Chapter 286: Emily Is Here

At the break of dawn, roosters crowed and farmers got up to begin a day’s work.

…

On the other side of the village, in a remote farmhouse, the lights became dimmer and dimmer.

A man rushed in with breakfast in his hand.

“How is it going? Is the child awake?”

“Not yet. It seems that we used too much hypnotic medicine.” another man answered.

“Children tended to sleep longer than us adults. Just leave her there. She’ll be fine. Let’s eat first.”

The man turned and entered the room on the other side. He said to the person on the bed, “I got us breakfast. Get up and have some.”

These kidnappers were up all night for fear that they would be found.

Their hirer suddenly cut off the contact with them. Not knowing what to do next, they could just keep the kid last night. And they fed her some hypnotic medicine to quiet her.

The man on the bed sat up with messy hair and sleepy eyes.

He complained, “Fuck, this is the worst deal ever!”

He frowned and looked down to wear his shoes unhappily.

According to their deal, they should be paid right after they took the kid out.

But now their hirer said that they got themselves in trouble and refused to offer help or their payment. They had been out of contact since then.

“Don’t worry. I’ve already contacted some other children traffickers. Although we can’t get our due payment, we can sell the girl out. She should be worth no less than 30 thousand dollars.”

“30 thousand? We could have got 300 thousand!”

The man on the bed got angrier. It took them a lot of effort to take this child out of the Anderson’s mansion.

They were not so ignorant. They knew how wealthy the Anderson family was. Since this girl lived there, she must be close to the Andersons.

Therefore, they had thought about asking the Andersons for a large sum of ransom. But before they could do so, they found that they were trapped in the River City. The Andersons had sent people all over the city to search for them. If they went to

extort the Anderson family now, they would be sent to prison right away.

“Do you think this girl could be an illegitimate daughter of the Anderson family?” a fat man went in and muttered with a hesitant expression.

…

At first, their hirer claimed that she was not an Anderson and was just temporarily staying in the Anderson’s mansion. But they began to doubt that now that they were chased after by the Andersons.

Moreover, the Andersons had joined hands with the Key, the Marley, and the Jorgansen family to search for them.

All of the four families were too influential and wealthy for them to mess up with.

They now suspected that their hirer cut off the contact because they irritated these families.

They had to face the anger of those families on their own.

“If she’s an Anderson, why are the other families also trying to find her so hard?

“I heard that the Keys and Bruce have always been at odds with each other. I don’t think they would bother to help find Bruce’s illegitimate daughter.”

“That makes sense. Then who is she exactly? Why do so many people want to find her?”

Hearing them discussing, the man sitting on the bed concluded, “We can’t keep her anymore.”

Covered by dust and sweat was a face similar to Lori’s painting. He was the one who sneaked into the Anderson’s mansion and stole Emily away.

The other three people were shocked, “But we spent so much effort to bring her out. We haven’t gotten the money yet.”

“Do you think money is more important than our lives?”

Although they didn’t get full payment, a 200 thousand’s deposit could enable them to live a carefree life for a while.

It was enough to compensate for their effort.

“But if those families are so concerned about this child, why don’t we ask them for a large sum of ransom?”

Somehow, they were still pitiful for not having the 500 thousand dollars’ full payment.

However, they couldn’t do anything but curse the hirer’s cold blood in their hearts.

They had been in the underworld for so many years, but they never kill anyone, let alone a two-year-old child. They had their principles of not hurting the elders, disabled, women, or children.

Besides, without extorting any money, mere kidnapping would only cause them a few years of imprisonment. Therefore, they didn’t want to commit murder. That was why they thought it would be a worthier deal to blackmail the Anderson and the other three families.

“Yeah, now that we have the kid, we can make more benefits out of her.”

“We don’t want to give up after paying so much effort.”

They all agreed with the plan except for the man sitting on the bed. Suddenly, from another room came a slight sound which instantly made them all nervous.

One of them said, “Is it the police?”

“Don’t freak yourself out,” the man sitting on the bed said, “It’s the girl. She must wake up now. Go have a look.”

He glanced at others coldly, thinking that they couldn’t successfully blackmail those rich families now that they were even scared by the slightest sound.

…

“She does wake up and wants to see her mother.”

The kidnapper who went to check ran back in a hurry.

Since they had never taken care of kids, they didn’t feel strange that Emily didn’t cry or yell.

They were just relieved.

Another man pointed to the breakfast on the table. “Take it to feed her in case she cries for hunger.”

“Why me again?” the man running in just now said reluctantly.

He didn’t know how to deal with small kids. Maybe he would slap their butts when they offended him, but he didn’t know how to feed one.

“Just give it to her. She will eat by herself when she felt hungry,” the other man said impatiently.

After all, they didn’t want to starve her to death.

Without an alternative, the man who just went in went out again.

Seeing that the man on the bed who was their leader still remained silent, the others urged him to make a decision, “We can’t just sit here and wait till they find us. We must make a move.”

They couldn’t hide for a long time under the investigation of four of the wealthiest families.

Knowing that cursing was of no use, they must come up with a solution to save their own lives.

The leader gritted his teeth and threw the cigarette he had just lit on the ground,

“Leave the girl here and let’s go.”

With this child alongside, they could never leave River City. If they were found, they would be sent to prison immediately.

The others were still a little unwilling. Just as they were about to say something to argue with him, the leader glanced at them and said coldly, “If any of you want to die, take the girl to the Anderson’s mansion to blackmail them. But I can’t promise if you will be alive after getting the ransom.”

Influential and wealthy as these families, they wouldn’t let anyone get away after threatening them.

They exchanged a scared look and finally decided to leave without the kid.

…

When the sun completely rose, Halle and Bruce arrived at the village.

At this time, almost all villagers had wakened up and walked around in the village.

It was slightly cold outside, and the morning dew still hung on the tip of the grass and leaves. Therefore, Horton took off his overcoat and covered Halle with it.

Halle wanted to refuse but Horton stopped her from taking it off.

Coincidentally, Halle sneezed at this time which made her somewhat awkward.

…

“It’s cold in the morning. You’d better wear it!”

Halle didn’t want to turn down his goodwill. Besides, she was cold as she didn’t put on her overcoat when she left in a hurry. “Thank you.”

Bruce looked aside. He had no interest in seeing others flirting.

Their car stopped at the entrance of the village. Halle was about to get out of the car but was stopped by Horton.

“Let’s figure out the situation inside first. There may be dangers. You can’t go in unprepared.”

There were five or six kidnappers, and they might acquire some dangerous weapons.

Moreover, those people still had Emily as a hostage.

The last thing they wanted to do was to provoke the kidnappers to hurt Emily.

“The kidnappers had left, seemingly without Emily.”

Bruce had arranged his men to keep an eye on the village. And they found that the kidnappers drove away at dawn.

In other words, there might be only Emily left in this courtyard.

Halle immediately said worriedly, “Then what are we waiting for? I got to pick her up now.”

She pulled away Horton’s hand and got out of the car anxiously. However, Horton quickly pulled her back.

“Wait a moment, we must make sure it’s safe inside!”

Although the kidnappers had left, it did not necessarily mean there was no danger remained.

“I can’t wait for another second. Emily is my daughter. What if she gets hurt? I can’t leave her alone in there. She is not your daughter. Of course, you do not care about her.”

For several times, Halle was on the verge of breaking down, but the concern for Emily surpassed her own helplessness and sorrow.

She knew that Claus hated her and Emily, so he wouldn’t mind if Emily was hurt.

Being scolded by Halle, Horton softened his voice and tried to calm her down, “Although Emily is not my daughter, I care about her as much as you.”

He didn’t say that aloud, but Halle heard it very clearly. Her thoughts suddenly became somewhat calm. She gradually calmed down and looked at Horton with mixed feelings.

“It’s all because of you that Emily is in danger. If you have stayed away from us, the Hutts wouldn’t kidnap her.”

As she said, tears welled up in her eyes.

She did not want to blame Horton since she knew that he did nothing wrong.

Moreover, he was also a victim.

However, despite his innocence, she and Emily were constantly hurt because of him.

She knew she didn’t love Horton, and so she never wanted to force him to be with her.

All she wanted was a peaceful life with Emily. To her, Horton’s affection was no more than shackles that chained her in this living hell, just like her passion for marrying into the Tyson family years ago.

…

Seeing Halle cry, Horton froze.

He frowned as he caught the key information in Halle’s words that it was someone from his family who hired these people to kidnap Emily.

Halle and Emily weren’t involved in some trouble Bruce caused. Emily was these kidnappers’ target in the first place.

That explained why Halle had been avoiding him and had hated him all the time.

It was his pursuit of Halle that caught the attention of the Hutt family. They must have threatened her with Emily. It was all his fault. He couldn’t regret more the trouble and danger he had caused for Halle and Emily.

As they were speaking, a thick fog rose from the house in front of them.

Bruce frowned and said in a low voice, “The house is on fire.”

But Emily could still be inside!

“Emily, Emily is still inside.”

Halle was shocked and instantly jumped out of the car and ran into the courtyard.

Horton immediately followed up.

Bruce also got out of the car after calling the Fire Department.

The fire was burning from inside, and when Halle and Horton arrived, it had spread to the entire courtyard.

All the doors and windows were sealed, so they didn’t notice the fire in time.

“Emily, Emily, Mommy is here.”

Halle desperately patted the door and windows.

However, with the curtain drawn, she couldn’t see anything except the burning fire.

Halle knocked hard on the windows until one of them broke into pieces. The glass pierced into her, but Halle did not feel any pain now that all she was thinking about was Emily.

Suddenly, she heard a bang beside her.

Halle turned to look and found that Horton had smashed the door open and rushed into the room. She immediately followed in.

The farmhouse had four connected rooms. These rooms were not only small and old; they also they had wooden structures and wooden furniture inside.

Therefore, almost everywhere in the rooms was set on fire, especially the two rooms in the east.

Halle looked around in panic, but she neither found Emily nor did she hear her voice.

If the kidnappers did not take Emily with them when they left, Emily must be in one of these rooms.

Therefore, Halle rushed into the two rooms in the east without hesitation. “Emily, where are you? Mommy is here!”

Halle stood in the midst of fire and shouted. However, she couldn’t hear anything other than the sound of the flames.

Suddenly, she saw a bulge covered by bedding on the bed.

The bedding was burned severely, emitting a strong burnt smell that was pungent and unpleasant.

Halle was stunned with her eyes reflecting the blazing light of the fire.

“Halle, we need to get out of here now! This fire is too big!”

Horton rushed to Halle but was pushed away.

She plunged to the bed and grabbed the burning bedding.

Her hands were burnt but she just uncovered the quilt while shouting Emily’s name as if she couldn’t feel the pain.

Seeing this, Horton grabbed her hand, “Are you crazy?”

“Emily, she is here!”

Halle cried and shouted. Beside the charred quilt lay a pair of baby socks that was half burnt.

They were Pink and had two bright red cherry patterns on the top. She bought them for Emily. They were Emily’s favorite pair of socks, and she helped Emily wear them yesterday!

Looking at the socks, Halle felt that her heart was torn apart.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep