His Real Wedded Bride

Chapter 1353 Sheryl's Nightmare

"Are you even doing your job? I paid you, but you've made no progress!" Charles shouted into the

phone. He began pacing back and forth anxiously in his study. Though Shirley was still missing, he

managed to contain his worry and stay as calm as he could. After sending his men out to search for

her, he tried to breathe and wait for good news. Getting no results at all, he reached his limit, and anger

finally surfaced from deep down, directing it at the man on the other end of the line.

"Mr. Lu, I'm so sorry. We will try harder. No! We will get it done! Rest assured that once we get any

lead, we'll report it to you at once," the man replied nervously after a moment of tense silence. Not

knowing how to deal with Charles' sudden wrath, he was at a loss for words. Luckily, his experience

allowed him to make a promise to Charles without too much of a stammer.

Though he was expecting the incident to be a typical missing person's case, to his dismay, no trace of

Shirley could be found—it might not have been as simple as he initially thought. From the looks of it, he

judged the incident to have been a meticulously planned kidnapping, squeaky clean and untraceable

leads.

Working without sleep, the team entrusted with the case still couldn't find any significant results.

Everything about the kidnapping was still more of a blur than anything, and they had to deal with too

many setbacks to finish the job.

Before he completely ran out of air, Charles hung up, his mind still in a complete mess—he urgently felt

the need to rest. Taking a seat back in his chair, Charles shut his eyes to try and quiet his mind. Images

of Shirley started to rush back into his mind out of control, making it impossible for him to rest.

As Shining Company's CEO with all the executive powers, he never failed to handle any hurdle his

company had to face. But at the moment, he was no longer a CEO—he was a full-time father who

feared for his child just as any other parent would. His daughter's absence left him feeling helpless and

anxious.

At the very least, because of his experience as an excellent executive who always needed to behave

rationally at work, he managed to keep himself from spiraling down into insanity. After a few moments,

he settled himself down. ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

Without any concrete sign of Shirley's whereabouts, Sheryl couldn't settle down. She spent the entire

night with Clark. When she saw Charles approach, her swollen red eyes welled up with tears in an

instant, and she burst into a noiseless sob.

Gently stroking her head, Charles brought Sheryl tissue, piece after piece, remaining silent. After some

moments, Sheryl's crying ceased, and she raised her gaze up to Charles' with hopeful eyes.

"Charles, any leads?" she asked imploringly. Though he didn't want to disappoint her, Charles knew he

couldn't just lie. Slowly and rather indecisively, Charles shook his head.

The motion made Sheryl's heart sink, and she could only turn her eyes away from him as they turned

grim. Unconsciously, she put her hand on the bed sheet and began scratching deep lines into it with

her fingertips.

With a wistful smile, she sighed, "Where is she?

Is she playing hide-and-seek with us? She must be! We'll find her soon, won't we?"

Looking at Sheryl in understanding, Charles gave her a faint smile before his face turned stern with

determination.

"Yes, Sher. Shirley is out there waiting for us to find her. Before you do, you need to eat well and stay

healthy. If you exhaust yourself to the point of getting sick, how will we ever find her together? Come,

let me tuck you into bed."

A bit confused, Sheryl simply nodded her head. At that moment, she felt like a helpless child in front of

her father.

When midnight struck, Sheryl was already lying in bed. Although her eyes were shut, they began to

quiver, and her frown deepened before she opened her eyes wide.

Suddenly, she jerked herself upright. Her eyes turned glassy until they were full of tears, and her

breathing turned into short gasps of air.

Shirley was still lost, and Sheryl was completely haunted by the fact. No matter how much she tried to

close her eyes and empty her mind, nightmares struck her before she could even fall into a deep sleep.

In her dream, old memories from years ago rushed back into her mind. As it turned out, she had a vivid

recollection of many details of such old moments. The thought that Leila once stole Clark from her

began playing like a slideshow in her head. Suddenly, a thought came to her— 'Did Leila kidnap my

child again?'

Suddenly, everything was clear in her mind. With that thought, she urgently looked to Charles and

pulled him out of his dreams. When he opened his bleary eyes, he found Sheryl looking at him in

alarm. "Listen!" she started. "Charles! I know who took our daughter. Let's go and catch them!"

Drowsiness disappeared without a trace when he heard Sheryl's words. Skeptically, he asked, "Who

did it?"

'Since they got back from the park, Sher had been drowning in sorrow. I haven't seen her step outside

the house. How did she find out who the culprit was, then?

In her dreams?' he thought. Assuming that she just missed Shirley so much that she began believing in

delusion, he didn't want to take her too seriously.

"It was Leila. Trust me. She has something to do with Shirley's disappearance. She was the one who

suggested that the kids go to the amusement park where it was convenient to have Shirley go missing!

Doesn't that make you wonder? Haven't you noticed that Leila has never even tried to play with the

kids? Her recent behavior doesn't make any sense. Let's take her down and get Shirley back!"

Sheryl's determined words took Charles by surprise. Still, he couldn't agree to her claim that Leila had

anything to do with the kidnapping. He knew how Sheryl always held a grudge against her, and how

she always had reservations about having Leila stay in Dream Garden. It sounded Like Sheryl was

smearing Leila's name on purpose because the claim came out of nowhere. Since Leila stayed by their

side the whole time, he couldn't turn her into a suspect. There couldn't have even been a chance for

her to set up the kidnapping.

In spite of Sheryl's excitement about catching the bad guy, Charles had no doubt about Leila. Instead,

he could only begin to fear for Sheryl's mental state. In his eyes, she seemed to have almost

completely fallen off the edge, her mind stuck in chaos.

"Sher, please stop thinking too much. Take a good rest, instead. We don't have any evidence to prove

that she's responsible. We can't arrest her just because we're suspicious of her, right? You should

sleep, now. Perhaps we'll get some good news once we wake up tomorrow," Charles reasoned in a

deep, reassuring voice.

In the dim bedroom filled with the night breeze, his voice emitted comfort like it was casting some kind

of spell on Sheryl.

However, Sheryl frantically shook her head, trying to convey to him her seriousness. In her mind, she

thought, almost helplessly, 'Why must he always distrust me about these things? The idea didn't come

out of nowhere! Shirley is my daughter. It's my duty to pull her out of danger. This is about our

daughter's safety...and her life! I would never make a reckless decision without fully thinking it through!'

Charles' disbelief brought her to tears. Wiping her eyes, she begged, "Let's look for Shirley and catch

the kidnapper now, Charles. I can't sleep. I won't be able to until I find her—I only have nightmares

about her suffering and crying, crying out for me, asking how we could leave her alone in such a

place..."

Grabbing onto his clothes, she gave him an alarmed look, unable to stop her sobs. "Did you know? In

the dream, I saw our dear Shirley getting tortured by evil men. They abused her, beat her, and deprived

her of food. She was so scared and couldn't stop crying. I can't bear to wait! I have to get her back!"

As she cried and yelled, Sheryl tried to get out of bed. With her unruly hair and hysteric demeanor, she

seemed to have fully collapsed into madness.

Stunned by her behavior, Charles acted quickly and grabbed her by the hand. "Sher, cool down! I know

how much you worry about Sheryl because so do I! But we have to act rationally. There's an

investigation going on. We must be patient. We can't do anything rash, which would only mess things

up. It won't do us any good!"

Leaning in close to her, Charles cupped her face in his hands, gazing into her eyes fiercely as he

patiently waited for her to calm down.

But the more he tried, the more stubborn she became. She struggled to pull away from him as her eyes

were filled with hatred for Leila. At that moment, all she wanted to do was find the woman and demand

that she hand over her daughter.

Even then, she couldn't figure out why Leila wanted to cause her life so much trouble—it certainly

wasn't the first time that Leila had laid her hands on Sheryl's kids. The woman's drive to take her down

freaked her out. Still, she could only wish the best for her daughter as she prayed for Leila's mercy. If

she was willing to release Shirley upon Sheryl's request, she was ready to even kneel before Leila. So

long as Leila promised not to bring harm to her daughter, Sheryl was ready to do anything.

In desperation, Sheryl pulled away from Charles' grip. Only one thought filled her mind—'I will find Leila

and get Shirley back.' At that point, no one could stop her, not even her husband.