Chapter 323: Echo, Come Here
"Elizabeth, can you hear me?"
The sound of the waves was quite loud, so Mabel raised her voice a bit.
Hearing Mabel's voice, Elizabeth immediately sat up straight from Timothy's embrace. "Where are you now?"
Mabel's feet were stepping on the sand, her toes drawing circles in it. She was wearing a loose dress. "I'm in Little Fish Village on the West Coast. Elizabeth, I'm doing fine here, you don't need to worry about me."
Elizabeth frowned. Why did she go so far away? "What exactly happened between you and Alfonso?"
Mabel hung her head, her sweet face showing a bitter smile. "His mother suddenly came up to me and tried to kill herself with a knife. She cut her wrist. I ran away while Alfonso went to the hospital to see his mother."
Elizabeth was speechless. She really couldn't help herself and cursed directly, "Is she sick?"
Maya seemed seriously ill.
Thinking of how Maya had coldly cut her wrist, Mabel still felt a chill in her heart even now.
Mabel sighed and said softly, "Elizabeth, I want to live a simple life here from now on, wake up every day and listen to the ocean. Oh, Elizabeth, I... I'm pregnant, but I don't know whether to keep this baby or not."
This child was also an accident. That day when Alfonso was pressing down on her making love, Maya suddenly showed up.
His semen accidentally stayed inside.
Later, with Maya's wrist-cutting incident, Mabel was busy escaping, and in all the chaos, she forgot to take the pill.
Elizabeth was suddenly at a loss for words. She was silent for a moment, then said, "Mabel, whatever decision you make, Mr. Robinson and I will support you. Listen to me, think carefully about whether you want to keep the baby or not."
Mabel smiled. "Okay."
The two chatted for a while, briefly talking about recent events before hanging up.
After hanging up, Elizabeth leaned back into Timothy's embrace, her face showing worry.
Timothy held her. "Is Mabel okay?"
Elizabeth nodded, then shook her head. "Mabel said she wants to live in Little Fish Village on the West Coast from now on. Alfonso's mother committed suicide in front of her, and also, Mabel is pregnant."
Elizabeth rubbed her temples.
Timothy frowned. "I didn't expect Alfonso's mother to be so obsessive. I don't think Mabel should keep that child, otherwise it'll be endless trouble, but this kind of thing, she needs to decide for herself."
"Mabel should understand that too."
Elizabeth thought of her own daughter Seraphina. When Seraphina grows up, she wondered what she would be like, what kind of man she would meet.
Elizabeth's thoughts drifted far away.
Freya went to the hospital today to check on her kidney condition.
At the hospital, she ran into Abigail, who was also there for a checkup.
Seeing Freya, Abigail walked up with a smile. "Mrs. Nightingale, what a coincidence. Your daughter is really excellent. Every time my husband Mr. Taylor mentions Elizabeth, he gives a thumbs up."
Abigail truly admired Elizabeth's skills, managing to turn the Sherman Group into her own Seraphina Enterprises at such a young age.
If her son had half of Elizabeth's abilities, she and her husband would be thrilled.
Freya smiled awkwardly. "Thank you for the compliment, Mrs. Taylor."
Abigail had naturally heard rumors that the relationship between Freya and Elizabeth didn't seem very good. Abigail was actually being kind by praising Elizabeth in front of Freya.
Freya had finally found her long-lost daughter Elizabeth, so why wouldn't she cherish her, and instead have conflicts with her?
Abigail really couldn't understand what Freya was thinking.
There was also another matter - everyone was actually curious about how Russell's estate was distributed after his death.
The Nightingale family hadn't mentioned anything about the estate distribution publicly, so they didn't know.
Abigail asked curiously, "Will your daughter take over the Nightingale Group in the future?"
Freya's expression changed slightly. She said coolly, "She has her own business. Right now she's putting all her energy into Seraphina Enterprises. The Nightingale Group has always been managed by Herschel, and we're all very confident in him."
Noticing Freya's coldness, Abigail smiled and said, "I'll be going now. Let's chat when we have time."
Freya nodded. "Okay."
Freya watched Abigail's departing figure, her emotions complex.
Although Freya rarely went out, she could always hear rumors about Elizabeth through various channels.
Some said Elizabeth was ruthless, others praised her abilities.
In Freya's eyes, these words only made her feel that Elizabeth's heart was too cruel.
Freya's thoughts were interrupted by a phone ringtone.
She took out her phone and looked at the caller ID on the screen - it was a call from Herschel.
Freya answered the call.
"Freya, where are you now? I'm at the hospital." Herschel knew Freya was going to the hospital for a checkup this afternoon, so he specially came from the company to accompany her.
Hearing Herschel's voice, Freya's mood improved a bit. "I'm at the nephrology department, room F112."
Freya's thought at this moment was that since Elizabeth already had Seraphina Enterprises, the Nightingale Group should continue to be managed by Herschel.
Herschel had always managed the Nightingale Group very well.
At this time, two men arrived at Whispering Town.
They got out of the car, wiped the sweat from their foreheads, and looked at this backward little village.
After the car drove away.
One of the men, Ryder, spoke up, "Let's go find the village chief first."
They had already been to several villages, and couldn't find the girl their boss was looking for in any of the previous villages.
They didn't know if they could find her in this village.
They didn't dare to openly ask the villagers directly if they had seen a strange girl.
Each time, they used the pretext of wanting to buy land for farming or building a factory to stay in the village and gather information.
"Hope we can find some clues this time," Nolan said, his voice carrying a trace of fatigue.
"Yeah," Ryder replied.
"This village is really backward," Nolan said in a low voice. "I wonder if that little girl would be here."
They walked into the village.
"Excuse me, where is the village chief's house?" Nolan took out a cigarette and offered it to an old man, asking.
The old man took the cigarette, squinted his eyes and looked them over, then raised his hand and pointed. "The village chief's house is over there. Follow this road straight ahead, and when you see a big locust tree, that's it."
"Thank you, sir." The man nodded his thanks.
Nolan and Ryder walked in the direction the old man pointed.
Most of the houses in the village were adobe houses, looking old and simple.
A few children were playing around, looking at these two strangers with curiosity and fear.
After walking for a while, they saw the big locust tree, with several villagers cooling off under it.
Village chief Luca's house was right next to the tree, a slightly newer brick house.
"Is the village chief home?" They walked to the door and called out.
A middle-aged man, Luca, wearing a sleeveless vest, came out from inside. Seeing two strange men, he asked puzzled, "What do you want with me?"
"Village chief, we want to see if the mountain land here is suitable for farming. We're planning to lease some mountain land," Nolan said politely.
Luca's eyes brightened slightly - this was good news. He smiled and said, "Great, come in and sit down, let's talk."
Zara happened to be cooling off and chatting under the big locust tree too, so she naturally heard the conversation between Nolan, Ryder, and village chief Luca.
Zara hurried home to tell Milan about people coming to lease mountain land.
Milan was lying comfortably in a rocking chair listening to music.
Hearing what Zara said, he frowned. "Keep an eye on Echo, don't let her go out. Just take a rope and tie her up in the house for now."
Zara nodded. "I'll go find a rope."
She went to the storage room and found a rope, then walked outside the storage room and looked at Seraphina, who was feeding the chickens. "Echo, come here."
Seraphina raised her head, a trace of panic in her eyes, but still obediently put down the chicken feed in her hands and walked to Zara.
"Come in."
Seraphina followed Zara into the storage room, which was where Seraphina slept.
Zara took out the rope and roughly tied up Seraphina's ankle. "You stay here, don't leave this room, understand?"
Seraphina looked at the rope tied around her ankle and didn't make a sound.
Zara didn't expect Seraphina to make a sound anyway.
Zara took a stool, stepped on it, and tied the other end of the rope to a beam. After tying it, she got down from the stool and walked out of the storage room.
The door closed.
Seraphina moved her foot.
She tilted her head, her two small hands tightly clutching the corner of her clothes.