Chapter 594 You Can't Protect Her
In a flash, despair washed over her.
The cold air in the dark felt like a beast, eyes locked on Harper, ready to pounce any second!
Harper clung to the only blanket she had, shivering too much to think straight.
Her only shot was Francis. If folks noticed she was gone, he might check his office.
Luckily, Jasper, no matter how swamped, always called Harper before bed to make sure she was okay.
That night, working late, Jasper wanted to call but figured Harper was already out cold, so he shot her a text instead.
Jasper: [Harper, you asleep?]
After sending it, Jasper dove back into work. The party was just days away.
To stall Arthur or nab him if needed, he had to get everything just right.
Jasper picked up the design plans he'd gone over a million times, hunting for any slip-ups.
By the time he was done, it was super late. He checked his phone—still no reply from Harper. He thought she might really be asleep.
Jasper got up to wash up. After a shower, he still felt uneasy and called the villa's living room.
The phone rang a few times before someone picked up.
Isla and Ronald were off in Northfield with the baby, so only some servants and bodyguards were left at the villa.
"Hello, who is this?" A sleepy female servant answered.
Jasper frowned. How could this servant be sleeping so soundly?
"It's Jasper. Is Ms. Murphy asleep?" he asked.
The servant rubbed her eyes. "I'm not sure. Ms. Murphy didn't come out much today."
Jasper's unease grew. With the babies gone, Harper had no reason to stay in her room all day.
He snapped, "Go check now and report back immediately!"
Perhaps Jasper's harsh tone startled the servant awake, shaking off her drowsiness.
Flustered, she said, "Okay, Mr. Murphy, I'll go right now!"
Jasper heard her about to hang up and barked, "Don't hang up. I'm waiting."
"Okay, okay." The servant set the phone down and walked off.
After about three minutes, she came running back.
Jasper heard her hurried footsteps and his worry deepened.
The servant picked up the phone, panting. "Mr. Murphy, I knocked on Ms. Murphy's door, but there was no response."
Jasper's brow furrowed. To keep the babies' departure hush-hush, Harper's room was off-limits.
But if someone knocked, she'd answer. No response meant Harper wasn't home! So where was she?
The more Jasper thought about it, the more panicked he got. He hung up and drove straight to the villa.
Since Harper fainted last time, she left a spare key with Jasper just in case.
Jasper opened the door, and the room was empty. The bed was neat and untouched, like Harper hadn't been back at all!
Jasper's face darkened instantly.
The master hadn't come back, and the servants had the nerve to sleep! These servants were really something else.
Actually, since Vincent had been MIA for days, the servants figured Harper had fallen out of favor. Even having kids didn't win Vincent's heart.
The servants got more and more indifferent to Harper, slacking off and just going through the motions, not taking her seriously at all.
But Harper, not one to stir up trouble, didn't pay much attention to it.
Seeing how gentle Harper was, the servants got even bolder.
Honestly, even if she didn't come back for three days, these servants probably wouldn't notice.
Jasper looked at the defiant servants and immediately got their mindset.
They looked down on Harper, thinking she was out of favor.
Jasper was livid. He waved his hand and ordered the bodyguards he brought, "Tie them all up outside and make them kneel. Don't let any of them sleep!"
The servants started shouting at this.
"Mr. Murphy, why are you punishing us? Ms. Murphy is an adult; we can't follow her around all the time!" The female servant who had just answered the phone raised her head defiantly and shouted.
Jasper coldly lifted his eyes, "You think that just because Vincent isn't here, no one can push you around!"
The servant thought so but didn't dare say it out loud, just straightened her back and said, "Only Mr. Perry has the right to punish us!"
"Fine, you think I can't punish you." Jasper put the call on speaker in front of them. Vincent, upon hearing what happened, was furious.
He immediately ordered that these ungrateful servants not only be taken outside but also stripped of their outer clothes to feel the cold.
The servants were stunned to hear Vincent's voice.
Didn't Vincent dislike Harper? Why would he punish them so severely? Could they have been wrong all along?
Jasper didn't have time to argue with them. He quickly gathered everyone in the villa to search for useful clues. But no one knew where Harper was.
Jasper was furious and smashed a large vase.
The entire villa's servants were supposed to take care of Harper, yet no one knew where she was.
No one had seen her since the morning, showing how negligent they were!
Jasper made them all kneel outside to clear their heads. A middle-aged man raised his hand, trembling, saying he had a clue.
Jasper signaled him to stay, "Speak."
The man said, "I'm the night shift driver. The day shift driver isn't here."
This information was indeed useful, and Jasper spared the night shift driver from punishment.
He then started looking for the day shift driver and contacted local law enforcement to search for Harper.
After searching for dozens of minutes, they found the day shift driver at his home.
Jasper rushed over, and the driver, trembling, said he had dropped Harper off at the convention center. After waiting for about half an hour, he had an urgent matter at home.
He sneaked back, thinking he would return when Harper called.
But Harper never called, and by the time his shift ended, he just assumed he was off duty.
After all, the night shift driver would take over.
Jasper was so angry he almost spat blood. If any of these people had done their job, Harper wouldn't still be missing.
Jasper quickly called Francis to get the lowdown.
It was already 3 a.m. Francis, who hadn't been sleeping, sat up immediately when he heard the news.
He told Jasper that Harper had visited him earlier but had left afterward.
Jasper hung up and went to find law enforcement to check the surveillance footage.
Francis sat on the edge of his bed, thinking for a while, still feeling uneasy. He got up, threw on his coat, and wheeled himself out.
Francis had his driver take him to the convention center. It seemed unlikely, but it was the first place to check.
After the convention center closed and cut the power, there was a security system that required a senior official to unlock and restore power.
Francis called the on-duty senior official, but no one answered the phone for a long time, so he asked Victor to find the official's address and contact them in person.
Meanwhile, he had the security guard use a key to open the internal door and, with a flashlight in his mouth, climbed the stairs in the dark.
Francis needed one hand to hold the handrail and the other to support himself with his cane.
So he could only hold the flashlight in his mouth, climbing step by step. When he got tired, he put the flashlight in his coat pocket and continued in the dark.
Fortunately, his office was on the eighth floor, not the eighteenth.
After twenty minutes of climbing, Francis finally reached the eighth floor.
Ignoring his fatigue, he dragged his heavy leg towards his office and knocked on the door.
Without power, the office door couldn't be opened; it required power and a password.
Moreover, the door had no gap, so Francis couldn't see inside. The windows were on the other side of the wall, making breaking in impossible.
He could only keep knocking on the door, calling Harper's name.
He called repeatedly, hoping she wasn't inside.
In the deep night of Emerald Isle, the indoor temperature was below zero Fahrenheit.
There was nothing to keep warm in the office. If she had fainted inside, the results could be severe!
So, the lack of response from behind the door meant there was still hope.
Francis knocked for a while longer, there was still no sound, and he let out a shallow breath.
Just as he was about to rest, he heard a very faint knocking, like the fluttering of a butterfly's wings.
The entire corridor was empty at night, so Francis could hear it. At the same time, his heart felt like it was being torn apart.
Harper was really inside!
No longer waiting for the power to come back, Francis swung his cane and smashed the door. But the convention center doors were sturdy and wouldn't break easily.
Francis kept smashing and shouting, "Harper, don't fall asleep, hold on, hold on for me!"
Inside, it was silent, not even the fluttering sound.
The entire building echoed with Francis's roars and frantic actions. It seemed like the faint knocking was an illusion.
But Francis was convinced Harper was inside. She had to be.
He smashed the lock for a while, but apart from a few more marks, there was no progress. This wasn't working!
Francis spotted a fire hydrant nearby, containing an emergency fire extinguisher and an axe.
His eyes darkened as he walked towards it.
Harper was already numb from the cold, her consciousness flickering.
She dreamed that Francis had come to rescue her, hearing the banging on the door.
Instinctively, she reached out to knock on the door, trying to let Francis know she was locked inside. But she felt too tired to open her eyes.
Harper couldn't even feel the cold anymore, just an overwhelming fatigue. Finally, her hand dropped weakly, feeling utterly exhausted.
As her consciousness faded, the door was hacked open.
Francis had chopped through the lock, and the door finally opened.
Harper was curled up on the floor, wrapped in the dark blue blanket Francis used for his legs.
At that moment, the building's power was restored.
Harper's face, beautiful yet pale and weak, struck Francis with a wave of pain. He crouched down and held Harper in his arms, feeling like he was holding a block of ice.
Harper's body was so cold it had stiffened, her legs unable to bend naturally. Fortunately, she was still breathing, her brows slightly furrowed.
Francis took a deep breath and slowly stood up. Without his cane, he could barely walk.
He shifted all his weight to his healthy leg, crouched down again, picked up his cane, and leaned it against the wall for easy access.
Then, Francis slowly stood up, unable to carry her, so he slung her over his shoulder, using his other hand to support his cane as he walked towards the elevator.
Once inside, he pressed the button for the first floor.
As the elevator doors opened, Victor was already there with a medical team and a stretcher. The medical team took Harper, and Francis followed.
Victor, feeling deeply guilty, followed silently. If he hadn't asked Harper to come, she wouldn't have been mistakenly locked in the office, freezing for half the night.
Fortunately, Francis found her. If everyone had assumed Harper wouldn't be in the office but she had been left there all night, she might not have survived.
The ambulance arrived at the hospital, and fortunately, Emerald Isle's doctors had effective methods for treating frostbite.
There was special equipment that quickly warmed Harper's body, but even after her temperature stabilized, frostbite recovery wasn't immediate, and there was still the risk of fever.
Jasper also arrived at the hospital. After understanding the situation, although he knew Francis didn't do it on purpose, he was still very upset.
Harper was his sister. If anything happened to her, how could he explain it to their parents?
Jasper remembered when Harper was born, Elodie had placed his small hand in Harper's and gently said, "Jasper, can you help me take care of Harper in the future?"
Looking at the tiny, adorable Harper, Jasper's heart overflowed with affection.
He nodded vigorously and said loudly, "I will protect Harper for my whole life."
Jasper had always remembered and kept that promise. During the years Harper was missing, Jasper never had a day of happiness. Only after finding her again did he dare to show his first smile.
Jasper looked deeply at Francis, "Francis, I don't think you have what it takes to protect her."
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