Brendon sensed the sarcasm in her words. He frowned and reached out to grab Ranita’s arm, asking in a low voice, “Ranita, what do you mean by that?”
“Nothing!” Ranita thought to herself how savvy Brendon was in business but had no defense against Shannon.
“I just think you and Miss Murphy are childhood sweethearts for a reason. You know her so well,” she said with even more sarcasm than before.
Brendon’s forehead creased even tighter as he let out a sigh. “Ranita, you’ve misunderstood Shannon. She…”
“Enough! I don’t want to talk about her anymore! If you’re staying, then stay; if not, go back to Kurima and see your fiancée,” Ranita snapped angrily.
Brendon didn’t know what he did wrong to make Ranita angry.
After waiting for a while, Brendon received a message saying that someone had seen a woman resembling Sophia near the train station, holding a sick child in her arms and looking a bit deranged.
The two of them hurried over immediately, and the police arrived as well.
They searched around but didn’t find any trace of Sophia. Fortunately, there were surveillance cameras around the train station, and they captured footage of Sophia boarding a bus to the suburbs with Ayaan in her arms.
Brendon drove with Ranita and searched along the way.
Meanwhile, the police contacted the local police station near the bus terminal and asked them to send officers to guard the area, hoping to intercept them.
There were many bus stops at the terminal, and if they got off midway and went to a place without surveillance, it would be difficult to find them.
Throughout the journey, Ranita prayed, hoping for better luck for Ayaan.
Whether it was a response to her prayers or not, they caught up with the bus. The bus suddenly stalled when it was passing a bridge and stopped by the roadside, waiting for assistance.
“Ayaan is on there!” Ranita immediately rushed out, but Brendon held her back. “Wait! Don’t be impulsive!”
“I’ll go and check first. Watch my hand gestures for communication with the police station. Let them contact the bus driver, so no one can escape!” After Brendon finished speaking, he walked forward alone and scanned inside the bus as he passed by it.
This bus was heading to the suburbs, and most people had already gotten off at the previous stops, as there were fewer residential areas after crossing the bridge. Therefore, there weren’t many people on the bus.
At a glance, Brendon saw the haggard woman sitting in the second-to-last row. She held a child tightly wrapped in layers of clothes. It was such a hot day, and Ayaan, who was already sick, might suffocate!
Anger welled up inside Brendon.
Ranita, seeing that Brendon hadn’t given her a signal, was about to call out to him when she noticed that he sprinted towards the back door of the bus like a cheetah…
“Brendon!” Ranita was startled, holding her breath as she quickly followed suit.
Just as she reached the back door, she heard the woman shouting, “They’re stealing the child! They’re stealing my child!”
When she looked closely, Brendon had already snatched Ayaan back and was holding him in his arms, tearing off the clothes wrapped around him.
“Ayaan! Ayaan!” Brendon disregarded the unfriendly gazes around him and reached out to pat Ayaan’s little face.
The little round face was gritting its teeth, and his cheeks were burning red from the heat.
“Give me my child back! He’s mine! My child!” Sophia’s eyes widened, and she screamed at the top of her lungs, desperately rushing towards Brendon, trying to snatch the child back.
The people around them also started to jeer, “Young man, give the child back, or we’ll call the police!”
Brendon gave Sophia a cold glance, then looked at the people on the bus. He said expressionlessly, “Don’t worry, the police will be here soon!”