The madness in Oscar's eyes was hard to ignore. Candice struggled to speak.
"Are you looking for Alex?" she asked.
Oscar smiled. "I just wanted to give him a gift. After all, he's my half-brother, even though he doesn't seem to acknowledge me as his brother."
Though Candice felt uneasy, she focused on the important point. She forced herself to calm down before replying, "Threatening him through me won't work. I have nothing to do with him anymore, and you know how the Elysians look down on me."
She racked her brains to persuade Oscar, but he merely raised an eyebrow after she finished speaking. "Ms. Renault, you shouldn’t lie to yourself. If Alex truly didn't care about you, do you think I would go through all this trouble to bring you here?
"But do you really think that way?" Oscar mused. "Even I, an outsider, find it hard to watch. Alex pours his heart out for you and won’t even let Daniel off the hook because of you, yet you remain unmoved.
"Ms. Renault, you truly have a heart of stone."
As Candice listened to Oscar's words, she tried to make sense of her surroundings. Only the car headlights at the door illuminated the scene. In such dim light, Candice's vision was limited due to her night blindness, but she could vaguely guess that this was some kind of warehouse. However, she didn't know the exact location.
She figured she had been missing for a few hours. Did anyone notice? Would anyone find her?
Candice's thoughts weighed heavily on her mind as Oscar crouched in front of her, seemingly amused by her expression.
After a while, he spoke leisurely, "Ms. Renault, instead of trying to explain your relationship with Alex, you'd better pray that he finds you soon."
With that, Oscar stood up. His mocking smile remained as he glanced at her again. Then the door closed, plunging the room back into darkness.
It was quiet except for the sound of wind and rain outside, which was occasionally punctuated by thunder.
Candice's body tensed up, and she dared not move or even lean back. Trapped in a realm of darkness, she curled up and buried her face in her arms.
She didn't know if anyone would come or if anyone had noticed her absence. She didn't know anything.
-
The storm continued outside. Alex drove directly, searching every route Candice might have taken, but to no avail.
Her phone was off, and there were no surveillance cameras around to track her.
He returned home, chilled to the bone, but he still retained some rationality. He knew aimlessly searching wouldn't help much, but the anxiety in his heart made him cling to hope and wish things weren't as bad as they seemed.
Maybe Candice was just stranded somewhere in the rain, and he would happen upon her...
Seeing him return alone, Sieg realized something was wrong. "That idiot, Oscar, is such a troublemaker," he muttered.
Alex pressed his hand against his forehead, trying to calm himself down. But no matter how hard he tried, the increasingly heavy and rapid breaths betrayed his emotions.
Suddenly, he stood up abruptly, his voice heavy as he told Sieg, "I'm going out again. Use all your connections, and Aether Corporation can give up more incentives for the project."
Though tempted to scoff, Sieg refrained, considering the gravity of the situation. He asked quietly, "If it's really Oscar behind this, do you think blindly searching will help?"
Alex closed his eyes while gripping the door frame tightly. The veins on his hand bulged as he struggled to contain his emotions.
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