Chapter 438 Kidnapping
Chapter 438 Kidnapping
Rosa was driven to the edge of madness. After one phone call to Ines, she found out that the nanny had resigned and Ines had been taken away by Colby's people.
Colby was a sneaky bastard. He had made it clear that if she wanted to see Ines, she would have to sign the divorce agreement first.
James took a shower after having sex with Maria. Afterwards, he held the drowsy woman in his arms and whispered, "Mia, let's talk."
He did not pick up Bob from his grandparents' house so that he could have this conversation with Maria uninterrupted.
"Okay." Maria was tired, but she wasn't that sleepy.
However, the phone on the nightstand began to vibrate before James could start. The screen flashed Augustine's name.
A slight frown crossed James' brow. It was near midnight, and his grandfather should have been sleeping by this time.
"Grandpa."
"James, something bad happened. Somebody took the kid away."
The worry in Augustine's voice was apparent. Maria's eyes flew open, and she sat up on the bed and stared at James with panicked eyes.
"Grandpa, I'm on my way right now!"
Ending the call, James tried to comfort Maria. "Calm down. We are going there."
'Calm down?' Her son was in danger, so it was impossible for her to calm down. Even as worry and anger churned inside her, she said nothing and only got out of bed to change.
Just as they were getting in the car, they received another call from Augustine. "James, the baby who was taken away is not Bob, but Tommy. Bob is safe and fine here."
Tommy was the boy that Augustine had picked up from the park.
At these words, Maria slumped against James, the tension draining out of her.
Both of them were relieved that nothing bad happened to Bob, but they couldn't allow anything bad to happen to the poor child, either.
James gently patted her on the back to comfort her as he said on the phone, "Grandpa, we're on our way."
"They said that if we want to get back the child, Maria has to go to the beach in the West District alone."
James frowned. "How did they contact you? Did you call the police?"
"They called us on the landline, and Tami answered the phone. We haven't called the police yet. They warned that they will kill the child if we get the police involved."
"I see."
After ending the call, James looked down at the woman in his arms. "Did you hearthat?" "Yeah. I'm sure Rosa did this," she answered, finally calm.
"I'll go with you."
"No. That woman must have been pushed too far. I'll go by myself." Maria stared out of the window into the dark night. "Go and watch over Bob first. I can't rest easy unless you see him safe and sound."
"Okay, I'll have some people follow you."
"Okay." Maria didn't refuse this time.
James called a car and arranged for a few of his people to escort Maria to the West District.
Before she left, James handed her a gun. "Your safety is the most important. If anything bad happens to them, I'll handle everything. You must take good care of yourself, okay? Do not even think of stupidly exchanging your life for that child's. Even his parents don't cherish him. You still have Bob to take care of. Understand?"
Maria shot him a profound look as she accepted the gun. "Don't worry about me." For Bab's sake, she wouldn't let herself get hurt.
"I'll join you as soon as I make proper arrangements for Bob."
"Okay."
Then, nothing more was said between them. After he watched Maria's car drive away, James rushed to Augustine's house.
Even at that late hour, the house was brightly lit, two bodyguards flanked the door. When they saw James, they came up to him and said urgently, "Mr. Xi, it's our fault!" A total of four bodyguards were posted in the house. Just now, two of them were injured in order to protect Tommy, while the other two had been with
Bob. Fortunately, nobody was badly hurt.
"Go to the company to see me tomorrow," James said as he walked past them.
"Yes, sir!"
In the living room, Bob was sleeping soundly in the baby stroller, while Augustine, Charlotte, and the servants stood on their guard around him.
After ensuring with his own eyes that his son was okay, James secretly let out a sigh of relief and immediately sent a message to Maria. "He's safe and sound."
After asking Augustine about the details of the incident, James began instructing his men to deal with the aftermath. "Gary, contact the police and ask them to go to the West District's beach. Tell them explicitly not to get too close or make noises to alert the perpetrator..."
At the beach, the night breeze blowing from the sea ruffled Maria's long hair. Shivering, she wrapped her thin windbreaker around her more closely to ward off the chill.
It was silent except for the sound of waves. On alert, she looked around and heard the faint sound of a baby's cries.
'Is that Tommy?'
Maria followed the sound toward the east and soon caught sight of a group of people standing on a huge rock outcropping in the darkness.
A woman walked out from behind them and called out, "Maria, you came so soon. Looks like this child is your and James'."
Just as Maria had guessed, it was Rosa.
Maria stopped in her tracks and said calmly, "Let him go. He's not mine, but just an innocent child.”
"Ha-ha! You still want to lie to me? Several bodyguards were in the house, protecting the child. If he's just some random child, then why would James care about him so much?" Rosa's voice was laden with skepticism.
"There has always been bodyguards in that house all the time. James' grandparents are getting old, so they're there to help them out. Their presence in the house has nothing to do with this child."
"Stop quibbling! Maria, if you want this baby, ask James to dealing with HM Group." Nôvel(D)rama.Org's content.
Maria replied, "Whether the child is mine or not, he is still a life, after all. I must keep him alive."
"Then you should call James and then leave H City." Actually, she thought it would be better if Maria died.
'Ridiculous! Why does everyone want me to leave H City? Am I really that much of an eyesore?'
To Rosa, she said, "If you want me to leave H City, then turn yourself in and prove my innocence to the public. Then, I'll leave." Rosa was an important reason why she was staying in H City.
"Why should I turn myself in? Your son just had a poor fate!" Rosa laughed loudly. "Maria, do you want to know exactly how your son died?"
James caught wind of Rosa's words when he arrived at the beach.
The simple sentence stirred up a storm in his heart. He stared at Rosa in shock. What did she mean by that? Was Maria not even there when the accident happened to Arthur? Why were they saying it was Maria's fault?
Maria replied calmly, "Go ahead."
She herself wanted to know how it all happened.
"You were cooking in the kitchen that day, and the child was crying so hard."
Maria knew that Arthur kept crying that day for no reason. She thought that the child must have been feeling some discomfort back then. At the time, Rosa was still a maid of the Xi family. She tried but failed to calm Arthur down.
Only Maria could do it, but since she was busy in the kitchen, she only managed to comfort Arthur every once in a while. Arthur would quiet down at the sight of his mother, but he was inconsolable once she vanished from his sight.
The sea wind made Rosa shiver. She said in a trembling voice, "I placed him in the baby walker. He was crying so much that I felt a headache come on; I kicked the baby walker when you weren't watching."
Maria froze, her eyes wide with shock and disbelief.