"Stacy! Stacy wake up, please!" Aisha was shouting on top of her lungs while shaking her unconscious sister. The big sweats that had formed from her brow were now dripping down her cheeks along with the tears from her eyes.
Ethan suddenly woke up when he heard the woman whimpering. She was sweating hard.
"Aisha, Aisha wake up!" he shook her lightly. "Aisha…"
The woman jolted from the bed. She was having a hard time grasping for air.
"It"s a dream, it"s a dream!" she doesn"t know how to react.
"Aisha, are you okay?" Ethan faced her then Aisha unexpectedly hugged him while s.h.i.+vering in fear.
"Ethan!" a tear escaped her eyes.
"Shhhh… calm down. it"s just a nightmare." Ethan caresses her back. He waited for her to cool down.
"I-I dreamt of Stacy." Ethan jerked when he heard Aisha"s statement. "Someone shot her. I think she"s in danger Ethan." She looked at him with doleful eyes. "Ethan, we have to find my sister." her eyes were pleading.
Ethan thought for a minute.
"Aisha, I need to tell you something." he spoke with seriousness.
"What is it?"
"It"s about Stacy…" he paused.
"What about her?" her eyes widened.
"S-she"s … someone spotted her yesterday… in the park."
Aisha"s eyes widened in surprise. So it"s true! The old man was not toying with her when he said that he saw someone who looks like her and her instinct was right. it was Stacy!
"Have you seen her?" Aisha inquired.
"No. I just received a report yesterday."
"Do you know where she is? Will you be able to locate her whereabouts?" she probed hastily.
"Not yet. however, the lookout wasn"t that sure so I asked my private investigator to check this out. don"t worry, I"ll do my best to locate wherever she is." He a.s.sured her.
She smiled wholeheartedly. "I know you will, thank you." then she embraced him again.
"Let"s go back to sleep. It"s still 1am right now." Ethan uttered while Aisha nodded.
***
"Sir Williams, I just want to remind you about your scheduled photoshoot tomorrow morning at 10. the management said that the venue will be at the Raimeizei Garden." Dorothy was standing in front of Ethan, reminding him of his schedules.
"Okay. how about today"s schedule?" Ethan asked while signing some of the doc.u.ments that had piled up on his table.
"Just a meet and greet meeting with our new employees at the west central site at 1pm. After that, you are scheduled to meet Mr. Sato at 1:30pm at Ruffino Galleria. Then at 3pm, you have to attend the ribbon cutting at Shenya hall. Then last on your schedule is the thanksgiving night at Angel"s home orphanage." Dorothy stated in one blow.
Ethan creased his brow. He still has a lot of doc.u.ments to go through today but with his tight schedules, he might need to bring some of his works at home.
Oh no! he paused. He can"t possibly do that since Aisha might get mad. They had agreed to do their jobs during their office hours, never at home. Being home means family time. he must honor their agreement. Then he sighed.
"By the way sir, we received a package for you but I had the security department to scrutinize it first." Dorothy added.
"A package?" Ethan knitted a brow. "But I"m not expecting one. Do you know who sent it?"
"Unfortunately, the package was sent by an unknown person." Dorothy answered.
"Didn"t I tell you not to accept anything from an unknown sender?" Ethan"s face became bitter.
"I"m sorry sir. I"ll let the security dispose it as soon as possible!" Dorothy yelp in fright.
"You better do." Ethan averted his gaze back to the doc.u.ment.
"I"ll excuse myself, sir Ethan." Dorothy left his office quickly and made sure to contact the security department.
She had forgotten about what Ethan said before not to receive any package from an unknown sender since the incident happened 5 years ago.
Everyone knew that a successful businessman has a lot of enemies lurking around them. However, not to the extent that they will send a butchered rotting rat in a box. Yes, Ethan had once received a dead rat delivered in his office just after he hired his new secretary. That was the reason why he shut down all his mailboxes for a year.
Ethan was reading a doc.u.ment when he suddenly remembered the incident five years ago so he stood up and dash outside where Dorothy is.
"Dorothy, wait! have you called the security department already?"
"Yes Sir. I already told them to----""
"Call them back and tell them to keep the package. Let them know that I will be there in a minute!" then Ethan ran towards the door.
Dorothy was shocked but she called the security personnel to relay what Ethan said.
After a minute, Ethan reached the security department office. The department manager greeted their CEO who was grasping for some air.
"Where"s the package?" Ethan inquired.
"It"s on top of the table sir." The manager along with five security personnel accompanied him inside. Then Ethan paused when he saw the package.
It was the size of an adult shoe box covered with a b.l.o.o.d.y red origami paper. Wait! it looks like the same box from 5 years ago. But he needs to see what"s inside to confirm his hunch.
"Open the box." Ethan ordered.
"But we need to secure your safety first, Sir Williams." The manager spoke. "Please get out for the meantime while we open this."
"As long as you secured that it"s not a bomb then it"s okay. I"ll stay." Ethan replied.
Then the manager gave the cue to his men. they carefully slit the box on each sides until it was ready to open. Then they looked at Ethan. As soon as they received the prompt from their CEO, they slowly lifted the cover.
Everyone"s eyes widened in disbelief as they covered their noses at the ghastly sight. Dang! Another slaughtered rat. Ethan"s suspicion was right. it could be the same person from five years ago.
"Dispose it, at once!" the manager ordered.
"Yes sir!" they quickly return the cover and lope outside the building.
"I"m sorry about that sir. We should have check it thoroughly." The manager bowed his head in shame.
"It"s okay." Ethan traces his jaw. "check all the CCTV recordings and make sure to catch the person who sent the package." He ordered. "But do it silently."
"Yes Sir!"
Ethan was about to exit the security office when he saw the men who was tasked to throw the package, rus.h.i.+ng to his side.
"Sir, we found this letter inside the box." One of the men handed him an envelope. Ethan took it and open to read the content.
"Did you love my greetings? I"m sure you do. hhha! This is just the start of your nightmare. I"ll make sure you regret the day you killed my daughter!"
The wordings were written by blood. the people inside knew it was the blood of the rat that was killed. Whoever did this is surely crazy! He must have lost his sanity.
"Sir." The manager tapped his shoulder. "Do you have a particular person in mind."
"I"m trying to think. Though I know I have a lot of enemies but I can"t recall any event that I had killed someone." He spoke then once again he looked at the letter.
"And I never and can never kill a woman." he was in deep thought.
"Leave this to us, Sir Ethan. We"ll do our best to locate who the culprit is." The manager a.s.sured him.
"Thank you John." Ethan uttered before he takes off and went back to his office.
Ethan can"t continue reading another doc.u.ment since he was thinking about the letter. He stood up and looked outside the gla.s.s window. he was eyeing the horizon.
After a minute of reflecting, he suddenly jerks when he recalled an incident.
"Wait! could it be…" Ethan held his breath. "Impossible!" he exclaimed.