Leo

(Before Seira's incident)

I couldn't help but think that this gala really is a bit boring.

Though I'm glad Seira is with me. I can always poke fun at her all night and get away with it.

I chuckled and gave her an advice as I twirled her away to dance with another partner.

A woman almost as tall as me is now my partner and I paid her no heed until she started to talk to me.

"Hi Leo, did you miss me?"

Shocked, her voice sounded familiar and I only know one woman who talked to me the way that she did.

Georgia smiled through her mask, "Your date is my sister am I right?"

"Yes," I gave her a straight answer so she'd have the idea that I don't want to talk to her.

"Cold as always, but then that was always your charm wasn't it?"

I didn't respond.

She sneered, "The least you could do is apologize for shaving my eyebrows. I know you were in on it too. My little sister is such a bad influence. You should stay away from her and be with people like you and me."

I decided to go with the conversation, "I'm just like you?"

She grinned, "Of course, we're both goal oriented and you should admit, we do look good together."

I swallowed the bile in my throat, "I do like to reach my goals but I don't agree that we look good together."

"And why not?" she hissed.

"Because you're made of plastic and I'm not."

Thankfully, I don't need to talk with her anymore because the time for switching partners came and I happily twirled her off to some poor guy.

A few more ladies to go and I'll be dancing with Seira again.

My eyes drifted in the area that I thought she'd be dancing on but found out she's gone.

I rolled my eyes and turned to look at the buffet and realized she's not there too.

Panic started to take over but I tried not to let it cloud over my thinking.

I tried to call her and message her but she won't pick up.

I searched every nook and cranny inside the room and when I still couldn't find her I desperately asked Joanna and Ericka if they have seen her.

"The last time I saw her she was with you. I was dancing in the outer circle," Joanna said.

I faced Ericka, hoping she'd at least seen her.

"I didn't dance with anybody tonight, I hid in the comfort room," she admitted.

"Did you see her there?" I asked.

"No."

Fuck.

"I mean, not exactly. I saw her when I was coming outside of the comfort room," she added.

That addition to her comment turned on a light inside me.

"Did you see where she was going," I held her arms.

"Yeah, she was going in the way of the stairs."

Without hesitating, I stride to the direction of the stairs.

Ericka grabbed my arm, "She's not alone Leo."

My forehead crinkled, "Who was she with?"

She shrugged.

"Ericka, tell me!" I pushed her to say anything.

"I don't know! I can't see behind the mask. They were running and it all happened so fast."

"Oh my God, that really isn't helping at all Ericka," Joanna interjected, with worry crossing her face as she looked at me.

I dragged my hands through my hair and panic is dangerously taking over.

"All I can hear-she, she was screaming, 'Where are we going?'" Ericka practically confirmed my suspicions.

"I'm going to try and find her upstairs and when I won't find her I'll text you guys," I advised and with that I surged through the stairs.

The hotel staff either said they did not see her or they saw her running upstairs with a guy and lead me to the rooftop.

"Joanna, she's not here. Did you guys have any luck down there?" I called Joanna and asked her on the phone.

"No. I also asked her sister, she hasn't seen her either."

"Did she call their house?"

"She did, she isn't there."

I closed my eyes and calmed myself down.

"Leo, I'll look for the event coordinators and ask for them to help us. Calm down, we'll be able to find her."

"I'll do the best I can to calm down Jo. I have no choice, I'll have to report this to the police, I'm fucking panicking," I cursed.

"We'll find her Leo, just don't lose your head," she hanged up.

I reported Seira missing to the police but no matter how hard I tried to make them understand the situation, they've asked me to wait for 24-72 hours before I can file for someone missing.

I've ran out of options, so as much as I don't like to ask for help from my dad I called him.

He didn't ask about anything about her at all and just told me if he's going to help me find her, he'd like to have something in return.

At this point, I don't even care if I have to sell my soul to the devil so I agreed without delay.

My dad called the owner of this hotel and asked for someone to review the security cameras.

For the time being, I've decided to take my search out to the streets.

After almost an hour and a half of looking for any sign of her, I received an unknown phone call.

Devoid of hesitation, I answered it and waited for the caller to talk first.

"Leo," the voice said oozing with fear and exhaustion.

My eyes grew in size.

"Seira?! Is that you?! Where are you?! Who kidnapped you? Tell me where you are right now," I said in a heartbeat.

"Leo, please come and get me," she pleaded.

Relieved that I'm hearing from her, I agreed right away, "Okay, text me the address, I'll get you. Stay where you are! Please tell me what happened later, okay?"

She muttered a soft 'Yeah' and dropped the call.

Almost immediately, she sent the text and I'm thankful she's still in the city but from the address she sent me, that place is crawling with everything illegal.

The worry I felt that went away gradually haunted me again and I wish I could just go to her in a second to take her away from that place.

But that's impossible so I sped away as fast as I could just below the speed limit to be done with all this.