Kiefer (POV)
I checked everything.
Every room.
Every hallway.
Every corner of the mansion.
But I could not find her.
And yet…
I could still feel her warmth on my lips.
I could still taste the blood from where she bit me.
It was not a dream.
It could not be.
I walked back toward the party to find Cole or Angelo.
Cole was talking to someone near the bar.
"Cole, I need to talk," I said.
The second he looked at me, his expression changed.
Maybe he saw something in my face.
Without asking questions, he called Angelo over.
The three of us walked into a quiet corridor away from the noise of the party.
"What happened?" Cole asked.
"Jay…" I said, trying to catch my breath. "I saw Jay."
Cole stared at me.
"Jay? Here?" he asked. "Are you drunk?"
Before I could answer, Angelo opened the door and stepped inside.
"Why did you call me?" he asked.
Then his eyes landed on my lips.
"Did you get into a fight?" he asked.
"It's true," I said immediately. "I saw Jay Jay."
Angelo's entire expression changed.
"Where?" he asked.
"On the right side of the mansion," I said quickly. "I saw her there. It was her."
"Did you see her clearly?" Cole asked.
"It was dark," I admitted. "But for a second, I saw her face. It was her."
Cole and Angelo exchanged a look.
"It was dark, and you've been drinking," Angelo said carefully.
I stared at him.
"You think I hallucinated?"
"Kiefer…" Cole said quietly. "You miss her. Maybe you just thought you saw her."
"You think I don't know Jay's touch?" I snapped. "You think I don't know her scent?"
I pointed at my lips.
"She bit me."
Both of them looked down.
There was still blood there.
"And you know me," I said. "I'm a Watson. Ten bottles wouldn't even make me drunk."
Neither of them argued with that.
But I could still see doubt in their eyes.
"Jay?" Angelo said slowly. "Why would she be in London? In your family's mansion? A place with high security? You even knew your grandfather was still out there. People were searching for her just like we were searching for Jay Jay."
He shook his head.
"Then show us proof," Cole said calmly.
I pointed at the blood on my lip again.
"She did that when I kissed her," I said.
Both of them froze.
"Kissed?" they said at the same time.
I ignored them.
"Then she kicked me and ran," I muttered.
Angelo stared at me like I had lost my mind.
Cole rubbed his forehead.
"Okay," I said coldly. "Don't believe me."
I turned around and walked toward the door.
"But I'm going to search for her myself."
And this time…
I called Edrix and Rory, too.
"Kiefer... do you know what time it is? It's two in the morning," Rory groaned.
"I found Jay Jay. I need you to look through the last two weeks of airport footage in Manila," I said.
"Kiefer, that's impossible," Edrix said immediately. "Airport footage is highly secured. Even if I try, I'll get blocked."
"Then hack it," I snapped.
There was silence on the other end.
"Kiefer—" Rory started carefully.
"No." I cut him off. "I know what I saw. I know what I felt. She was here."
"You've been searching for her for weeks," Rory said quietly. "Maybe you want it to be her so badly that—"
"Don't." My voice came out colder than I intended. "Don't say I imagined it."
Because I didn't.
I could still feel her lips against mine.
The warmth of her breath.
The sting when she bit my lip."
"She kissed you?" Rory asked after a moment.
"I kissed her first," I muttered.
"And then kicked you?" Edrix asked.
"She kicked me hard enough to send me to the floor."
Rory let out a low whistle.
"Yeah," I said bitterly. "That's my Jay."
Another silence followed.
Then Edrix sighed.
"Fine. I'll see what I can do. But if I get arrested because of you."
"You won't get arrested," I said.
"That's not very reassuring coming from you," Rory muttered.
"I want every arrival, every private jet, every fake passport, every woman who even remotely looks like her," I said. "I don't care how long it takes."
"We'll try," Rory said.
I ended the call before they could say anything else.
When I turned around, Cole and Angelo were still standing near the corridor entrance, watching me.
"You're seriously doing this?" Angelo asked.
"Yes."
"Kiefer—"
"I know what I felt," I said. "You think I'd mistake someone else for her? You think I'd forget her scent? Her touch?"
Neither of them answered.
Because they knew I was right.
I ran a hand through my hair and looked toward the dark side of the mansion again.
Somewhere out there, Jay was hiding.
And this time, I was not going to lose her again.
"I'll check every airport in London," Cole said as he pulled out his phone. "Even if the chance is small… if she's here, I'll bring her back."
For the next hour, we got footage from almost every airport in London.
We sat in front of the screens for two days, checking every second.
Every hallway.
Every entrance.
Every private terminal.
Nothing.
There was not a single trace of Jay Jay.
Then we checked older footage.
The day she disappeared.
The days after.
Still nothing.
Edrix tried getting access to more footage but failed.
Then Cole made a few calls.
After that, suddenly, no one could tell us no anymore.
We got footage from Manila, too.
Everyone around me already believed what I saw was just a hallucination.
But I knew it was not.
So I kept looking.
I started checking places connected to the Watson family, travelling over these two days.
Europe.
The UK.
Singapore.
Every country.
Every city.
Every property.
Because I wanted to understand something.
I wanted to know what my mother had been trying to protect all this time.
And the deeper I looked…
The worse it got.
Money was being moved through trusts, companies, colleges, charities…
It was endless.
Almost half of London was tied to the Watson family somehow.
I sat alone in the room, staring at the footage on the screen.
"Jay," I whispered.
Then I closed my eyes and forced myself to remember that night.
Her touch.
Her voice.
The way she ran.
I could not see her face clearly that night.
It was too dark.
But maybe…
Maybe there was something I missed.
So I went back and checked the footage from the night of my birthday.
I watched every second again.
And again.
And again.
Then suddenly—
I froze.
In the reflection of a mirror at the end of the hallway…
There she was.
Just for a second.
Jay.
I leaned closer to the screen.
My heart stopped.
"Found you," I whispered.
My hands gripped the edge of the table so tightly that my knuckles turned white.
It was only a reflection.
A small glimpse in the mirror at the end of the hallway.
But it was enough.
Her hair.
Her height.
The way she moved.
I would know her anywhere.
I paused the footage and zoomed in.
The image became blurry, but I could still make out the outline of her face.
Then I saw something else.
She was not alone.
Someone was standing beside her.
A man.
Tall.
Broad shoulders.
He wore black gloves and a cap low over his face.
Before I could focus on him properly, the footage moved again.
Jay disappeared from the mirror.
The man disappeared with her.
"Cole!" I shouted.
The door burst open almost immediately.
Cole and Angelo rushed inside.
"What happened?" Angelo asked.
I pointed at the screen.
"There," I said.
They both leaned closer.
For a second, neither of them spoke.
Then Angelo's face changed.
"That's impossible," he muttered.
"You see her too?" I asked.
Cole did not answer immediately.
His eyes stayed on the screen.
Then he slowly nodded.
"That's her," Cole said quietly.
Cole's eyes stayed on the screen for a few more seconds before his expression darkened.
"Someone is trying very hard to hide her," Cole said.
Cole looked back at me.
"They erased every piece of footage of her from the airports."
For the first time in weeks, I felt like I could breathe again.
"I told you," I said quietly. "I told all of you."
Angelo still looked shocked.
"But who's that with her?" he asked.
I replayed the footage again.
The man never looked directly at the camera.
But when he turned slightly, something on his wrist caught the light.
A watch.
Not just any watch.
A silver watch with a dark blue face.
I had seen it before.
Somewhere.
Recently.
Cole suddenly cursed under his breath.
"What?" I asked sharply.
Cole looked at me.
"That watch," he said quietly. "I've seen it before, too."
"Where?"
Cole's jaw tightened.
"At the party."
The room went silent.
"He was here," Angelo whispered.
"No," Cole said.
After staring at the screen for a few more seconds, Cole suddenly stood up.
"He brought her here."
I looked at him.
His face had gone cold again.
He turned toward me.
"You know who I'm talking about, right?" Cole asked quietly.
I already knew.
There was only one person all of us were thinking about.
"But why would he do that?" I asked. "If he really has her… why not blackmail us? Why help me?"
"I don't think he wants money," Angelo said.
We both looked at him.
Angelo leaned back in his chair.
"I don't think he wants to kill us either," he said quietly. "He wants something else."
The room went silent.
Then Cole grabbed his coat.
"Pack your bags," he said. "We're going to Manila."
He looked back at the screen.
"I think we'll find our answers there."
"If he really did this…" I muttered.
My hands slowly curled into fists.
"I'm going to kill him."
Before anyone could speak again, the door suddenly opened.
"Kuya," someone called out.
We turned and saw Kiegen standing there.
"You have a flight to Japan in an hour," he said. "You're coming with me."
My jaw tightened immediately.
"I'm not going to Japan," I said coldly. "I'm going to Manila."
Kiegen did not even react.
"No," he said. "You're coming with me."
"Jay is in Manila," I snapped. "Cole is going there. Angelo is going there. I need to be there too."
"You need to finish your work first," Kiegen said. "Then you can go wherever you want."
"I'm not asking for permission."
"You weren't given a choice."
For a second, the room went silent.
My fists clenched at my sides.
Every second I wasted here felt like another second farther away from Jay.
Cole looked between us before speaking.
"Meet us in Manila," he said. "After I find her exact location."
Then he looked directly at me.
"Until then… do what you need to do."
I looked away, trying to control my anger.
Angelo walked toward the door.
"We'll call you the second we find something," he said quietly. "Just get to Manila as fast as you can."
I nodded once.
It was the only thing I could do.
Then Cole and Angelo left.
And I hated it.
Because while they were getting closer to Jay…
I was being forced to fly in the opposite direction.
24 hours later ..
Jare (POV)
We were walking along the sand.
The waves were crashing softly against the shore.
Jay Jay was standing near the water, her dress moving with the wind.
She was smiling.
Actually smiling.
For the first time in what felt like forever, she looked happy.
Like the pain was gone.
Like nothing bad had ever happened to her.
I stood there watching her.
And for a second…
I forgot how scared I was of losing her again.
But something still felt wrong.