Jason thought his boss must have fallen for her since he was so worried about Luca.

Otherwise, why would he do that for a company employee?

Luke left without looking back. “Postpone it."

“Alright." Jason sighed. He had no choice but to follow his boss' instructions. He picked up his phone immediately and ordered them to postpone the meeting.

Luke drove to the apartment.

He ran into a few workers who were carrying things. They were moving things into the unit, and they knew the passcode to the door.

Luke asked, “Is there anyone in there?"

A worker looked at Luke, puzzled, “Sir, there's no one inside."

Luke opened the door and walked into the apartment. He headed to the bedroom, which was clean and tidy. Then, he glanced at the bathroom. It was neat too.

He walked around the place and saw no sign of Luca.

“Sir, what's wrong?" A worker looked at him with confusion.

Luke replied, “Did you see her when you were moving things here?"

“No. No one was here when we came in." The worker shook his head.

Something was wrong...

There was a thought in Luke's mind. He trotted out of the apartment and glanced at the surveillance camera at the entrance of the apartment. Then, he headed to the property's office.

The employees in the office were informed that he would be coming before he arrived. All of them gathered together and waited for him in the office.

Luke entered the property's office. They had already retrieved the surveillance video of the entrance of the apartment.

The manager asked respectfully, "Mr. Crawford, we've pulled up the surveillance footage. What date and time do you wish to check the footage of?"

Luke only wanted to see if Luca had come back last night. She cared about hygiene a lot, so she always kept the house clean and tidy after getting influenced by him.

Since the house was too tidy, that meant she had not come back at all. He had to watch the surveillance footage to be assured.

“Last night around seven o'clock until this morning. Play it at double the normal speed." Luke stood there with his eyes on the computer screen.

Double the normal speed?

The manager was startled. Luke would not be able to see anything if he played it at double the normal speed.

However, he followed Luke's instructions.

Luke stared at the computer screen without blinking. He only wanted to make sure if Luca had come home the night before.

However, there was no sign of Luca after he finished watching the footage.

Luke nodded and walked out of the office right away.

The employees exchanged glances with each other. “What just happened?"

After Luke left, he came to the apartment where Luca used to stay in before. He realized he was unable to walk into the neighborhood when he wanted to get in.

They had tightened the security measures after what had happened last time. Strangers were not allowed to enter without the tenant's permission.

Luke could only park his car at the roadside. He stood at the entrance and called the chief of police.

The chief of police immediately sent two policemen after Luke asked for his help. Luke got immediately into the neighborhood with the police's assistance.

He took the elevator and went upstairs. Then, he knocked on the door when he reached the door.

There was no answer.

Luke knocked on the door again. "Luca, are you in there?"

The policeman recognized that it was the unit where the accident took place. He asked Luke, "Mr. Crawford, do you need our help?"

"Open the door." Luke nodded and took a step back.

After he gave them the order, the two policemen tried to unlock the door aggressively. They would not be held responsible if something happened.

It was because it was a unit where a murder case had occurred. All they had to do was shift the responsibility to the murderer.

Luke pushed the door open. He looked around the apartment covered with dust covers. He was deep in thought.

The two policemen looked around. There was no sign of anyone living here.

"My subordinate is missing," Luke turned around and said to the two policemen.

"A missing person? Do you know that person's ID number? How long has that person been missing?" The policemen heard him and became serious.

Luke replied, "I have a copy of her ID card in the office. As for the time, she went missing last night."

"Last night... It's not time to file a case yet. Are you sure that she's missing and she's not taking a leave of absence? Or did she leave because your company's human resources wouldn't allow her to resign?" The policeman hesitated and suggested a wide range of possibilities.

Luke listened to the possibilities he mentioned. He got anxious. He knew Luca was not that kind of person and she had no intention of leaving.

"She's missing."