Still in deep shock, Aidan Waldorf could still not focus what was happening in reality. It was as if he had zapped out to another universe where his mind was bombarded with questions one after the other. Why was Kate no longer here? Where was she? Had she freaked out at the last minute and decided to skip the wedding? Or has something happened to her?

The only thing which kept him sane was  the fact that Kate might be in some kind of danger and all he knew was that he had to find her. It was what his instincts were telling him and for the first time of his life, his heart was in synch with his mind. But it didn’t make him feel better.

Standing up still in a daze, he ignored the noises around him and ran towards the door focusing only on what he was supposed to do. Only to be stopped by a pair of hands and he whirled round to see it was Ryce Vin Connor. His best friend. His brother.

But he was in no mood for the comfort Ryce as offering. It would serve no purpose until he had Kate with him. Nothing was making sense as he was having the constant zing in his head. Without saying a word, he shrugged off his hold and made for the door again. Only to be stopped by his mother who stood between the door and himself blocking his exit.

“Aidan, where are you going?” Meredith Waldorf shouted and he could only look back with unfocused eyes.

Suddenly, he felt his body shake and his teeth rattle. Snapping out of his daze, he saw that his mother had been shaking him and had repeated the question. Hell, where was he going? His ears were ringing and he could feel himself sway before slumping down on something he could hardly register.

 “Find Kate,” he mumbled his jaws feeling like lead. The initial shock had subsided and he no longer felt numb. But his initial instincts were still kicking in; Kate was in danger. He could feel it. Kate would never leave him like that without any plausible reason.

“Where??” Ryce growled and he looked up in the pair of grey eyes in front of him.

Where? Where what? Then he registered that Ryce had asked him where he was going. And he did not know where to go because he did not know where Kate was. The gravity of the situation finally dawned on him as he sat defeated on the sofa staring into space.

“We must inform the police,” he finally heard the anxious tone of Alex Thornton his future father-in-law and he still looked up with a dazed expression. His mind was still lingering in the fact that Kate was no longer around. How would he be able to bear that?

What would he do without her? He had already kicked her out of his life before having taken her for granted and now that he knew how much she counted for him, she was gone. Life was so unfair sometimes.

“Are you alright?” his mother asked him and he nodded absent-mindedly. He was obviously not alright. But he could not let his misery apparent to anyone else; they were already as flustered as he was by the sudden disappearance of his bride.

“Aidan, love. I’m so sorry,” Mrs. Judith Thornton was saying her eyes filled with tears. His mother in law was a nice person even if she got on his nerves sometimes but since she was close to her daughter, Aidan could never show her any disrespect. What he couldn’t understand was why she was apologizing; she had nothing to do with the disappearance of her daughter, had she?

Suddenly as the idea bloomed in his mind, it stuck and wouldn’t go away. Judith Thornton had never approved of their relationship. Not when she had wanted Kate to marry Edward Bigfoot. The son of her closest friend.

But Kate had never loved anyone else apart from him. Even since the university days and had agreed to marry Edward only to please her parents. Something which he could not resent since it had brought them together.

Frowning, he looked at her mother-in-law closely trying to decipher something in her expression. What if she had been the one who had asked Kate not to marry him? But why would her mother talk to her out of the marriage on his damned wedding day? Heaven knew how difficult it had been for them to finally be together.

It had been only after six months that they had become official with their relationship. Alex had asked him to wait for some time after the previous wedding had been cancelled. And Aidan had given his father-n-law his word that he would not see Kate for the coming seven months and he had kept his word. But Kate had not agreed with the deal.

Reluctant at first not to see for such a long time, she had finally acquiesced because she too had been worried what the world would think of her. Not that Aidan had given a damn.

But it had mattered to her and her family. And he had needed to prove how much she counted for him too and he had not wanted her reputation to be compromised at any cost. So no matter how hard it had been, he had left her and moved back to New York.

And had counted the days when he could finally meet his love. But after six months, every gossip about the cancelled wedding had died and he had felt it right to meet her again. He had been the only one who knew how difficult it had been to finally see her after such a long time. It had been a hell of a reunion and he had never had such an emotional high in his life.

Just when he had thought that he was going to get his forever and ever kind of ending, he had been left stranded on his wedding day. He didn’t give a damn about the gossips or bad mouthed people who was sure to speculate on the lost bride.

No, he had seen worst in his life; he had grown up without a father and was made of tougher stuff than that. What mattered to him was Kate. What could break his heart was that if something major had happened to Kate. And he had a premonition that something like that was going to fall on him soon.

“Do you know anything?” he asked in a cold voice which made Judith freeze. “Anything at all?” he emphasized unaware that  he was holding his breath and that his green eyes were as cold as ice as he stared in the woman’s eyes.

“No, of course not! The last time I talked to her, she was smiling like never before. It was as if she was mad with happiness.”

Her words made him release his breath. So he was not the only one who had noticed how happy Kate had been. Especially during the past two days. And that was why it was hard for him to believe that Kate had ran from him. She had loved him even when they had been best friends; even when he had been too dimwit to realize the true emotions he had for her.

Such kind of love could never be faked and he was damned sure that Kate must have left for a very specific reason. Unless she had been a really good actress. Which Aidan doubted. He had known her since she had been nineteen and there was no one so honest as her in the contemporary world. It was what had attracted him to her so damn much; her innocence and perseverance in life.

As he stared into the woman in front of him, he saw that Judith had no guilt written on her face and he cast the silly thought aside. How could a mother stop her own daughter’s wedding especially since she had been saying that her daughter had looked happy?

“I’m sorry. I think I’m getting paranoid,” he finally said and thankfully Judith dropped the matter refraining from any further comments.

Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Ryce picked up his iPhone which had been ringing.

“Yes?” he barked right into the device as if it was the one responsible for the whole thing. “Okay, we’re coming right away,” he continued in the same brusque tone and disconnected the phone immediately.

“The police is here,” he stated blandly to no one in particular.

There was a hush as everybody walked out of the room hurriedly but Aidan leant back with his eyes closed. He needed a few moments alone before getting back his strength. Hell, he felt like someone had cut off his right arm right now.

Where could she have gone? Had something happened to her? His headache was back with a vengeance and suddenly a thought occurred to him. What if she had never left on her own will? What if someone had broken into the house for some robbery and had seen her getting ready with expensive jewels? There was a wedding in the house and the security guards must have been careless.

Or worse? What if she had been kidnapped? Of course! There were several exits from the castle and not every one of them was guarded. That was a more plausible explanation to him and the more he thought about it, the more he was sure of his hunch.

But it was futile mopping around what had happened; if he wanted his Kate back, he had to get up like a man and find her. He had to be strong enough to survive this and be there for her when she would need him the most. If he found her. When he found her, he corrected himself with a new determination.

Feeling that he had to do something, he stood up and as he joined the others downstairs. As he reached the main lounge, he could hear Alex relating to the officers the headlines of the story. Headline being: the bride could not be found only one hour before the wedding ceremony. Which sounded lame even to himself.

The two burly police officers looked skeptical and wanted to know who was the last person who had talked to Kate before she was missing. After some questions, they discovered that it was her sister Caitlin who had been helping her fix her dress two hours before the ceremony.

“I was fixing her dress when I went to the attic room to fetch another set of pins. And you know how far the east wing is,” she said as if talking to herself. Everybody nodded focusing on every detail. They were all in the same situation. Almost going crazy with worry.

Aidan knew that out of her three sisters, Kate was closest to Caitlin since the latter was only three or four years younger. The other two sisters were twins; Jade and June and were still in their early twenties still studying at university.

It was clear to him that Kate would never run from anyone in her family. She loved them too much for that.

“When I came back, she was not in the fitting room, I looked for her in the washroom but she was still nowhere to be found. And so I waited for her. Sure that she would come back because she had been wearing her wedding dress for Christ’s sake. Where the hell would she go with that uncomfortable white dress?” Caitlin explained to the officer unable to stop the tears streaming down her face.

And Caitlin was right. If Kate had fled in her wedding dress, it would have seemed pretty weird. So, upon listening to everyone’s story, he felt almost sure that she had been kidnapped. What other explanation could there be? Already feeling worry surge in his heart, he started to concentrate on who could the kidnapper be. Maybe Alex had an enemy who had abducted her daughter for some personal reasons? And he decided to share that piece of information with the cops.

“Exactly!” he said. “Somebody would have seen her running in a wedding dress. I think she has been kidnapped,” he stated and there was a general audible gasp in the audience at his bold sentence.

“Are you sure?” asked Jade speaking for the first time since the ordeal.

“What other explanations could there be? She had left with only her wedding dress. With no money, no bag. Judith had checked her belongings. Everything was intact; even her honeymoon suitcase. It is clear that she had not planned this escapade,” he stated firmly and everyone nodded.

“Now! Now! Let’s not speculate about what happened for the time being,” scolded the police officer whose name was Ryan Bridge. “So for how many hours did you wait?” he asked Caitlin turning back to her.

“I don’t know. I waited for approximately thirty minutes when mom and the other girls joined me in the fitting room ready to help me with the bride,” she stated and the focus shifted on the other three women.

“And ma’am what had you been doing in the meantime?” asked the other police officer whose tag name wrote Liam Curtin. Aidan could hardly suppress his rage; why were the officers wasting time asking stupid question when all they had to do was find Kate?

Ready to blast, he opened his mouth but promptly closed it when he felt a hand on his shoulder. It was Ryce again who stopped him by shaking his head in his direction having clearly read what was in his mind. Hell, what a bunch of losers!

The officers bombarded them with futile question wasting their time. How did the bride behave before the wedding? Has anybody detect anything at all in her usual behavior? What time was the ceremony scheduled for? What time was she supposed to get to church?

As predicted, everybody gave the same answers which left them with no trail and they asked one final question. Where were you when between noon and one? And each family member had an alibi. Since it was the wedding of such a close person, everybody had been getting ready for the wedding. When the police officers had finished talking to everyone, they saluted saying that they will keep in touch and Aidan ran after them.

“So, what are your plans to find Kate?” he asked being closely followed by Ryce.

“We’re sorry. We cannot do anything for the time being.”

“Huh? Excuse me?” Ryce asked snatching the words from his mouth before he had time to voice them out. What the hell did he mean that he could do nothing for the time being. What were they supposed to do?

“We have to follow the rules. A missing person can only be searched if he or she have been missing for twenny four hours,” the officer Ryan drawled in a slurry voice which made Aidan want to punch his sorry face down.

“So, you’re telling me that we have to wait for another day for you to start looking up for Kate?” he shouted. “But she had not taken anything with her. She must not be far away,” he ranted his desperation clear now.

“Exactly. And we’re pretty sure that it’s no big deal. She must have run from the marriage and will be back before dawn.”

That was it! How dared that sorry excuse of a man insult his relationship between him and Kate? Hell, he had no idea what they meant to each other. Aidan lifted his clenched fist ready to re-atomize his face when Ryce stopped him from behind once again.

“Aidan, stop! You don’t want to end up in jail while Kate is missing, do you?” he hissed with fury and Aidan dropped his hand immediately. Ryce was right. It would serve no purpose if he landed up in jail while Kate was still in danger.

Gritting his teeth, he swallowed any insult which was threatening to come out before asking. “What about the possibility that she might have been kidnapped? Isn’t that something you can explore for the time being?”

“No,” replied Bridge. “If she has been kidnapped, there will be a demand for ransom and we have to wait for that before taking any initiative. We are at a moot point and can do nothing more, sir,” he was informed and he stood still as he watched the two officers drive away.

How the hell was he supposed to sit back and wait for Kate when she could be in some serious and dangerous situation? Wasn’t there a protocol for such type of situations? How could the cops be so.. so careless? As he stared at the retreating vehicle, he felt rage consume him and he wanted to throw something at the rear window.

“Come on!” Ryce called to him running to the Alex’s truck. “Let’s go and see if we can find her around. Like you said, she had nothing with her. No money. No car. And no luggage. She mustn’t have gone too far.”

Filled with hope, he hopped in the vehicle and they drove five times to in the nearby streets asking anybody if they had seen someone running in her wedding dress. Surprisingly, nobody had seen her and it was still broad daylight.

Maybe they had taken the wrong direction. They did the same for the other three directions but to no avail. It would have been too easy, thought Aidan derisively as he went back to the house looking and feeling defeated.

“Son, what happened?” asked Alex as he reached the doorstep. “Have you been able to find something? Anything?” and Aidan shook his head.

“No, we have driven till Central Park but nobody had seen her anywhere. It’s as if she had disappeared into thin air. Which leads to only one explanation. She has been kidnapped,” he said with conviction.

Alex nodded. “You’re right. I have also been racking my brain for the past few hours and this seems to be the only explanation. What has the police said?”

“Nothing,” Ryce intervened. “They can do nothing for the time being. Even if she has been kidnapped, they have to wait for the demand for ransom call before taking any actions. The police is convinced that Kate has ran because of the wedding,” Ryce explained.

Alex frowned. “Because of the wedding?” he repeated uncomprehendingly. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“They’re saying that it’s nothing serious. That she will be back before dawn as she has been having second thoughts about the wedding.”

“How dare they talk like that about my daughter?” Alex fumed. “I’ve never heard of such absurdities. Don’t worry boys. Let me call the superintendent Gregory Kyle. He’s my friend and he might be in a better position to help us out.”

It was a silver lining among the suddenly grey clouds and he was ready to grasp straws if it meant that he would find something about Kate.

Aidan could only nod his thoughts still in chaos. What were they supposed to do now? Now that even the police was unwilling to help, he was at a loss of what to do. And the police might be right. There was nothing he could do. He could only wait. Wait for a phone call. A phone call which would give him the news of his beloved. And only time will tell whether the news were good or bad.