“The garage camera didn’t record her car,” the property manager, Mr. Greene, reported, voice grim. “But the gate

footage… it shows her Lexus–registration matches–entering at

08:47 PM exactly.”

“Then the car–her car–vanished from every camera inside the

He nodded. “Yes. But thenst night, around 09:45 PM, we see a

Chevy leave the garage. License te was obscured.”

“Someone tampered with the feed,” I said, turning to Gai. “Cross- reference all cameras for past fifty hours. Find anomalies: blind

frames, jump cuts, missing files.”

“Got it,” Gai replied crisply, tapping keys. “Also pulled the gate timestamp. Scanned for identical cars passing in and out other

entry points.”

–

I slid my phone to quit the call now there were police on site, sirens muted – and spoke into silence. “Signal staff to hold any

technicians on standby. No firmware resets. We need original

datai. /iFreeze everything.”

The officer in charge, Detective Marquez, nodded gravely. “We’re already logging chain of custody for all drives and

DVRs”

“Good,” I said, forcing calm. “The longer we wait, the more

chance someone erases evidence”

Rustling footsteps alerted me to Ava approaching. Her face was

pale.

“Alexander,” she whispered, “they found something.”

“What did they find?”

A deer–in–headlights fear made her eyes flicker. “That same

ck Malibu… it shows it entering the gate here three days ago.

At midnight. We examined the timestamp: April 25th, exactly

at 0:03 hours.”

“Three nights ago. That’s exactly when Olivia left for Jersey.

She’d been followed then too.” Ava swallowed.

“And it wasn’t the same car,” Gai said, voice iron–quiet. “It’s

identical make, model and license te of the one that leftst

night.”

I took a step back. “So anyone inside Duskhollow Pines could’ve

known about her movements, even before tonight.”

My jaw clenched. This wasn’t random. This had been nned

long ago–someone had been tailing Olivia for days.

Detective Marquez stepped forward, holding a portable drive

and a notebook. “This is the gate feed. I’ve logged the Malibu

night. Also, someone tried to delete the footage between entry

and exit times. It’s heavily redacted.”

I pried open the back of my mind, chillingly aware: this wasn’t

just intimidation. Someone had been tracking Olivia’s every

movement–knowing what time her car crossed each gate.

This was personal. Dangerous. With the reach of two powerful

families in motion, secrets I’d hoped were personal were now

lethal.

Alexander’s POV

The screen glowed ominously as the surveince reyed the

footage: a ck–d figure, hat pulled low, entering the 18th-

floor corridor carrying a suitcase. He appeared confident-

unconcerned by onlookers. Secondster, he exited, suitcase still

in tow, and vanished from view. That was the first time anyone

saw him.

I leaned closer. “Freeze it on his face,” I muttered. Gai tapped the

screen, erging the blurry image. His build was tall, athletic,

the face obscured by shadow, but his hat seemed familiar. Too

familiar.

At my suggestion, the security techs reviewed earlier days. The

man appeared again–leaving the floor swiftly after dropping

the food bag at one apartment. We tracked him to a sleek ck

SUV parked in the basement. It pulled away nearly

immediately. No license te visible.

“Ava.” I said, pressing record. “You heard about that pantry that

delivers to Be’s apartment? I believe we may have our

suspect.”

Ava sat beside Detective Marquez, her voice trembling at first:

“Be Windsor ordered that tonight. Nova’s friend told us the

delivery guy insisted oning upstairs himself.” She looked olliup. “That delivery man is the same mysterious guy from the /li/ol

footage.”

A hush settled. Detective Marquez leaned forward. “Be

Windsor? Chole’s sister?” He looked between Ava and me. “That

implies direct Windsor involvement in Olivia’s disappearance.“”

My jaw clenched. The implications were immediate–my mind

raced.

I had thought this was a random abduction tied to rumors or

Ethan. But I never considered thatBeWindsor–or someone

acting on her–orchestrated the staged “delivery” offered

confession to a stranger living in Olivia’s building. Now, I feared,

the same logic could be used to snatch Olivia.

I muted the phones and pressed my forehead into my hand.

This wasn’t about rumors anymore–it was a premeditated

invasion. Chole had imed Olivia “seduced” Ethan; but for

Be’s involvement, someone at Windsor was already

organizing hits on Olivia’s safety and location.

“Detective, if the suspect is Windsor–connected,” I said firmly, “it

risks blowing this entire situation back into the public with

greater explosive force. Wemusttreat Windsor Group as a

hostile actor.”

Detective Marquez nodded. “We’ll proceed–discreetly. But we

need a warrant. And fast.”

I rose to my feet. “Then we keep moving. Ava?” She nodded.