“Mr. Foster, we happened upon a piece of information suggesting that Miss Zoe is also looking for a doctor,” said the private investigator that Elyette had found overseas. Elyette had hired him to look for a doctor who could cure Shea. “Miss Sanford is looking for a middle aged man around 1.7 meters tall.”
Elyette scowled. “Why is she looking for this doctor?”
“She’s probably trying to get him to cure Shea,” said the private investigator.
Hope emerged in Elyette’s eyes as he said, “We are going to find that doctor before she does!”
“Okay. I’ve found something else. Before his passing, Professor Hough seemed to have taken a secret student. The information on this student is completely confidential, and it appears that he had worked in Professor Hough‘s lab.”
“Can this student be the doctor Zoe is looking for?”
“Yes, that‘s what I am thinking as well.”
At five in the evening, Elyette went to Angela Special Needs Academy to pick Shea up from school. He happened to run into Averie, who was on her way to pick Hayden up, in the parking lot. The four of them stopped and stared at one another in the parking lot.
Elyette immediately looked away and helped Shea into the car. Averie made her way to the driver‘ s seat once she saw Hayden settling himself in the child seat.
The two cars started, turned, and arrived at the school gate at the same time. Luckily, there was enough space at the entrance, so the two cars exited at the same time. One turned left, and the other turned right.
Just as the car was on the main street, Hayden said in a muffled voice, “Mom, I want to go to a different school.”
Shea kept peeping in at him from outside the classroom door, and he had had enough. He had joined the academy to investigate the relationship between Elyette and Shea. Now that he had solved that mystery, he no longer wanted to go to school there.
“Which school do you want to go to? Are you willing to learn and live alongside other kids now?” Averie asked.
Hayden remained quiet.
Angela Special Needs Academy was not a bad place, but that could be because he was the only student in his class. He wanted to leave because he did not want to see Shea anymore.
“Let‘s wait until you finish this year, Hayden, okay?” Averie tried negotiating with him. “If you hate kindergarten, we can try elementary school next year. How does that sound?”
Hayden thought about it and nodded.
Meanwhile, in the other car, Shea grabbed onto the seat belt. Her head was bowed. “Big Brother, can we invite Elyette to my birthday party?”
“He won’t come.” Elyette‘s tone was gentle, but his words hurt.
“Why don‘t they like me? Is it because I‘m stupid?” Tears started to well up in Shea‘s eyes.
“No,” Elyette swallowed, before continuing in a hoarse voice, “they don‘t like you because they hate me.”
“Why don‘t they like you? You are the best.”
“Shea, I am good to you, but that doesn‘t mean that I am good to them,” said Elyette bitterly. “I will spend your birthday with you.”
Half an hour later, the car pulled into the front yard of Elyette‘s mansion.
After dinner, Mrs. Cooper took shea to the backyard to pick some fresh fruits. Shea enjoyed nature. They had planted plenty of flowers and fruit trees in the backyard, and every day after dinner, Mrs. Cooper would take her there to play.
Elyette went into his study.
His father‘s memorial was coming up in a week’s time, and he had been having nightmares the past few nights.
Every year this time rolled around, he would be plagued with nightmares. It had been like this for the past twenty years. He shut the door to the study and strode toward the bookshelf. There was a crimson box on the third row of the shelf. It housed his deepest secret. The reason he had kept it on his bookshelf was because the safest place tended to be the one in plain sight.
The box had been in the same spot for the past twenty years, and there had been no problems before. Now, it was gone!
When he noticed that the box was gone, he immediately took all the books down from the third rack. As the shelf was attached to the wall, there was no possibility that the box could have fallen down a crack.
After a while, he moved all the books to the ground and searched through the books once again. The shelf was empty, yet he still could not find the box.
“Who is it?!” he thought. His vision grew red with rage. “Who came into my study and took what‘s mine?!”
He vaguely remembered seeing the box about a month ago.
He immediately made a call to the surveillance room. “Pull all the footage from the recent month! Someone has been in my study!”
The bodyguard was terrified. “Yes! I will have the footage pulled immediately!”
“Gather all available personnel to comb through the footage!” Elyette barked as his heart thumped nervously.
“Yes!”
Mrs. Cooper’s heart sank when she took Shea back to the living room and saw the dark expression on Elyette‘s face.
“Sir, what happened?”
“Someone took something from my study,” he said.
Mrs. Cooper gasped.
“Compile a list of people who have been here in the past month and give it to me as soon as possible!” he said. The command given, he took Shea‘s hand in his and lead her to her room.
Shea was slightly startled.
Once they were back in her room, Elyette held her hands and said, “Shea, have you been inside my study room?”
She shook her head.
“It‘s okay, I‘m just asking.” Shea remained quiet for a while, before muttering, “What did you lose, Big Brother? I can help you look for it.”
A bitter smile appeared on Elyette‘s face. “I will find it, so don‘t you worry.”
“I didn’t take it…” Shea lowered her gaze sadly.
“I know you didn‘t.” He led her to the bed and sat her down.
Due to the lack of mental development, Shea was sensitive and fragile, and she could not adjust herself like ordinary people could. He had to find a way to cure her.
He decided to change the topic to a more casual one. “Tell me, Shea, what birthday gift do you want? I will buy it for you.”
The tension left Shea’s expression. She considered for a while, before saying, “I want… Hayden to play with me.”
Elyette scowled, troubled by her request. However, he did not want to disappoint his sister. After all, it was not an impossible request.
Mrs. Cooper came to the room once she had compiled the list of names.
“Sir, I have placed the list in your study room,” she said. “I will tend to Shea now.”
Elyette stepped out of Shea‘s room and strode to the study.
He was familiar with all the names on the list. However, the names: Zoe, Averie, Mike, Hayden, and Layla caught his attention. Before they had come, the box had always been on his shelf.
Elyette first crossed Averie‘s name off the list, knowing that Averie would not possibly take what belonged to him. He did not know why he trusted her so much, but it felt as natural as trusting himself.
After that, he moved his pen to Mike‘s name.
Two of his bodyguards had dragged Mike into the living room, and he had not been upstairs, so how could he possibly gain access to the study room and the box?
Along with Mike‘s name, he crossed Hayden‘s name off as well.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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