CHAPTER 21

TIN

"I want to kill someone, so bad." is the first sentence I told Ten the moment I entered his house.

He sighs and says, "Just sit down first."

Tonight is the family dinner and since last night, Vel has been avoiding me. When I tried to call him last night he said he is with his family and will call me after he is alone, but he ended up not calling me. This morning he apologized for not calling me because he overslept, but when I asked him to have lunch with me he refused and said he was planning to meet his nephew before he and his family came to our family dinner.

I can't believe this! Just yesterday morning I still woke up beside him, and had him in my arms. How did everything turn out to be like this in less than 24 hours? It's all thanks to that bastard Chen.

"I woke up this morning and it took me a few seconds to realize that Vel is not beside me and I have morning wood too. My life becomes this sucks thanks to Chen and I want nothing more than to kill him and chop him to pieces." I ended my rant to Ten with that sentence.

"I'm just thankful Michael is not here to hear you say that." said Ten.

"Where is he anyway?"

"He has a gig at some school reunion, I have to pick him up in an hour so either you are here to complain about your love life or talking about how we will frame another person for your crime, we have to do it fast."

I sigh loudly "I really can't concentrate on anything else right now, I need Vel beside me or I'll really kill somebody."

Ten narrowing his eyes and looking at me intently.

"What?"

"Who are you? Are you really the Tin I know?"

I grunting loudly realizing, even though Ten said that in a joking manner, I know he is right. I'm not my usual self right now. I never lose focus on important matters, I never barge inside Ten's house and talk loudly about murdering someone without checking if his clueless husband is home or not. I'm becoming reckless and I totally realize, it's not Chen's fault. It was Vel's fault, how can he make me become so dependent on him? I'm becoming a mess just because he's not beside me.

"Did you check where he is right now?" Ten ask.

"I did." I pulled out my phone and opened the tracking app "He's been home the whole day."

I put my phone on the table and it shows Vel's location exactly at his own home.

"Well, at least he's not lying."

"Is that even a good thing? He is clearly avoiding me, this is really annoying!"

Ten look at me with an amazed look then start laughing.

"Why are you laughing?"

He tried to stop his own laugh and said "Sorry, sorry, but really, I'm still amazed how Vel in less than a month can do things that I can't achieve in all these years. Here I say, you are done, you will never be able to live without him from now on."

I look at Ten with an annoyed face "And you think that's funny?"

"I'm not laughing because it's funny, I laugh because I'm happy, because Vel you become more and more like a human now."

I want to deny that but I also know he is not completely wrong. I start feeling things that I didn't feel before. This gut punch I keep feeling on my chest that I never felt before... Is it the feeling of what Ten called 'being human'?

He looks at me with an annoying smile on his face " I think, instead of trying to escape his suspicion, you should start thinking about telling him the truth. or about how he will react if he ever finds out about the real you. You are planning to build a family with him, you can't keep this thing hidden from him forever, not from a person as smart as him."

"You can keep things hidden from your husband."

Ten chuckle "You can't compare my husband with Vel, Michael is not as smart as Vel, and I didn't kill and chop people to pieces twice a week, all I did was helping you get your target. And I do think about telling him the truth, but I never can do that without bringing you along with me because you are the main character in this story, not me."

I didn't answer him because for once, I really thought about his words. All the time I know him, Vel never shows any hatred towards 'the thumb collector'. All he has is curiosity. He never condemned my killing and even said that what I did was somewhat necessary in our society, so is telling him really a good option? Will he even accept me if he ever finds out that I am the thumb collector?

"Ah! he's moving!" Ten suddenly pointing at my phone on the table.

I quickly looked at my phone too. Vel is finally moving, he moves at a fast pace leaving his house. He must be in his car going somewhere, but where?

VEL

I can't just stay in the house much longer, I have to use my brain somewhere else. I can't tell my real problem to my family, they were too excited for our family dinner tonight. I can't possibly tell them that I suspect my perfect future husband as a serial killer.

I already met my little nephew. My brother together with his husband and son have already arrived at the main mansion since early in the morning. My nephew is a carbon copy of my brother but with a sweet smile like his papa. He's so little and can barely do anything. After spending some time trying to play with a 3-month- old baby, I made an excuse to leave the house.

Thankfully my parents were in a very joyful mood, they just accepted my lame excuse that I need to go to the salon to get a haircut. They didn't let me go out alone though, they sent two bodyguards to come with me. This is not good because I obviously do not really want to go to the salon.

In reality I actually wanted to meet Ping. I can't keep making assumptions and suspecting Tin without any real evidence. Talking with Ping about this case at least will make my brain go somewhere. I can't just stay in my house and miss Tin while also using all of my might to avoid him. It's just too stressful.

Now I have to find a way to get myself away from these bodyguards. One of them is driving my car while the other is sitting beside the driver. Both are Alphas with big and tall posture. Anyone will be scared just by looking at them. I sit alone on the passenger seat, looking into their mind to find something that I can probably use to get away from them.

"It's almost lunch time," said the driver in his mind "I want to eat pizza."

"Humberger will be good for lunch." said the other bodyguards in his mind.

Seriously, these two are so in sync, they think about food while they are on duty. But I can totally use this.

"It's almost lunch time, why don't we have lunch before we go to the salon? I will be there for a long time, I don't want the both of you to starve." I ask them.

Both look surprised. They look at each other contemplating whether it's allowed or not.

"We can have fast food so we won't stop for too long, maybe a burger will be good."

I know the one who sits beside the driver is more senior and the driver will follow what he said. That's why I go with his choice of food.

They look at each other again and the senior gives the driver a little nod. The driver then said "If that's what the young master wishes, I think we can stop at a nearby fast food restaurant."

"That will be great."

That is really great, now I just need to text Ping and tell him to pick me up there. I was just about to text Ping when the car suddenly stopped and my phone just flew away from my grip and landed somewhere under the driver seat. My face hit the back of the driver seat but I'm totally ok, except for the surprise.

"Are you ok, young master?" The driver asked me in a worried tone, if I get hurt because he suddenly hit the brake, he will lose his job for sure.

"I'm ok." I answer "Why suddenly stop?"

I look out to see what happened on the road in front of us. Someone stands in the middle of the road waving his hands with a panicked face. By the side of the road we can see a brokedown car with its front cap wide open and smoke coming out of it.

We can hear him screaming "Help! Please help! My wife is about to give birth and our car broke down."

Which I can tell is a total lie. I can clearly see through his mind and there is no pregnant wife and his car has not broken down at all. His target is me, he is part of the group that was trying to kidnap Jade the other day.

My bodyguards being the kind people they are, about to open the car door ready to help.

"Don't open the door." I told both of my bodyguards hurriedly. "It's a trap."

Both of them immediately froze in place.

I scan my surroundings to see if there's any other people around us.

"Oh shit..." I murmur to myself.

I feel more than 10 people are hiding under the bushes and behind big trees around us. I can feel that they are ready to attack us from all directions the moment we come out from the car.

This road is never an empty road. These people must have been following us since we left the house. It is actually pretty impressive that they manage to somehow empty this road to do this. They can set up a road block due to maintenance or something like that to prevent other vehicles from passing through this road. I was the one who was so careless to not feel that some people were following us.

Both my bodyguards are ready to pull out their guns to fight all these people. I would feel absolutely safe if only I didn't know all these people also bring their own weapon, some are also firearms.

This is bad. If I let my bodyguards fight them first, these people will fight back for sure and a lot of people will get hurt or even dead. But we also can't just stay here forever without doing anything.

"Keep your gun, more people will come from all around us, some of them have guns too."

Both of them slowly keep their gun back, but their faces stay alert.

The person in front of us is still trying to get us out of the car with his act, which I have to applaud because it looks pretty convincing if only I can't see his mind. He stands right in front of our car making sure we can move away and run without hitting him.

"Why don't we just run over this person and get away from here." said the driver.

"No! If you do that you will kill him, no one will die today." I said quickly.

That person finally realized that we didn't give a damn about his acting and he dropped his acts all together. He then gives a signal to the people who are hiding around us. They come out all at once hoarding our car like a zombie trying to surround their prey. Some of them with a baseball bat start hitting the window trying to break it. Things escalate so quickly and my bodyguards see no reason to not pull out their guns.

"No, no! Don't shoot anyone!" I scream at them.

"With all due respect, sir, we were ordered to keep you safe by any means, we can't keep you safe without hurting anyone!" answer the senior bodyguard.

Damn! How can I subdue this situation? I read some of these people's minds and they all actually don't have any intention to hurt me, they really just want to talk to me. But they don't have any other way to get to me because I am surrounded by bodyguards. Well, their methods were wrong from the beginning, why were they trying to kidnap my sister? Why do this? They are probably not very smart, aren't they?

None of these people actually wanted to do any harm to me but if this situation keeps getting worse they will start shooting at each other, I can't let that happen. So I do the only thing I can think of to end this chaos.

I open the car door voluntarily. They all stop hitting the car the moment I open the door.

"Young master!" My driver with a panicked face tried to grab me back.

"No one needs to get hurt!" I said it loud enough so everyone could hear it, including my bodyguards.

I raised my hands as I very slowly stepped out of the car. My bodyguards with a frustrated face quickly get out of the car with guns in their hands. They shoot, we shoot to the air ordering everyone to step back. As an answer one of these people swing their bat to my bodyguard who shoots the gun and the others start beating them together. Some others pulled out their own gun, pointing it to my bodyguards ready to execute them.

I frantically scream "STOP! STOP! No one shoots any more guns, no one swings any more bats. No one gets any more hurt. I'm coming with you guys. So let them go, let everyone leave this place alive!"

I was right. None of these people are here to kill, they all lowered their guns and bats and stepped away from my beaten up bodyguards. Two of them took away my bodyguard's guns and threw them into the bushes. I guess they need to make sure my bodyguards don't shoot at them after they spare their lives.

A white fan comes out from behind the tall trees and stops in front of us. They tie my hands with cable ties and cover my face with black cloth. I almost can't see anything. Then they pull my hands to follow them into the van. I sit in the middle of the passenger seat with two people sitting on my right and on my left. I heard the van door getting closed and the van moving.

So this is how it feels to get kidnapped? It doesn't feel as scary as I thought. Is it because I've done a lot of kinky stuff with Tin? I chuckle to myself. I must be crazy am I? I get kidnapped, my hands are tied and I can't see anything but I'm thinking about sex instead.

TIN

"Why isn't he moving at all? It's almost an hour already."

I'm still at Ten house and we've been watching Vel's tracker since he left his house. About an hour ago he suddenly stopped at a random street and hasn't moved at all since.

"Should I check the CCTV around that area?" ask Ten.

"I think you should."

Ten got up from his seat to get his laptop from his working table when my phone suddenly rang. It was Vel's mom. I immediately took it.

"Hello, mom."

"Tin, are you at home?"

"Yes, I'm home right now, what happened?"

"I'm sorry to tell you, but I don't think we can have our family dinner tonight." I can hear she somehow sounds mutely hysterical when she said that, when she said the next line, she fully burst into crying. "My son has been kidnapped, some people took my Vel."

VEL

I was in that van for more than an hour when the van finally stopped. The engine is turned off and I can hear the van's door getting opened. Still with my hands tied and my head covered, someone pulled me out from the van. They bring me into a room and sit me in a bed before they finally take off my head cover.

I was in someone's house. This is probably their guest room, everything is white in this room, the bedsheet, the walls, even the furniture are white. I was kinda surprised, I thought when we get kidnapped the kidnappers will bring us to some abandoned warehouse or somewhere ugly and scary, but they actually bring me to a decent place.

A person stands before me, an male Alpha with a big posture and a scary face. His head is almost bald. He just stood there and looked at me. I see into his mind and the first thing he thought was:

"Isn't he too handsome to just become some police officer?"

I totally smile at his thought.

"First of all, thank you for saying that I'm too handsome." I said that out loud and I can see a surprised look on his face "Second of all, I'm not a police officer. I'm a profiler, a totally different job."

"You read my mind?"

I narrowed my eyes hearing his question "You guys literally kidnap me, yet you didn't even know I'm a telepath?"

"I know you are a telepath , but I thought telepaths need to have physical or eye contact to be able to read minds."

"Most telepaths do, but I'm not like most telepaths."

The person backing away like that will protect him from my mind reading.

"That really won't help much, I still can hear that you call me scary."

He then just stood still, he probably learned one or two things about telepaths, which is good, I don't really want to get kidnapped by some idiots who don't have any knowledge about the person they tried to kidnap. That will be too embarrassing for me when I tell my kidnapping story. This person manages to block his thoughts so I can freely read it.

"Good job!" I genuinely praised him "But the people outside, I still can read them, I know your name is Blue and the people outside are wondering what you said to me."

With an annoyed face he opened the door and told everyone who gathered outside to back away from the room, which they really did. After a few seconds they go far enough that I can read them anymore. Finally a silence.

The person then grabs a chair and sits in front of me. This person has a strong mind and put his guard strongly, so I really can't read him even after he sits so close to me. As expected from an Alpha.

"So, can we talk now?" he asked me in a formal manner.

"I don't really want to talk to anyone with my hands still tied up like this."

He smirk "We talk with your mouth, what's the need of your hands."

I don't answer him because like I said I don't want to talk with my hands tied.

"What? you really don't want to talk? Ok, then, you can stay here with your hands tied until you want to talk, I can wait as long as you want."

He leaned back on his chair and just sat there with both hands on his chest. I still didn't say anything.

"I thought you had your family dinner with your future partner tonight, don't you want to get back as fast as you can?"

Well, I applaud them for doing their research properly.

"Still don't want to talk? Ok, I'll leave you here until you want to talk." He then stood up from the chair and walked to the door.

I sighed loudly. This place is actually pretty cozy, so staying here for long won't be too bad, a little boring maybe but won't be too bad. Also, I am still not sure about Tin and the dinner getting postponed is actually a good thing.

But still, being tied up in a stranger's place like this is not my kind of thing. Turn up, unless for sex, I don't really like being tied. So I stand up, and push my tied hands as hard as I can to my chest. With just one try, I manage to free my hands.

Blue, who hasn't left the room yet, immediately turns. The horror in his face when he realized I'd freed myself was kinda funny.

"You are an Alpha, you should know that you need better tools to tie an Alpha." I commented while throwing the broken cable tie to the side of the bed.

He quickly pulled out the gun inside his jacket and pointed it to me.

I raised my hands and said "I'm free now, let's talk."

I sit back on the bed with my now free hands folded in front of my chest. He looked at me with a confused face, but then kept his gun back in his jacket and sat back on his chair.

"I know you guys have no intention to hurt me in any means."

"That is true, we just want to talk."

"About the thumb collector, right? because you guys are the family of his victims."

"That's right."

"Ok, here I want to say, I know you guys are pissed about a serial killer killing your family members but still trying to find him by yourself and do your own justice is not a good thing."

He looked surprised upon hearing my last sentence "You are right about everything else except for the last part."

Ok, I'm confused now "Which part?"

"We did want to find the thumb collector but we don't want to punish them or anything. We want to find them to help them and protect them."

I blink my eyes a few times like it will help me understand his words. I feel like I heard it wrong but at the same time I also know I don't hear it wrong.

"WHAT?!" is my proper reaction. What kind of nonsense did he just tell me?

TIN

Who are these people who think they have any right to kidnap my future husband on an important day like this? I immediately came to Vel's house with Ten after his mom called me. A bunch of police were already there. Even the Commissioner was there for a brief moment. He said he will hold a nationwide search to look for Vel.

I don't care what he said or what he did. Everybody should do anything they can to find Vel, ASAP.

Vel's mama and sister were crying all the time. While his mom and brother are trying to be cooperative and helping the police to give as much information as they can. The two bodyguards that go with him are at the hospital. Their wounds are not too serious and they will recover soon. As much as I care they should be dead for their failure.

Ten tried to pull out as much CCTV footage as he could to find Vel, but the kidnapper is smart enough to avoid CCTV and choose roads that have no CCTV. To make things worse, Vel left his phone in the car.

"How about the group chat? Do they say anything about where Vel is in there?" I ask Ten

"No, I've checked it, their chat has been silent since they attempted to kidnap Vel's sister."

"Can you track their location through their chats or something?"

"Already did. Their phone potions are all at their respective home. I think they did it without bringing their phones with them, maybe thinking the police can track them if they bring their phone."

I grunt in frustration. How are we going to find him now?

VEL

"What do you mean?" I still refuse to believe what I just heard "They kill your family member!"

Blue smiled at me "You must have grown up in a very loving family, your parents must be so protective over you that you never really see the ugly side of our society, right?"

I narrowed my eyes. Did this person just profiled me? That's my job. Nevertheless, he was kinda right.

"Explain to me then, why in the hell you want to help the person who killed your own family member?" I ask him.

He took a deep sigh then he started explaining.

"My brother, Black is one of the tumb's collector's victims. He was a big scumbag. He beat up his wife and children all the time, never working or doing anything to provide for his family. All he did was ask for money from our parents. My parents were too softhearted to him. because he was their youngest son, and they have hope for him to change. He never did."

"One night he was drunk driving to a slum, maybe looking for a hooker or something, I don't really know, but that night he hit a mother and her 5 months old baby. They both died instantly. He didn't even stop to look for them and just ran off in his car. Police arrested him two days later. But my parents do everything to get him out of jail. They bribe the police, they bribe the judge. My brother was sentenced as not guilty and free from jail."

"It wasn't his first time doing it. And every time, my parents always get him out. But he never changes, he never will. I feel bad for my parents, most of all, I feel bad for his wife and children. He beat them up everyday, sometimes for no particular reason. I want to help but what can I do? He knot his Omega wife, so it's impossible for them to get divorce. The only way for my parents and his wife to get free for him is if he's dead."

"Then one week after he was free from jail. He suddenly went missing. At first we thought he just went somewhere for a couple of days and would come back drunk as usual. But months go by. and years, and he still is not coming back. It's been three years, until finally the police call us telling us they found my brother's thumb as part of a serial killer's collection."

"For three years, my parents and his wife have been living in peace, but they still have fear that he will someday come back and ruin everything. That call for the police was the final string we needed to feel completely free and relieved. We finally know that he won't come back forever."

He finished his story but I don't know how I should react. I know these victims were all scumbags, the worst people in our society. But I always thought these people were still human, they got family and people who were sad for their death. And now these new facts are coming. Even their families are glad they are dead?

"You probably think he deserves that, but not all of the victims..."

"They were all the same." Blue cut my sentence midway "Everyone outside, everyone who is involved in this kidnapping, everyone are the family members of the thumb collector victims. We think the same."

I chuckled "That can be true right?"

"Aunty Yok, her son is the victim of the thumb collector, he was a scammer, and gambling addict. He scam alot of people, some even commit suicide because of his scam. Her son's victim always comes to her and blames her for what her son did. She was living in a nightmare until finally, someday his son just went missing and never came back."

"An's wife was a gambling addict. Her gambling addiction causes them to lose their home, their lands, basically everything they own. She turns to robbery when she runs out of money, she even kills people for money."

"Ok, I get it, they all are scumbag even for their families. but still, the thumb collector is a killer."

"Are they? For us, they are a savior. Because of them, we are safe, we are free, and finally we can move on with our lives. Even the law can't protect us from those scumbags, but they can."

I'm lost for words. I can't possibly deny their feelings with logic. And he was right. It's possible that I grew up in such a high and protected family that I can't understand their pain and suffering. I've been reminded about it over and over again these days.

"You guys should talk about this to the police, I mean, properly." I told them the most logical solution I can think of.

"We already did. We made a petition to the commissioner, to just close the case. Telling him how much we are all grateful for our family member's death. But he won't just listen, this case has become a political tool for him. To blame everything on the New Valuer while in fact it has nothing to do with any value."

"If you guys know that, then you must also know The Commissioner has no intention to catch the real thumb collector."

"We know that but we also want to make 100% sure that the thumb collector never gets caught."

"And you think I will help you with that?"

"We are not sure, but I know from some of your previous cases you always consider the reasons for the crime, you never see a criminal as a mere criminal, but as a human who does crimes for a particular reason. You might not really understand how our society really works and how life really is for most people, but, I believe you care. You want to understand."

That's a really heavy compliment after he accused me of living a comfortable and sheltered life my whole life. But again, he is not wrong. I do care. I always want to know the reason behind every act and for me that's what describes a person as a bad person or not.

"Ok, for the sake of simplicity, let's not talk any further about whether the thumb collector is a serial killer or savior. Yet, still, I can't help you much, because really I don't know who they are."

He smirks "We kinda can guess that, but we still believe you're the only person who has a clear idea about who he really is."

"Yes, I have a clear idea, but without any additional evidence that can lead me to them, I can't find who they really are."

"Don't worry we have it?"

"What do you have?"

"Additional evidence, we have it. We have a lot of evidence that will help you find out who they are, the evidence that we sure the police don't have."