Lana woke up with a quick start, she couldn't get proper sleep, something just didn't feel right. Her phone buzzed, she checked the caller name and it wasn't familiar, neither was it the same number Lucien used to call her yesterday.
She picked and the person at the other end spoke "Are we onto Miss Lana Hart?" It was a strange cold voice but Lana felt compelled to respond, "Yes, who is this?"
"No need to ask silly questions, if you'd like to see your niece again, arrange for the sum of 30 million by next week or you'll never see your niece again."
There was no way whoever this was, was actually being serious. Her niece is with her uncle so how could they have her?
"You have from now till Friday to arrange the money or else you can say goodbye to your niece." The line went dead before she could process what was happening.
Her phone buzzed again but this time it was her uncle Chris. She immediately picked up, "Lana, Anya, she's been kidnapped and I have no clue what to do right now, they called and asked for 30 million but I have no idea where to get such an amount."
"How did this happen uncle? Where was she and….you know what? I'm coming there, just give me some time."
"Okay Lana, will be waiting for you, please hurry I'm really worried."
Lana immediately dropped the phone and rushed, that was the fastest that Lana had gotten ready, she grabbed her phone and purse and sped out.
She boarded a taxi and all the while she sat in the taxi, her mind kept racing. The taxi finally got to her stop.
Uncle Chris lived in an estate so she had to wait for the security locks to grant her access.
Once she was in, she bolted straight for the door and before she could get in, the door opened and he stood there looking so pale.
"Lana, finally you're here, I've been pacing up and down with worry, thinking about what to do." She settled down on the couch and tried to catch her breath, but for the first time Lana didn't know what to say or do.
"Where do we get such an amount? How did you find out that she was kidnapped?" His face fell and for a moment he looked like he was about to cry.
"We were on our way back from the mall, we went grocery shopping this morning and while trying to put the groceries inside the car, these men just showed up with guns and before I had the chance to help her, they bundled her and drove off. it happened so fast I didn't get the chance to think."
"They called me this morning." His expression looked even more grim.
"What do we do now Lana? There's no way we can raise that much by Friday, the most I can generate is just 5 million and I don't think that I will be able to hold them off until we can arrange the full amount." "We just have to try, at least to hold them off in the meantime."
"Why did this have to happen now? If something happens to her, I'd never be able to forgive myself. I've already lost my brother and your mother is in a coma, she's the only family we both have left and I can't imagine how life would be without her."
"Calm down uncle, we'll find a way out of this somehow, I'm sure we will." Of course she had absolutely no idea how either of them was going to salvage this situation but panicking would not solve anything now. "You seem so calm Lana." He said to her still pacing around the room.
Lana chuckled but her eyes were cold, "if you watched your father, the one man who was the only world you knew, get killed and murdered in cold blood when you were just 16, I don't think anything else would be able to phase you after that."
But it was a big lie, her heart was pounding so fast it felt like it was going to rip out of her chest and fall onto the cold floor.
"You have to move back here Lana, I can't afford to leave you alone at this time when neither of us truly know who or what we are up against." He had a point but Lana couldn't just decide to move back immediately, it just didn't feel right to her.
"I'm going to be just fine uncle, there's no need to move back here, as much as I see your point, there's no way either of us can truly think straight in this situation."
That didn't sound convincing at all, she knew it would make things easier if she actually moved back in but for some reason, it felt like it would be a bad idea to move back to her uncle's place.
"Lana, those people are still out there, what if they attack again and no one is around to protect you? What if they get you and nobody knows that you've been kidnapped?"
"You're being paranoid uncle, we can't say for sure that these people were sent by an enemy, from the way this situation looks, it was a simple situation where they saw two people coming out of the mall and saw that she would be an easy target, they probably even think you're her father." It was then that something clicked.
"How did they get my number? How did they know that I was related to Anya?" Her uncle's expression switched to fear and Lana wasn't sure if it was because of this present realization or something else but at the moment, that wasn't what she was worried about.
Were they truly people sent by an enemy? If so, then it must be someone they knew but aside from Uncle Chris and Anya, Lana didn't have any other family members she could remember so how did they get her number?
Could it be one of her father's enemies? Lana didn't recall her dad having anyone who hated him enough to kidnap any member of his family…. What was going on?