“What? Samuel was kidnapped?”
Dolores immediately stood up, her movement so quick that her leg scraped against the drawer, but she barely felt the pain. Her sole concern was her son’s safety.
Anxiety and fear swelled within her chest. Despite Samuel appearing more mature than other children his age, he was still just a child.
She dashed out of LEO Corporation, racing towards her car. Every time she encountered a red light on the way, she gripped the steering wheel tightly, unable to bear even a second’s delay.
After twenty agonizing minutes, she arrived at the police station.
A police officer guided Dolores to the interrogation room where Matthew and Samuel sat facing each other.
Samuel showed no fear as Matthew glared fiercely at him.
“Little kid, tell me, why would I kidnap you?” Matthew fixed his intense gaze upon the small but composed boy.
Despite being falsely accused, Matthew had to acknowledge the child’s intelligence. He couldn’t help but wonder what kind of parents had raised such an exceptional child.
Without uttering a word, Samuel crossed his arms and insisted that Matthew had kidnapped him.
As Dolores entered and saw her son, she rushed over and embraced him tightly. She examined him anxiously and asked, “Are you hurt?”
Samuel shook his head and replied, “Mommy, I’m fine. Don’t worry…”
“You’re fine? You were abducted, and you’re saying you’re fine? Aren’t you usually so smart? Didn’t mommy tell you not to talk to strangers or accept things from them? How could you still get kidnapped?” Fear was the essence of love.
This sentence could aptly describe her feelings in this moment, as she rarely spoke so sternly to her son.
She was genuinely terrified.
Samuel’s eyes turned slightly red, and he reached up to touch Dolores’s anxious face. “I’m sorry, mommy. I didn’t mean to make you worry.”
Dolores’s heart softened. She held her son close, burying his face deep in her embrace. “Mommy didn’t mean to scold you. I was just worried about you.”
Samuel sniffed, “I know.” While saying this, he glanced at the man who was currently observing him. If the situation arose again, he would do the same.
Having regained her composure, Dolores wondered who the audacious person was that had dared to kidnap her son.
She gently let go of Samuel and stood up. “Officer…”
Before she could ask anything, she noticed a man sitting handcuffed at the table. She took a sharp breath. How could he be here?
“You…”
Dolores felt utterly bewildered. What exactly had transpired here?
Matthew’s eyes surveyed Dolores and the little boy. The resemblance between this child and Dolores was uncanny.
Was this her son?
He should be around this age now.
“He’s the one who kidnapped your child,” the police officer in charge of the case informed Dolores.
What?
Matthew had kidnapped her son?
Dolores seemed to piece something together. She turned her gaze towards her son.
Samuel immediately lowered his head, fixating his eyes on his toes.
At that moment, Bryan Eastwood, the head of the branch office in another city of A Country, arrived with a lawyer. “Mr. Nelson, our lawyer has negotiated with the police. It should be resolved soon.”
Bryan nearly dropped his jaw upon receiving the call. Child abduction?
Did Matthew have some peculiar hobby?
However, Bryan had worked at the headquarters for many years, and to his knowledge, Matthew was not a pedophile.
“What happened, Mr. Nelson? Whose child did you abduct?” Bryan was genuinely curious to know which child had captivated Matthew to the point of abduction.
Children were born innocent. No one would suspect the child of framing someone.
The focus was always on the adults.
Children were inherently trusting.
How could they come up with such wicked ideas?
In contrast, Samuel displayed a level of maturity far beyond his peers. He was remarkably intelligent.
Matthew lifted his chin, allowing Samuel to take a good look at him.
Bryan followed Matthew’s gaze and examined the scene. When his eyes fell upon the little boy standing before the table, revealing only half of his head, a solemn expression settled on his face.
The child was undeniably charming, with a fair complexion and glossy black eyes. When he stood upright, he bore a resemblance to Matthew.
Bryan found himself taken aback by the thought. He turned his head to glance at Matthew. He couldn’t help but wonder if the child truly resembled him.
He pondered over it carefully. How could that be possible?
There were only two women who had been seen alongside Matthew. One was his wife, whom Bryan hadn’t met before. Rumor had it that they divorced less than a month after their marriage.
The other was Matthew’s former secretary, Helen, who now held the title of the young lady of the Herbert family. Ever since she staged a car accident and falsely claimed to have had a miscarriage, Matthew had despised her upon discovering the truth.
In any case, Matthew couldn’t have children.
“Aren’t you going to say anything?” Matthew turned his gaze towards Dolores. Though he appeared to be smiling, there was no trace of warmth in his expression.
Samuel, fearing that Matthew might mistreat Dolores, held her hand and stepped forward to protect her.
He displayed the qualities of a true gentleman.
Dolores was deeply moved, but she sighed helplessly. She patted her son’s shoulder and said, “Good boy, wait here for mommy.”
Dolores simply wanted to leave; the lawyer had resolved the case. The police officer informed them that Matthew was now free to go.
Dolores didn’t want to prolong the matter any further.
After all, it wasn’t a genuine kidnapping.
Matthew rubbed his wrist. For the first time in his life, he had been handcuffed and framed by a child.
Dolores held Samuel’s hand and exited the police station. Unable to resist, she squatted down and asked, “Why did you do this? Can a good child lie like that?”
Samuel remained silent, inheriting Dolores’s stubbornness.
“Say something!” Dolores frowned. When did this child learn to lie?
The lie had escalated to the point where they ended up at the police station.
Dolores was so frustrated that she struggled to catch her breath, but she couldn’t bring herself to strike him. “Are you trying to drive me crazy?”
Samuel clenched his fists tightly and suddenly shouted, “He’s a despicable jerk! Why can’t I call the police to arrest him?”
Dolores was taken aback. What was he talking about?
Samuel wiped Dolores’s mouth with his tiny hand and said, “I don’t want him to kiss you. He’s a bad guy, a thief, a jerk! He bullied mommy, so I’ll deal with him!”
As Matthew walked out of the police station, he heard a barrage of criticisms from Samuel.
It was the first time he had been scolded so vehemently.
“You guys go wait for me in the car,” Matthew instructed as he descended the stairs. He then turned his attention to the little kid.
Dolores held her son in her arms and watched Matthew cautiously. “He’s just a child, and you’re fine now. Please don’t make a scene.”
Matthew smiled faintly. “All the unpleasant surprises in my life can be attributed to this little kid. And you expect me not to make a fuss?”
Dolores instinctively took a step back. She simply wanted to keep her distance from this man. “What do you want?”
Samuel’s little face brimmed with annoyance as he glared at Matthew.
He stared at him as if he could bore a hole through his face.
Matthew remained unfazed and took two steps closer. He extended his hand to pinch Samuel’s cheek playfully.
Samuel turned his face away, eluding Matthew’s touch. In that momentary hesitation, Matthew’s hand grazed Dolores’s cheek instead, teasingly. “A mother should bear the consequences for her son’s actions.”