Chapter 487 - Missing (1)

Dr. Snow looked at Liz whose head rested on the table and then he glanced at his cup of sake which was still full. He reached over the table and pushed a strand of hair away from Liz's face, allowing his fingers to rest on her cheek for a few seconds before he retracted his hand.

"You can come in now…", Dr. Snow said.

The sliding door opened, and the server-lady got in.

She closed the door behind her and yanked her black wig off, revealing a blonde bob hairstyle.

"Help me undress her…", Irene said. "I need her skirt and her shirt…"

Irene carried a bag that had a dark brown wig inside. Once Irene put it on, her hairstyle was similar to Liz's. She dashed into the private bathroom to wash the white makeup from her face, and when she returned to the dining room she saw that Dr. Snow is staring at Liz, as possessed.

Liz was still fully clothed, and Irene was irritated that Dr. Snow didn't undress Liz, how Irene requested.

Irene reached for her phone and sent a text while telling Dr. Snow: "Hurry up, my men will be here in a few minutes to take her."

"I'm not leaving her here in only underwear for others to see."

Irene rolled her eyes and gestured to her geisha-like outfit. "You can put this dress on her after I take it off. Hurry up, or my men will see your precious Elizabeth in underwear. They will come after I lure Max's security away."

Irene saw that Dr. Snow looked at her suspiciously and she exhaled in frustration. "Look, this is not the time to hesitate. Your job is to play cool, pay the bill, and return to the hotel as nothing strange happened. Max will come and ask questions, and maybe even the police. You will need to stick to the plan or risk incriminating yourself. You had lunch with Liz, she left first to buy an engagement gift for Max, and you didn't hear from her after that. I will not hurt your precious sleeping beauty because I know that you can rat me out. I don't need her for long, and you can pick her up tomorrow morning as we agreed. Until then, make sure your alibi is solid…"

~ Seattle, the Alpha group ~

Max was not happy that he had to pick between meetings and watching Liz during the closing ceremony of the symposium, but he was in a hurry to finish work and check on the apartment renovations before Liz arrives, so this was a conscious choice he made.

When he landed in Seattle that morning, Max first checked on the progress of the apartment remodel, and he was pleased to see that only finishing touches were left.

Around noon, the contractor told Max that the renovation of combining two apartments into one is completed. Ten minutes after that, Joshua said that the pin codes are set so now they have one entrance, and Olivia confirmed that roses are being prepared and kept in the fridge in the florist's shop to stay at the optimum appearance until 5 PM when they will be delivered. Dinner will be ready for 7:30 PM, and Liz's favorite wine is chilling in the cooler.

Even with all that, Max wanted to make sure everything is perfect personally before Liz arrives because this is important.

Max was not at work on the previous day, so the work piled up and this was not a good time to leave early, but Max was determined to finish everything in record time.

Liz will return to Seattle with Max's private jet. The pilot will call Max before they leave Las Vegas and that will give Max approximately two hours heads-up, and until then, no news is good news.

If everything goes according to the plan, and Liz stays at the after-party until the end (4 PM), Max estimated that Liz will reach Seattle by 7 PM, and that should give him enough time to wrap up high-priority items at work, check on the apartment and preparations, and reach the airport to welcome Liz.

Max regretted not watching the closing ceremony live, but he will watch the recording later, and Liz won't notice a difference.

It was close to 3 PM when Max received a phone call during a meeting. He frowned when he saw that it's Daniel, the head of security which he left to watch over Liz.

Max stood up abruptly and without explanation walked out of the conference room in hurried steps to take the call.

The directors in the room looked after Max in confusion and Hunter's brows furrowed in worry. He knew that Max would not leave like that if it's not important.

"I apologize, something came up and we will need to postpone this meeting…", Hunter said to the directors while picking up laptops and papers that were in front of him and Max.

In the hallway, Max was walking toward his office when he took the call.

"Tell me.", Max didn't want to waste time on pleasantries and he hoped that this is just some report of how a creep disturbed Liz and they handled it. But Max knew that Daniel would not call him for something like that. Minor incidents that were handled successfully would end up in the report at the end of the day. Daniel calling him now meant that something went wrong. Really wrong.

"We lost Miss Williams…", Daniel said.

Max was sure that his ears malfunctioned. "What?"

Daniel swallowed hard and took a deep breath before answering: "Miss Williams informed us that she will have lunch with Dr. Snow in the White Orchid restaurant. We were at the sight and confirmed that she arrived safely. From there, Miss Williams went to the mall on her own and we followed her as usually. After about twenty minutes of window shopping, she went to the restroom and when she didn't come out after some time we checked, and… she was gone. In order not to raise false alarms, we verified that Miss Williams is not at the event she was supposed to attend in the afternoon, and her hotel room is empty. We can't reach her number…"

Hunter entered Max's office and found Max frantically typing on his computer.

"What happened?", Hunter asked.

"Liz is missing.", Max said.

Hunter's eyes widened in shock. He knew that something bad happened, but Liz missing was outside his expectations. Hunter was aware that Liz is Max's lifeline and if anything happens to Liz, Max will become destructive and probably destroy everything in his path before he drowns in grief.

Hunter walked behind Max's desk to see what Max was looking at and he saw that Max was watching the video recording from the conference at double speed.

'BAM!'

Max slammed his fist on his executive desk full force.

"DAMNIT!", Max shouted. "She was not at the event which started at one-thirty. Liz would never miss this event which is closing to her bet with Isaac. She waited for a year. She would not miss it…"

"Calm down, Max…", Hunter urged him. "What do we know?"

Max exhaled and spoke choppily, as he was struggling to breathe and form words. "She went out of Bellagio for lunch with Dr. Snobby. From there, she took a cab to the mall and that is where Daniel and his men lost her. Daniel went to the security room of the mall and checked the recording. They see Liz entering the restroom and not coming out. Liz is not in her room or at the after-party and she is not answering her phone. The security footage of Bellagio is not showing that she returned to the hotel."

Hunter saw that Max is on the verge of snapping and that he probably can't think straight now. "Let's check the mall again. We can use security footage to identify who was in the restroom at that time and locate them for questioning. Someone saw something. Ian can trace her phone for a GPS signal…"

Max shoved his hand in his hair forcibly. He forgot about Ian. "Ian can also check the security footage and see if Daniel missed something…"

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