After stepping off the stage, Frederick Fairfax immediately messaged Olivia Young.
"Wife! Wife! Did you see? You have to pick me up at the airport tomorrow!"
No reply.
Was she drafting a response?
There wasn’t even a 'typing...' notification showing up.
"Olivia Young!"
Frederick Fairfax sent message after message, but not a single reply came back.
He contacted the house butler, who finally told him that Olivia Young and the baby were in their master bedroom. All safe.
So she must've just fallen asleep.
His wife and daughter had gone to bed during one of the most important moments of his life.
Heartbroken.
Frederick Fairfax was so excited when he accepted his award, but right after, his spirits sank.
He returned to the hotel, showered, and flopped onto the bed.
Lots of people sent him messages of congratulations.
He politely replied to everyone.
Except Olivia Young—he never got a message from her.
Maybe she had to feed the baby in the middle of the night?
Frederick Fairfax forced his eyes open until 1 a.m., but Olivia Young still hadn't messaged him back.
This is outrageous!
He’d only been gone one day, and she was already ignoring him.
"Is the natural order reversed now?!" he grumbled silently.
When he got home, he swore, he’d restore his place as head of the household!
The next morning.
Olivia Young was woken by the soft cries of her baby. She opened the door and let the nanny in.
The nannies went through their morning routine: cleaning the baby, changing diapers, and dressing her.
Olivia Young brushed her teeth as she scrolled through her phone.
It turned out Frederick Fairfax had sent her a hundred messages the night before.
A whole string of emojis made Olivia Young laugh out loud and roll her eyes.
She called him on video chat.
He hadn’t picked up yet, so she kept brushing her teeth and rinsing her mouth.
At the last second, he answered.
The screen filled with his just-awakened profile—hair tousled, no pajamas, a broad expanse of pale, cool skin covered in kiss marks of various shades.
"My wife actually called me first!"
"I must be dreaming. My wife doesn’t want me anymore, promised to watch me get my award, but I didn’t get a single message…"
"Good things only happen in dreams, I’m going back to sleep~"
"Then I’ll just hang up."
Frederick Fairfax bolted upright. "No! Don’t hang up, Olivia Young—you didn’t even wait for me to finish receiving the award last night!"
"Your daughter kept fussing for me to lie with her. What could I do? I can’t just ignore your precious baby, can I?" Olivia Young smiled. "What do you think, hubby?"
What could he say to that?
She’d set him up like that; could he really say no to accompanying their little angel?
Their baby was only four months old.
How could she bear the blame for all this?
"Fine, all right, let’s just forget about it. Your sleep is more important. Pick me up this afternoon."
"Come alone, don’t bring the baby. Let’s go on a date."
Frederick Fairfax gave her a meaningful look. "We don’t have to go home tonight either."
Olivia Young pretended to hesitate, "But... I’ll miss the baby."
"You can always check the cameras."
"Well... okay then."
He still seemed exhausted, probably hadn’t slept well, so Olivia Young quickly ended the call and told him to get more rest.
An hour later, Olivia Young arrived at the law firm.
Diana Ning gave her a once-over, "You look different today!"
There was no strict dress code at the firm, and since it was all women, everyone just wore what they liked.
Olivia Young took off her denim jacket, revealing a red slip dress underneath.
"Got a date?"
"He won an award last night, he deserves a little reward. Men are just like big kids—they need to be sweet-talked sometimes." Olivia Young admitted, once in a while, she wanted to enjoy their own little world.
She and Frederick Fairfax had gotten together when she was already pregnant—never really had a chance for time alone, just the two of them.
It wasn’t possible to ignore the baby completely.
"So envious! You two have such a good relationship. Frederick Fairfax’s so handsome—just looking at him, you know he’s got it together!" Diana Ning teased. "Go on, take the day off! Go enjoy life!"
"No rush, he hasn’t even boarded yet. I’ll leave this afternoon."
"Whenever you want—just go have fun."
Someone deserves to be happy in this world, after all.
At two in the afternoon, Olivia Young walked into the flower boutique across the street.
Besides the usual shop manager, there were two burly men in the store.
At first, Olivia Young didn’t pay them any mind, but then they stood up, compared her face with a photo in their hands.
"Boss, this is her!"
What was happening?
Olivia Young turned to run, but one man grabbed her as the other pressed a handkerchief to her nose and mouth. She caught the scent of chemicals—and in the next instant, her consciousness faded to black.
3:50 PM.
The plane landed.
Frederick Fairfax slipped out via the VIP terminal, sunglasses and mask in place.
The moment he spotted their family car, he was already thinking about stealing a few kisses from Olivia Young.
But when the assistant opened the door, the back seat was empty—just the driver up front.
Olivia Young was nowhere in sight.
He climbed in anyway.
"Where is she?"
"Young madam went to the office."
The office?? She promised she’d pick him up that morning.
Maybe an urgent case came up?
Frederick Fairfax sent Olivia Young a message.
No reply.
He tried calling—her phone was off.
Olivia Young never had the habit of turning off her phone. She was the type who’d get anxious if her battery dropped below 30 percent—she’d be hunting for a charger right away.
A sense of unease crept over Frederick Fairfax. He contacted Diana Ning, the office manager.
"She didn’t pick you up? She left at 2! Didn’t you two cross paths?"
She left at two? That’s not right.
It only takes about an hour to get to the airport.
Something had happened to Olivia Young.
She was missing.
As soon as that thought surfaced, Frederick Fairfax’s mind was filled with a hundred nightmare scenarios—Olivia Young getting hurt, abused, or worse.
Who could have done this?
Who would kidnap her?
"Head to the law firm. Tell Ian Hope—it’s time to find her, now!"
An hour later, Frederick Fairfax arrived at the flower boutique across from the office.
Ian Hope’s face was grim as he reported, "The cameras show Madam went in, but never came out."
"We just checked—the staff said there were people waiting here since morning. After Madam went in, those two men grabbed her and took her out the back door."
Frederick Fairfax watched the security footage: a van drove away, with Olivia Young inside.
"This shop?"
"It belongs to Annabelle Winters."
Annabelle Winters!
Did that mean the person behind the kidnapping was Grace Gordon?
That bastard!
Frederick Fairfax called immediately. "Grace Gordon, where are you?"
"I’m at the office, why?"
"The office? Really?"
"Frederick Fairfax, what’s with you? If you have something to say, spit it out!" Grace Gordon never had much patience for Frederick Fairfax. The man had stolen his childhood sweetheart, after all.
"Olivia Young was kidnapped from Annabelle Winters’s flower boutique."
"What!!"
In the middle of a meeting, Grace Gordon jumped to his feet.
Frederick Fairfax hung up.
Going by Grace Gordon’s reaction, he wasn’t the kidnapper.
Which meant it had to do with Annabelle Winters.
"Track that van, contact Annabelle Winters—tell her to meet me right now!"