Chapter 40 Quentin and Hannah Are Missing
A man's voice answered the phone, "Miss Smith, it's been a while. Looking up someone is easy. You'll have one hundred thousand, payment in advance, and you'll have your results tonight. You know the deal."
"Fine, the transfer is coming, and I'll send the name. I need results tonight."
"You know you can count on us once we've been paid."
After ending the call, Brianna didn't continue shopping. Instead, she drove straight back to her apartment.
At 8 PM, right on schedule, the other party sent the information Brianna inquired about.
It turned out that after her divorce, Madison had moved to Frostpine, had two children, and was still listed as divorced. The kids were just over three years old and were attending preschool.
Brianna's suspicions were correct. These children were Matthew's.
“Madison, why bring the children back? Why! No, Matthew cannot find out about them. The only option now...”
She pulled out her cell phone again and dialed the same number.
"Miss Smith, I sent the information already. What else do you need?"
"There's something else I need from you. Succeed, and you'll make a million."
"Heh, say no more. As long as we get paid, there's nothing we can't do."
After Brianna finished speaking...
"Miss Smith, this isn't a small job. I need a million upfront and another million after the job's done."
"You... Fine, just make sure the job's clean."
"You don't need to worry about us, and we've worked together before."
"Less talk. I'll transfer it soon. Just get it done quickly."
"Haha, I like your working style."
The man on the other end of the phone ended the call, "Wow, when this woman gets tough, she really outdoes us guys."
The man gestured to the two people behind him. "We've got work to do."
The trio set out in their car.
*
Early in the morning, Rachel had already gone out and bought some pastries. Knowing she would be leaving tomorrow, Madison received a call from Nicholas and decided it would be best to say goodbye to Nicholas in person. Quentin and Hannah insisted on coming along, so Madison, accompanied by the two kids, stepped out the door. As soon as they reached the mall where they had agreed to meet for a meal, Hannah saw a clown at the entrance selling balloons, surrounded by a crowd of people. Excited, she ran over to buy one, with Quentin following.
Standing to the side, Madison answered her ringing phone, "Nicholas, we're here. Haven't gone in yet, we're right by the restaurant entrance."
"I just parked my car and am about to take the elevator. Quentin and Hannah are with you, right? We could take them shopping later to buy some things for your trip."
"Ah, we already did a bit of shopping yesterday. Once you're here, let's eat first."
"All right, food first, then."
After Madison hung up, she realized Quentin and Hannah were no longer by the balloon stand. Panic started to set in as she pushed through the crowd, looking for them, but couldn't see them anywhere. She became desperate, calling out their names while frantically asking the people around her if they saw the two children. Everyone just shook their heads.
When Nicholas arrived, he saw Madison running around, grabbing people, and asking everywhere, her eyes red with urgency.
"Madison, what's happened?"
Seeing Nicholas, Madison couldn't hold back her tears and broke down crying. "Quentin and Hannah... they're gone. Just now... Hannah wanted to buy a balloon, and Quentin followed her... I turned around after our call... and they just disappeared. What do we do, Nicholas?"
Seeing Madison cry as she explained the situation, Nicholas gently steadied her shoulders to comfort her. "Don't worry. Let's go find the mall manager to review the security footage. They couldn't have gone far in just a moment. We'll call the police to file a report."
"All right, all right..." Madison was out of ideas. Hearing Nicholas's words, she calmed down a bit. That’s right, the mall definitely had surveillance; by checking it, they would know what happened. Nicholas took Madison's hand and headed toward the mall's security office.
Having explained the situation to the mall manager, who also took the disappearance of the two kids seriously, they began to review the surveillance footage. Unfortunately, the corner where Hannah and Quentin went missing was a blind spot for the cameras. Initially, they could see Hannah running over to watch a clown selling balloons, with Quentin following behind.
At some point, something caught Hannah's attention, and she turned to run into the blind spot. Quentin followed, which was the last glimpse of them caught on camera. After that, they didn't reappear.
Watching the surveillance, Nicholas felt it was like a deliberate abduction carried out by professionals; otherwise, it would've been impossible to avoid the cameras and take the children completely. However, he didn't dare to share his thoughts with Madison. Given her current state, she surely couldn't handle it. He comforted her, suggesting they call the police.
Madison remembered that both children had smartwatches. She frantically took out her phone to call them. Initially, the calls connected, but then they went straight to voicemail.
Madison didn't know what to do. She felt a surge of urgency and guilt. They were supposed to leave tomorrow. She blamed herself for not paying closer attention.
Seeing her in tears and emotionally unstable, Nicholas decided to drive her home, "Don't worry for now. The police will give an update as soon as they get a lead, and we'll quickly find Quentin and Hannah."
"It's all my fault. I wasn't careful enough with them. What should I do if something happened to them?" The kids had never been apart from her since birth. At this moment, she truly broke down. She could guess their disappearance wasn't as simple as it seemed. The surveillance has no trace, and calls are not going through they must have encountered danger.
Back at the apartment, Rachel saw Madison's eyes swollen from crying, and with Quentin and Hannah not behind her, she sensed something was wrong, "What happened? Didn't Quentin and Hannah come back with you?"
As soon as she asked, Madison embraced Rachel and burst into tears, "Rachel, Quentin, and Hannah are missing. They said they were going to buy balloons, just beside me... and then they were gone. What should I do!"
Watching the devastated Madison, Rachel looked up at Nicholas standing behind her.
I've checked the surveillance footage, and there are no clues. I've also reported it to the police.
Nicholas relayed the current situation to Rachel.
"It's okay, Madison. Now that we've contacted the police, we must trust their capabilities. Don't worry. Quentin is smart. I'm sure they're fine," Rachel comforted Madison, who had been crying for a while before slowly calming down. Just the thought of the children's whereabouts being unknown, whether they were hurt or not, brought tears to her eyes.
Rachel and Nicholas provided comfort to Madison, but they were also anxious since the assailant's motives were unknown and the police had not yet had an update, leaving everyone on edge.
Nicholas had an idea, "Madison, there is still something we can do."
"What can we do?" Madison asked blankly, raising her head.
"We could ask Quentin and Hannah's dad for help."
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