Walter returned home from work to the sound of his young son crying. Coming out of the garage, he found his wife Abby in the kitchen, visibly upset. ‘How long has he been crying?’ he asked, putting his arm around her shoulders. Through her tears, Abby replied, ‘I’ve tried everything — feeding him, changing his nappy, bathing him, burping him, even checking his temperature — but nothing helps! He just won’t stop crying!’
Since becoming parents a month ago, their lives had been turned upside down by Logan’s incessant crying. For Walter, there was nothing more painful than hearing his son cry. Deciding to help, he brought Abby to Logan’s room. When he approached the cot, he was struck not by the familiar sight of a sleeping child, but by a tape recorder and a note lying there. When he pressed the ‘stop’ button on the device, the crying stopped abruptly.
‘What did you do?’ Abby called out, but Walter was already deep in thought, reading the note. It read:
“I warned you that you would regret being rude to me.
If you want to see your child again, leave £200,000 in the luggage storage room near the pier.
If you go to the police, you will never see him again.”
Abby’s sigh broke the silence. ‘Oh my God! What does this mean? Was I rude to someone? Who could have kidnapped Logan?’
Suddenly, fragments of memories came flooding back — Walter remembered the cleaner at the maternity hospital, whom he had treated badly. Once, the cleaner had brought Abby a cute bear-shaped pot, but it broke when Walter tripped over his broom. In anger, Walter hurled terrible names at him and warned ominously, ‘You’ll regret this!’
‘Maybe it’s him,’ Walter muttered. ‘We should go to the police.’ But Abby’s voice trembled: ‘The note says that if we go to the police, we’ll never see Logan again. We have to pay the ransom.’
Reluctantly, Walter reasoned, ‘I don’t know if paying will bring him back, but the cleaner works at the hospital — maybe we can catch him if we report it to the police.’ Abby agreed, and they drove to the police station. Just as they were about to get out of the car, Walter’s phone buzzed with a message:
‘This is your first and last warning. If you enter this police station, your child will be sent to the compartment. Bring the money to the location below.’
Abby’s eyes widened in horror as Walter scanned the crowded scene and realised that the only way to save Logan was to pay the ransom. As Abby’s condition worsened — she was nauseous and on the verge of vomiting — Walter decided it was better to take her home than risk further suffering.
‘Don’t hate me for this, darling, but you need to rest,’ he said gently. Abby, bursting into tears, managed to say, ‘But Walter… does this kidnapper even know how to care for a newborn?’ Her words tormented him as he drove her home, and dark thoughts filled his mind. He imagined Logan locked in a dark room, crying for help that never came.
Summoning all his strength, Walter finally pulled himself together and drove to the bank. Then he went to the storage facility mentioned in the note and deposited the money. Among the noisy crowd, he noticed the cleaner from the maternity hospital standing near the storage lockers. The man was wearing a bright shirt that made him stand out from the eclectic crowd. Walter followed him, but a group of tourists soon blocked his view. A few minutes later, the cleaner reappeared, and Walter seized the moment to bump into him near another row of lockers.
‘Where’s my son?’ Walter demanded, pushing the cleaner towards the lockers. The cleaner hissed, ‘Listen, I was paid £100 to pick up the bag and bring it here… I don’t know anything about your son!’
In a rage, Walter shouted, ‘Don’t you dare lie! I followed all the instructions.’ However, when Walter opened the locker, he found it empty — there was a hole cut in the back wall, hidden by a loose steel plate.
Despair and horror overwhelmed him, and he rushed home, checking every room. Abby was nowhere to be found; her things had disappeared from their bedroom. At first, Walter suspected she had been kidnapped and called out to her frantically, but there was no answer. Then a terrible thought struck him: it was Abby who had insisted on paying the ransom. Could she be involved in this? Could she and an accomplice have orchestrated Logan’s disappearance?
Although Walter’s heart ached at the possibility, he found some small comfort in the knowledge that the ransom money was counterfeit. He decided he would find a way to save his son. Desperate for answers, he drove to the maternity hospital where Logan was born. He met a doctor near a vending machine. ‘I need your help,’ Walter pleaded. ‘Please call my wife.’ The doctor, after carefully examining Walter and listening to his difficult situation, and hesitating because of the discreet display of cash, agreed.
Together they made their way to the medical centre on the second floor. Amidst the hustle and bustle of the hospital, the doctor dialled Abby’s number and said in an even tone, “Good morning, Mrs Taylor; this is Dr Jones from the maternity hospital. I’m calling to let you know that your son’s routine examination has revealed something very serious. He requires immediate treatment.‘ Abby’s emotional outburst was drowned out by the noise of the station, but the meaning was clear: she would soon bring Logan in for urgent treatment. Dr. Jones ended the call, nodding to Walter, ’I’ve done my part, now it’s your turn to pay.”
Walter paid and went downstairs, his mind filled with uncertainty. A few minutes later, the phone rang again. With a bitter smile, he answered, ‘Where’s Logan? I demand you bring him back!’ Abby’s voice on the other end was furious: “You idiot! The money was counterfeit! Logan needs treatment, and I can’t get him because of you. Where’s the real money, Walter?”
Walter replied in bewilderment, ‘It’s in my account, where it’s always been. What happened to Logan is just another scheme to get my money?’ Abby’s bitter accusations and tears overwhelmed him. ‘I won’t let our son die! I’ll pay,’ Walter declared before hanging up.
Hearing Abby admit her role in Logan’s kidnapping broke Walter’s heart all over again. After several agonising minutes, he managed to transfer the money immediately using the app and waited in agonising silence.
Tears streamed down Walter’s face when his younger brother James arrived at the hospital with Abby. James held Logan close while Abby spoke to the administrator. In slow motion, they were surrounded by police and FBI agents — Walter had managed to alert the authorities in time. An FBI agent barked, ‘You are under arrest for kidnapping! Slowly hand over the child and raise your hands!’ Abby screamed, “Get away from us! My son is sick, he needs a doctor!‘ Walter, however, stepped forward. ’Logan is fine!” he insisted, while Abby’s eyes burned with rage. In the ensuing chaos, Abby and James were apprehended and arrested.
Holding Logan close, Walter felt a mixture of relief and deep sadness. Amidst the chaos, Abby cried bitterly, “You think you’ve won? Logan isn’t even yours! You couldn’t even get me pregnant, remember? Whatever happened to you, it’s clearly not family!‘ Walter’s heart ached, but he stood his ground. ’I’ll adopt him if I have to. I’ll watch him grow up while you two rot behind bars,” he declared and walked away with his son.
In the weeks that followed, Walter’s world was shrouded in bitter regret and uncertainty. The arrival of his younger brother, interrogations by the police and the FBI, and the final court hearings painted a grim picture of a family torn apart. Yet despite the devastation, Walter clung to one unshakeable truth: he would do everything in his power to get his son back.
Determined, Walter drove to the maternity hospital where Logan was born and met with the doctor, who he hoped would help him contact Abby. Through secret negotiations and a discreet exchange of money, the doctor contacted Abby, telling her fabricated news about Logan’s critical genetic disease — a desperate ploy to get her to bring him back. Dr Jones’s calculated call left Abby with no room for refusal, and within minutes she gave in.
But when the FBI arrived and took Abby and James into custody, the FBI agent shouted, ‘You are under arrest for kidnapping!’ and Abby’s protests filled the sterile hospital corridors. In the commotion, Walter held Logan tightly, rejoicing at his son’s return, even though his heart was breaking all over again.
‘You think you’ve won?’ Abby cried bitterly as she was led away. ‘Logan isn’t even yours!’
Walter’s voice was cold and determined as he replied, ‘I’ll adopt him if I have to. I’ll watch him grow up while you two rot behind bars.’ With that, he left the hospital, determined to build a future with his miracle child — a future built on love, even in the midst of betrayal.
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