Chapter 8 - The Kidnapping ThreatThe Enemy Was Closer Than They Thought
The courtroom changed instantly.
The legal battle no longer mattered.
Idan was missing.
Adam ran out.
Clara followed.
Police officers flooded the courthouse steps.
Rachel screamed her son's name.
But there was no answer.
The photograph showed Idan standing near the courthouse.
The timestamp was only twenty minutes old.
Daniel pointed toward the parking lot.
"There."
A blue van was leaving.
Police pursued it.
Clara stayed with Rachel.
For the first time, Rachel took her hand.
"I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"For dragging you into this."
Clara shook her head.
"I was already in it."
Rachel looked toward the road.
"No."
Her voice trembled.
"You were never supposed to be."
An hour later, police found the van abandoned.
No Idan.
Inside was a single object.
A toy wooden soldier.
One that Clara recognized immediately.
Idan's favorite.
Daniel found a note underneath.
She should have stayed quiet.
Rachel collapsed.
Adam stood beside her, unable to speak.
Then Clara remembered something.
"Wait."
Everyone looked at her.
"Idan never goes anywhere without drawing."
She opened the photograph.
Behind the child, barely visible, was a red sign.
A motel.
Daniel zoomed in.
"Red Oak Motel."
Police searched the area.
Room 214 had been rented under a false name.
Inside, they found another clue.
A wall covered with photographs.
Margaret.
Adam.
Rachel.
Clara.
Idan.
And one more person.
Daniel.
He stared at his own photograph.
"When was this taken?"
"Yesterday," Clara whispered.
Someone had been monitoring them.
Daniel suddenly realized something.
"Your apartment."
"What?"
"Someone has been inside your apartment."
They rushed there.
The door was open.
Nothing appeared stolen.
But the brass key was gone.
Clara checked the hidden compartment beneath her kitchen table.
Empty.
The documents she had taken from the secret room were gone.
She felt defeated.
Then something moved beneath the bed.
A tiny sound.
Clara knelt.
She pulled out a folded piece of paper.
It was another drawing from Idan.
This time it showed the mansion.
The library.
The hidden room.
And a clock.
The hands pointed to midnight.
Daniel stared.
"He knew something."
"He left this before he disappeared."
At the bottom of the drawing was a single sentence written in a child's handwriting.
Clara, don't trust my dad.
Clara's heart sank.
Adam stared at the paper.
"That's impossible."
Rachel shook her head.
"Why?"
"Because Idan loves me."
Clara looked at Adam.
"Children can love their fathers and still know when something is wrong."
Adam's face hardened.
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying someone has been lying to us."
Then Daniel received a call.
The police had found Idan.
Alive.
Inside an abandoned greenhouse.
Clara ran there.
The boy was sitting on the floor, shaking but unharmed.
She embraced him.
"Who took you?"
Idan cried.
"I don't know."
"Did you see their face?"
He nodded.
"Who?"
He looked at Adam.
Then pointed at him.
"Dad."
Everyone froze.
Adam stepped backward.
"What?"
Idan began sobbing.
"You're the one who came into my room."
Rachel covered her mouth.
Clara stared at Adam.
But Adam shook his head violently.
"Idan, I swear it wasn't me."
The boy cried harder.
"It looked like you."
Then Elias quietly said:
"There is only one person who could look like Adam."
Clara turned.
"Who?"
May you like
Elias's answer came like a knife.
"Adam's identical twin."
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