With tears in her eyes, Estella threw herself into Roxanne’s arms after the latter fell into the hole.
Roxanne hurriedly hugged the little girl. Guilt washed over her when she felt Estella’s cold body.
If I had brought her together with me in the afternoon, or if I had found her sooner…
Roxanne patted Estella, trying her best to comfort the latter. Still, the sobs of the little girl in her arms sounded weaker and weaker.
“Essie?” Roxanne gazed down concernedly.
Estella had passed out after crying for so long, but tears continued to roll down her cheeks from the corner of her eyes.
Roxanne struggled to catch her breath, as she could hardly stand the pain in her chest when she took in Estella’s wretched state.
The weather is so cold, and Essie’s wearing such thin clothes. She won’t last if this situation drags on. I need to think of a way to get out of here!
At that thought, Roxanne took off her jacket and wrapped Estella with her outerwear before racking her brain to figure out a solution.
However, no matter her methods, she could not climb out of the pit.
Instead, she ended up exhausting all her energy.
After several attempts, she stopped her futile struggles in slight desperation. She held Estella in her arms to provide the little girl with warmth.
The night breeze blew past the forest, causing a series of rustling sounds. Sadly, Roxanne did not hear the voice of any other person in the woods.
Despaired, Roxanne took out her phone.
Although she knew there would not be any signal in the wilderness, she could only place her hope for a miracle to happen.
The light from her phone screen illuminated her face. She browsed through her contact list for some time. In the end, Roxanne still decided to call Lucian.
Unfortunately, there was no miracle, as she failed to make the call.
Roxanne hung up the phone while wearing a wry smile. Then she looked up at the opening of the pit.
Luckily, she brought a torchlight. At the very least, Roxanne felt a little at ease when the interior of the pit was not completely dark.
“Roxanne?” Just when she was about to give up and deal with that predicament the next morning, a person’s deep and tired-sounding voice reverberated beside her ears.
Am I hallucinating? Roxanne blinked her eyes in doubt as she gazed upward at the hole atop her.
Lucian’s voice sounded again. “Are you here?”
Roxanne’s eyes lit up when she sensed that she was not imagining things. She responded hoarsely, “Be careful. There’s a hole here. Essie and I are both down here.”
Silence filled the air for a few seconds after she spoke. Then she heard the diminished sound of footsteps approaching.
When the footsteps halted above Roxanne, she saw Lucian’s worn-out face as he peered into the pit.
Roxanne felt immensely relieved when she saw him. She croaked, “Essie fainted after crying for too long. Hurry up and get help to bring her out of here.”
Lucian’s heart twitched painfully. He replied solemnly, “I’ll be right back. Wait for me.”
Roxanne agreed to wait for him.
Lucian immediately turned on his heels to find Cayden and the others.
His face turned grim right after he turned around.
I arrived here too late! That’s why Roxanne and Estella are in such terrible conditions. I can’t even imagine how scared they must have been!
He walked for some distance before finally meeting Cayden and the others.
At that moment, Cayden was troubled because even though Lucian had roughly described his position to Cayden, it was still very difficult to navigate the terrains of the deep forest. Looking up and noticing Lucian striding in their direction, he immediately darted forward.
Once the group reached the side of the pit, Cayden instructed his subordinates to take out some ropes to pull Roxanne and Estella out of the hole.
However, Roxanne could merely grab the rope without having any strength left to muster. Moreover, she was carrying Estella with her other arm.
Noticing that, Cayden hastily thought of ordering one of his men to go down into the pit and piggyback them up.
Before he could give the instruction, Cayden caught Lucian jumping into the hole from the corner of his eyes.
He was taken aback. “Mr. Farwell!”
Lucian landed steadily at the bottom of the pit. He glanced at Roxanne. Her face was as pale as a ghost. She was evidently exhausted and was holding the teary-faced Estella in her arms.
“Bring Essie up first.” Roxanne handed the little girl to him.
He nodded, hugged Estella, and climbed out of the pit with the help of the rope.
Roxanne was planning to climb up on her own when she saw Lucian jumping down the hole again. Before she could react, he had pulled her into his embrace.
Roxanne was about to tell Lucian she could manage to pull herself up when he hugged her even more tightly.
“Don’t move. Otherwise, it will be difficult for me to climb up.” His voice sounded a little hoarse.
Roxanne felt a brief surge of strange emotion in her chest as she listened to his voice. She stayed still afterward and allowed him to carry her out of the hole.
She broke away from his embrace right after they safely escaped the pit.
“Mrs—Ms. Jarvis, you are so kind to Ms. Estella.” Cayden could not help but say wistfully.
He had been utterly shocked when he saw Roxanne hugging Estella at the bottom of the pit earlier.
Cayden was already surprised that Roxanne was willing to venture deep into the forest in the middle of the night to search for Estella. Unexpectedly, Roxanne even located Estella before them in the wilderness.
If it weren’t for Roxanne, they wouldn’t have known how long they needed to search.
Roxanne pursed her lips and smiled. “This is my obligation.”
Lucian gazed at her and piped up, “It’s not your fault.”
Roxanne was dazed for a few seconds before she made sense of his words. When she realized that he was comforting her, she did not know how to react.
“Essie ran out in anger after she quarreled with Aubree. I am to be blamed for this matter. Essie is a wilful child. I did not stop Aubree in time and took proper care of Essie,” Lucian explained sombrely.
Roxanne felt a little less guilty after listening to him. She pursed her lips and expressed her gratitude to Lucian, “Thank you.”
Lucian bent down to pick up the torchlight on the ground and said with all seriousness, “I should thank you instead. Thank you for locating Essie.”
If Roxanne had not found Estella first, they might not have been able to discover this pit the latter had fallen into.
They had walked in that direction earlier because they coincidentally noticed the light originating from Roxanne’s torchlight.
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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