When Walter came home from work, he was greeted by the sound of his baby son’s loud, piercing cries. His wife, Abby, sat in the kitchen, looking completely defeated. Her face showed how exhausted she was from trying to calm their crying baby.
Walter wrapped his arms around her from behind, trying to comfort her. “How long has he been crying?” he asked softly.
“I’ve tried everything, Walter,” Abby sobbed. “He’s been fed, changed, bathed, and burped. I even checked his temperature! I don’t know what else to do. He just won’t stop crying.”
Since becoming parents a month ago, their lives had been turned upside down. Hearing Logan cry like this was the worst thing for Walter.
“We’ll figure it out together,” Walter said, trying to sound reassuring, and led Abby to the nursery.
Walter approached the crib with a hopeful smile, but what he found inside stunned him—there was no baby. Instead, a dictaphone was playing a recording of Logan’s cries. Next to it was a note. He pressed the stop button to silence the cries and picked up the note with trembling hands.
“What’s going on?” Abby asked, her voice shaky as she saw the look of horror on Walter’s face. She grabbed the note and read it 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 turning pale. “What does this mean? Who would kidnap Logan? Did we upset someone?”
Walter suddenly remembered the janitor from the hospital. A few days after Logan’s birth, Walter had gotten into a heated argument with him when he accidentally knocked over a gift Walter had brought for Abby. In his anger, Walter had insulted the janitor. He recalled the janitor’s words: “You’ll regret it!”
“We need to call the police,” Walter said urgently, his heart pounding. “I’m sure it’s him.”
“But the note says we’ll never see Logan again if we do that,” Abby protested. “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.”
Reluctantly, Abby agreed, and they headed to the police station. But as they parked outside, Walter’s phone buzzed with 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 with fear. Walter scanned the area, realizing they were being watched. He decided their only option was to pay the ransom. But before heading to the bank, Abby’s nausea worsened, so Walter took her home first.
After dropping her off, Walter withdrew the money and drove to the locker at the pier, placing the ransom inside as instructed. He then parked nearby and waited, his eyes scanning the crowd. Soon, he saw the janitor approaching the locker. But just as Walter prepared to confront him, a group of tourists blocked his view. By the time they moved, the janitor had vanished.
Frantic, Walter searched the area. After a tense few moments, he spotted the janitor again, this time carrying the bag of money. Walter followed him, waiting for the right moment. When the janitor paused at another set of lockers, Walter pounced, slamming him against the metal doors.
“Where’s my son?” Walter demanded, his voice shaking with fury.
The janitor, terrified, stammered, “I don’t know anything about your son! I was 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 would he tell Abby that their baby was still missing? Worse, he now feared Logan might never come home. When he returned home, he faced another shock—Abby was gone. Her belongings were missing, and she wasn’t answering her phone.
At first, Walter feared she had been kidnapped too. But as he thought it over, the pieces started to fall into place. Abby had insisted on paying the ransom and had rushed home after feeling sick. Slowly, the awful truth hit 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, claiming Logan needed urgent medical attention due to a rare genetic condition. The ruse 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 younger 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 as they took 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 one final shocker. “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 was painful, 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.
