She's My Sleeping Pill

Stefan let go of Cayenne reluctantly and fixed her clothes for her before opening the door. The guard standing outside looked nervous while holding his phone.

"Is it about the property close to us?" Stefan asked while opening the door wider for the man to get inside.

"Yes, sir." The man opened his phone and handed it to Stefan. "These are the compilation of evidences we found."

"What is it?" Cayenne asked when she stood up next to her husband. She looked at the phone and found several videos and pictures. "Is the property owned by someone?" she asked the bodyguard.

"We asked sir Tristan to look into it and he sent us a message that the property is owned by two old people but they're currently reported as missing. Apparently, one of their grandchildren came to visit the property and didn't find her grandparents. He reported them missing last week but up until now, there wasn't any news about them."

"This is going to be a little dangerous for us." Stefan commented while looking at the pictures and videos. "They didn't get the chance to see you, right?"

"No, sir. We did it last night and they seems to lack security or perhaps, they were just confident that no one would find them."

"What shall we do now?" Cayenne asked in worry. She didn't want her family to get tangled up in this kind of problem.

"Didn't you ask grandpa that we'd stay at the villa? Since he agreed then, we'll take it." Stefan shared the pictures and videos to his own phone and returned the gadget back to the guard. "Don't go to that area again. Always be careful when patrolling the vicinity. If they come to us for whatever reason, don't be hostile and just pretend that you didn't know anything."

"Yes, sir. I'll tell everyone about it."

As soon as the man left, Stefan dialed a string of numbers and the name appeared as Officer Seville. Cayenne brooded over the name for quite sometimes before she realized where she met the man. She realized that it was Jillyanna's brother-in-law that she met during their family gathering one time.

"I'll just go and change my clothes." Cayenne whispered to her husband and left the study room. Stefan didn't stop her because he has other things to do.

"Good evening, Stefan." Lucian answered the phone without any enthusiasm. He felt so tired and worried. He had been working over time for a week now but still couldn't get a breakthrough on the case he was handling.

"Are you busy now?"

"When am I not busy?" Lucian retorted.

"Right. You rarely have time for your family. I bet you will be working over time again."

"You hit it right off the bat."

"Is it about the missing children case?" Lucian's eyes widened and he immediately sat up straight on his chair. "I've seen the news of the increasing number of missing children and thought you might be handling this case."

"Apparently, it was handled by a different team. When they couldn't solve it, they gave us the case. I don't understand why they're giving it to us. I don't make miracles. I was only able to solve difficult cases because there were people who helps me. Sigh. I want to speed up the time and have Jackie graduate from the academy now." Lucian rambled on and on, venting his pent-up frustration.

Stefan knew who the woman she was talking about. She's Jillyanna's adoptive sister who's studying in the Police Academy. She's very good in handling cases but since she wasn't a full-pledged police officer, they could only ask her to work as an assistant whenever they get big cases.

"That's alright. If Jackie is busy to help you this time, I think I can help you." Stefan replied after some time. "I got some leads here in my end. You can come here tomorrow. I won't be going anywhere but please come looking like a civilian. It would be difficult if they find us contacting a police officer."

"Alright. I'll come and visit you."

That night, Stefan told Cayenne about his plan for the next day. He also told the whole family to be extra careful and vigilant towards unfamiliar visitors.

"Please pack some of your personal belongings and your important items. On Friday night, we will leave the house and stay at the villa. It's for the safety of everyone." Stefan told them over dinner.

"Sir, are we coming along, too?" Lucia asked in worry. She didn't want anything bad to happen to her daughters.

"Yes, everyone except the bodyguards. They will stay at home to make it look like we're still here."

"Okay, sir. We understand." Lucia responded in relief. Justin wasn't worried for himself because he goes home every weekend. He was worried for the other members of the family.

When Lucian came to visit the next morning, he brought Officer Nik with him. They didn't wear their uniform but instead, they were looking casual and chill with a bottle of wine in hand.

"You really made a thorough preparation." Stefan commented as he led them inside the house. "Let's talk inside the study room."

"Sure."

As soon as they reached the room and sat down, they didn't beat around the bush and talked about the case. Stefan opened his laptop and showed them the pictures and videos that his guards compiled.

"My guards noticed them three days ago and I told them to observe in secret. They accumulated these evidences and gave them to me last night."

"Oh god! Thankfully, none of the children died." Lucian exclaimed with obvious mirth. He always worries that these will become a serial murder case but god still helped him and kept the children safe.

In the videos, the children were tied with a long rope. When it's time for meals, the bulky men will feed them some bread and give them water. After eating, they will gag the children once again to prevent them from shouting for help. Well, even if they didn't gag the children, the kids won't shout at all, specially with a gun being pointed on them.

Some children were crying and some were in daze. There were others who remained strong and calm despite of the situation they were in.

In the past three weeks, there were 17 children who were reported missing and counting the children in the video, it adds up to the same number. The only mind-boggling question was the whereabouts of the property owner.

"If you take action, don't do it now. Ask someone to observe them but don't take action now.. Cayenne's family is still here."