The rain had stopped, but the storm within Amira had only just begun.
They sat in David's living room, the lights dimmed, the silence heavy. Amira clutched the sketchbook, fingers tracing over the drawing of the faceless man beside Rihanna.
She remembered now.
Bits and pieces.
A tall man, always wearing black. A polished silver ring that glinted every time he touched the brim of his hat.
He never spoke much.
But his presence filled every room like a shadow that refused to leave.
David pulled out his laptop and began searching through local police reports and missing person cases, matching the description of the man.
He zoomed in on a cold case from ten years ago. A private investigator had gone missing while looking into a child trafficking network. The lead suspect was a man known only by an alias "Mr. Sterling."
"Sterling?," Amira whispered. "It can't be a coincidence."
David kept scrolling. A blurred CCTV image showed a man outside a train station tall, coat to his knees, hand raised with a flash of silver on his finger.
And beside him…
A girl with a backpack.
Kaira.
Amira stared at the screen. "That's her. That's my niece."
"She's alive," David said. "But if he's involved in trafficking or worse... we don't have time."
They made a plan.
They would visit an old friend of Rihanna's, someone who had once worked with a youth protection NGO. Maybe she knew more about this so-called Mr. Sterling.
Her name: Adaobi Umeh.
Adaobi lived in a quiet compound on the mainland. When she opened the door, her face paled at the sight of Amira.
"I thought you were dead," Adaobi whispered.
Amira blinked. "What?"
"After what happened with your sister, we thought he might come after you too."
"You knew about him?" Amira demanded.
Adaobi nodded slowly. "Everyone in our circle did. But no one could prove who he really was. He was a ghost."
"And now he has my niece."
Adaobi stepped aside. "Then you're already on his radar."
She opened a drawer and brought out a file marked "Sterling, F. — 2004–Present."
Inside were names, Photos, Warnings, Rumors.
"Whatever you do," she said, voice shaking, "don't go to the police. He has people everywhere. If you want your niece back, you'll have to fight dirty."
Just then, a rock crashed through Adaobi's window.
Amira screamed.
David rushed to the front porch and looked outside, no one.
But on the rock was a note.
"Too late. The game has already begun."
Attached to it…
Was a lock of Kaira's hair.
Amira's knees buckled.
David caught her just before she fell.
And in his chest, his heart pounded with rage.
This was no longer just about second chances.
This was war.