Chapter 21 Lost Child
As Colton hit the gas, his car vroomed and roared, speeding away toward their destination. What was supposed to be a one-hour-long trip was shortened to only forty minutes.
Having reached their destination, Nicole lifted the skirt of her gown and picked up her pace. Ignoring the fact that she still had her heels on, she stormed up the stairs, only to discover that the door to her house was wide open. Traces of the door being pried open were apparent. The house was in a complete mess. All of the wardrobes in the rooms were opened, and even the fruit platter on the living room table was swept onto the floor. Evidently, the situation that took place earlier was rather extreme.
Feeling a tingle in her nose, she scoured the room as she yelled, “Hayden! Hayden!” Nonetheless, the house was silent, and not a single movement was heard.
Accordingly, Colton, who just parked his car, arrived at the scene, realizing that burglars must have barged in with the mess in the house.
Nicole then searched in every room without missing even one corner. Sadly, her son was nowhere to be found. All at once, she broke down in tears. Her son meant everything to her, and there was no point in living without him.
Staring at the devastated woman, Colton, for some reason, felt a sting in his heart. He subtly frowned, remembering how he was never a nosy person. However, perhaps it was because the woman in front of him could prove beneficial to Gardner Corporation, for he came up with a virtuous excuse. “I’ve got some connections. Send me some photos of your boy, and I’ll have them look for him.” Once Nicole accepted his help, she would be in his debt, and it would be nothing but advantageous were Nicole, as the Chief Designer of F&M Apparel, to repay her debt.
The woman sniffled with her eyes absolutely reddened. Regardless, she managed to remain rational. At that moment, crying wouldn’t be of any use as the most crucial thing to do was to look for her son. She didn’t even dare to imagine what would happen if she failed that.
Swiftly, she pulled out her phone and opened the photo gallery to search for her son’s photographs. Pulling up the images, she realized that she only had Colton’s number before turning to him and said, “Can you add me on Facebook? I’ll send the photos to you.”
“Okay.” Colton nodded and befriended her on Facebook.
At once, Nicole sent the photos to the man. Squinting her eyes, she attempted to hold up her collapsing mind. As she had been living overseas for many years, she basically had no close acquaintance in the country. Thus, she had no one to turn to for help. As she was hesitating, she received a call from Zachary. She then sniffled before answering the call and spoke with her shaking voice. “Hello?”
Having heard from the waiter that Nicole and Colton left the hotel in a rush with displeased faces, Zachary knew something was up. Nevertheless, now that he heard Nicole’s tone, he immediately knew the graveness of the matter. After pausing for a bit, he inquired, “Nicole, did something happen?”
“Hayden was abducted.” She held in the urge to wail.
Zachary was dazed to hear that and quickly comforted, “I’m coming right away, Nicole.”
Hanging up the call, Nicole crouched down. The weather was rather chilly in February. Despite donning only a gown, she stiffly squatted as if she couldn’t feel the wafting coldness.
With that, Colton took off his coat and draped it around her. As he gazed at the woman before him, an inexplicable pain flashed across his eyes. “I’ve instructed some men to look for your son. In the meantime, I need you to think whether you’ve offended anyone in the country,” he calmly suggested, thinking only a grudgeful nemesis would kidnap her child.
Feeling the warmth on her back, she sensed a smell on the coat that exclusively belonged to the man, in which she found comfort in. She raised her hand to brush away the tears at the corner of her eyes and shook her head. “Not that I know of. I’ve been living overseas for the past few years. I didn’t return here during that period either.” As she stammered, an idea popped up in her mind. If there were any people that held resentment against her, it could only be the Andersons.
Are the Andersons behind this? But why would they do so? Hayden is Joseph’s son, so even if they take him in, it won’t give them any benefits. Perhaps, there’s some convenience that they discovered in abducting Hayden?
Regardless, she couldn’t forgo any clue she could think of. “I got it. I’m going to pay the Andersons a visit.”
