Chapter 1

I went to the hospital to pick up a diagnosis report on the day my daughter, Cherie Lambert, went missing. Earlier, I had my husband, Marcus Lambert, pick her up at the kindergarten.

"Don't worry, honey! I promise that I'll bring our beloved princess home safe and sound!"

To think I'd end up making eye contact with the same man who had given me that promise over the phone in the hospital's corridor around the corner.

He looked pretty shocked to see me. Also, he happened to have an arm wrapped around a young woman's shoulders.

I knew who she was. That was the useless intern Marcus had complained to me about every day. Her name was Sylvia Wells.

The moment Marcus saw me, he released his hold on her right away.

Sylvia shrank away from me as she moved to hide behind Marcus timidly. One of her hands instinctively protected her belly, while the other moved to tug at the hem of Marcus' shirt after a moment's hesitation.

"Didn't you go pick Cher up?"

Marcus strode forward in wide strides and hugged me right away. "Don't worry, honey. The driver has gone over to pick her up. Nothing will happen to her."

I squirmed out of Marcus' arms before focusing my attention on Sylvia, who stood behind Marcus. I didn't miss how she smiled at me tauntingly or the malicious glint in her eyes.

My instincts as a mother must have kicked in, for I felt panic washing over me instantly. I was quick to drag Marcus out of the hospital hurriedly.

I needed to see Cher with my own eyes no matter what!

Anyway, I could guess why Marcus and Sylvia showed up at the hospital together, but I didn't have the energy to investigate this matter for now.

All I wanted right now was to see my beloved Cher by my side.

Marcus knew that he had screwed up, so he followed me out of the hospital without putting up a fight. Never once did he glance at Sylvia the whole time.

Upon noticing that we were about to get into our car and leave, Sylvia jogged over to us. "Mark…"

Marcus, who was about to get into the car, froze for a moment.

"You should take a cab home. I need to pick up my daughter with my wife."

After that, he closed the car door and drove away from the hospital.

"I'm sorry, honey. I didn't mean to shirk the responsibility of picking up Cher. Sylvia fainted all of a sudden earlier, so I took her to the hospital. But I told the driver to pick her up right away. Don't worry. Nothing's going to happen to her."

As Marcus spoke, he reached out to grab my hands, which were wrung tightly together.

I shot him a meaningful look before withdrawing my hands. "Focus on driving."

When Marcus saw how displeased I was, he was about to say something when he was interrupted by a sudden phone call. He quickly ended the call before making more promises to me.

"Don't worry, honey. After I get off work, I will never pick up any calls. Once we pick up Cher, we'll—"

His phone began ringing loudly once again.

After Marcus hung up on the caller three times in a row, he picked up the fourth call furiously. "What is it that you can't handle on your own? Must you disturb me during the after work hours? Don't you know I need to spend time with my family too?"

Then, Marcus tossed his phone away before continuing, "Honey, once we pick Cher up, let's take her to the amusement park. We'll be able to watch the fireworks display after dinner."

He might seem like he was discussing tonight's schedule with me seriously, but the truth was, his subtle behavior had already given his anxiety away.

Marcus might not have noticed this detail, but the phone he used to pick up the call earlier was the phone hooked up to his private number. That phone never accepted work-related calls.

I turned to look at the phone, which was discarded in the back seat. Messages kept flooding the phone non-stop. The screen kept lighting up before going dim.

A short while later, the phone rang again. This time, an unknown number was the one calling Marcus.

Now that Marcus was relaxed, he tapped the "accept call" button after connecting the phone's Bluetooth to the car's monitor.

"Hello, this is Mercy Hospital calling. Are you a family member of Sylvia Wells? She insists on going through an abortion, so we need you to sign the papers."

The car immediately screeched to a halt. I lurched forward thanks to the momentum, leading to me banging my head against the dashboard. All I could feel was dizziness.