Chapter 400

Chapter 400

"AHHH!!!"

Robert flailed his arms and screamed at the top of his lungs.

The motion sensors throughout the entire underground parking garage lit up at his shriek.

"Who! Who is it!?" Robert's whole body went rigid. He didn't dare turn around, could only helplessly demand answers from whoever had grabbed him around the waist.

"Robert, you can't do this! Alex is your son! Now that he's fallen into Alice's hands, how can you just say you won't get involved?"

Hearing Ava's voice, Robert exhaled in relief. He yanked himself free with force. Ava had been clutching him so tightly that when Robert shook her off, she lost her balance and fell hard on her backside.

She grimaced in pain.

"What are you so worried about? She's just keeping him locked up somewhere. Nothing's actually happened to him!" Robert said dismissively.

Ava stared at Robert in disbelief. "Nothing's happened? How do you know nothing's happened? Do you have some kind of surveillance feed showing you what Alex's situation is right now?"

"I don't, but if something really did happen to Alex, the police would handle it naturally. What are you worried about?"

Robert's tone was casual.

Hearing this, Ava felt like the sky was falling.

"Robert, what do you mean 'if something happens to Alex, the police will handle it'? Are you saying that even if Alice kills your son, you won't do anything about it?"

"It's not that I don't want to get involved—I can't! You know what Alice is capable of! If I dare go up against her, I won't survive either!"

At this point, Robert figured there was nothing left to hide. He might as well cut off Ava's hope completely, make it clear he wasn't getting involved in this, so she'd give up and stop harassing him.

He was already stressed out enough. He really didn't have the energy to deal with this foolish woman.

Ava refused to let it go. She got up and grabbed onto Robert. "Robert? You can't be this heartless! You've already fallen out with Alice and them. From now on, Alex is the only child you have!"

"We're the only ones still on your side! And now you're going to betray us?"

Ava couldn't understand it. Robert and Alice had gotten into a conflict—so why was her son the one suffering? Alex was innocent! She didn't even know what kind of conflict had erupted between Alice and Robert to escalate things this far.

A few hours ago, she'd received a message from Alice. Alice told her that her son was locked up in the Silver Creek villa. If she wanted Alex to be safe, she should go find Robert and get him to save her son.

When Ava saw that message, she'd nearly exploded.

Her son had been kidnapped by Alice.

There was absolutely no one in this world who hated her son more than Alice did.

She'd rushed to Emerald City immediately. She'd blown up Robert's phone with calls, flooded him with texts, but he just wouldn't respond. With every passing minute she couldn't reach Alex, she felt her heart shatter a little more.

Right now she had no time to dig into what conflict had arisen between Alice and Robert. Her only thought was to beg Robert to save Alex.

Since Alice had told her to beg Robert, that meant Robert had a way to save Alex—it was just a question of whether he was willing.

Actually, during the time she couldn't reach Robert, Ava had gone to the Silver Creek villa once. She'd considered picking the lock or climbing over the gate to get in and rescue Alex. But the moment she appeared at the villa's front entrance, the security monitoring system suddenly activated.

Then came a cold AI voice.

"Facial recognition successful. Name: Ava."

"Warning. Do not attempt illegal entry. If you attempt to illegally enter this villa, the person currently inside this villa will receive electric shock punishment."

When Ava heard that warning, she'd collapsed to the ground.

She didn't dare call the police either. She was afraid that calling them would anger Alice, and Alice would just go ahead and kill her son. But she couldn't get through the Silver Creek villa's gates either. She couldn't very well call the police to help her break into someone else's house—they'd just think she was crazy.

Ava never imagined that after she'd cried her heart out and said all this, Robert would remain completely unmoved. Did he really not care at all about their son's safety?

She tried to awaken Robert's sense of duty as a father. "Robert! If you won't think about anyone else, at least think about yourself!"

"You and Alice have basically cut ties at this point, haven't you?"

This question hit Robert's sore spot.

More than 'basically.' They were already complete enemies.

Ava continued her appeal. "So, haven't you thought about when you're old, who you'll have to rely on? It'll be Alex, of course!"

"If you break Alex's heart this time, you can look forward to dying alone! Doesn't that scare you?"

Wasn't he scared?

Of course he was scared. But that wasn't his biggest concern right now.

Robert shook off Ava's hand. "If you want to save him, go save him yourself. Alex is clearly fine right now, but you're crying like something's actually happened to him."

"Also, when Alice said I have a way to rescue Alex from wherever he's locked up, she was lying to you. She's just trying to get you to come here and make trouble for me. Got it?"

"And what you said about how if I want to enjoy my twilight years, I should save Alex—hah. If I actually dared to try saving Alex, whether I'd even have any twilight years is still up in the air!"

Ava clung desperately to the hem of Robert's coat. "Then tell me—what conflict do you have with Alice that's making Alex suffer for it?"

Robert had no intention of wasting his breath explaining the real reasons to Ava.

And precisely because Ava didn't know the truth, it was easy for him to make things up. "What do you mean I'm making Alex suffer? Haven't you figured it out yet? This move of Alice's is meant to break up the relationship between the three of us. She's settling scores with all of us now!"

"The reason Alex is locked up is because back when she was still fat, still ugly, he bullied and humiliated her in every way. Understand? She holds grudges. It has nothing to do with me!" Robert shamelessly deflected blame.

Ava froze. At first glance, what Robert said almost seemed to make sense.

But something still felt off.

She felt utterly wronged. "Alex bullied her? When did Alex ever bully her? That was just kids roughhousing with each other. She's really going to hold a grudge against her underage brother? No matter what, they're still blood relatives!"

"Even if Alice hates me because of Emily, if she wants to settle accounts, she should come after me! Why is she taking it out on Alex? Alex is just a kid!"

Ava cried until her chest ached.