I narrowed my eyes and ended the call.
Simon was nothing but a hot-tempered fool. Simply put, he had no brains. He didn’t have the ability to orchestrate a kidnapping on his own. At most, he was the one who reached out to the thugs. The real mastermind had to be someone else.
Could it be Amirah herself?
If I wanted answers, I first had to track down the kidnappers hiding in the shadows.
Not long after, a childhood friend of mine who dealt in loan sharking rang me. He told me he had already asked around among the finance companies.
“Simon’s been keeping two female streamers. To keep up appearances of wealth, he borrowed five hundred thousand from a finance company.”
“Simon’s nothing but an unemployed bum. A finance company lent him half a million?”
“He mortgaged the family house.”
“No wonder he’s been dripping in gold and silver lately. Keep digging into his family and relatives. See who else owes the sharks.”
“Alright.”
At first, I thought Simon was just a small pawn in this staged kidnapping. But now, perhaps I had underestimated him.
The next day, Nikolai called, screaming down the line, telling me to rush to the hospital. Amirah had woken up, and after learning the child was gone, she had run to the rooftop, threatening to jump.
“Hmm, got it,” I said, hanging up before closing my eyes for a few more minutes.
Then my dad kicked open the door and hauled me upright.
“Your wife’s about to jump off a building, and you’re still sleeping?”
“She won’t jump, she’s putting on a show.”
“Beast!” my dad spat through clenched teeth.
At the hospital, just as I expected, Amirah stood at the rooftop edge but didn’t jump.
“Amirah, Sevi is here. Whatever you want to say, say it to him. Please, don’t do anything foolish!” Elianna begged, tears streaming down her face.
“Don’t provoke my daughter again. If anything happens to her, I’ll fight you to the death!” Nikolai hissed in my ear.
I walked over.
Amirah seemed to have regained clarity. She stared at me in despair, crying out, “Sevi, why did you make the doctor kill our child?”
“Everyone saw it. You’d already lost your mind. You weren’t fit to be a mother.”
“I’m not insane. It was because you refused to pay the ransom that the kidnappers kept torturing me! You wronged me enough, but you also cruelly murdered your own child!”
“The kidnappers asked for too much. If I had agreed, wouldn’t I have become a pauper?”