Appearances and Terror

Timothy Barrett was a man on edge. Seeing Luna missing from her seat in a place where his children were was giving him heart palpitations. Why had he allowed the mayor to bring the woman? He understood that it was his daughter but how much could the man turn a blind eye to? Tim knew she was up to no good. There was just no other reason for her to be missing right now when their hands would be tied.

The only question was how bad would it be? The police were likely already sitting outside the property waiting to act. Timothy could only hope that the situation would not get any worse. He glanced across the space and saw Mia's tight jaw and stiff posture and hated that she was under such stress. If he couldn't protect her and his children what was the point of him?

The bride and groom were exchanging vows, and their words were heartfelt, endearing, and truly beautiful. But Tim struggled to focus on their words with the knowledge that a psychopath was loose on the grounds. Timothy looked across the faces in the seats and his eyes were drawn to Shelly. He could see the dark bruise on her cheek from where he stood. Timothy had not given his cousin such a rich marriage contract to see her be abused.

Timothy would rather allow her to divorce and keep the contract than see her abused. She was still a Barrett, and he would not stand for it. Nolan needed to learn this lesson fast. It had killed him to allow Nicholas to get away with his slip up, but he understood that Nicholas had done nothing but good to that point and was allowed one accident. Nolan's history itself was a strike against him that negated any do overs.

The officiant declared Caleb and Jasmine to be husband and wife. The pair kissed much to the cheers and applause of the crowd. The married couple was presented as, Mr. And Mrs. Winters and they stood for a moment and then headed down the aisle. Timothy took Mia's hand and they followed. Timothy signaled four of the dozen guards that he had on this part of the wedding site, and they fell in step behind him.

When they got past the wall of foliage that had protected the bride from view. Timothy stopped and addressed the guards. "Take Mr. Nolan to my study and keep him there." He saw Nolan then trying to sneak off alone without his wife and pointed him out. The guards surrounded him a moment later and the man looked incredibly worried and put out at the same time. Nolan was then escorted past everyone who gawked at the spectacle that the escort caused.

A minute later as Mia and Tim looked around for Luna a guard that had been sent with Nolan came racing up to them. Mia had asked Laura to see to the bride and groom while they were busy with the business of Luna. Mia worried about the stress on her grandmother's heart, so she sent her to deal with the party and made sure that no one knew something was off behind the scenes.

When the guard spoke Mia's heart froze inside her chest and Tim sucked a hard breath as the terror of the situation hit him. There were three unconscious people in the house, one deceased person and the children were missing. Tim and Mia raced to the house to find that Chef May, Angela, and a bodyguard were all unconscious but one older bodyguard was dead. There was no sign of the twins. The only clues to this mystery were the drink glasses that were in the sitting room and kitchen.

Tim and Mia headed to the service hub but quickly noted that all the servers were doing their jobs at cocktail hour. Tim grabbed a cigarette from a pack left on a post and went back into the bushes to smoke it. He just needed to calm his nerves a little, three drags or maybe twenty seconds to cope with his terror. His children were missing, and he didn't know how long they had left or if they even were still alive. He took a couple quick drags, seeing Mia so frantic it made him worry for her and his unborn child's health as well.

Timothy pulled out his phone to open the tracking application and see where his children were. He went to step away from the bushed and his foot knocked into something. He looked down and he realized he had kicked a shoe, and that shoe was connected to a leg. Connected to that leg were the blank eyes of a dead woman staring straight at him. Tim could see the blood on the woman's white blouse. That was now two dead, plus three unconscious, and two missing four-year-olds.

Timothy pulled Mia into his arms as she stared into the eyes of the dead woman. "It will be alright Mia." Tim tried soothe his wife.

"She is killing indiscriminately now Timothy. Luna will kill our children." Mia cried a sob breaking free before Mia clamped down on the impulse the back of her hand to her mouth.

"The tracker says that the children are still on the property. I am calling the police in here and we will find them right now. They have been gone less than thirty minutes. We will find them." Timothy vowed to his wife.

Tim called Detective Gill and told him that the woman Luna had disappeared maybe forty minutes ago and in that time three people had fallen unconscious, two people were murdered, and his two four-year-old children had been taken.

These children were officially claimed heirs and therefore afforded priority by the law over all other issues. Tim said he needed the police to come in quietly and help him search the grounds for the children because he had a tracking chip on the children. It said they were still on the property. A few minutes later seven smartly dressed men came through the gate and they devised a plan for the search.