Chapter 557: Chapter 557



“You don’t have to blame yourself. I don’t appreciate it either.”

Theresa was still showing signs of coldness. She hadn’t given Armand a friendly look since they met in the cave.

Pressing his lips together, Armand stared at her for a long time. Then he said, “I don’t need you to appreciate me. I just want to do the things I want to do.” Theresa looked away and fell silent.

Armand also joined in the silence.

There was no light in the cave, but outside it was not completely dark. When there was dust, the sun was setting.

Boyce and Matthew could not find them.

“Now we are on a high mountain and in a dense forest. I don’t think we can find them by ourselves. I wonder if they have encountered any danger. There was no answer after calling for a long time,” Boyce said worriedly.

It was a high mountain and he wondered if there were wild beasts in the forest. If Armand had not wandered too far away, he should have heard it when Boyce called out to him.

However, they completely lost his trail, so they were worried.

Matthew seemed to read Boyce’s mind. He said, “I’ve never heard of wild beasts here. Call someone.”

If it got dark, it would be harder for them to search.

Boyce and Matthew came out of the woods. When they were in the woods, his cell phone had no signal. He tried calling Armand, but couldn’t reach him.

He tried calling Armand two more times after leaving the woods, but still could not connect. So, he had to call someone to go with them on the search and, hopefully, they could find Armand and Theresa before the sun went down completely.

Looking at Matthew, he suggested, “Why don’t you go home first? I’ll keep watch here.”

Matthew checked the time and said, “I’ll wait some more.”

They hadn’t found Theresa and now Armand had disappeared. He wondered what he should tell Dolores after he went home.

Boyce didn’t insist. They found a place to sit, waiting for the others to approach.

Since the road up the mountain was very winding, they arrived a little later than expected. It took them an hour to arrive. There were more than a dozen of them, and they were all tall and strong, and wore camouflage uniforms. They looked heroic and brave with all kinds of equipment. Boyce said they would look for people in the woods, so they also prepared head flashlights.

Boyce followed them up the mountain. At that point, it was completely dark. When they went into the forest, the birds and animals that were roosting in the forest at night were disturbed, and there was a commotion.

The searchers in the camouflage uniforms were divided into six groups, two per group. The leader walked with Boyce. As they searched, the leader said, “It is better not to hit people at night, as the vision is too poor. There must also be traps. When you mentioned that they had disappeared, I guess they might have fallen into traps.”

Boyce skimmed the branches along the path, turned and looked at the leader. “Are there traps in the woods?”

The leader said yes. “People set traps in the woods to catch wild animals.”

Boyce frowned and looked down at his feet, fearful of stepping on a steel trap.

The leader said jokingly, “Mr. Shawn, I didn’t expect you to be afraid of something too. You have climbed higher and higher, but you have become more and more timid.”

Boyce said with a smile, “Only by being careful can I live long. I dare not relax for a moment. The higher I’ve been promoted, the more responsibility I’ll have.”

“Officer Miller likes you very much. I suppose when he retires, he’ll recommend you for his present position. I hear he wants you to marry his daughter, right?” the chief asked with a smile.

Boyce’s face turned cold. “Cut the crap!”

He really respected Officer Miller, but thought nothing more of it.

He didn’t want others to spread those rumors either.

He was a man, so he didn’t care much, but he couldn’t let the rumors affect Officer Miller’s daughter.

“Don’t talk such nonsense in the future,” Boyce said solemnly.

The leader noticed his expression. Hastily, he said, “I was just talking shit a moment ago – how could I repeat it?”

Boyce didn’t answer him. He glanced around and began to worry. They had no leads so far, and he wondered if they could find them today.

After another three hours of searching, they found no one. Boyce came out of the woods first and approached Matthew to tell him what had happened in the woods.

“It’s pretty hard to search at night. There are few areas that can be lighted. Also, you have to be careful not to slip down the steep slopes. You’d better go home first. I’ll call you if there are any leads. John’s been taken. I guess it’ll be on the news tomorrow. Declan Bailey will probably come to see you tomorrow. You’ll have to take care of him. Please leave everything here. We can’t stay here together.”

When they called the police, they also informed some media reporters. Their aim was to make a fuss about this event. Since such an affair was happening in a temple, there was bound to be a big uproar in public opinion tomorrow.

If the news drew a lot of attention, the police were to do an investigation and announce the outcome to the public. Now Boyce had the right, so he could give out information about Declan on top of everything else.

After finding out all about him, Boyce wanted to see if Declan would still be so arrogant.

Matthew thought a moment and nodded his head. “Be careful.” Boyce nodded.

Matthew drove back home.

By the time he reached the villa, it was already ten-thirty in the evening.

As he pushed open the door, he saw Dolores waiting for him in the doorway.

Dolores stayed awake, waiting for him. When she saw the car’s flashlight, she got out. Looking behind him, she asked, “Are you alone?”

Matthew came in and wanted to reach out to hug her. However, thinking that he had been in the woods before and had gotten dirty, he pulled his arms away. “Let’s go inside and talk.”

Dolores looked down in disappointment. She was sure they had failed to save Theresa. Otherwise, Theresa would be taken here because she had nowhere to stay in this City. Now, Matthew returned home alone without Theresa.

“She managed to escape from Declan Bailey. Now we are looking for her. So far, we haven’t found her. I guess she must be hiding somewhere. As long as she’s not locked up by Declan Bailey, she’s not in danger. Don’t worry.” He didn’t tell Dolores the details, fearing she would worry.

“Really?”

She turned and looked at him questioningly, as if trying to confirm if he was lying.

Matthew glanced into Dolores’ eyes calmly. He could keep his cool in the face of such a matter. “Of course. How can I lie to you in this matter? I came back so late because I was giving her the run-around earlier. She’s probably afraid of Declan’s men, she dared not show. That means she’s pretty sure now.”

Dolores nodded. However, without seeing Theresa, she still couldn’t feel relaxed.

Grabbing Matthew’s hand, she said, “Theresa was kidnapped by Declan Bailey mostly because of me. He targeted me from the beginning. It was probably because I had gone to White City that Theresa was taken.”

She had been thinking about this incident at home all along. Shortly after she was shown those pictures, Theresa was kidnapped. Obviously, it was done by the same person.

The person’s target was Dolores at first.

She had dragged Theresa to the mere. If anything had happened to her, Dolores would blame herself and be quite upset.

Matthew could understand how she felt. He couldn’t guarantee anything with her at this point. If he comforted her and made false promises, and something went wrong, Dolores would feel hard to accept. So, he changed the subject. “I haven’t had dinner yet.”

Dolores gave him a look. “You haven’t eaten dinner today, have you?” He nodded.

“Then I’ll fix you something. What do you want to eat?” asked Dolores.

“Noodle soup.” He added, “Noodle soup with sautéed tomatoes and eggs.” That was the first dish Dolores prepared for him.

Suddenly, he missed that taste very much.

Dolores gave him a look and said, “Now I’m going to cook for you.”

He nodded gently.

“Well…”

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