Chapter 177 Missing

Chapter 177 Missing

So it seemed that Chad must have wanted to go back to the nursing home at that time.

It's just that for some reason, he went missing before making it back to the nursing home.

Joanna frowned, the unease in her heart growing stronger.

After thanking the neighbor lady, she left a note in the door crack asking Chad to contact them when he got home.

Then she and Angelo returned to the car.

The atmosphere in the car was heavy. Joanna voiced her suspicions, "Angelo, how likely do you think it is that Chad was kidnapped by those people?"

Angelo patted her head and said calmly, "Don't worry too much. Chad's an adult. If something seemed wrong, he would've called the police. Besides, if those people had kidnapped Chad, they would've contacted you right away. After all, their ultimate goal is Aunt Sandra's blood."

Joanna thought what he said made sense.

After thinking it over for a while, she decided to wait for them to call.

But Joanna also gave the police a heads-up to help track her brother's location.

The day of the engagement party.

All the guests had arrived at the estate. Before the ceremony started, Joanna made a point of going to see Henry.

Henry was indeed in poor spirits. When they met, he couldn't even recognize her as his own daughter.

Joanna looked at him with mixed emotions and said, "Dad, I'm getting engaged today. I might not get your blessing, but this is the path I've chosen. Even if it fails, I won't regret it."

Henry didn't speak. He cowered in the stairwell.

Hearing the noise outside, he fearfully raised his hands to cover his ears.

He seemed to be lost in his own world, showing no reaction no matter what Joanna said.

Angelo finished what he was doing and came over, instructing the servant, "Today is my and Joanna's engagement ceremony after all. Get someone to clean him up and let him keep some dignity."

The servant nodded and went to prepare.

Joanna and Angelo went to the estate's main hall together.

Their engagement ceremony was simple. Besides exchanging vows, it was also meant to introduce Joanna to the wealthy families.

Invitations were naturally sent to the Cooper family, but not a single person showed up.

The Smith family didn't care whether they came or not. After all, on such a happy day, nobody wanted to be disrupted by an ex-husband.

After the engagement ceremony, Joanna followed Alfred and Pippa to meet the Smith family's relatives and friends.

Many were close business partners of the Smiths, as well as Angelo's grandparents on his mother's side.

Everyone gave Joanna gifts and blessed the new couple.

The fragrance of flowers from outside the estate drifted into the main hall, spreading a sweet atmosphere.

After a busy day, when things finally ended, a servant came running over in a panic, "Sir, Mr. Henry is missing."

Angelo paused, then calmly asked, "What happened? Who went to see him?"

The servant shook their head, "There were too many people at the engagement ceremony today. We didn't notice who came this way. Following your instructions, we cleaned him up and changed his clothes, then let him go back. When we went to bring him food just now, we found he was gone."

The unease in Joanna's heart grew stronger. First Chad disappeared, and now Henry was missing.

Could it be that the people behind this found the nursing home's security too tight to get to Sandra, so they chose to target Henry and Chad instead?

"Angelo, let's call the police." Joanna felt this was getting beyond what she could handle.

No matter how rare special blood was, it shouldn't be coveted by so many people.

If even the police wouldn't help her, then she and her mother might both lose their lives.

Angelo nodded and said, "Leave this to me, don't be afraid. You contact the nursing home first and have Dr. Bruce add more security."

It wasn't that he didn't want to contact the police. In fact, he worried that among those coveting the special blood, there might be people from the police force. And if he himself couldn't guarantee Sandra's safety, having the police come would be useless anyway.

The police would just pass the buck, telling them to search carefully.

After enough time passed, the case would just be classified as a missing persons case.

Joanna was also worried about something happening to them. Henry was her father, after all.

And Henry might very well know secrets about her mother. Once he told those things to the kidnappers, her mother's safety would be even less certain.

Joanna knew this would be difficult and didn't want Angelo to shoulder everything alone.

After thinking it over, she suggested proactively contacting the media to report and appeal to everyone to keep a normal attitude about special blood and not pay too much attention to it.

Angelo frowned, "Actually, you want them to contact you first?"

Joanna nodded, "Right now we don't even know who's after the special blood. Running around like headless flies, it's really hard to get any effective protection this way."

But if they could find out who was after the special blood, then they could have targeted protection.

After this engagement, the Smith family would provide some protection to the Jones family, which would definitely discourage some people.

So for the rest, they had to make changes themselves.

Joanna thought about it and also used her reputation as Dr. J to call on doctors in the field to speak out.

Among them, the pharmaceutical research institute represented by Luke was the fastest.

"Special blood doesn't have the ability to cure diseases. It's just a new type of blood whose special characteristics need to be studied. The speculation online has no basis. We hope everyone will look at this rationally. Don't bring trouble to people with special blood. We're all ordinary people living our lives seriously."

As soon as the response came out, Angelo had the PR department push it hard, and before long it swept across the entire internet.

Many people also started sharing situations about special blood around them.

Because of their sharing, Joanna saw more of the dark side.

What had been reported before was only a small part.

It turned out there really were people who believed the rumors online and captured people with special blood to draw their blood for research.

There were even people who saw this as a money-making opportunity, tricking uneducated people by saying special blood was a magic elixir that could grant longevity if drunk.

All kinds of things were heartbreaking to see.

Joanna scrolled through the comments and hot posts for a long time. Her emotions welled up and her eyes turned red.

The media interview was scheduled for the next day, in the lobby of Smith Group, with security protection.

Joanna said, "The reason for holding this public media conference is simple. I want to appeal to everyone to reduce attention on special blood. My mother's blood hasn't actually been confirmed as special blood. There's no equipment that can verify it right now. It's just that during testing, the blood showed some special characteristics that need careful analysis, but due to her medical condition, comprehensive testing hasn't been done."

The reporters exchanged looks with each other but didn't respond.

Joanna continued, "Now, because of the attention on special blood from many criminal forces, my brother and father have gone missing and still can't be found. The police are doing everything they can to search for them. If anyone has seen them, you can also provide me with information through your local police station."

As she spoke, the large screen behind Joanna displayed photos of Henry and Chad.