The Arranged Bride

Nick's POV

I was getting tensed by then. It had been fifteen minutes since she had been to the washroom and I was waiting there. I turned to look inside the car. Ethan was sleeping in the backseat. I called her number bu it was switched off.

When it was around twenty minutes I was done waiting. I opened the car door and picked Ethan up. Putting his head on my shoulder, he kept sleeping. Locking the car, I walked towards the restaurant.

She wasn't at the entrance, nor in front of the reception. I eventually was in front of the washroom. There was a waitress standing at a corner.

"Can you please check if there is a lady in green dress inside the washroom? It had been a pretty long time since she walked in." My voice came out impatient.

"Sure Sir." She went in but came out a little later.

"No Sir, no one's there." I was expecting or let's say hoping for a positive answer. Never in my life had I been so disappointed with anything.

I swiftly walked over to the reception. As soon as the receptionist saw me approaching, she stood up.

"How may I-"

"Did you see my wife walking out of here in a green dress?" I didn't have the time for formalities. My patience was running thin. She looked a bit baffled at the sudden question and then after pondering over it a while, spoke up.

"Yes, I saw a lady, a brunette in green dress leave from here." I felt my anxiety rise at her words. She said a brunette in green dress. Obviously it's her. She left!? Then where was she? Why didn't she come back to the car?

"I want to see the CCTV footage of the entrance, now." Knowing of what I could do with a snap of my fingers, they dared not refuse.

"Sure Sir, this way please." I followed her to a room. I stood in front of the screen and the footage of around the time we left, was played.

I saw Sophia entering the restaurant. After a few minutes I saw her stepping out. I was scared of what I was going to see. She took a few steps before a hand was placed on her mouth and another around her waist. I couldn't make out anything of the man's appearance as he was completely dressed in black and had a mask covering his face.

Sophia was thrashing in his hold and I saw him drag her out of sight. That was it. There was nothing else.

Sophia got kidnapped. It had been ten minutes that she was taken away. But where ? And by whom? I didn't know a single thing about her current location. I didn't know the number of the car in which she was taken away. Her phone was switched off so I couldn't track her even.

I clenched my eyes shut in pain.

All of it was my fault. I shouldn't have left her alone. How could I be so fucking careless? The familiar feeling of guilt hit me with full force.

"Dammit." I banged my fist on the table. This startled the workers who looked frightened of my outburst but I couldn't care less. The sound woke Ethan up. He rubbed his eyes before taking in his surroundings.

"Where are we ?" I closed my eyes and took deep breaths to calm myself but nothing seemed to work. I could only feel my panic rising with every second.

"We'll be home soon." I managed to calmly speak. He nodded before trying to get into a comfortable position in my hold once again. But suddenly as if remembering something, he jerked up and looked around.

"Where is Mom?" I didn't know how to reply. Putting on a relaxed facade on my face, I spoke.

"Mom, yeah, she met an old friend of hers and is going to stay with her for a few days. Why don't I drop you off at Grandpa's house? You can stay there until Mom returns?" I came up with a lie. Considering how paranoid he was these days about staying away from Sophia, I didn't want him to know what had happened.

"Old friend? But Aunt Char and Uncle Ryan are her only friends." Obviously, he knew it. He has to know everything! I was getting so frustrated with the situation in hand but I had to come up with something assuring.

"Yeah this is a childhood friend of hers. She didn't tell you about her because they hadn't met in ages. Even I came to know about her today itself." I ended with a nervous chuckle. At this point I didn't know if I made sense or not but I wanted nothing more than to start my search for Sophia, which needed convincing Ethan to stay with Dad and Mom. So I was hoping that my lame excuse of a story would work. He didn't look very happy. Instead a gloomy expression covered his face. I knew what was going on in his mind.

"Don't worry, your Mom won't leave you. She is going to come back." I was assuring him but I realized that somewhere I was trying to find a bit of comfort in my own words. I wanted to believe that she is going to come back to me, to us, unharmed.

Ethan replied with a soft nod and a faint 'okay'.

I dropped Ethan at Dad's place. From my face they knew that something was wrong but I signaled them not to ask anything in front of Ethan and they agreed. Mom took away Ethan with her leaving Dad with

me.

"What's the matter, son ?" His eyebrows were furrowed and he looked at my face, as if trying to make out what was wrong with me. "Dad.. Sophia - Sophia got kidnapped." As soon as the words left my mouth his expression changed from that of concern to shock. "WHAT?" He yelled. His voice was laced with concern.

"How did this happen?" I rubbed my forehead out of frustration. I was too restless to explain him everything but I needed to.

So I gave him every detail. By the end of my narration, his face held an expression of pure horror. I knew that he loved Sophia like his own daughter and he was terrified to think of the consequences. "Well, we can't sit here and be worried. We have to do something." He sounded more impatient than I have ever heard him.

"I was going to report it at the police station. I have a copy of the footage with me. "I had remembered to get the footage before it was tampered with. Although it didn't give away shit that could help in the investigation, it was still important to make the cops believe that she was kidnapped and I wouldn't have to wait for twenty four fucking hours before they would start looking for her.

"I'll come with you. "I nodded at him and led my way back to my car. Settling back I started driving again. Dad called Mom, after getting into the passenger's seat, letting her know of the current situation but I was lost in my mind. This time various thoughts were consuming me.

What if the man who took Sophia was some serial killer? What if he was involved in human trafficking? What if he was a rapist? Will she be alive by the time I reach her?

I furiously shook my head to push away those thoughts. Even these thoughts were hurting so much and making me so weak. I couldn't help but blame myself. I was supposed to protect her but I couldn't. I couldn't do a job as simple as protecting my wife dammit!

But I will not let anything happen to her.

Hold on,Sophia. I will find you, baby. I will.