"Brother, I still want an ice cream."
Hope Hart licked her plump fingers and looked up at Noah Garcia with big eyes, pleading adorably.
Noah frowned, pulled out a baby wipe to clean the little girl’s fingers, and refused, "You can’t have any more. Mom said that eating too much cold stuff will give you a stomachache."
"My dad says the sa thing..."
Ethan brought over a cupcake, "Sis, this is tasty too, give it a try."
The little girl pouted, shaking her head, "I don’t like these..."
"What else do you want to eat then?" Ethan asked while eating the cupcake, doting on his sister, "I’ll get it for you."
Her eyes lit up, "Ice cream, can I?"
Noah: "No."
Hope pouted again.
Noah glanced at his brother, his expression full of disdain, "See, you’re a glutton, I told you... Look at the trash can, it’s filled with what you ate!"
"Mind your own business! You’re just jealous because I’m taller!"
"Simple-minded, well-developed limbs, what is there to be jealous of!"
"Hmph!" Ethan, unable to outargue his brother, snorted angrily, tossed the empty cake box into the bin, and took his sister by the hand, "Let’s go play, forget him!"
Noah watched them run upstairs. He didn’t follow but went towards the foreign man busy in front of a computer in the side room.
"Kane, how long do you think we can hide?"
The boy sat down, speaking fluent English filled with deep worry.
Kane’s expression grew slightly stern, "Your mom has already been taken away by that man, who knows what will happen next."
Kane had hacked into the surveillance caras in the elevator of the building they lived in and saw the scene where Christopher Hart forcefully took Alia Garcia away.
Noah pursed his lips, "Mom might have guessed that you took my sister."
"Mm... she called many tis, I didn’t pick up."
Both were wise enough to connect the dots without spelling everything out.
"Sigh..."
Noah cradled his face with both hands, his mind frantically spinning.
"Kane."
"Mm?"
"Perhaps... we should just go back, and once we’re ho, we can find a way to notify mom."
By "ho," he ant their ho in Zurich, Europe.
Originally, Noah’s plan was to secretly take his sister and hide her, and then notify their mom to et and leave together.
Unexpectedly, their mother had already been taken away.
They dared not contact her rashly for fear that the man would notice sothing was amiss, so their only choice was to hide with the sister first.
Now, with their mom trapped, escaping seed difficult.
Yet hiding continuously was dangerous too, they could be discovered at any mont—the best solution seed to be to take the sister and leave first.
Once they were safe back in Zurich, they could figure out a plan to "rescue" their mom.
Kane understood his thoughts, but the problem was—
"Lying to her about going out for a couple of days is manageable, but taking her out of the country, leaving forever, would she agree?"
The little girl appeared clever, not so easily deceived.
The original plan involved Alia Garcia joining them, and with their mom around, perhaps the young girl could be persuaded.
"That’s true..." Noah furrowed his brows, sighed again, "Besides, you, a grown man with three kids. It’s too conspicuous."
Both of them fell silent, their once solid plan now at a deadlock.
Upstairs, Ethan was playing house with his sister.
One pretending to be Dad, one pretending to be Mom, one cooking, one taking care of a doll—pure bliss.
———
Alia Garcia was locked in the bedroom, her cellphone discarded on the bed.
The man’s jaw tensed as he ordered toward the cellphone, "Call that guy of yours, right now."
"Watch your language! He’s my legitimate boyfriend, not so sort of fling!"
"Sa difference, just call!"
Alia, unable to hold out, reached out tremblingly for her phone.
Earlier, she had been desperate for Kane to pick up the phone quickly and bring the kids back.
But now, suspecting that Kane might have secretly taken Hope, she hoped he wouldn’t answer.
Deep down, she actually wished Kane had the capability to take her daughter and then she could find a way to escape—her daughter would be back by her side then.
What a beautiful dream!
"Just make the call. Why are you spacing out?"
Startled by the sudden voice near her ear, Alia flinched and turned around, only to bump into his nose.
"Ah!" Startled, she instinctively recoiled backward, and Christopher Hart, with his right arm confined across his chest, could not catch her. He just watched as she fell onto the bed.
The man smirked from above, his tone mocking, "Miss Norton, what is this? Trying to seduce ?"
Alia’s face flushed, clueless as to how he got behind her so closely.
It was clearly he who had frightened her into falling, yet he was blaming her.
Feeling ashad and furious, she stood up, straightened her clothes, and snapped back, "Even if I were blind, I wouldn’t fancy you!"
"Oh really? Then why are you blushing?"
She touched her own face in a fluster and retorted more fiercely, "Out of anger!"
Still smiling, Christopher glanced at the cellphone in her palm, "Are you going to make the call or not? Let tell you straight, the police have been notified. If he doesn’t bring the child back soon, once the police find him—"
"You’ll probably have to visit him in jail."
Alia’s heart skipped a beat, suddenly regaining her composure.
This was River City, where Christopher Hart could make things happen.
If Kane wasn’t found, it would be fine, but if he was found, it could be just as he said...
Torn inside, she gritted her teeth secretly and still dialed the number.
Don’t pick up, don’t pick up, don’t pick up...
Unfortunately, Kane did not hear her silent prayers and answered quickly.
"Hi, sweetheart, you’ve called so many tis—is it because you missed ?"
Before Alia could speak, the phone was snatched away: "Your woman is in my hands. Return my daughter if you want her back."
On the other side, Kane, apparently anticipating this, played dumb.
"What are you talking about? I don’t understand," Kane replied in English, feigning confusion.
"..." Christopher clenched the phone, rage soaring within him.
"If you return my daughter by the end of today, I’ll let you off. If not, even if you kneel before tonight, I won’t show any rcy. Watch yourself!"
Alia murmured from the side, "With all your fancy words, he really doesn’t understand..."
"Shut up!" The man exploded in frustration.
anwhile, Kane played along loudly, "Darling, who are you with? Who is he? You can’t betray , you said I’m the one you love most, hon—"
Before he could finish, Christopher furiously hung up and threw the phone at her.
"You think I have no way to handle you, eh?"
For so reason, seeing him frustrated and thwarted, Alia felt an inexplicable sense of relief. She raised an eyebrow and deliberately stepped forward: "So, tell —what, can, you, possibly, do, to, ?"
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