Chapter 197 - He Had Gone Missing

Elle was now standing outside the house of Charles. She rang the doorbell so many times but she got no response from Charles.

'Is he not at home?'

She had no choice but to barge in. Without wasting any more time, she opened the door using his security passcode. 

As soon as the door was finally opened, she immediately peered the house to look for Charles. But to her disappointment, she didn't see him inside. He was nowhere and his whereabouts were unknown.

"Charles where did you go? What happened to you?" Elle mumbled as she massaged her throbbing temples.

She had a bad feeling about this but she was hoping that what she was worrying right now was just a wrong assumption.

Her last resort was to check the CCTV recordings in his place. She couldn't trace his location just like before since his cellular phone was switched off.

Elle went to his CCTV control room and watched the recordings of yesterday until this morning. In the CCTV footage, she saw Charles leave the house at around 9:00 am yesterday after that she didn't see him returning to his place.

"D*mn Charles! You are making me worry. Where are you? Why is it you suddenly had gone missing?"

Elle felt uneasy now. She was thinking that something bad happened to Charles.

With a gloomy expression, Elle left his place as she returned to Falcon Cafe. Elena was waiting for her. She was eager to know what happened to Charles.

"Sis, did you see him? How is he?" Elena asked her promptly.

Elle smiled at her faintly before she answered her. She was contemplating whether to tell her the truth or not. Elle inhaled deeply as she faced Elena.

"Don't worry, Boss Charles is just fine. It looks like he also has an out of town travel today. He just forgot to notify us ahead of time." In the end, Elle chose to lie to her.

Elena heaved a sigh of relief after hearing that. She thought something bad happened to Charles that's why she was worried sick while waiting for Elle to come back.

"Let's go back to work. It seems that we are the ones to manage this Cafe today. Anyway, boss Charles told me to close the Cafe so early today so that we could rest." Elle said to her.

"Okay sis. I understand." Elena was back to her cheerful and lively mood since she thought that Charles was just fine.

"Elena..." she called out.

"Yes sis?"

"Is there something unusual that happened here at the Cafe yesterday?" Elle asked her.

Elena paused for a while thinking of what transpired in the Cafe for the whole day.

"Nothing in particular sis. Why did you ask?" Elena gave her a questioning look.

A timid smile flashed on Elle's face. "Hmm, I am just curious since I was absent yesterday. I am wondering if my absence had caused some hassle to boss Charles."

"Oh, I think something was off when Boss Charles arrived yesterday. I thought he cried since his eyes were red but he just told me that something just got into his eyes." Elena informed Elle.

"Do you think something was troubling him? He kept on spacing out for the rest of the day when he returned." She added.

Elle giggled and just shook her head. 'It seems that Charles took my sudden marriage to the heart. He became emotional.'

But the light in Elle's eyes disappeared as she thought about Charles who had gone missing today. She had no idea where to find him.

"Sis Elle, I just remembered. We had some customers yesterday. She was very interested in our Cafe. She asked me a lot of questions about this Cafe and she even wanted to meet our Boss. Do you think she is spying on us? She might be planning to build her own Cafe or she might be a competitor?"

Elle frowned when she heard that. "Is she a new face?"

"Yes, I think so. She was with a man. Even though he was good looking but he was very aloof and very frightening. On the other hand, the lady was very sweet and friendly. She is also beautiful." Elena looked unhappy after saying those words.

"Did they meet Charles that day?" Elle asked her again. Elle was now curious about those customers. She made a mental note to check the CCTV footage later.

"No, they didn't meet each other. They came here in the morning and Boss Charles only arrived in the afternoon."

"Alright. Never mind them. Maybe they were just curious about our Cafe."

Elena and Elle did their daily routine at the Cafe, entertaining their customers. However, Elle could not stop worrying about Charles. She couldn't get him out of her mind that's why she committed a few mistakes while serving their customers.

Elena assisted her well. She covered up for her mistakes. Fortunately, their regular customers were kind and understanding towards them. At around 4 o'clock in the afternoon, Elle decided to close the Cafe.

She needed to know the whereabouts of Charles as soon as possible. She tried to contact him again but it was the same result, his phone was unattended.

When Elena left the Cafe, Elle took that chance to investigate Charles's disappearance. She checked the CCTV footage of yesterday's happening in the Cafe. She saw the two customers Elena was talking about.

Elle zoomed in the image in order to have a clear view of their faces. She could not recognize those two but they looked very familiar to her. She did not remember when or where she saw those two.

She was racking her brain hard just to remember those people. Several minutes had passed when she finally recalled something. She went to her computer as she started to type on her keyboard.

It did not take long when she found what she was looking for. Her grip on the mouse tightened as she read the information on the screen.

What she had opened was the database of Assassin Guild that she hacked before. She slammed her eyes shut as she gritted her teeth.

"Azumi Twins. They had found us. But how? They personally visited our Cafe." Elle mumbled as she put her hand on her forehead.

With everything going on right now, her worries toward Charles deepened. Between the two of them, he was the most vulnerable and his life would be in danger. Enemies could recognize him easily.

Now their enemies were lurking around them. 'Are they the ones responsible for Charles's disappearance?' Elle could not help herself but ponder.

They were now put in a difficult situation if that would be the case. Elle's heart was beating rapidly on her chest because of uneasiness. She became restless. She was afraid that Charles was caught by their enemies this time.

Elle continued to watch the CCTV footage. Her eyes were very focused on the monitor. Just like Elena said he didn't meet the Azumi twins that day.

Elle played the video as she fast-forwarded it in the evening. She saw Charles and Phantom were talking together. Phantom was the one who left the Cafe first.

Seconds later, Charles proceeded to the alleyway near the Cafe where he parked his car.

Elle checked the other CCTV footage located in that area. An icy glint flickered on Elle's eyes the moment she saw what happened next after Charles arrived in his car.

Suddenly, a black figure appeared from behind and approached Charles. He had a gun and he aimed it toward Charles's head. She saw Charles froze on his spot as he raised both his hands. He was not able to retaliate. They both entered the car and it did not take long when the car started to leave the area.

'F*ck! Someone really got him this time.' Elle cursed inwardly. She ground her teeth as both concern and fury reflected on her dark eyes.

She clenched her fist as she was blaming herself. She knew that she was their original target. Their enemies couldn't find her, that's why they targeted Charles. He was known as her middleman.

She brought this upon him. If something bad would happen to Charles she would not be able to forgive herself.

"He was caught by him last night. I am sure he is being tortured now. But how come I didn't hear anything from our enemy? Could it be… Charles refused to talk about my whereabouts?"

Elle was having conflicting emotions right now. A shadow of guilt darkened her eyes. Her last conversation with Charles kept on replaying in her mind.

{ "Anyway. I just called you since I want to be the first one to greet you My dearest Catseye, my partner. }

{ "I know. I am just happy for you. You know that I care about you, right? You deserve it. }

"You fool! Are you still trying to protect me now even if you might lose your life? Charles you are really stupid!"

"S-Stupid! You...M-Moron!" Elle mumbled as her lips started to tremble.

Elle slumped her body to the floor. She felt really helpless and scared right now. She buried her face using her both hands. A single tear already flowed down her cheeks and dripped from her chin.

"Charles... p-please be safe. P-Please… b-be safe."

Elle was hoping. Elle was praying for his safety. She didn't want to lose Charles. He was her friend, her partner, and most especially her brother. 

"I have to save you no matter what!" After calming down, Elle stood up, her eyes were filled with determination. She was back to her focus. She needed to think of a plan on how to save Charles.