“Great!” Emmeline said, “I’ll let you sell me off to some strange man if I fail to escape here. On the contrary, if I succeed in escaping this place, you’re not allowed to bother me ever again! Otherwise, I’ll use whatever means I can and give you hell!”

“Deal! However, I want you to join the Canary Project right away.”

Emmeline jutted her chin out and replied nonchalantly, “I have no issues with that. I don’t mind becoming a healthier, more beautiful person anyway!”

At Nightfall Cafe.

Emmeline had not shown up at the cafe even though it was almost time to pick the children up from school.

“Daisy, why don’t you stay here while I fetch the kids from school?” Sam suggested.

“You should give Ms. Louise a call first.” Daisy replied, “What if she’s already headed to the kindergarten?”

“She didn’t take the car today. She left earlier on her motorcycle. She wouldn’t be able to pick up the children with that.”

“Then, you take the car and fetch the children from the kindergarten.” Daisy went on, “I’ll phone Ms. Louise and inform her about it.”

“Alright.” Sam took the car keys and left the shop.

Daisy took out her phone and dialed Emmeline’s number.

“The number you have dialed is temporarily unavailable…”

Unavailable? Did she turn off her phone? Or did the phone battery run out? This has never happened with Ms. Louise, though…

Daisy tried to call Emmeline again, but she got the same response.

I feel a bit uneasy about this… Did something bad happen to Ms. Louise?

Daisy phoned Benjamin next. “Mr. Benjamin, are you with Ms. Louise right now?”

“No.” Benjamin replied, “I was just having a meeting. What’s the matter?”

“It seems like Ms. Louise’s phone has been turned off. She’s also not at the cafe even though it’s time to pick up the children. I’m worried that something might have happened to her.”

“I’ll contact Abel and see if he knows where she is.”

Upon learning the news from Daisy, Benjamin was gripped by a sense of panic.

Robert had asked me to watch over Emmeline and make sure that nobody tries to harm her. If something bad were to happen to her, I’d spend the rest of my life in agony and remorse!

Abel felt a little surprised when he received the call from Benjamin.

I’m getting a call from Benjamin?!

Something urgent must have come up…

He quickly answered the phone. “Hello, Mr. Benjamin.”

“Mr. Abel, can I know if Emma is with you now?” Benjamin asked.

Abel fell silent as he was not sure how to respond to that.

Is he asking this because he has some sort of weird suspicions about us?

“I haven’t seen Emma. Why are you asking about that, Mr. Benjamin?”

“Are you sure you haven’t seen her today?”

“There’s no reason for me to lie to you about that.”

“That’s bad news.” A deep frown creased Benjamin’s forehead. “Something bad might have happened to Emma.”

“What did you say?!” Abel asked in a raised voice, “Benjamin, explain what has happened to me!”

“I got a call from Daisy saying that Emma had not returned to the cafe even at this hour. Her phone appears to have been turned off too.”

Abel furrowed his brows. “Emma has never been late to pick up the kids from kindergarten. She seldom turned off her phone during the day as well…”

“I’m heading to the cafe now,” Benjamin declared in a grim voice.

“Me too.” Both of them hung up right after saying that.

Twenty minutes later, Benjamin and Abel got to Nightfall Cafe at around the same time.

Sam had returned to the cafe with the children. All three of them were doing their homework on the second floor.

Benjamin asked, “Daisy, have you received any news from Emma?”

“What time did she leave from here? Where was she headed?” Abel followed up with another question.

Daisy was rendered speechless by their bombardment of questions.

Sam heard them as he came down the stairs. He replied, “Ms. Louise went out at 2.00 pm today. She said she was joining a race…”

“A race?!” Benjamin and Abel exclaimed simultaneously.

“Emma has participated in motorcycle races before?” Abel knew that Emmeline could ride motorcycles well. However, this was the first time he had learned about her joining races.

“Didn’t I tell her to stop joining those races? It’s very dangerous!” Benjamin frowned.

“Which race track did she go to?” Abel asked.