Chapter 595 - JoAnna was kidnapped

Bridgette opened her eyes with difficulty. She had a splitting headache. She blinked few times and observed her surroundings. It was a dark room, small windows toward the top of the wall, almost hugging the ceiling. ' Basement? ' Bridgette tried to move, but she realized that her legs are tied at her ankles and her arms are also tied at her wrists in the back.

' Where am I? How did I get here? ', she tried to remember. She knows that JoAnna said how after lunch they will go to the Mediterranean villa to take measurements. What happened next? Pieces started coming back, but they were fuzzy because back of her head was throbbing painfully, and she had difficulty concentrating. Eventually after some time she was able to piece up information: master bedroom… yes, they finished measuring master bedroom… JoAnna opened large French doors and went out to the balcony… and then… nothing.

' JoAnna! ', Bridgette remembered that two of them should be together. She struggled to lift her head and look around… the pain was excruciating, but she was able to see that she is alone in this room. Just as she thought that she caught a glimpse of her purse, she exhaled and lost her consciousness again.

~ Los Angeles, White corp. HQ ~

Jeff is in a meeting. Twenty people are present, directors mostly. They are discussing performance of the products they launched in last three months.

Jeff's phone lit up with a notification. He checked it and read the message:

' You took away my everything. Now it's my turn. '

Jeff frowned, unsure what to think. The number didn't have ID associated; it was just a ten digit long string of numbers which he didn't recognize. Prank? Who would prank him? And who knows his personal cell phone number?

Another message arrived, no text just attachment. Same number. Jeff opened it and froze.

It was a picture of JoAnna. Her legs and hands were tied up, and her eyes were closed. Was she sleeping? Unconscious? She can't be…? All color drained from Jeff's face and it took him few seconds to resume breathing. He stood up and rushed to his office leaving confused directors behind.

Jeff reached his office and for the first time in his life, his mind was a complete mess. Is JoAnna OK? Where is she? How did she end up in such a state? Didn't he tell her not to go anywhere without bodyguards? Millions of questions clouded his mind, but there were no answers. With every question his panic was rising. It all lasted only few seconds, but to him it seemed like forever.

"Boss? What happened?", Steve's voice pulled him to reality.

Jeff handed him his phone with JoAnna's photo showing.

Steve widened his eyes when he realized what he is looking at. "Miss Hill… Bridgette is with her. She said that after lunch they will go to your future home to take some measurements." He pulled his phone with intention to call Bridgette.

"Don't." Jeff held Steve's hand. "We don't know the situation. Call Sarah and Aiden, see where they are and send a helicopter to get them…" He remembered that they can track each other with rings. "Wait…"

Jeff launched app on his phone and saw that Sarah and Aiden are at their cliffside house. He was upset that they are not in office, but there was a hint of relief that they are close, and it should not take long for them to arrive. "Send helicopter here…", Jeff texted address to Steve and called Aiden.

Jeff's heart almost stopped when he realized that JoAnna is not in the villa, where she should be.

~ Los Angeles, Cliffside house ~

Sarah and Aiden are in the room they designated as their computer-work room. They agreed that Sarah will set up this room, and she is explaining him her plan.

"This wall we will fill up with screens. Huge touch screens. It will look impressive… I will run cables inside walls… Our desks will face that wall… On this side will be storage with cooling for servers… And here… Your phone is ringing…"

Aiden took his phone and saw it's Jeff. "Yes?" Aiden frowned and looked at Sarah. "OK. OK. We will be ready."

"What is going on?" Sarah immediately got anxious when she saw Aiden's expression.

"Anna was… kidnapped. Jeff is sending a helicopter."

Sarah inhaled sharply. "Kidnapped? By whom? Don't tell me it's that Regina…"

"He does not know. He just got a photo of her tied up. We need to find out who took her and why."

Sarah was already on her phone, looking up JoAnna's location. "She is in Los Angeles."

"Jeff said that she was with Bridgette in the villa they are planning to buy."

"Well, Anna is not there now. Villa is somewhere here…", Sarah pointed at the map. "This puts Anna about fifteen miles North… Let's get our stuff and wait for the helicopter outside…"

~ Los Angeles, White corp. HQ ~

Sarah rushed into Jeff's office. "Any updates?"

Jeff shook his head and watched as Aiden closed the door behind them. "I'm controlling myself to find out the details before going there."

Sarah nodded in approval while unlocking her laptop. "Good decision. If we just rush there without knowing what we are facing, we might put her in greater danger."

Jeff took a deep breath before asking. "Did you find anything so far?"

Sarah put her laptop on the desk and started opening files. "We pulled security footage. It's available only on the outside, so we don't know what happened inside. We can see Anna and Bridgette arriving at the villa and about ten minutes later, three more cars parked outside, one entered. From three cars outside, ten people walked out, we assume that they took care of the bodyguards, because about ten minutes later you can see them hopping off, like they jumped from the wall and went back into the cars. Less than fifteen minutes after arrival, that one car left, and others followed. Anna's location tracing history is consistent with these… she was in the car that left the property." Sarah glanced at Steve. "Bridgette is still there. I believe that no kidnapper was left in the villa. They came there just to get Anna."