At 5:30 a. m., Credence had not slept for 40 hours since Dorothy went missing.
He could feel the torture that he had never experienced before every second.
When Benjamin was on the phone, he was in the surveillance center of the Department of Transportation, which was about 100 meters away. When he found out that Credence was in the hospital, he rushed there with a stack of documents.
Suddenly, fast-paced footsteps could be heard in the corridor.
Benjamin was in a cold sweat. He rushed to Credence, who was sitting on a chair with his eyes closed, as fast as he could. His excitement could not be concealed, “Mr. Scott, it seems that Mrs. Scott and Juelz Sherman didn’t take a plane or a car. Instead, they passed through a mountainous road on Oak Hill behind the Talco City Airport. They are moving to the adjacent Palm City now.”
“Palm City!” Credence, who was leaning against the wall feebly, suddenly lifted his eyelids and spat out the two words coldly.
His heart skipped a beat and his breathing seemed to have eased a little.
His cold gaze fell on the papers in Benjamin’s hand, and his thin lips formed a faint smile. “Thanks for your effort. Show it to me.”
He could clearly see the routes traveled by Dorothy and Juelz, and they were labeled in a detailed way.
“Mr. Scott, I have assigned my colleagues working in the traffic bureau to track Mrs. Scott’s whereabouts 24 hours a day.”
Benjamin was startled when he saw Credence’s exhausted face and the red veins in his eyes. The excitement on his face disappeared slowly, replaced by solemnity.
“Mr. Scott, about 15 minutes ago, we found out that Germaine received a phone call from Palm City. The call lasted for almost half an hour. But before today, Germaine had not received any phone call from Palm City. We immediately traced the number and found that it is registered under a small breakfast shop. The shop is located at the foot of Oak Hill. Hence, we are sure that the phone call was from Juelz or Mrs. Scott…”
Oak Hill was a steep mountain with an altitude of more than a thousand meters. There was a primary mountainous forest, and there were often wild animals roaming within the area.
How dare Juelz, the foolish man, bring Dorothy to trek through the primitive forest!
Jonathan clicked his tongue twice, “Credence, did you hear that? There are updates about Dorothy. You can soon embark on a heart-touching journey to look for your wife.”
“If you appear in front of her with a haggard and sad look, I believe that she will feel moved and go home with you immediately.”
Marvin put his hands in the pockets of his trousers and looked at the silent man who was leaning against the white wall. There was an extremely serious expression on his tan and handsome face as he spoke, “Credence, I still have a week off. What is your plan?”
Credence remained still. His exhausted red eyes were staring at Benjamin. He could only see that Benjamin’s mouth was moving. However, his mind was buzzing. He couldn’t hear anything.
About a dozen seconds later, he finally came to his senses and blinked his eyes.
“Dorothy… Did you find her?”
Benjamin looked at the listless man who hadn’t had a rest for two consecutive days and nights. There was a bag full of medicine for his gastroenteritis beside him. Benjamin felt sorry for him, “We have confirmed that Mrs. Scott’s current location is in Palm City. However, there are no specific updates on which specific street she is on.”
The cold light above shone on Credence’s face. His face looked really pale, but the frosty aura emanating from his body was melting bit by bit.
As he was suffering from gastroenteritis, he was in so much pain that he was in a cold sweat. His hand was raised and pressed against his aching throat. He uttered in a low voice, “Other than Talco City, the place that I am familiar with the most is Palm City.”
To be specific, Palm City was Credence’s hometown.
That was the city where his mother, who had died early, grew up in. After his mother passed away due to an incurable disease, he spent fourteen years staying in Palm City with his grandparents who were in grief.
When his father’s business in Talco City thrived, only then did Credence leave his grandparents and move to the bustling and luxurious Talco City.
Jonathan came to his senses first. When he looked up, he saw the man’s deep and sharp gaze. He smiled and looked to the ground.
“Benjamin, inform the police station in Palm City to search the whole area. I want to know where she could possibly escape to now!”
Credence clenched his right hand into a tight fist and smashed it against the wall with all his strength.
He suddenly stood up from the chair and strode out of the hospital with his sharp and reddened eyes.
The men present were quick to act. They swiftly arranged the earliest flight and rushed to Palm City as soon as possible.
Palm City was a city located offshore with a tropical climate. Its temperature was higher than 30 degrees Celsius throughout the year. It was said that women living in Palm City could sing and dance warmly. They had a kind of charm that women in inland cities did not possess. It was a paradise that adult men yearned for.
On the way, thinking about those beautiful and attractive women, Jonathan’s face was full of joy. Meanwhile, Credence, Marvin, and the others all had no emotions at all.
Credence withdrew his solemn gaze from the cloudy sky, and his white knuckles were tightly holding the documents on Dorothy’s location. As he exerted too much force, he began to feel the pain caused by his gastroenteritis again.
When he managed to catch that rebellious woman, he would definitely teach her a lesson!
…
That day, Dorothy was driven to Talco City’s airport by Juelz. Initially, she planned to buy a flight ticket directly to Palm City.
Perhaps it was because the weather was so cold in Talco City that it could freeze one to the bones. Or perhaps it was because Dorothy could not feel any warmth in her life, she was particularly eager to get to the warm city.
As soon as she told Juelz about her plan, he sneered and declined, “Dory, are you insane? With Credence’s ability, once your ID card appears in the aircraft system, he will be able to track you down immediately.”
Dorothy was stunned. She asked, “Then what should we do?”
Juelz got out of the car and pulled her out gently. Then, he moved to the car boot and took out their suitcases. While dragging the suitcases, he winked at Dorothy and said, “Honey, don’t worry. I have a plan.”
At such a critical time, Dorothy chose to believe him.
After abandoning the cheap black car, the two of them made their way to the back of Talco City’s airport with their torchlight. After that, they took a rough and uneven path through the forest and stood at the foot of Oak Hill.
When Dorothy was so furious and almost cursed at Juelz, he gave her a small comforting gaze. Then, he made a phone call. Soon, a small team of five or six muscular men came out of the woods, followed by two beautiful and agile elephants.
Dorothy and Juelz went into the dense forest and walked farther away from Talco City.
She was still having a fever. When she thought of Credence, her heart was still painful as if it was cut by a knife. However, Dorothy felt a little more at ease.
Looking back at Talco City, her heart was in despair.
“Goodbye, Credence’s ruthlessness and Credence’s hatred!” She thought to herself.
It was already seven o’clock in the morning when they arrived in Palm City. Both of them had their breakfast in a breakfast shop. Juelz borrowed a phone from the lady boss and hid in the narrow bathroom to give Germaine a phone call. He did not bring sufficient cash and he asked Germaine to deposit a few million dollars into his bank account.
If Dorothy fell in love with Palm City and planned to settle down here, he would purchase a house for her. He would never mistreat the woman he loved.
However, he did not notice that this phone call exposed their whereabouts.
After having their breakfast, they hailed a taxi downtown and booked two rooms in a hotel. They slept. It already was the next morning when they woke up.
After getting enough rest, Dorothy’s body recovered well. She was dragged by Juelz to a few famous tourist attractions nearby for sightseeing.
Juelz was in charge of making Dorothy happy, and she was in charge of laughing.
The beautiful smiles on her face were all captured by Juelz’s camera.
On the evening of the third day, Juelz was asked out by his friends for a drink in Palm City. Dorothy didn’t like that kind of activity. Thinking that she didn’t have much money left and that staying in a hotel was not a long-term solution, she decided to go to the real-estate agency to look for a suitable house to rent.
After buying some necessities for daily use from the supermarket, Dorothy went shopping along the main street while searching for a real estate company.
On such a rainy night, there were few people on the street. Dorothy instinctively sped up her pace.
However, after walking a few dozen meters, she suddenly noticed that there was someone behind her… She was being stalked!