Chapter 172
My mind went completely blank in an instant, and the bag in my hand dropped to the floor: "What did you say? Is she gone? What do you mean she's gone?"
"I left for work this morning, and Aura was still at home. How could she suddenly disappear?"
I had completely lost my composure, my mind filled with nothing but the terror of Aura being missing.
"My Aura..." My head was spinning. I tried hard to steady myself, holding my head, forcing myself to calm down.
Then I thought of Indigo: "What about Grandma?"
"She's been sleeping after taking her medicine. She just woke up. We haven't dared tell Mrs. Smith yet."
I nodded: "Grandma's health isn't good. Don't tell her about this. Don't let her hear even a hint of what happened."
"If anyone accidentally leaks anything and upsets Grandma, don't blame me for not being nice to them." My voice was stern.
Everyone quickly agreed.
"You've searched the entire house?" I asked hopefully.
What if Aura was just playing hide-and-seek with us, hiding somewhere secret where we couldn't see her?
"We... we've searched everywhere—the garden, the greenhouse, the playroom... we couldn't find her anywhere!"
"Then I checked the security footage and saw... saw that around 2 PM, Aura followed Yosef... that's the gardener, toward the back door, and then... then they went out of camera range!" Noah was sweating nervously. "I kept calling Yosef, but his phone won't go through."
"We can't find him anywhere either. There's no one at his house."
I could barely hear what they were saying anymore. A massive fear gripped my heart like an icy hand, making it almost impossible to breathe.
I forced myself to think.
Why would Yosef take my Aura?
What did he want?
"Call the police! Call the police now!" I heard myself screaming, my body shaking uncontrollably.
Just then, James strode in. His face was dark, and his usually perfectly combed hair now had several strands sticking up.
"What the hell is going on?" he growled, his cold, sharp eyes fixed on Noah.
Noah trembled as he repeated everything he'd just said.
James's fists clenched tight, veins bulging on the back of his hands.
He took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down, but the tremor in his voice betrayed his panic: "Call the police. Have them pull all the surveillance footage from nearby intersections! Now!"
"The rest of you go out and search. Look around the neighborhood, see if there are any other clues."
After giving orders, everyone got busy, and things became chaotic.
He also had his assistant investigate Yosef: "Get me all his information as soon as possible."
After hanging up, he pressed his lips together slightly: "Sophia, I'm sorry. I didn't arrange proper supervision for Aura, which allowed someone to take her."
I shook my head: "This isn't your fault. Who could have known a kidnapper was hiding in the house?"
"It's just my poor Aura. She's so young and has never been away from me. What if someone mistreats her? What will she do?"
"When we find her, I don't know if she'll be so scared that she gets sick."
Tears of helplessness streamed down my face.
James tentatively put his arm around me. When I didn't push him away, he pulled me into his embrace: "Our Aura will be fine. Don't overthink it."
I nodded.
The police arrived and quickly began their investigation.
I sat on the sofa, my whole body cold, my mind filled with thoughts of Aura.
She was only just over three years old!
Would she be scared facing something like this?
What would that person do to her?
All the terrible possibilities running through my mind were driving me crazy.
James was directing and arranging things while constantly making phone calls.
He came to my side, his hand pressing heavily on my trembling shoulder, as if trying to transfer some strength to me, but his own hand was just as cold.
"Sophia, I promise I'll find Aura." His voice was hoarse, with an almost obsessive determination.
Time passed second by second, each second like torture.
It was completely dark now, and still no concrete news.
Just as we were about to be swallowed by despair, the main door of the Smith Mansion was violently pushed open.
A disheveled figure stumbled in, clutching tightly in her arms the small figure I'd been desperately worried about—Aura!
Cecilia's hair was messy, her face had scrapes and bruises, her light-colored clothes were covered in mud and suspicious dark red stains, and her arms and legs had obvious wounds. She looked like she'd been through an intense "battle."
Aura in her arms was trembling, her little face dirty, her eyes red and swollen from crying, but thankfully, she appeared to have no obvious external injuries.
"Aura!" James and I rushed over at the same time.
"Mommy! Daddy!" When Aura saw us, she burst into tears and reached out to me.
I held her tightly in my arms, feeling the warmth and trembling of her small body. Only then did my heart, which had been suspended in mid-air, drop heavily back into place, followed by endless heartache and lingering fear.
"Aura, my baby... You scared Mommy to death..." My tears poured out as I kept kissing her hair and cheeks.
James also had red-rimmed eyes. His large hand gently stroked Aura's back, speaking softly to comfort her: "It's okay now. Daddy and Mommy are both here. It's okay now..."
Cecilia seemed exhausted and slid down against the doorframe to sit on the floor, gasping for breath, her face showing she was still shaken: "Mr. Smith, I've brought your daughter back safely."
"Ms. Thorne? Thank you very much. Where did you find Aura, and how did you rescue her?" James turned his gaze to her, his brows furrowed.
Cecilia looked up, tears mixed with the dirt on her face streaming down. She looked at Aura, then at us, her voice weak and broken: "Mr. Smith... Ms. Brown... I happened to be passing by that area... I saw someone acting suspiciously carrying a child, and that child... that child was wearing a dress that looked like... like Aura's."
"I... I didn't think twice and rushed over... but he... he had a knife... I managed to grab Aura from him... and ran... he chased us... I fell several times."
"Fortunately... fortunately, we ran into a patrol car. He got scared and ran away. Aura and I were saved."
As she spoke, she seemed to aggravate her wounds and gasped in pain. There was a long gash on her arm that was bleeding.
Aura sobbed in my arms, saying softly: "It was... it was she who saved me... those bad men were going to hit me... she threw herself over to protect me, so I didn't get hit."
"But she got kicked by that bad man... and cut by the knife... she bled so much... Mommy, Daddy, please save her..."
Looking at Cecilia's injuries, especially the seemingly real scrapes and bruises on her arms and legs, and her current weak and pained appearance, I couldn't help but wonder—could it really be such a coincidence that she rescued Aura?