Chapter 43
After an hour of racing at breakneck speed, Ella's car finally arrived at the location the kidnappers had designated.
But by now, it was already dark.
The seaside was pitch black, with only the sound of the sea breeze blowing.
Ella turned on her headlights to illuminate ahead and pressed the person on the phone, "I'm here. Where's my daughter?"
On the phone, the kidnapper told her to get out of the car and walk forward.
Ella did as told.
Where the headlights couldn't reach was so dark you couldn't see your hand in front of your face, surrounded by fear.
She wasn't scared at all—her mind was full of Aurora.
Not knowing how Aurora was doing, and unable to see anything now, Ella anxiously shouted into the phone again, "What exactly do you want? I'm already at the destination. Give me back my daughter."
The other side hung up.
The next second, at the cliff edge ahead, the lights of two cars turned on simultaneously.
Ella clearly saw three men wearing masks standing there.
One man was holding Aurora.
Ella wanted to rush over.
The man shouted, "Stop! Take one more step and I'll throw your daughter off."
Ella was so scared she immediately stopped, her face turning pale, not daring to move.
She tried to stay calm, looking at Aurora in the man's arms—she wasn't moving much, not crying or making noise. Anxiously, she asked, "What happened to my daughter? What did you do to her?"
The man told her, "The kid was too noisy, so we gave her sleeping pills."
They pointed to the cliff beside them, indicating, "You jump off here, and we'll let your daughter go."
Ella couldn't believe it.
These heartless monsters actually gave three-year-old Aurora sleeping pills.
And they wanted her to jump off a cliff?
Ella refused. With the phone in her hand, she quietly scrolled to Joshua's name and called him.
She really couldn't understand why these people would kidnap Aurora and force her to jump off a cliff.
Ella looked at the three men ahead, her voice trembling as she spoke, "I really want to know who made you do this. I've never wronged you in any way."
The men clearly didn't want to waste words with her, to avoid complications.
They shouted again, "Are you going to jump or not?"
Ella hid her phone and moved forward step by step, "Give me Aurora. At least let me know she's still alive."
At this moment, at the Lewis Villa entrance.
Joshua had just brought Scarlett home when his phone rang.
He took it out and saw it was Ella. Just as he was about to answer, Scarlett beside him said sweetly, "Joshua, can you carry me inside? This is the last time. I absolutely won't bother you again after this."
Joshua, who was about to answer the call, put his phone away instead, then got out of the car and carried Scarlett into the Lewis Villa.
Ella looked down at her phone screen, seeing that Joshua still wasn't answering.
Maybe he didn't want to be disturbed and just wanted to spend time alone with Scarlett.
She desperately put away her phone and said to the three men ahead again, "Give me Aurora. As long as she's okay, I'll do whatever you want."
The three men looked at each other.
The softhearted one wanted to give the child back to her.
But they received a message from their employer on their phone.
The employer told them to finish quickly.
The three men hardened their hearts and said to Ella, "If you want to blame someone, blame yourself for offending the wrong person. Go settle the score with her after you're dead."
Without hesitation, they threw the child directly into the abyss ahead.
"No!"
Ella screamed, and her maternal instinct made her desperately lunge forward.
She didn't know there was a cliff ahead—she just reached out wanting to hold Aurora.
Then her foot met empty air, and her whole body fell weightlessly downward.
She couldn't see anything.
She didn't catch Aurora either.
As her body fell, Ella's heart filled with despair and grief.
She could tell she probably wouldn't survive.
And there was no way to save Aurora anymore.
In the final moment before death, Ella suddenly felt so much regret.
She regretted coming back to the country to marry Joshua, regretted not being honest with Aiden in time about having two children.
But it was all too late.
Ella felt herself falling into the sea, her whole body flooded with icy seawater. Dizzy and disoriented, she passed out.
To fake a car accident, the three kidnappers drove Ella's car off into the ocean as well.
After Joshua brought Scarlett to the Lewis Villa, he returned to the car.
Looking at Ella's missed call, he didn't call back.
He sat alone in the back seat of the car, leaning against the chair, somehow feeling distracted.
He asked Brian, "Did Ella go back to Tranquil Villa?"
Brian said, "I'm not sure. I didn't come from Tranquil Villa, but at this time she should have gone back, since both her kids are there."
Joshua thought, where else would Ella go if not back there?
Those two children were her life—she would definitely return to Tranquil Villa.
Joshua asked Brian again, "If I forgive her and accept those two children, will I become the laughingstock of all of Emerald City?"
He didn't deny that he really liked children.
From when Ella came back to the country to marry him, he had wanted her to have children for him.
But now Ella couldn't have children anymore.
He had actually considered trying to get along well with those two children.
Brian looked at Joshua through the rearview mirror.
Seeing Joshua's serious expression, looking like he wanted to give up on Ella but couldn't quite let go.
He tried to persuade him, "Didn't you make an adoption agreement? Just don't let others know Mrs. Thomas gave birth to them."
"The two children are very well-behaved. I believe in the future they'll treat you like their real father too."
Joshua closed his eyes in thought.
He increasingly felt his chest was tight, with waves of piercing pain.
Feeling uneasy, he instructed Brian, "Call Samuel and have him come see me."
Brian asked with concern, "What's wrong? Where don't you feel well?"
"My heart doesn't feel well. Have Samuel go to Tranquil Villa."
Brian understood, and the car drove very fast.
When they arrived at Tranquil Villa, it was nine o'clock at night.
Before even entering the villa, they heard Dorian's crying and shouting from the courtyard.
"Let me go! I need to go find Aurora. Aurora must have been taken by bad people."
Patricia held him tightly, refusing to let go, crying along with him. "Dorian, be good. Your mom probably went to call the police. Let's wait at home. Maybe your mom will bring Aurora back soon."
They had checked the nearby surveillance cameras.
But the cameras were all broken—they couldn't find anything.
They had also asked people around, but no one said they'd seen Aurora.
Now that it was nighttime and Ella still hadn't come back, Patricia was really starting to panic.
"No one's answering Mom's phone either. Maybe something happened to Mom too. Let me go! I need to find Aurora and Mom."
Dorian was worried and struggled while crying, determined to go out.
But his small body was held tightly by Patricia. He couldn't break free at all.
When Brian's car drove into the courtyard, Joshua had just gotten out when Dorian saw him and shouted even louder.
"Mr. Thomas, I can't reach Ella, and Aurora is missing. Can you please help me find them?"