When Emily returned home from work in the evening, the only occupants of the living room were her four adorable children and the busy nanny.
"Where's your daddy?" Emily asked with a smile.
Aaron blinked and replied, "I just saw Daddy heading outside. I don't know what he went to do."
Chris nodded. "Daddy looked like he was in a hurry."
Emily frowned. She didn't know why, but her heart suddenly felt uncomfortable, and her right eyelid started to twitch.
Emma suddenly came over with a smile on her face. "Derek went out for something."
Emily pursed her lips. "What did he go out to work on?"
"Something happened to the Scott Group's branch abroad," Emma lowered her voice and said. "Derek may have to travel for a while."
The cloud of uncertainty in Emily's mind grew thicker. Why didn't Derek call her about this?
She took out her cell phone and said, "Mom, I'll call Derek first."
Emma's eyes flashed, and she smiled. "Okay, go ahead."
Emily walked to the side and dialed Derek's number. The phone only rang twice before it was answered, and the familiar voice of a man came from the other end of the line.
"Sorry, Emily, it happened so suddenly I didn't get a chance to tell you," Derek's voice reassured.
Hearing Derek's voice, Emily felt a slight relief. She instructed seriously, "You must take care of yourself. The kids and I will wait for you to come back."
"Okay, I'll be home as soon as possible. Don't worry."
Late at night, Emily was in bed when she woke up with a jolt.
Glancing at the time, she realized it was actually past two o'clock in the morning. She rubbed her head, sat up, and began counting the time, figuring that the plane Derek was on had probably landed.
Emily picked up her cell phone and sent a message to Derek, but there was no reply.
She assumed Derek's phone was still off, likely because he was still on the plane. Emily let out a resigned laugh.
She went to the kids' room to check on them; they were sleeping soundly, their cheeks flushed.
Returning to her room, Emily put down her cell phone and lay on her bed, contemplating everything that had happened recently. As she thought, she gradually sank into sleep, feeling like she was entering a dream.
In the dream, Emily found herself in the middle of a forest surrounded by weeds that blocked her path. Despite wanting to leave, she couldn't find her way. Suddenly, a fire lit up deep in the forest. Guided by the flames, she could finally see what was in front of her—a church on the edge of a cliff.
In the midst of the fire, a figure twisted in agony, and she heard a voice pleading for help: "Emily, help me, help me...."
It was Derek.
Without hesitation, Emily climbed toward the edge of the cliff, doing her best to reach him. However, no matter how hard she tried, she remained dozens of meters away. Suddenly, a rumble echoed, and the church collapsed, engulfing the familiar figure in flames.
"Derek!" Emily exclaimed, jolting awake from her nightmare. She was sweating profusely, her back soaked. Gasping for air, she checked her cell phone and saw that it was a little after five in the morning.
A sharp pang gripped her heart, and a sense of breathless dread washed over her.
The day dawned rapidly.
Emily quickly organized herself, got up, and went downstairs. It was business as usual in the house.
The four kids were already awake; Aaron and Chris were reading, while Diana and Ian were sitting on the floor playing with assembly toys.
"Good morning, Mommy!" Aaron was the first to rush over and climbed on top of Emily, giving her a hearty kiss on the cheek.
Ian also looked behind Emily and asked, "Mommy, why isn't Daddy home?" Emily hadn't said anything yet.
Chris then calmly opened his mouth, "Daddy went to abroad on a business trip. There's a big project over there with a problem, and Daddy had to go deal with it."
Emily turned to look at him and said, "Chris, did your daddy call and tell you?"
Chris shook his head, "I just found out from his assistant. The Scott Group's factory abroad is in the suburbs, and the signal there has been bad, so we might not be able to contact Daddy for a long time."
Emily curled her lips and forced a smile.
No wonder she hadn't received a reply from Derek to the messages she'd sent.
Emily sat down on the couch, wondering if she should send Derek a message asking him to get to his destination and reassure the kids. After all, the kids miss him. She looked in her address book and found Derek's name. She was about to send a message when her fingers suddenly hesitated.
If Derek had gone abroad, he would have gotten a new foreign cell phone number.
When she talked to Derek yesterday, she actually forgot to ask him for his new number. However, Derek's mother should know his new cell phone number.
Emily looked around for Emma.
She then saw Emma sitting in the flower room, her eyes dull and lifeless.
She instructed the butler to take the four children to breakfast first, then made her way towards the flower room.
"Emma," she called out. When Emma didn't respond at all, she had to raise her voice and call out again.
"Emily, oh, did you sleep well last night?" Emma came back to her senses, and a smile appeared on her face.
"Not too bad." Emily paused and said in a slow voice, "Emma, do you have Derek's contact information overseas?"
Emma's expression suddenly froze.
She seemed to have completely failed to anticipate that Emily would ask this question.
Only after a short pause did she say, "Derek's on a business trip in a foreign suburb. There are no signal towers there, and the cellphone can't receive calls or text messages at all."
"It's okay; I don't need to contact him right now. I'll just save his number," Emily smiled and said. "Just in case he calls me when he comes back, and I don't even know who's calling."
Emma sighed suddenly. "But Emily, I don't have his contact info either. He left so suddenly yesterday."
Emily then looked at Emma. Emma's eyes averted.
Emily slowly withdrew her smile. "Alright then, I'll go in and check on the kids."
Emily turned and walked out of the flower room. She entered the living room and sat down on the couch.
Emma didn’t have Derek's number either?
Emily pursed her lips hard. She wasn't sure if she was being paranoid or not; she always felt that something wasn't right. She pressed her temples, filled with all kinds of thoughts.
At that moment, a man with handsome features and somber eyes forcefully hurled the coffee cup in his hand to the ground.
"Didn't I instruct you guys to keep a close eye on him? Why did you let him slip away?"
The black-clothed bodyguard, kneeling on the ground, shivered. "He's too skilled; our people lost him halfway through the tail......"
A chill coiled under the man's eyes. Initially, he only contemplated disfiguring Derek to prevent his resurgence. However, he hadn't anticipated an injured person possessing such remarkable abilities to escape from a group of ruthless combatants.
If Derek managed to elude capture, everything he had meticulously planned would crumble.
"Secure every exit at the border. The moment you detect any trace of him, apprehend him alive immediately!"
"Yes!"