The truth was, Emma wasn't incompetent. She had noticed at a glance that Selena was pregnant.
And one must not resort to drastic measures with a pregnant woman.
So, Emma was tied hand and foot, helpless as Selena managed to storm in, cursing a blue streak.
"You despicable creature, Flora the vixen! Show yourself! I know you're home! Quit your cowardly hiding! Where did you hide my husband?" The volume of her words progressively increased, her final utterance virtually a scream.
After screaming, she braced her hands on her knees and bent over, panting raggedly for a while.
The bedroom door flew open, and Flora stepped out, looking at her disheveled state, she was truly speechless: "Selena, he's clearly your husband, why are you looking for him at my place?"
"If it wasn't for a vixen like you bewitching him, I wouldn't have to search!" Selena squinted scornfully at her, her hand intimidatingly placed on her prominently swollen belly: "Consider this as me begging you, give my child's father back! Where have you hidden him?"
Flora shook her head: "He's not here with me. I haven't seen him for three or four days now." She was just an ordinary woman, how could she have the audacity to hide a living, breathing man?
Selena must have overestimated her foe.
"Stop playing innocent before me! My unborn child and I find it utterly repulsive... He visited you a few days ago, and then he never returned home. He didn't even show up at the company headquarters, his work piled up, and he didn't care. If it weren't for the company's call, I wouldn't know that S.E.I is in total chaos."
Having exhausted her reproach, she switched to accusation: "Flora, you're also a mother, how could you be so cruel to destroy another's family, leaving an unborn child devoid of his father's care?.."
Whatever she said after that, Flora couldn't hear anymore. The only sentence that echoed in her ears was: "Matthew hasn't returned home, he hasn't been to S.E.I either." The image of the bullet-ridden car and dried blood stains from the newspaper article she had read earlier reappeared in her mind. Cold sweat broke out as a chill ran down her spine. She was suddenly trembling... fearing that Matthew, the man who seemed capable of everything, was really in danger.
"He's not with me..." she mechanically repeated.
But clearly, Selena wasn't buying it. Ignoring her heavy belly, she stormed in, flinging open every door in the house, searching every corner. Only after confirming that Matthew indeed wasn't hiding in Flora's house, did she turn around, panting heavily, to confront the homeowner: "Flora, I'll ask you one last time, where is he?"
This time, before Flora could answer, Emma and Mimi had already stood up to her. Emma lifted her chin: "Granny, you've checked every mouse hole in the house! He's not here, can't you understand plain language?"
Selena's face turned beet red. She couldn't believe she was being openly insulted by this fresh-mouthed child and snapped back: "You servant, you're joining in now?"
Unlike Emma, Mimi simply grabbed Selena by the hand, dragging her roughly out of the house: "Scram!" Following the simple command, the door slammed shut in Selena's face. Not only did Mimi shut the door, she bolted it, leaving no chance for anyone outside to reenter.
After a few moments of bewilderment, Selena finally realized she had been "escorted" out. Enraged, she left a threat behind: "If he doesn't return, I won't let your scum family live in peace!" Then she stormed off.
The White family's young mistress was a woman of her word with countless tricks up her sleeve to deal with others. She refused to believe that by using Flora as leverage, Matthew would continue to avoid showing himself.
As soon as Selena left, tranquillity was restored in the house. Flora hastily grabbed her phone and dialed Matthew's familiar number.
"The subscriber you have dialed is currently unavailable..." A frigid female voice repeated ceaselessly, grinding down the flickering glimmers of hope in Flora's eyes.
She clenched her teeth, holding back the tears ready to cascade, flung her phone aside, slipped her feet into a pair of flip-flops, and dashed out of the house...
Once outside, Flora was at a loss where she could go to find news of Matthew.
Their time together had been neither too long nor too short, but her understanding of his world was disappointingly scant.
All she could do was like a fly buzzing aimlessly, seeking all those who "might know" where Matthew was.
Unfortunately, wherever she went, the answer she received was always a regretful shake of the head.
"I don't know where he is either.
He met with the gentleman a few days ago, and since then we have received no news..." The woman sighed heavily: "If you hadn't come today, I wouldn't even know he was missing."
Flora nodded her head, thanking the woman, but the tears almost brimmed over the edges of her eyes.
This was the person closest to Matthew that she knew.
If the "gentleman" in the woman's words also didn't know of his whereabouts, perhaps... something truly had happened to him.
She suddenly recalled what Matthew's juniors had said not long ago: "Our line of work is like always dancing on a knife's edge.
Sometimes it's our own blood that's spilled, sometimes it's the enemy's."
So... this time, it was he who had been made to bleed by an enemy.
Dancing on a knife's edge, something was bound to happen sooner or later.
Suddenly, the door to the wooden house swung open, and a fit man strode out casually.
Flora jumped at the man's appearance, biting her lip and lowering her head: "... Sir..."
She didn't know this man's name, only that he was Matthew's foster father and someone he deeply respected.
Had Matthew not gone missing, she would not have sought him out.
The man nodded slightly, his expression unchanged, saying: "Don't worry too much, we'll have people look for Matthew.
I believe the kid can protect himself." Anyone who grew up amidst blood and grime surely possesses abilities beyond the ordinary.
Pausing for a few seconds, he glanced at Flora's hand as if contemplating something: "With the Phoenix Ring in your possession, you are Matthew's legitimate wife.
If you're not at ease, you can personally mobilize Matthew's underworld forces to search for him.
And one more thing, don't call me 'sir', it's too formal.
Just call me foster father like Matthew does."
"That... might not be appropriate." Flora shook her head: "His wife is Selena..."
"You silly girl!" The man's expression remained icy, but his tone was gentle, like an elder addressing a family youngster: "A marriage certificate is but a piece of paper to be discarded.
In our world, the woman brought home by the Phoenix Wedding Ceremony, the lady of the Phoenix Ring, is Matthew's only wife."
He had spoken his piece, but his gaze seemed to soundlessly affirm that Flora was the only wife Matthew had acknowledged.
There was no second.
The Phoenix Ring he had slipped onto her finger that day was the strongest link in his world.
Having received the confirmation from Matthew's foster father that people would be searching for Matthew, Flora let a portion of her worry drop.
She turned towards the riverside mansion-cum-hospital where Paul resided.
In the days since Matthew's disappearance, the child had been there alone, without seeing either parent, certainly very upset.
"Miss Flora? What brings you here?"
Upon reaching the riverfront mansion, Flora spotted Doctor Andrey, the primary caregiver for Paul.
He was sauntering out, his hands pocketed and his lips puckered in a tune.
At the sight of Flora, his eyes flickered in momentary surprise.
"Doctor Andrey." Flora glanced at the firmly shut door behind him: "I am here to see Paul.
Has the child been faring well these past days? May I enter?"
"While you may enter, seeing Paul might be slightly tricky." Andrey shrugged: "She has left with her father, were you not aware? How can one meet someone who is not here?"
Flora's eyes widened in shock.
She had not anticipated that after her lengthy search, the riverfront mansion would be the place to find information about Matthew.
Frantically, she grabbed hold of Doctor Andrey's sleeve and urgently questioned: "Doctor Andrey, are you serious? Matthew personally came here to take the child? When did he come? What vehicle did he use? Did he mention where he was taking her?"
"Slow down...please calm down..." Andrey broke into a sweat: "I apologize, but it has been a few days, and I don't remember clearly."
The mere disappearance of Matthew had already made Flora restless.
To make matters worse, he had taken their daughter with him.
Suddenly, her mind seemed to spiral out of control, incapable of forming any coherent thoughts.
What if Matthew met with an accident while travelling with their child... She dared not entertain the thought!
Seeing her distress, Andrey felt a pang of guilt: "Perhaps you should try calling him."
"It's pointless." Flora shook her head.
She had tried reaching out to Matthew multiple times over the past few days, all to no avail.
If she could have contacted him, she would not have been tormented by such worry.
Exhaling a long, forlorn sigh, she turned around to leave in a lost, spiritless manner.
Unbeknownst to her, her daughter had not left with Matthew and was in fact still lying on a hospital bed inside the mansion.
Andrey had not left the mansion for leisure, but to personally procure some medication from a reliable supplier.
A few seconds after Flora departed, a voice emerged from the still-connected phone in Andrey's hand: "Doctor Andrey, it's not right to deceive her like this..." The voice was distorted, the person speaking was in the basement of the mansion, and the signal was weak.
Andrey snorted: "Are you suggesting that I should inform her about the critical condition of her daughter, who could depart this world any moment now?"
From his brief conversation with Flora, he knew that the situation outside was far from stable.
All the more reason, he thought, not to burden her frail shoulders with additional pressure.
Moreover, he was working for Matthew.
And Matthew had been explicit in his instructions: under no circumstances was Flora to be informed of Paul's true condition.
"Auntie, why are you just returning now? If you hadn't come back, I was about to kick this old hag out to find you!" Mimi leaned against the door, watching as a dejected Flora slowly made her way in.
Emma, standing nearby, shot her a sharp look before rushing over to support Flora, guiding her inside.
"There's...no news of Matthew..." Flora was desperately trying to hold back her tears, but her trembling voice betrayed her distress.
Flora's hand tightened around Mimi's wrist, her sharp gaze boring into the child's face: "Mimi, tell me... he will be alright, won't he?"
"Auntie, please don't worry too much." Mimi gently covered Flora's hand with her other one, providing some semblance of warmth: "Uncle is the most capable person I know.
Those weaklings won't be able to harm him.
He might be hiding because he has something important to do... Besides... this isn't the first time..."
"Not the first time?" Flora's voice involuntarily rose, her grip on her cup tightening.