"I mentioned how I was investigating Sean Poole, right? I'd already found his range of movement. If Emilia hadn't come up that day, I might have already dealt with him."
"What about now? You've found his tracks again?"
Georgia asked, and Wilson nodded.
"I left surveillance around that range of movement, and I found that Eric's men had contacted Sean's. The two really are connected. Of course, that footage was before Emilia had been captured. I investigated the people who met with Sean and non-locals who frequently appeared in the area. Finally, I found a likely suspect who could be responsible for liaising with Eric's side.
"Going down that trail, I found his other means of communication, and the group of people he'd contacted. Those are possibly Eric's men, or related to Eric."
"You mean to say that we could turn up Eric's tracks by staking out these people?"
Robert brought that up, and Wilson chuckled.
"They're an interconnected web. If we move outright, they'll definitely notify each other. I've put people on observing them, and I'm trying to find a way to infiltrate their inside. Eric's lost a lot of men this time and we won't get into his inner circle. Going in from the outside, though, then probing for information – that should still be viable."
"You've worked hard for this while, Wilson. We'll keep you on this. If Eric makes any unusual moves, we can discover it sooner and be on guard. If we find traces of Eric, you can arrange for people to mobilize right away, so he can't come back from this again."
"Don't worry. I'll keep my people on watch, then send someone to infiltrate the network. If we can cleanly deal with Eric's people, I'll give the order right away."
For the next three days, Georgia and Robert remained up north.
Emilia's condition wasn't stable yet, so they couldn't go back down south for the moment.
Over these few days, Emilia's mental condition developed further.
Other than the child's personality surfacing that day, now there was an aggressive personality. One time, when Ivan went in to chat with her, she beat him up outright and injured him lightly.
Another personality was weak and fragile, afraid whenever she saw people, trembling whenever others spoke, as if she was terrified of everything and everyone around her.
The fourth personality was more complicated. This one was closer to Emilia's own personality, but completely irrational and immoral.
If any men went into the cell, she'd go right ahead and seduce them. There were no limits to her.
Ivan's experts had also arrived.
They'd managed to suppress Emilia's condition with medication, trying their best to prevent any new personalities from splitting off.
But this sort of mental trauma needed long treatment, and a close study of Emilia's past personality.
What kinds of personality a person developed was deeply connected to their experiences growing up in addition to their trauma.
Emilia's child persona, for example, proved that she'd experienced some trauma as a child.
Over that, Ivan asked Margie about it directly.
Margie simply apologetically stated that, because she and Oscar had been busy when Emilia was younger, they hadn't taken proper care of her. So Emilia had never been close or felt safe with her parents. As for deeper reasons, Margie said that she didn't know about it.
She wasn't sure if Emilia had been bullied or been through anything in school, and if they hadn't discovered it as parents. That seemed to bug Margie for these few days, and she looked guilty.
Emilia was already going through treatment, but the doctors and experts told them not to get their hopes up. It wasn't a simple thing to treat mental trauma. They could only control it and keep the situation from worsening. Every persona had their own personality, and the treatment right now could only have the host regain control of her body instead of slumbering throughout.
Otherwise, those few personas would only continue to battle for control of the body.
They stayed up north for almost a week, and Emilia's condition somewhat stabilized. They decided to go back down south and continue treatment in a Powell family hospital.
Naturally, Ivan's friends and more experts hired by the Powell family would continue to think of ways to treat her.
Georgia and Robert had stayed for too many days already. When Emilia returned, Ivan promised to stay here all the while and take care of her, so Georgia and Robert went over to Annie and Wesley.
They hadn't seen the kids for too long. It was time to go to them again, and take them home.
The king they'd left the kids with was forty years old. His mother had had a serious coronary problem once, and Ivan had operated on her personally.
Ivan's relations with the king had always been good for that reason, which was why the kids had stayed in the kingdom for so long.
The king had kept the children safe and secure. He himself was one of the world's richest men.
The kingdom wasn't large, but his business stretched across the globe. The king's security was top-notch, and a lot of procedures were in place.
Even with deliberate bomb threats, there was a bunker under the castle.
That was why Georgia had allowed the children to remain here without worrying.
After she and Robert saw the kids, the king treated them to dinner and allowed them to rest for the night.
It was a great feast, and both guests and host had their fill of enjoyment. The following day, the king had his private jet take them back to the country.
Naturally, Georgia had brought her mother Casey back with her this time.
Emilia wasn't better yet, and Eric hadn't been dealt with completely. It might not have been too suitable for them to go back now.
But there was just too much going on back in the country. It was about time for Robert to see his own mother, and the kids couldn't stay in the kingdom forever.
After discussing it, Robert and Georgia decided to go back for a while.
Another reason was that a week later, it was the date of Travis and Sarah's wedding.
Georgia had promised to attend, so she decided to come back.
Randy was the one to pick them up at the airport.
They weren't going to live in their old mansion anymore, but instead, they were going to stay at a mansion on the side of a hill, specifically arranged by Robert.
There was stricter security there, and it was safer.
After experiencing this much, Robert and Georgia had decided to live somewhere more secure.
Robert was also renovating the island he'd bought. As for D City, he'd also arranged other safehouses in secret. They weren't ready yet, though, and it'd be a while before they could live there.
The first day they arrived back in D City, Georgia received a call from Travis.
With everything that had happened, Travis had called and asked if she needed help.
Georgia had refused. The first reason was that Travis wouldn't be of any help, and there were some things she didn't want others to know.
The second reason was that Travis was about to get married with Sarah.
She knew how women felt. If Travis was still leaping to her defense without any regard like this, Sarah wouldn't be able to take it.
So Travis hadn't gone overseas all along, and just occasionally asked about her over the phone, concerned.
Now that she was back, Travis set a time to meet her and the kids.
Georgia thought about it and didn't refuse.
Travis had been good to her and the kids. Even though they were keeping their distance, they didn't have to completely avoid each other.
So she up and invited Travis and Sarah to their new home, having the engaged couple over as proper guests.
They set the date for the second day, though.
They'd just flown back, after all, and their family needed to rest.
Before bedding down at night, Robert went over to his mother's mansion.
With Vincent's help, his mother had forgotten some things, but after Robert had gone overseas, he still hadn't met and talked with Maisie.
So Robert had to meet with her and see what condition she was in.
His secretary had kept on telling him that his mother was peaceful now, painting and tending to plants at home every day.
Still, he had to see her to be sure.