Chapter 670: Don't call the Police

Hello?"

There was no greeting from the other side.

A man's voice came through, calm and unfamiliar.

"We have your daughter."

The call ended.

Dayo stared at his phone.

For a few seconds, his mind refused to accept what he had just heard. The words were simple, but they seemed to keep repeating inside his head until they stopped sounding real.

His vision blurred.

A sudden wave of dizziness hit him, and he reached for the edge of the desk to steady himself. His other hand went to the side of his head as he tried to make sense of the last few minutes.

Jennifer.

The empty crib came back to him.

The small blanket.

The toy on the floor.

The security guard lying unconscious on the camera footage.

The men entering the house.

Then the phone call.

"We have your daughter."

"Fuck!"

The word came out louder than he intended.

Dayo pushed away from the desk and started calling the number back.

The call failed.

He tried again.

Nothing.

A third attempt produced the same result.

His thumb hovered over the screen while his thoughts moved in every direction at once. Jennifer had only been in his life for a few months. He still remembered the first time she had looked at him and called him Dada. He had heard it from her more than once since then, but the first time had stayed with him because there had been so much uncertainty in those early days.

He had spent years building a life that never included her.

Then suddenly she was there.

His daughter.

And now someone had taken her right under his nose.

The phone rang.

Dayo almost dropped it as he answered.

"Hello?"

It was Felix.

"Dayo, where are you?"

"At home."

Felix heard something in his voice and stopped.

"What happened?"

Dayo looked toward Jennifer's room.

"They have her."

There was a brief silence.

"I dont understand who has who?"

"Jennifer, Felix.." Dayo voice was almost screaming.

"WHAT!!! WHO HAS HER?." Confirming what Dayo was talking about.

"I don't know." Dayo walked back toward the security monitors. "Someone called me from an unknown number. They said they have Jennifer."

Felix's voice became more serious. "Are you sure this isn't someone trying to scare you?"

"I saw them take her."

"Take her?"

"On the cameras. They came through the gate disguised as delivery people. They knocked out the guard and went inside. I found the house empty."

Felix was quiet again.

Dayo rubbed his forehead and looked at the screen, where the footage was still paused on the moment the first attacker entered the property.

"I should call the police."

The words had barely left his mouth when his phone rang again.

Unknown number.

Dayo stared at the screen.

Felix heard the ringing through the call.

"Answer it."

Dayo ended Felix's call and accepted the incoming one.

"Hello?"

The same voice answered.

"You were about to call the police."

Dayo stopped.

The man's tone had not changed.

"I wouldn't do that."

Dayo's voice became harder. "Where is my daughter?"

"You will know when you need to know."

"Put her on the phone."

"That won't happen."

Dayo stepped closer to the security monitor.

"Listen to me. If you've hurt her—"

"We haven't."

The caller interrupted him without raising his voice.

"She's sleeping."

Dayo closed his eyes for a moment.

The next words made him open them again.

"If you call the police, we will send you a picture."

Dayo said nothing.

The caller continued.

"Your daughter will be asleep in the picture. There will be a knife beside her."

A pause followed.

"Or a gun. We haven't decided which one looks better."

Dayo felt the anger rise so quickly that for a moment he struggled to speak.

"You don't touch her."

"We haven't touched her."

"Then let me hear her."

"No."

Dayo gripped the phone harder.

"If you want something from me, tell me."

"You'll get your instructions."

"When?"

"When we decide."

The call ended.

Dayo stood motionless for a moment, phone still against his ear.

Then he pulled it away and stared at the screen.

His first thought was the police again.

His second was the image the caller had described.

Jennifer asleep.

A weapon beside her.

He knew it could be a bluff. He knew there was a chance the kidnappers had said it simply because they wanted to frighten him.

That did not matter.

He could not take the chance.

Dayo called Felix again.

Felix answered immediately.

"What did they say?"

"They knew I was about to call the police."

Felix was silent.

Dayo walked back toward the security monitor and watched the frozen image of the men entering the house.

"They threatened to send me a picture of Jennifer with a weapon beside her if I involve the police."

"Did they say they hurt her?"

"No. They said she's sleeping."

Felix took a moment before answering. "Then don't call the police yet."

Dayo looked at him through the video call.

"I know."

"I'll come to you."

"Come now."

"I already left."

Dayo ended the call.

His mind was still moving too quickly, but the panic had begun to settle into something else. He needed information. He needed to know where Jennifer had been taken, who had entered the house and how they had known exactly when to make their move.

The cameras were his only concrete lead.

He returned to the footage and went through it again.

The delivery vehicle arrived first.

The man in the uniform approached the gate carrying a package. The guard came out to receive it. Nothing about the interaction looked unusual until another man moved behind him.

Dayo stopped the footage.

He went back several seconds.

The delivery man had been standing in exactly the right position to keep the guard's attention on the package.

Dayo played it again.

The attack came from behind.

The guard fell.

Two other men entered immediately.

One of them looked toward the house before moving.

Dayo paused the frame.

They knew where they were going.

There was no wandering around. No opening of random doors. No uncertainty about the property.

They had come for Jennifer.

His phone vibrated.

A message from Luna.

I'm on my way home. Amanda told me something happened. Please answer me.

Dayo stared at it.

He called her.

The line rang twice before she answered.

"Dayo?"

Her voice was already strained.

"Are you alone?"

"No. Amanda is with me. We're leaving now. What happened?"

Dayo looked down at the floor.

"Luna..."

"Where is Jennifer?"

He heard the fear in her voice before he answered.

"She's gone."

There was silence.

"What do you mean she's gone?"

"Someone took her."

Luna's breathing changed.

"No. No, Dayo, I left her at home."

"I know."

Luna's voice broke slightly. "Where is Jennifer?"

"I don't know."

She began asking questions quickly, one after another. Was the guard there? Had Dayo called security? Had he checked the cameras? Had anyone seen a vehicle?

Dayo answered as much as he could.

Then Luna asked the question he had been trying not to think about.

"Is she hurt?"

"I don't know."

"Dayo, what did they do to her?"

"I don't know, Luna."

His voice cracked slightly on the last word.

He stopped near the bottom of the stairs and closed his eyes.

"I'm going to find her."

"I'll be there."

"Come straight home. Don't go anywhere else."

"I'm coming."

The call ended.

Luna immediately turned toward Amanda.

"Take me home."

Amanda had already understood enough from the conversation. "The car is ready."

"I don't care about the meeting."

"It's cancelled."

Luna was already walking toward the exit.

One of the people from the collaboration team tried to approach her. "Ms. Luna, should we contact security or—"

"My daughter has been taken."

The man stopped.

Luna did not wait for another question. She followed Amanda toward the car, still trying to call Dayo again.

Back at the house, Dayo stood in the security room when Felix arrived.

Felix came through the gate at a fast pace and found Dayo beside the monitor.

"Show me."

Dayo pulled up the footage.

Felix watched without interrupting.

When the attack on the guard happened, he asked Dayo to rewind it.

"Again."

Dayo replayed the footage.

Felix watched the delivery vehicle, the uniform, the guard stepping toward the package and the second man appearing behind him.

"They knew the guard would open the gate," Felix said.

"Yes."

"They didn't force their way in."

"No."

Felix leaned closer to the monitor. "And they didn't trigger the main alarm."

"They knew how to avoid it."

He moved to the next camera.

The angle showed the attackers crossing part of the driveway before disappearing behind the house.

Felix watched the timestamp.

"How long from the first contact with the guard to them leaving the camera range?"

Dayo gave him the number.

Felix checked the next camera.

"There's a gap here."

"How big?"

"Enough."

Dayo looked at him.

Felix continued through the footage. "I need the external cameras. The ones covering the road."

"They're connected."

"Let's see them."

They went through the recordings.

One camera showed part of the street. Another covered the road farther down.

The delivery vehicle appeared briefly.

The plate was difficult to read.

Felix enlarged the frame.

"Can you clean that?"

"I can improve it, but if the plate is covered or fake, cleaning it won't help."

Dayo watched him work.

The image became clearer, but the plate remained unreadable.

Felix moved to another timestamp.

Nothing useful.

He went back to the first camera.

"This wasn't random."

"I know."

"They had to know Bella would leave."

Dayo said nothing.

"They also knew Luna would be out."

"I know."

"And they knew enough about your schedule to send that message through Wayne's phone."

Dayo looked toward the empty hallway.

The pieces were now sitting in front of him.

Bella's emergency call.

Luna's collaboration.

Wayne's phone.

His return to the office.

The delivery disguise.

The missing guard.

Jennifer.

Someone had arranged every part of it.

"They planned the whole thing around us," Dayo said.

Felix nodded slowly.

"Yes."

Dayo walked away from the monitor.

"This is someone that knows us inside out because the job is just too clean."

"Hmm Yes you're correct."

For the first time since he had entered the house, he looked exhausted.

Felix followed him into the sitting room but kept his voice steady.

"We'll find her."

Dayo looked at him.

"I can't lose her."

"You won't."

"I don't know who these people are."

"Neither do I."

"I don't know what they want."

"They'll tell us."

Dayo looked at his phone.

The unknown number was still there in the call history.

He wanted to call it again.

Every part of him wanted to demand answers.

But he remembered the caller's warning.

A picture.

Jennifer asleep.

A weapon beside her.

Dayo put the phone down.

Luna arrived several minutes later.

The moment she entered the house, she searched for Dayo.

He was standing near the stairs.

She crossed the room quickly and went straight to him.

"Where is she?"

Dayo looked at her.

"I don't know."

Luna covered her mouth as the reality finally reached her fully.

"My baby..."

Dayo held her.

For several seconds neither of them spoke.

Felix remained near the security monitor, giving them space while continuing to review the footage.

Luna eventually pulled away enough to look at Dayo.

"Did they call you?"

"Yes."

"What did they say?"

"They said they have her."

"Did they ask for money?"

"Not yet."

Luna looked confused. "Then what do they want?"

"I don't know."

She looked toward the stairs.

"Can we call them?"

"They don't answer."

"Then what are we supposed to do?"

Dayo had no answer.

His phone remained on the table between them.

Neither of them touched it.

The house was quiet again, but this time neither parent mistook that quiet for safety.

Somewhere else, Jennifer was sleeping.

Dayo did not know where.

He did not know who had taken her.

He only knew that they had spent enough time studying his life to remove every person who could have stopped them.

And now they were waiting for him to make the wrong move.