Chapter 24 – May 25th 2022
"Are you OK?" Vicki whispered as she placed a hand on Lita's which was resting on Jeff and Dawn's large wooden dining table that they were all currently seated at.
Vicki's words had broken her out of her thoughts and as she did so her eyes focused on what was around her and who was around her. They were all here sitting at Dawn and Jeff's massive wooden dining table in the middle of Dawn and Jeff's beautiful house in Atlanta, Georgia, where Randy and Lita were still currently staying. Lita's eyes followed the faces around the room. There was Randy to her right, then Lillian, then Dave next to her and then a spare seat. On the other side of that spare seat there was Maria, Christian and then Vicki on Lita's immediate left.
When Lita's eyes fell on her best friend she smiled. She knew that Vicki was busy with her kids, Maggie and Phil, being on summer vacation at the moment and she was so grateful that Vicki was able to be here with her tonight. She was grateful that everyone was here tonight.
Lita finally answered Vicki's question with a simple nod. Vicki responded by squeezing the red head's hand before returning her hand to her own lap. Lita took a deep breath as she turned to face Randy on her other side.
"Where are Dawn and Hardy tonight?" Randy whispered to his wife as he moved closer to her and placed a small kiss on her forehead.
"They're visiting Dawn's sister up north for the weekend," Lita replied "They won't be back until Sunday night."
"What about Alle? I thought she was coming down from Sanford?" Randy asked.
"I told her not to bother coming all the way down just for this," Lita replied "I feel bad enough as it is that she's spending so much of her personal leave from work down here in Atlanta with us."
"How's she coping?" Randy asked seriously.
"I'm worried about her but she says she's fine," Lita replied honestly with a sigh "She's staying with a friend over the weekend in Sanford so I'm hoping that she takes that time to relax a little. Have you talked to John about it?"
Randy simply shook his head.
"Haven't had a chance yet," Randy replied "I think the fact that he and Alle are back together is helping both of them through it though."
Lita nodded.
"Fuck Hardy and Jersey have a nice house," John Cena commented as he finally entered the dining room, making a scene of himself of course, where everyone else was seated around the dining table.
"I know right?" Lita replied with a smile at John.
She was so greatful that John had flown down here from Sanford, where he was temporarily living with Alle Dumas. It was so good to know that her little sister had John back living with her, especially after her miscarriage. Lita knew the miscarriage had hit Alle hard. She had seen how Alle was with Heidi whilst Heidi was growing up and she knew that Alle so desperately wanted a child of her own. Lita was just so thankful that Cena had stuck around and forced his way back into Alle's life so they could both be there for each other right now.
"You would think with all the fighting those two do there'd be holes in the walls everywhere and shit," John replied with a wink in Lita's direction.
"Sit your stupid ass down Cena," Dave sighed, as he pulled out the vacant chair next to him and motioned for Cena to sit down.
"Thanks so much for coming tonight everyone," Lita suddenly spoke, addressing everyone infront of her "You have no idea how much it means to me and Rand to have you all here tonight cause I know some of you had a fair way to come."
"Nothing of it Li," Lillian replied with a big smile in the red head's direction "Nothing could be more important than being here for you and Randy."
"Especially when we knew that you needed us all here too," Maria added with a smile.
"Li and I have called you all here tonight because we have something we need to ask of you all," Randy spoke, getting straight down to business as he looked around the room full of curious faces.
"Man, like the girls just said, you know that we'd do anything for you two," Dave spoke out.
"For sure," Christian added.
"We can't imagine how hard a time you guys are having right now," Vicki added "So for sure we'd do anything to help you out."
"Absolutely," Lillian added.
"But if anyone isn't comfortable being here then please," Lita spoke, her gaze falling onto her lap "You don't have to be here. It's a strange thing to ask of all of you."
"For the hundreth time Li," Vicki replied "We all want to be here with you guys."
Lita simply nodded.
"What is it that you need?" John asked, trying to divert the attention back to Randy so he could continue with his story.
Randy nodded a thanks at Cena before he continued.
"Firstly we called you all here because Li and I have been going crazy analysing and re-analysing all the information we have about Heidi's disappearance," Randy continued "With all the interviews with the cops and detectives, and the video footage…"
"What video footage?" Vicki interrupted as soon as she heard the words out of Randy's mouth.
"You mean video footage from the arena Orton?" Dave asked.
Randy simply nodded. "And then we also have the phone recordings from the kidnappers and now a ransom," Randy continued.
"So, we called you all here because we need to talk about everything we know and hope that you all can help us try and get to the bottom of all of this," Lita continued on "Or at least help us see things in a different light or from a different perspective to know for sure if we have anything at all."
"How much is the ransom?" Lillian asked tentatively, not entirely sure if she herself wanted to hear the answer.
Lita turned to face the temporarily re-instated RAW ring announcer.
"11 million dollars," Lita replied.
"Christ!" John exclaimed in a hushed voice almost under his breath.
"Is that all these people want?!" Maria asked, the disgust evident in her voice "Something as stupid as money?!"
Randy turned to look at Lita before he spoke to the people in front of him.
"We don't think so," Randy answered honestly.
"What else do you think they want?" Vicki asked, this time it was evident in her voice that she was scared of the answer Randy was going to give.
"We think that these people are people whose paths we have crossed in the past," Lita answered simply "We think that we know these people."
"As in they've worked for the WWE?" Maria asked, searching for clarification as to exactly what Lita and Randy meant.
"Possibly," Randy answered "The security footage from the arena the night of Mania shows two of the three confirmed men we know are involved with Heidi's kidnapping."
"Could you see faces on the footage?" Christian asked.
Lita just shook her head.
"They were both dressed in black and had black balaclavas over their faces," Lita answered.
"How were they built?" Dave asked.
Randy turned to face The Animal and pointed a finger at him as he answered.
"One was built like you Dave," Randy answered "He was the first one that appeared on the footage. And the other was built like me."
"What about heights?" John asked.
"Both were over 6 foot for sure," Randy answered.
"What about the third one?" Maria asked, suddenly remembering that Lita and Randy had mentioned Heidi saying there were 3 men keeping her.
"There's no footage of what he looks like," Lita explained as she turned to face Maria "Or at least none from the arena that the detectives could show us."
"You think they're wrestlers?" Vicki enquired.
"I think so Vik," Randy answered "The way the first guy walks straight into my dressing room on the footage and the fact that they were able to get easy access into the building and backstage area the night of a pay per view. It makes sense that they're people who know the WWE."
"You think they're people that still work with us?" John asked, the anger building up slowly in his tone as the possibility crossed his mind that the men that took Heidi could be current co-workers of his.
"We don't know," Lita answered, calmly, hoping her tone would calm down John as well "We believe that they either still do, maybe they're on leave or are sidelined with an injury, or they used to work with us."
"I don't think I know of any of the guys that are sidelined right now," Christian commented turning his attention to Dave and John further down the group of people "You guys?"
"Nope," John replied "None that I know of."
"Isn't Jericho on leave right now?" Lillian asked, turning to face Christian.
"Yeah his wife just had another baby," Vicki added.
"Oo boy or a girl?" Maria asked.
"Girl," Lillian replied with a smile in Maria's direction "Her name's Sarah or Sonia or something like that."
"You don't really think it could be Chris do you Lil?" Vicki asked, sending a look of confusion in the blonde's direction.
"Oh God no!" Lillian exclaimed in reply, in her defense "I just thought we were brainstorming all possibilities that's all!"
"And we are Lil," Lita quickly added, comforting her friend "That's exactly what we're trying to do here. No matter how absurd the suggestion or idea we want to know everything that pops into the minds of everyone!"
"That's right," Randy added himself "We just want to get a fresh set of ideas on everything because between me and Li we have exhausted ourselves trying to think of more possibilities that could have any lead to finding Heidi."
"And I definitely don't think it could be Chris, just for the record," Lillian added quickly before the topic of conversation had a chance to change.
"It's OK Lil we know," Lita reassured the blonde as she smiled in Lillian's direction.
Lillian smiled back, sighing a little as she relaxed into her chair.
"Anyone else on leave?" Dave asked, looking around the room as he reached his hand forward on the table to take his wife's hand in his.
"I don't think so," Vicki answered.
"I got nothing either big man," John shrugged as he leant forward onto the dining room table in front of him and rested his head in his arms out in front of him.
"Well, what about other people that were there for Mania, who had access to backstage?" Maria suggested "I mean there were way more past employees there at the arena that night than there usually is backstage for the shows."
"Very true," Vicki commented "I mean I saw a lot of legends that night and hall of famers but I highly doubt any of them could have had any involvement in it."
"Do we have any idea what kind of age range we're looking at guys?" Christian asked, turning to face Randy and Lita's side of the table "I mean did the men on the phone sound old or anything?"
"It was really hard to tell Christian," Lita responded "According to the detective they're using voice scramblers so it's really hard to identify their actual voice."
"That sucks," Maria sighed.
"Especially cause we can't tell whether we recognise the voice or not," Lita added.
"So we're basically looking at any kind of age then," Lillian concluded out loud "But I mean I highly doubt any of the older legends and WWE employees would have had anything to do with it, especially when they're all in the same era as your dad Randy."
"Yeah, my thoughts too Lil," Randy replied "Although the guy I spoke to the last time one of them called me kept calling me 'boy'."
"Which makes us think at least one of them is old enough," Lita added.
"How about the past wrestlers that were there for Mania?" John asked around, trying to get a little more brainstorming happening "Like Ria said, there were a lot of guys backstage that used to work for the company that usually come and visit backstage at Mania."
"Urg," Vicki said, scrunching up her face "I totally ran into freakin' Hardy backstage that night and almost threw up all over him!"
"What?!" Lita asked, totally confused about why Vicki was so disgusted by the sight of Jeff Hardy backstage at Mania.
"Oh not Jeff!" Vicki exclaimed, realising what she had said "I meant Matt. MATT Hardy."
"Ew Matt was at Mania?" Lillian said, her face then scrunching up in disgust at the thought of seeing Matt Hardy in the flesh.
"Yeah, he was stalking around backstage with some bleach blonde ring rat he probably picked up from the dumpster outside the arena," Vicki scoffed "Did anyone else see him?"
"Li and I were front row for the start of the show so we didn't get to see anyone backstage at all thank God," Lillian answered.
Everyone else shook their head in reply to Vicki's question.
"Why the hell was the rotten Hardy at Mania anyway?" Dave asked, not exactly pleased about the thought of Matt Hardy either "It's not exactly like anyone would have been happy to see him."
"I didn't even know that Matt was there that night," Lita said, completely surprised that Matt Hardy's name had come up at all.
"Now I know Hardy is a disgusting human being," John quickly interjected "But do you really think he'd do something as despicable as kidnap Li and Randy's daughter?"
"He did take advantage of Li when she had amnesia Cena," Randy commented, his eyes narrowing at the thought of how Matt Hardy had come between him and Li in the past "I wouldn't put anything past that asshole."
"Randy, that was a million years ago," Lita sighed, before she turned to face her husband "Not that I'm saying all the things he did in the past weren't horrible, but I really don't think that Matt would be capable of this kind of thing."
"He was working with Hunter once upon a time though Li," Dave chimed in.
"So were you though Dave," Lillian added "And I mean, you've changed since then right?"
"Yeah, but it's Matt Hardy," Randy replied, coming to Dave's verbal aid "Plus the kidnapper we first spoke to made it very clear that they were somewhat obsessed with you, remember Li?"
"Ah what?!" Lillian and Vicki both exclaimed in unison, turning to face Lita.
Lita sighed, not sure exactly why she was trying to defend Matt Hardy in the first place when it was easy to understand why he could be involved. Maybe she just didn't want to believe that someone she once loved could have been the person responsible for taking her daughter away from her.
"The man that Randy and I spoke to the first time we got a call asked Randy a very disturbing question at the end of the phone call," Lita answered.
"Which was?" Dave asked, very intrigued about this new revelation of information that the Ortons were giving all of them right now.
"You have to decide who is more important to you," Randy recited, knowing the phrase like the back of his own hand "Who do you love more? Your daughter or your wife?"
"Sick fuck," Cena immediately spat.
"What kind of sick bastards are these people?" Vicki scoffed as she processed the words that Randy had just spoken "It's like it's some kind of game to them."
"What else did he say during that call Randy?" Maria asked.
Randy sighed as he tried to rack his brain of what else he could exactly remember from that phone call, except that he had wanted to beat the living daylights out of the sick bastard that had his daughter.
"Um… he mentioned that Heidi was a "firecracker", as he put it, just like Li," Randy recalled as he closed his eyes to get the words exactly right "That Heidi was a beautiful young woman now."
"I don't know about you guys but that sounds to me like it's someone who has known Heidi, or at least Randy and Li, since Heidi was a little girl," Christian deciphered. "And that he knows Lita, I mean to be able to compare Heidi to her," Vicki added.
"And that he has some sick obsession with Lita seeing as he pretty much said that Randy would have to choose between Lita and Heidi," Dave added.
"The ransom is 11 million too because it's the date that Heidi was born," Lita added, drawing all eyes in the room towards her "The last man we spoke to explained that."
"My money's on someone that we used to work with at least up until Heidi was born," Dave concluded "That way they would have known Heidi's birth date and they would have known Heidi when she was just a child. It makes sense."
"And my money's still on Hardy as at least a prime suspect," John added "Seeing as everything you've told us makes sense if one of them is Hardy, not that I think he is at all smart enough to engineer such a plan himself though."
"But we do know that Matt is dumb enough to go along with stupid plans though right?" Christian commented "So I mean as there's at least 3 of them, Hardy could easily be one of them."
"Have we ruled out Hunter?" Lillian asked "I mean we know that back in the day before Heidi was born he had some sick obsession with Lita which led to that whole broom closet incident."
"And he is evil enough to engineer such a plan, like he has in the past," Maria chimed in.
"More than once," Vicki added.
"And he was around working with us when Heidi was born, because he didn't leave in-ring competition until like 4 years later," Lillian stated "So I mean he left the WWE when Heidi was about 4 years old."
"But he has an alibi," Randy sighed.
"Ah what?" John asked, confused.
Randy looked at Lita for a moment before turning back to face John.
"According to his attorneys, whom we already approached about the whole thing because Hunter was naturally first on our suspicions list too," Randy explained "He was at home with his wife and children Wrestlemania weekend in Connecticut apparently."
"No one saw him backstage at Mania either so we don't have confirmation that doesn't see his alibi hold up either," Lita added.
"I still don't think that gets him off the hook though guys," Dave added "Hunter has his ways, especially when we know that Stephanie has been notorious for covering up for him in the past."
"Dave does have a point," Christian nodded as he pointed in Dave's direction.
"So so far we have Hunter and Hardy as the only two people that fit the descriptions we currently have of these guys," Lillian concluded.
"But wait," Randy suddenly spoke out "Once of them that called last kept referring to Lita as 'a bitch' and 'that bitch'. I don't think that could have been Matt Hardy and honestly I'm not sure if I believe that was Hunter either."
"What do you mean Randy?" Maria asked, a bit confused as to why Randy had come to that conclusion.
"Well," Randy continued "He, at one point, referred to Li as 'my bitch' and that Li doesn't go anywhere without me. There was something really familiar about the way he was phrasing things and the way he was talking to me, like it was Lita he was trying to mess with, not me. It's really hard to explain and I can't put my finger on it but it definitely didn't match up with Hunter in my mind."
"And there's no way that Matt Hardy could ever refer to Li as a bitch," Vicki chimed in "He still worships the ground she walks on."
"So there's someone we're still missing then," Maria concluded.
"It was definitely a man?" John asked "There's not even the slightest chance it could be a woman you guys spoke to last?"
"You're thinking of Trash Stratus and her funbags too?" Lillian asked, scoffing at even the mention of Trish Stratus.
"It definitely sounded like a man to us," Lita answered "But I mean I don't know how good the voice scramblers are that they're using."
"From the footage that we've seen there are definitely two men involved," Randy explained "And from what we heard from Heidi on the phone that first phone conversation, there is at least one more man on that list." "We haven't ruled out the possibility that there could be more people than that involved though," Lita continued.
"Fuck that would be so messed up," Dave stated, running a hand through his short hair.
"My thoughts exactly big man," Randy commented "I don't want to even think about there being more people involved in taking Heidi."
"I just don't understand what kind of grudge these people could possibly have against you two for them to take drastic measures, like taking Heidi," John spoke again "I mean it doesn't make any kind of sense."
"Well I mean it's even hard to believe that after all these years Hunter and/or Matt could still hold a grudge to do this to Randy and Li," Dave added.
"That's true," Vicki sighed "But I mean what other leads do we have?"
"We don't have anything and that's the problem," Randy answered "I mean apart from these phone calls and text messages which can't be traced, and talking to voices which can't be identified because of voice scramblers, we don't have anything which is going to help us find Heidi. We have absolutely nothing to even go on."
A silence formed in the air as everyone remained in their seats mulling over all that had been said tonight. The possible suspects, the people they had ruled out, the alibis, the things they knew and all the things they didn't know.
"Are you going to pay the money?" John suddenly spoke, turning to face Randy, as he broke the silence in the air.
"I got a text message this morning about it," Randy replied, half standing up as he went to retrieve his cell phone from the back pocket of his jeans.
"I mean we don't really have a choice though, do we?" Lita sighed as her eyes fell to the wooden table in front of her "I mean 11 million dollars means nothing to me if we can get Heidi back in exchange for it."
"But do you really think it's going to be that easy?" Dave asked.
"Dave," Lillian said, trying to subtly tell her husband that he shouldn't have said what he just did.
"No Dave's right," Randy replied "I mean we don't know if they're even going to keep their word and give Heidi back to us when they do get the money."
"Especially when they've made it pretty damn clear that this is not just about money," John added "It's personal as well."
"What does the message say, Randy?" Maria asked, leaning forward on the table in front of her.
"Today is May 20th 2022. We have had your daughter for 40 days now. You will receive another untraceable call on the May 25th, which is when you'll have to give your answer as to whether or not you will pay the ransom. Is your daughter worth 11 million dollars? Or maybe you want to trade in your wife instead?" Randy recited as he read the text message on his phone.
The 3rd generation superstar then paused and took a moment before he shut his cell phone and look up at everyone at the table.
"So unless some kind of lead appears out of thin air, we are going to pay the 11 million on the May 25th just like they asked," Randy spoke.
"And then just pray to God that it gets Heidi back to us safe and sound," Lita added.
A/N: God I love my job right now – lots of down time to keep my fanfics going! Hope you all liked this chapter – hope it got all your imaginations running as to who the 3 men are that have captured Heidi. We already know that 'the other guy' is Adam "Edge" Copeland so now we just have to uncover the identities of "the older guy" and "the leader". Hope you are all intrigued with the direction the story is going in – a huge surprise is going to happen in the next chapter so hope you're all ready for it! Any ideas?
Please remember that I'm still looking for designers to design the artworks covers for all my fanfics! I'm looking for people to name some future fanfic characters after so if you're interested every person that does a design for me gets a character named after them in any fanfic of their choosing!
Please READ AND REVIEW! God Bless, Mrs Bridget Orton xxx