Maria confirmed, "I did go to do some cleaning. It was probably around 1:00 pm when I wasn't in the room. When I came back, the child was already..."As she spoke, Maria could not hold back her tears. Matthew was at a loss, his mind completely blank.Lucy watched the surveillance footage over and over again in the monitoring room, her eyes red and painfully swollen.Gabriella had left earlier due to company matters, but not before she had a word with Lucy.Lucy could not retort, knowing she had not fulfilled her duties as a mother. The pain in her heart was unbearable.Matthew went to the police station to check on the situation. Orders had been issued throughout the city to capture the culprit, and the police were cautiously searching every corner.Suddenly, Matthew noticed a woman on one of the surveillance tapes, approximately ten miles from his home.The woman was sneaking along the road with a child in her arms. Her clothes were shabby, but the baby was dressed in attire th
Matthew followed the police to the place the security guard mentioned—Unit 8 on the third floor.The hallway was filled with leaking rainwater, emitting a foul odor that mixed with the smell of mud, making it nauseating. Everyone pinched their noses as they went up. The walls were plastered with notices, and the stairs were just concrete slabs with no tiles.Slowly, they reached Unit 308. The night was unusually quiet. An officer knocked on the door but received no response, so he kept knocking.Suddenly, a man's voice came from inside. "Who is it?" It seemed he had been woken up by the knocking, and his voice was laced with impatience.The police prepared themselves, crouching by the door. When the man opened it, they immediately apprehended him. The lighting in the room was incredibly dim, even darker than the streetlights outside.The man was very strong. He knocked an officer to the ground and bolted for the door, but he was eventually caught.This man was fierce, and it took
The officer flipped through a pile of old papers that looked like they had been stored for a long time. Among them were various receipts, documenting evidence of a woman's involvement in child trafficking over the past few years.Matthew, gritting his teeth, grabbed the old man by the collar and demanded to know the whereabouts of his own child.Terrified, the old man quickly explained, "It wasn’t me! My... My daughter left last night!"Just the night before, when the police came to ask the security guard about the woman, the old man realized that his daughter’s deeds had been discovered.Hence, when the police went up to the third floor, he secretly ran to inform his daughter, who then escaped overnight. She was probably far away by now.Furious, Matthew threw the old man to the ground. The police slowly helped the old man up and skillfully cuffed his hands.Suddenly, an officer's phone rang. It was a call from his colleague informing him that the woman had been captured and the
Matthew took Lucy back home and obtained some sedatives from the hospital. After administering the sedatives to Lucy, he waited until she fell asleep before leaving.Gabriella approached Matthew and criticized Lucy for her incompetence, calling her a useless woman who only ate and drank without contributing to the family. She even lost her own child.“Matthew, once Johnny is found, you should divorce her,” Gabriella angrily demanded.Matthew felt a moment of relief, grateful that he had given Lucy the sedative. Otherwise, it would not have been good for her to hear this.Pushing Gabriella out the door, Matthew said, “Mom, I’m not going to divorce Lucy. You need to give up on that idea.”Gabriella had not expected her son to speak to her this way. Furious and nearly incoherent, she stormed off.Matthew asked Maria to keep an eye on Lila. He glanced back one more time and then shut the door, heading back to the police station.He was utterly exhausted and unknowingly fell asleep i
The curtains were tightly closed at Gwen's house. Was Lucy's child hidden there? Selena was more than halfway convinced that the answer was yes.Just as Selena was about to pull back the bed curtain, she noticed a woman watching her from behind. It was not just that. From the very moment Selena had arrived, she had already been under surveillance.“Stop right there!” a woman called out to Selena.Selena turned around, only to be interrupted by Gwen. Selena felt a bit nervous, but since she was part of Spades, she kept up the appearance of not knowing what was happening.“Oh, I’m looking for my cat. It just…” Selena said awkwardly. Internally, she was silently repeating to herself, 'Please don’t recognize me…'“There’s no cat here. You can leave now!” Gwen said coldly. She then entered the house without giving Selena a chance to continue her search.Selena awkwardly left, but there was no way she would leave without helping Matthew, so she only pretended to leave and hid in the bu
Selena slowly made her way into Gwen's house. There wasn’t a single trace of light inside, so Selena had to feel her way through the darkness, relying on the layout she had just seen through the window.Selena had an excellent memory, and every step was carefully calculated. She could not afford to make a single mistake. Gwen was likely sleeping on the second floor.She had just seen the child placed in the living room on the first floor, so now, Selena’s only goal was to find the child and then leave.As she walked, Selena began to feel uneasy. She was certain that she had seen the child right here just moments ago—so why was Johnny gone? Had Gwen left Johnny elsewhere?Selena continued searching, but she was completely disoriented. Her sense of direction was entirely thrown off.As Selena continued wandering in the dark, she suddenly bumped into someone. Who could it be? Selena cautiously took a few steps back. The figure felt familiar...She reached out and grabbed the person.
At this moment, Matthew was waiting at home. He knew that this matter was beyond the police’s capability—it was up to Koven and the others.It was nearly 5:00 am, and Matthew was in the living room, observing everything under the moonlight. It was not as dazzling as the daylight, but it had a calming effect.The silence was so profound that he could hear his own heartbeat. Outside, everything was deathly still, with only the flowers in the garden casting shadows on the ground.Matthew felt something in his hand and immediately sat up from his half-lying, half-sitting position.It was a photograph of his son, Johnny. In the photo, Lucy was holding both their daughter and their son.They were all smiling so happily. Venus was also in the photo. The four of them looked so harmonious, with the children grinning broadly.Matthew suddenly realized that the place where Venus was standing should have been his spot. Also, what about Gabriella? It felt like something was missing from this
Matthew conducted a thorough examination of Johny and felt relieved after reviewing the test results."Let's throw a banquet to celebrate the child's safe return!" Gabriella suggested to Matthew.She was holding Johnny, making the baby laugh heartily. She had no intention of discussing anything with Lucy. "Mom, I think we should skip the banquet. Just inviting Selena and Koven over would be enough," Matthew said to Gabriella."Besides, there's no need for a banquet. The child needs some peace and quiet. Even if we invite people to come, they might not necessarily share in the joy; they might just criticize Lucy behind her back. Everyone is responsible for the child going missing. The blame shouldn't all fall on Lucy alone."Gabriella felt a surge of jealousy seeing how protective Matthew was of his wife.She glanced at Lucy, who had not said a word since arriving, fearing she might offend Gabriella even slightly.Seeing how easily intimidated Lucy seemed, Gabriella gave her a s