When Walter walked through the door after work, the first thing he heard was the piercing cry of his baby son, Logan. His wife, Abby, slumped in the kitchen, looking utterly defeated. She had clearly been trying to soothe their crying baby for what seemed like forever.
Walter wrapped his arms around her from behind. “How long has he been crying?” he asked softly.
“I’ve tried everything,” Abby cried. “He’s fed, changed, bathed, and burped. I even checked his temperature! I don’t know what else to do. He just won’t stop.”
Since they had become parents a month ago, their lives had been turned upside down. Nothing upset Walter more than hearing Logan cry like this.
“We’ll figure it out together,” he said, leading Abby to the nursery.
Walter approached the crib with a hopeful smile, but what he saw inside shocked him—there was no baby. Instead, a dictaphone was playing a recording of Logan’s cries. Next to it was a note. Walter quickly stopped the recording, his hands trembling as he picked up the note.
“What’s going on?” Abby asked, her voice trembling as she saw Walter’s horrified expression. She grabbed the note from him and read aloud:
“I warned you. You’ll regret being rude to me. If you want to see your baby again, leave $200,000 in the lockers near the pier. If you go to the police, you’ll never see him again.”
Abby gasped, her face going pale. “What does this mean? Who would kidnap Logan? Did we offend someone?”
Walter suddenly remembered the janitor at the hospital. A few days after Logan was born, he had argued with the janitor after the man accidentally knocked over a gift Walter had brought for Abby. Angry, Walter had insulted him. The janitor had said, “You’ll regret it!”
“We need to call the police,” Walter said urgently, his heart racing. “I’m sure it’s him.”
“But the note says we’ll never see Logan again if we do that,” Abby argued. “We should just pay the ransom!”
“We can’t trust him,” Walter insisted. “He wouldn’t know if we went to the police. Besides, they could catch him before anything happens to Logan.”
Abby reluctantly agreed, and they headed to the police station. But just as they parked outside, Walter’s phone buzzed. It was a text message:
“This is your final warning. If you enter that police station, your son’s going into the bay. Deliver the money as instructed.”
Abby’s face crumpled in fear, and Walter scanned the area, realizing they were being watched. He decided they had no choice but to pay the ransom. But before heading to the bank, Abby’s nausea worsened, so Walter took her home first.
After dropping Abby off, Walter withdrew the money and drove to the pier’s locker. He placed the ransom inside and then parked nearby, watching the crowd. Soon, he spotted the janitor approaching the locker. But just as Walter prepared to confront him, a group of tourists blocked his view. When they finally moved, the janitor had disappeared.
Panicked, Walter searched the area until he saw the janitor again, this time carrying the bag of money. Walter followed him, waiting for the right moment. When the janitor stopped at another set of lockers, Walter charged, slamming him against the metal doors.
“Where’s my son?” Walter demanded, his voice trembling with rage.
The janitor, terrified, stammered, “I don’t know anything about your son! I was just paid to collect the package and drop it off here. I swear!”
Seeing the fear in the janitor’s eyes, Walter realized he was telling the truth. He opened the locker, but it was empty. Someone had cut a hole in the back to steal the money.
Walter’s heart sank. How could he tell Abby that their baby was still missing? The fear that Logan might never come home was overwhelming. But when he returned home, he was met with another shocking discovery—Abby was gone. Her belongings were missing, and she wasn’t answering her phone.
At first, Walter feared Abby had been kidnapped too. But the more he thought about it, the more the pieces fell into place. Abby had insisted on paying the ransom and had rushed home after feeling sick. Slowly, the horrifying truth dawned on him: Abby was behind Logan’s kidnapping.
Desperate, Walter came up with a plan. He approached a doctor at the hospital where Logan was born and paid him to make a fake phone call to Abby, saying Logan needed urgent medical attention due to a rare genetic condition. The trick worked, and the doctor informed Walter that Abby would bring Logan to the hospital.
The next day, Walter watched from a distance as Abby arrived at the hospital with his brother, James, holding Logan. The police were ready. As soon as they stepped inside, officers surrounded them.
“You’re under arrest for kidnapping,” an FBI agent announced, taking Abby and James into custody. Abby screamed that Logan was sick, but Walter stepped forward and said coldly, “Logan’s fine. And he’s coming home with me.”
As Abby was led away in handcuffs, she spat out a final bombshell. “Logan’s not even yours! He’s James’ son!”
Walter froze, the weight of her words crashing down on him. His brother couldn’t even look him in the eye. The betrayal stung, but none of that mattered now. He had Logan in his arms, and he wasn’t about to let him go.
“I’ll adopt him if I have to,” Walter declared firmly. “He’s my son, and I’ll raise him, no matter what.”
With that, Walter walked out of the hospital, determined to give Logan the life he deserved.
