Three bodies lay scattered on the ground—one from the orphanage, the other two unfamiliar faces. It seemed the killer had brought them in for reasons unknown.
Not finding Steven among the bodies, Joel and I both breathed a sigh of relief.
"They're human traffickers," Joel stated, glancing at the two unidentified bodies.
I was surprised as I asked, "How did you figure that out?"
"Take a look at this tattoo." Joel pointed to a cross behind one of the human traffickers' ears.
"In the dismemberment case, we found fragments of the same tattoo missing behind the victims' ears too." Joel frowned, surveying the surroundings. "Steve will be okay. Let's hurry up and leave this place."
I glanced around frantically.
Steven, please stay safe.
"Is this the only way to the 17th floor?" I nervously asked Joel.
"For now, it's the only route I've found. But, I'm not sure if it's the only one," Joel replied, shaking his head.
Steven might have taken a different path to the 17th floor.
All I could do was hope and pray that Steven was safe.
…
17th floor.
Michael and Yasmin had been waiting in the center of the open floor.
Michael had returned to his previous cold demeanor, standing beside Yasmin, as if he hadn't been the one to save me last night.
To be honest, I started to wonder if it was all just a hallucination from carbon monoxide poisoning.
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