On the seventh day after my daughter goes missing, I kidnap an entire kindergarten. I lock away all 27 students and two teachers in a classroom.

I tell the police that if they can't find my daughter, I will kill a kid every 30 minutes.

The principal falls to her knees, wailing and begging, "It's not my fault that your daughter is missing. Why should other children pay for it?"

I glance at my watch. "29 minutes left. Find her."

I know she's in this kindergarten.

Five minutes earlier, the principal had been brazen and defiant. I leaned against the door while the children inside the classroom continued to play, completely unaware of my presence. Only the two female teachers watched me with fear in their eyes.

Outside, the principal kept pounding on the door, snapping, "What are you trying to do? Your daughter's disappearance has nothing to do with me! Open up, school's almost over!"

I frowned, took an assembled firearm from my pocket, and fired once over her head without a word.

The principal went silent at once and took two shaky steps back. "Are… Are you serious? I'm telling you, this is against the law. I'll call the police! You're going to get shot for kidnapping children, you know that?"

I let out a cold laugh as I ran a finger along the gun. "Go ahead and call them. You're in no position to talk to me."

Five minutes later, sirens wailed outside. A calm male voice called through the door. I recognized him. He was William Turner from the local precinct.

He tried reason and sympathy. "Lilian, please calm down. We are investigating your daughter's disappearance with everything we've got. Release the children, and we can talk this through, okay?"

I tightened my grip on the gun and felt a bitter smile tug at my lips. It had been seven days since my daughter vanished without a trace. What could we possibly talk about now, how many years I have to spend behind bars?

I yelled back at him, "I want to see my daughter. If I don't see her in half an hour, you'll start seeing these children's bodies!"

The yard had already been cordoned off, and parents who heard the news had gathered outside the line, weeping. Worried that I might hurt the hostages, the police had to both keep watch on me and hold back the crowd.

William was sweating. This matter was beyond his jurisdiction. The detectives and SWAT would arrive soon.

For now, he needed to calm me down. "Ms. Brown, we understand how you feel, but the children are innocent. You're their teacher. How could you hurt them?"

I regretted taking a job at this kindergarten. It was the worst mistake I had ever made. If I hadn't taken it, my daughter wouldn't be missing.

I checked the time and answered coldly, "There are 28 minutes left. You don't want any casualties, do you?"

William panicked. "We've already thrown every resource at the search, but you can't expect us to find someone in half an hour."

I roared, "I already told you. She never left this kindergarten! Find her!"

Rainbow Academy was a small private preschool with three two-story buildings. It had two small playgrounds, one in front and one in back, for the children to run around.

On the day my daughter, Evelyn Baker, disappeared, I turned the place inside out and still found no trace of her. I asked the principal to retrieve the surveillance footage, and she said the cameras were out of order.

I didn't believe in coincidences. I suspected the principal was involved.

So, I snuck into the monitoring room and watched the tapes repeatedly until I was certain that Evelyn had never left the kindergarten. But where in the building could she be? I couldn't make sense of it.

William tried to soothe me from outside the door. "We've sent teams to search. Trust the police."

I knew he didn't believe me, and the officers who had already searched the place earlier had reported no sign of her. The crowd outside swung between outrage and pleading, their shouts grinding on my nerves.

"We have nothing to do with your child's disappearance. Kidnap the principal if you dare. What's kidnapping children supposed to accomplish?" someone yelled.

Another parent fell to her knees, sobbing into her hands, "Please let my daughter go. She's timid, and her body's weak. I'm begging you…"

The crowd grew louder, calling for the police to shoot me.

I raised a megaphone and made sure everyone could hear. "I don't want to kill. I only want to know where my daughter is."

I glanced at my watch. There were 25 minutes left. The detectives and SWAT had arrived. The snipers might already be in position, too.

I inhaled deeply and said to the principal, "Ms. Campbell, I'm sure you know where my daughter is, right?"

All eyes swung to where the principal stood in the corner. She gritted her teeth and shot back, "How would I know? Ms. Brown, don't accuse me.

"Maybe your daughter ran away. Maybe she went to look for her dad…"

Then, as if remembering something, she blurted, "Isn't her dad a convict? He should be out of prison by now. I bet he took your daughter!"

"Absolutely not!" The words burst out of me before I even realized it.

William hurried to add, "We've already tried to get in touch with her dad, Lucas, but we haven't been able to reach him. Ms. Brown, we'll find your daughter, I promise you that. Just let the kids go first.

"I give you my word, we'll do everything we can. But if you keep going like this, how are you going to face her when we find her? Do you want her to know both her parents are criminals?"

For a split second, his words rattled me. That was when a small red rubber ball wobbled across the floor and rolled to my feet. A little girl called out, "Ms. Brown, can you pass it back to me?"

I steadied myself and tossed the ball back gently.

The children still had no idea what was really happening. They were still innocent, playful, untouched by the weight of the moment. Could my daughter still laugh and play like that? I couldn't bear to imagine.

I glanced at the clock and raised my voice toward the door. "18 minutes left. Do you have anything yet?"

…

Negotiations had failed. William exhaled heavily as his colleagues took their positions. A crisis team from the provincial bureau had arrived, including a trained negotiator.

The case had already drawn the whole city's attention. Reporters and livestreamers swarmed outside the cordoned-off area like vultures catching the scent of the blood.

Orders from above were clear. Not a single child was to be harmed. If necessary, Lilian could be taken out.

However, William still held onto a sliver of hope. He didn't think this matter was that serious yet. From years of experience, he didn't see a hardened criminal in Lilian.

She looked more like a mom who had lost her daughter and been driven past the edge. "Have we pulled the footage yet? Did the girl ever leave the school?"

A technician replied, "We managed to restore the deleted files. There's no sign of Evelyn leaving the premises."

William sank into deep thought. Could it be true? Was Evelyn still somewhere inside this kindergarten? Where could she be?

They had already searched every classroom, every office, the kitchen, and the principal's room. There was nowhere left to hide.

Teams swept the grounds again, combing every corner, but came back empty-handed.

William's colleague, Steven Sawyer, snapped. "This makes no sense! What, did the kid grow wings and fly out? We've got cameras covering every inch of this place. There are no blind spots!"

William's mind jolted with sudden clarity. "What about the bathrooms? There aren't cameras in there. Search the bathrooms!"

The preschool's bathrooms were inside the building, and the last place Evelyn had been seen was in Class B, the very room where Lilian now held her hostages.

Lilian's voice cut through the air again. "15 minutes left. What are you, idiots? You can't even find a child."

I leaned against the wall and sneered, "You tore apart a junkyard looking for a rich man's lost watch, but when it came to a living child who had been missing for seven days, there were no leads?"

William fell silent at my accusation. "Ms. Brown, maybe your daughter is still nearby," he said.

For a moment, I couldn't process the suggestion. My daughter had last been seen here. I had searched every cupboard, the bathrooms, and every corner, but there was no sign of her.

"The cameras cover everything except the restrooms. We suspect she was taken through the restrooms. Ms. Brown, give yourself up. The police will get to the truth," William said.

The restroom. I replayed the layout in my head. The kindergarten's bathroom wasn't split by gender. It had only two tiny stalls and a small exhaust fan.

I looked toward the restrooms and couldn't help but feel that something about the fan was nagging at me. However, I couldn't put my finger on what was strange.

I licked my dry lips. "Ten minutes left. I want results. If you can't find my daughter, they all die with her."

William closed his eyes. The detectives signaled the snipers behind. If there was a chance, they could shoot.

"If my daughter were taken through the bathroom, there must be a secret passage linking it to the outside. Dear officers, I hope you find it soon. Even if you arrest me afterward, it will have been worth it," I said.

I had suspected that my daughter was taken through the bathroom from the start. A secret door would have left traces. I was just an ordinary woman. I couldn't find it, so I left it to the experts.

I lowered my gaze. Everything was unfolding exactly as I had planned.

The seconds on the watch ticked on. I waved a little girl over. "Tina, do you want to play a game with me?"

Five minutes left. The police kept talking themselves hoarse; William talked himself hoarse.

"Ms. Brown, don't be hasty. The entire city's force is mobilized for this. Not just us, kind people are helping, too. If you stand down now, your daughter will still be able to see her mom!"

"One minute left. Looks like you haven't found my daughter." With that, I drew back the curtain, used the little girl's body as a shield, and slit her throat with a knife.

The child made no sound. Her head went limp. The clean window glass turned red from the spray of blood.

I stepped back and, with a voice as calm as ice, announced over a loudspeaker, "The first child is dead. You're too slow."

The parents outside screamed and wept. It all happened so fast that no one saw who I had taken with me.

My back was slick with cold sweat. I knew the snipers had me in their sights even though I was hiding behind the wall.

William flung his megaphone and shouted, "You monster! I don't care what pain drove you here. You shouldn't have murdered innocent children! You're surrounded. Surrender now!"

He resorted to force when he couldn't reason with me, but I showed no panic.

"Officer, I rigged the kindergarten with explosives. If you want to avoid a massacre, hurry. I swear, if you find my daughter, I'll surrender immediately. I won't harm anyone else."

…

The moment William heard of the explosives, he almost fainted. Nobody was going to gamble on a madwoman's bluff. Even if they shot Lilian, she might set it off at the very last moment.

"Who is she? How does a woman who can get her hands on weapons and ammunition end up working as a preschool teacher?" someone muttered.

"She was a doctoral student in munitions engineering. After her husband went to prison, she came home and took a job at the kindergarten," another answered.

William asked, "Why did her husband go to prison?"

"Accidental homicide. He got out seven days ago and is missing now," someone answered.

It had been seven days since Lucas Baker's release—and seven days since his daughter disappeared. The coincidence landed like a weight in the room. Did he actually kidnap his own daughter?

Whether it was Lucas or not, they had to find both Lucas and Evelyn. There was no time for them to overthink. A new half-hour countdown began.

Then, the team searching the adjacent restroom came with good news. He exclaimed excitedly, "There's a hidden passage in the bathroom! And there's a child in there."

William looked up and saw a colleague carrying a child out of the restroom, clutching a ripped pink smartwatch. His eyes zeroed in on a detail: the recovered watch matched Evelyn's.

The crowd screamed. William wrapped his coat around Evelyn and shouted at me, "Lilian, you can let them go now. Your daughter has been found!"

I peered through the peephole. The child, bundled in the officer's jacket, hung one arm limply, and on that wrist was the pink smartwatch I had bought for Evelyn.

My heart pounded so hard I wanted to bolt. My hand reached for the doorknob when a message buzzed across my phone. I read it and calmed myself.