Fate Online: Shadow

[That's enough, prepare five million for the ransom money! I'll call again in an hour to tell you the location of where you'll drop the package!]

Before Summer could even answer, her bastard father seems to have snatched the phone from her and quickly stated the amount of money in exchange for Summer.

Toot! Toot! Toot!

Different from earlier, Olivia seems to have already expected as she didn't frown  when her ex husband had once again hung up on her.

Afterwards, she turned towards the detectives and asked very seriously, "Did you guys manage to get their location?"

"No ma'am, we were just short of a few seconds before we could have gotten their location. It seems someone is keeping watch of their time whenever they call us"

"Knowing that guy, I'm pretty sure that he's not the one who came up with the plan of kidnapping his own daughter. It must be his accomplices who coaxed him into doing it. Seriously, he's still an idiot"

Olivia's sudden change of behavior didn't even bother Randy. After all, he has already read a report of her detailing what kind of a person she is.

Someone meticulous, hard headed, calm, a person of fairness, an "actress" and most of all, someone who loathes criminals, which makes it a very troubling matter for Randy.

"But ma'am, do you really not have anyone in mind who you think would do something like this?"

"No idea. After all, I have made a lot of enemies that I've lost count them, and knowing those people, they'd rather kill me directly and be done with it, rather than kidnapping my daughter and involving the authorities. That kind of trouble is not worth it for them, and besides, it has been years, taking revenge on me after much time had passed is so lame"

This kidnapping was so special that even the chief of police personally came over and reassured Olivia that he would assign his best team during the drop off of the money.

When the man came, Randy wanted to make a silent exit as he also wanted to start his own plans in case the police failed their job.

Of course, everything doesn't always go according to the script as Cathy suddenly wanted to tag along with him after much stubbornness on her side.

Sadly, Randy can't say no to her as it was kind of a rare chance that he could spend time with the kid, especially now that he's treating her as his own daughter.

So the dumbas* wanting to spend some father and daughter time just f*cked it and said, "Why not? Let me just go talk to your mother and let her know"

His plan to leave silently didn't even start yet when it was already nip in the bud.

Cathy watched her mother and Randy talking to each other with such a calm expression, it was like Summer's kidnapping was an everyday thing.

It would certainly make others mistaken her as an apathetic person, but the real reason behind is that even before they met Randy, it wasn't once or twice that they were put into danger because of their mother's job, as troubling matters regarding her job happened multiple times!

But they always managed to tide over such troubles because both siblings are quite crafty, especially the eldest of the two girls, at the same time, they also have bodyguards assigned to them to protect them in the shadows.

Soon after getting Olivia's permission, Randy left the building with Cathy in tow following behind him.

With his car, both of them headed somewhere with a place in mind.

A couple of minutes into the drive, Cathay finally couldn't restrain her curiosity and moved her eyes away from her phone and turned to Randy and said, "Where are we going?"

"To a friend's place, I need something from him"

With his answer, silence once again descended inside the car as they silently made their way towards their destination.

But not even a minute later, Randy felt uncomfortable with the awkward atmosphere in the air, so he tried to strike up a conversation by saying, "You look really calm, aren't you worried about your sister?"

"I'm used to it"

Her answer immediately stumped Randy with a frown as he lightly jerked his neck back before saying, "You mean something like this happened before?"

With a shrug, Cathay replied, "Not really, did mom not mention it to you before?"

"Oh she certainly does!" replied Randy with a sarcastic laugh, but in his mind he was thinking, 'But I did read about your files, mostly from the events you faced starting from four years ago. It's just your calmness that kinda freaks me out. That's not someone of your age should be having'

"Certainly sounds like she didn't mention anything about it" Cathy said with a laugh while looking at her phone.

Making a turn into a corner Randy could be heard saying, "What do you think about him after what happened today?"

"My father? Well, I never really liked him growing up, especially now with what he did today. I really wonder what my mom sees in him that made her marry him in the past" Cathay said nonchalantly, however, Randy noticed a tinge of hatred in her voice when she uttered those words.

"Well, if she didn't marry him then you wouldn't be existing today" Randy said with a chuckle.

"I'd still be my mom's daughter, but with a different face and different name"

"Huh, that actually makes sense"

Unknowingly, the two already arrived at their destination while the two were in the midst of their conversation.

"We're here"

"A bar? In the middle of the day? I thought we were meeting a friend?"

The place they arrived at was a somewhat busy street in the corner of the city. There are a lot of people moving to and fro along the street, with only a number of cars passing by, most of them parked at the side of the street.

However, Cathy recognized this part of the city as its what people would call "The Hood", a place where dangerous people and a lot of the people at the bottom rung of society gather. Such a place made Cathy look dubiously at Randy, her eyes filled with questions.

"My friends live here, they own the bar. Stay put in the car, I'll be back in a jiffy"

"What? I want to come! I didn't come with you just to get stuck in here. Besides, where we're at is a dangerous place"

Randy stood hunched over at the car door while looking at Cathy, and he replied with a chuckle, "Dangerous? I think the folks around here are really nice though"

Cathy just scoffed at him and said with a mischievous smile, "Hmmp! If you don't let me along with you, then I'll tell mom later that you brought me here. Let see how you'll explain to her then"

Randy stared at her, and Cathy also stared back.

They had a staring contest for a few seconds before Randy released a sigh of helplessness.

"Alright, you can come with me inside, and don't go snooping about though when we're in there without my permission, got it?"

"Alrighty!"