Chapter 294

Chapter 294

On the other side, Lisbeth and Leopold had chased the man into the woods. Leopold grabbed Lisbeth's wrist.

"Don't go any farther."

Lisbeth was breathing hard. "But we finally found him…"

"It's easy to get lost in the woods. And we don't know if he has accomplices. It's too dangerous with just the two of us." Leopold glanced at the time.

"It's been twenty minutes since you called the police. Why aren't they here yet?"

Lisbeth immediately reached for her phone. Her hand met an empty pocket. Her face stiffened. "I lost my phone."

Leopold immediately looked back the way they'd come. From here, there was no sign of a phone anywhere. "It's almost dark…"

Once it got dark, finding it would be impossible. And if they left now, there was no guarantee the man who'd fled into the woods wouldn't take the chance to escape.

They were stuck. Leaving wasn't an option. Neither was staying.

Lisbeth pressed her lips together. "The location I sent the police was back at the villa neighborhood. We've come so far already. It's no wonder they can't find us."

"So what do we do now?"

"You call the police. I'm going to take a look inside." Lisbeth said.

Leopold immediately objected. "No! We've never been in these woods. We have no idea what the layout is. What if you run into danger?"

"I won't go too deep. Just the perimeter."

Even if they didn't go deep into the forest, they at least needed to check the outer edges to see if there were other escape routes. That way they could trap the guy inside before the police arrived.

Leopold still wasn't reassured. "Wait. Let me call the police first. Then I'll go with you."

He quickly called the police, then hung up.

"Let's go."

They entered the woods. The ground beneath their feet was uneven. Every step was awkward and unstable.

Their figures gradually disappeared into the trees.

---

Sebastian returned home to find Lisbeth wasn't there. He called Sophia.

"Lisbeth didn't come to the office."

"Then where is she?"

"I don't know either. I've been swamped with work. I tried calling her earlier, but it didn't go through… I can't talk right now. I've got stuff to do."

Sophia hung up in a hurry. A message popped up on her phone screen.

She looked at the content, her expression tense. A moment later, she sent a reply.

Then she flipped her phone face-down on the desk.

---

Sebastian hung up, got in the car, and dialed Lisbeth's number again. This time, it didn't even connect. He listened to the busy signal, his left hand slowly clenching into a fist.

Noah gripped the steering wheel, trying to reassure him. "Try not to worry. Ms. Whitaker probably just lost her phone. She'll borrow someone else's and call you soon."

Sebastian closed his eyes. "You don't understand."

Noah fell silent.

Not being able to reach someone on the phone was normal. He really didn't understand why Sebastian was so worried.

Sebastian opened his eyes and looked out at the scenery rushing past.

For some reason, he had an uneasy feeling in his chest.

Time passed. The sky darkened. At the same time, storm clouds gathered on the horizon. It looked like rain.

Late autumn was nearly over. This would probably be the last rain of the year. And it was coming down hard. The sky had just begun to darken when the downpour hit.

Raindrops hammered against the car window, making an irritating sound. Sebastian frowned. "Contact the police immediately. Have them help us search."

"Understood."

Noah thought Mr. York was overreacting. The person hadn't even been missing for 48 hours yet—it couldn't be classified as a disappearance. But he followed orders and called the station.

And surprisingly, he got some information.

"Ms. Whitaker called the police?"

Sebastian's head snapped up. Noah quickly put the phone on speaker.

"Yes. Ms. Whitaker called our emergency line about two hours ago and sent us a location. When we arrived, Ms. Whitaker wasn't there. But ten minutes ago, we received a call from a Mr. Hearst. He's with Ms. Whitaker. He sent us a location. According to him, they found the person who attacked Ms. Salazar in the hospital room."

Noah's heart sank. How had Ms. Whitaker gotten tangled up with Leopold again?

He glanced at Sebastian. But right now, Sebastian didn't have the energy to think about that.

"Drive."

Noah didn't need to ask where. He already knew.

---

When the car stopped in front of the villa neighborhood, the area had already been cordoned off. Several officers were getting out of their vehicles, preparing to search deeper into the area.

The police chief spotted Sebastian immediately. He had a cigarette between his fingers and came over to greet him. "What are you doing here? Didn't I tell you I'd find them?"

Sebastian's gaze swept the area. "I couldn't just sit still."

The location was nestled against the mountains with water nearby—a scenic spot. The villas were all grand and luxurious. But there was one major issue: at the edge of the neighborhood was a series of mountain peaks.

And in the mountains was a forest.

Sebastian stared in the direction of the trees. "Do you think they already went in?"

The chief took a drag from his cigarette. "Most likely. We checked for footprints in the area. There are tracks leading into the mountains. High probability they're already inside."

"I'm going in with you."

The chief frowned. "What are you going in for? Just wait out here for news. Don't get in our way. I promise we'll find them."

"The person in there is my wife."

Sebastian said only one sentence.

The chief couldn't argue with that. He thought about it—if it were his own wife missing, no one could stop him from going in to search.

"Fine. But change out of those clothes first."

The mountains were already hard to navigate. Dress shoes would only make it worse.

Sebastian had no objections. Fortunately, he had a spare set of casual clothes in the car. And in the trunk was a pair of hiking boots.

He stared at the boots, lost in thought.

Noah was puzzled. "When were these put in here? I've never seen you wear them before."

"She bought them for me." Sebastian took the boots out of the trunk. Hiking boots—naturally, he'd never worn them if he wasn't hiking.

"Ms. Whitaker has good taste." Noah smiled.

Sebastian ignored him. He carefully laced up the boots, then followed the officers into the woods.

The pouring rain obscured their vision. Everyone wore black rain ponchos. Noah shouted, "Ms. Whitaker—"

He'd barely gotten three syllables out when the chief stopped him.

"Don't shout. They're not the only ones in these woods."

Noah shivered. "What do you mean?"

"This is a protected area. There could be wild animals in the mountains." Before going in, Sebastian found a sign in a shallow pit under a tree.

The sign read: [Protected Forest Area. Wolves, snakes, insects, and rodents present. Human entry prohibited.]

"Why would the sign be in a pit?"

Sebastian's brow furrowed tightly. "Signs like this should be posted at the entrance to the forest."

But instead, it had ended up inside the woods, tossed into a pit. If the rain hadn't washed away the dirt covering it, he never would've found it.

The chief walked over, wiping rain from his face. "There's only one possibility. Someone deliberately pulled it out."

Everyone fell silent. Only the sound of the rain grew louder.

Noah shivered. "You don't think the criminal deliberately lured them into the woods, do you?"