LEONARD'S POVI sat quietly on the wide porch of my mansion with one leg crossed over the other, casually scrolling through my phone as the warm morning breeze moved gently across the compound. The morning had been unusually peaceful, and for once, there was nothing urgent demanding my attention. I was going through a few messages from High-Tech Power when I noticed the sound of hurried footsteps coming from the direction of the main gate.I raised my eyes from my phone and looked toward the entrance. A young woman had just walked through the gate, and the moment I recognized her, my brows immediately drew together. She was Susan, one of the employees at High-Tech Power. Seeing her at my mansion this early in the morning immediately struck me as strange because she had no reason to visit me personally. I lowered my phone slightly and stared at her as she hurried across the compound."Susan?" I muttered to myself, my expression becoming puzzled. "What is she doing here this early i

LEONARD'S POV"Boss, what exactly are you doing?" Susan finally asked, her voice filled with confusion. She took a few cautious steps closer to me and looked down at my fingers before looking back at my face. "Why did you put your fingers on the ground? What are you trying to find there?"I slowly lifted my head and looked at her. I could understand why she was questioning me because, from an ordinary person's perspective, what I was doing probably looked completely ridiculous.I answered her. "I'm trying to track the vehicle that took Ava."Susan's eyebrows immediately pulled together, and she stared at me as though she had just heard something completely unreasonable. She looked at the ground again and then back at me, clearly expecting me to explain myself. "Track the vehicle?" she repeated with disbelief. "Boss, what exactly do you mean by that? How are you planning to track a vehicle simply by placing two fingers on the ground?"I remained quiet for a moment because I knew the

LEONARD'S POVSusan leaned closer to me and lowered her voice, trying not to attract the attention of the people around us. “Boss, what are these people planning to do to Ava?” she asked nervously. Her eyes remained fixed on Ava as she spoke, and her hands trembled slightly. “Why did they bring her out like that? What are they about to do to her?”I kept my eyes on the stage while carefully observing the people surrounding Ava. The way they were presenting her, the announcement the man had made, and the behavior of the people in the room were beginning to make the situation clearer to me. I lowered my voice and answered Susan calmly. “It seems they are planning to give her to someone in exchange for money.”Susan's eyes widened immediately. She turned toward me with disbelief written across her face. “Give her to someone?” she whispered, struggling to understand what I meant. “Who exactly is planning to give her out?”I looked at her briefly before turning my attention back toward

LEONARD'S POVThe two men dragged me and Susan deeper into the building until we reached a room hidden beneath the main floor of the club. The moment the door opened, I noticed how different the atmosphere was compared to the luxurious club upstairs. Although it was still daytime outside, there was almost no natural light reaching this room. The walls were dark and bare, and the only source of illumination was a dull lantern sitting on a small desk in the corner. One of the guards shoved me farther into the room and then looked at me with a strange mixture of pity and amusement. He seemed almost sympathetic toward me, even though he was one of the people responsible for what was about to happen.“I'm sorry about this, man,” he said, shaking his head slightly as he looked at me. “You really shouldn't have crossed Big Joe. Once you get on his bad side, there isn't much anyone can do for you.”He walked around me slowly before continuing in a casual tone. “From this moment, you're g

LEONARD'S POVThe guard slowly opened the door and stepped into the corridor, gesturing for me to follow him. He was still visibly shaken from everything that had happened.I took one step forward, but then I noticed that Susan had not moved. She was still standing exactly where I had left her.Her eyes were wide open, and she was staring at me from head to toe. Her lips were slightly parted, but she seemed completely incapable of forming a sentence. The expression on her face told me that she was still trying to process what she had just witnessed. I walked back toward her and reached for her hand.“Susan,” I called gently.She did not respond.I gave her hand a light tug, hoping to bring her out of the state of shock she was in, but she remained as stiff as a statue.“Susan, we need to go,” I said, keeping my voice calm. “I'll explain everything to you later, but this isn't the place to have that conversation.”Her eyes remained fixed on me as though she was looking at someone she