The ache in his chest grew as he ran out of the room. The dog glanced up briefly from his bed in the corner, then returned to snoring. Frantic, Alexander tore through every room on the second floor, searching for any sign of Melanie. Each was dark, as unused as they were the day they moved in.
“No, no, no, no,” he murmured, storming through the hallway and down the stairs. He hoped he was simply overreacting, but given the strange events of the past twenty-four hours, he had a feeling something terrible had happened.
“Melanie!” he exclaimed as he searched the first floor, opening every door, all the rooms empty and devoid of any sign of his daughter. “Where are you? The fun’s over. You’re worrying Daddy!” He strode back to the center of their home, the living room. He glanced out the rear windows at the massive, snow-covered lawn. If she were a few years older, he’d think maybe she snuck out with her friends, but he knew that wasn’t the case. There was no way she could have left the house without the security system remotely alerting him to it. Still, he couldn’t leave any stone unturned.
He darted out the back door, running toward the guest house located by a small lake on the rear of their property. He hoped she hadn’t ignored his warnings and decided to go for an early-morning skate on the ice that still hadn’t frozen completely.
Cresting over a small hill, his eyes settled on the lake. Topped with a thin layer of ice and a light dusting of snow, it appeared as undisturbed as it had the previous day. Turning around and gazing back at the house, he looked over the snow-covered grass. Apart from his, there was no sign of footsteps in the white powder. He struggled to breathe, his world spinning around him as he called out Melanie’s name over and over, to no avail.
In the stillness of dawn, his voice echoed against the void, no sign of life, apart from the occasional squirrel or bird that had yet to fly south for the winter. Refusing to think the worst, he raced back inside, a knot forming in his throat when he entered the living room. The house was as still as it was when he arrived home this morning. His eyes fell on the broken frames and scattering of flowers in the entryway.
With slow steps, he walked into the rotunda and toward the front door, picking up one of the photos. He should have known the disarray wasn’t because of the cat. He ran his fingers over the black-and-white photo, his heart aching as he stared at the image of Melanie and Olivia rolling around on the sand at their beach house this past summer. He could see himself just off to the side, files scattered around him as he spoke on the phone, completely ignoring his family…just like his father.
“Alex!” Olivia said, her voice fraught with worry.
He spun around to see her rushing down the steps, her gaze lingering on the broken frames and disheveled floral arrangement. Her face was ashen, her chest heaving as she frantically tried to tie her long silk robe around her body, her fingers fumbling with the sash.
“What’s going on?”
“It’s Melanie.” He pushed past her, refusing to believe his worst nightmare had come true. “She’s not in her room.” With hurried steps, he searched the bottom floor again, wondering how she could just disappear without anyone hearing anything. It was completely absurd to think that three people needed a house this big. There was too much space, too much distance, too much opportunity for something like this to happen.
“What do you mean?” Olivia asked with a quiver in her voice, her eyes glued to Alexander as he searched every nook and crevice for any sign of his little girl. With each empty room, the ache in his heart and throat grew more pronounced. “She has to be here,” she cried, following him up the stairs.
Methodically, he walked through all the rooms on the top floor again, checking the closets, looking underneath the beds, pulling back the drapes. All he kept thinking was this couldn’t be happening, that she’d jump out and surprise him any second. The seconds turned into minutes, the minutes into almost an hour with still no sign of his little girl.
The truth of the situation washed over him like a storm as he pulled his phone out of his pocket. The sound of toys clattering together caught his attention. He headed down the hallway, hope building in his chest as he turned the corner. Olivia sat in Melanie’s room, dumping out bins full of toys, which she probably hadn’t touched in months, if not years.
Deflated, he went to her. “Olivia,” he said in a calming tone. The nagging voice in his head told him this never would have happened had he come home last night. He didn’t know what this was yet, but he couldn’t ignore his gut telling him Melanie had been taken. The bear in the hallway, the floral centerpiece knocked to the ground, the broken picture frames on the entryway table… All signs of a struggle.
“Olivia,” he called out again as she continued ripping through Melanie’s room. “Please, Olivia. Stop.” His voice was forceful. He hated to see her hurting like this, knowing he should have been here to prevent it. “Please,” he added with a tremble, placing his hands on her arms to stop her from continuing her futile search. This all seemed like a bad dream, like he was watching a movie of someone else’s tormented life.
“She has to be here!” Olivia wailed, pushing against him and sliding down the wall next to the window. She pulled her knees to her chest and buried her head against her legs. There was no way to know precisely how long Melanie had been gone. Each second counted, and Alexander wanted nothing more than to use every resource and skill he possessed to find the person responsible. But he couldn’t leave his wife to cope with her pain alone.
His head hanging, he took measured steps and lowered himself to the ground beside Olivia, wrapping her in his arms. He pulled her close and kissed the top of her head. The faint scent of vanilla made its way to his nose, placating his own fear and turmoil for a brief moment. Their relationship had been fraught with ups and downs from the very beginning, the result of them both being strong-willed and stubborn. But no matter the obstacle, no matter the hurdle, they survived. They found strength in each other. Yes, Olivia needed Alexander to get through this horrific tragedy, but he needed her just as much.
“We’ll get through this, love,” he assured her, his voice barely audible. “I promise you. I’ll call the police and get Martin out here immediately. It could be nothing. She may just be hiding,” he added, his words unconvincing. Despite not wanting to think the worst, in his heart, he knew his little girl had been taken.
“I was having trouble sleeping without you, so I took some cold syrup.” She lifted her head, meeting his eyes. She bit her lip, her chin quivering. “I never should have. If I hadn’t, maybe I would have heard—”