After handing the hard drive to B7, Rosalind walked out of the villa and found that Ulric was still there. He had been sitting at the door waiting for her. Hearing footsteps, Ulric stood up. His cleanliness habit made him gather the cigarette butts and ashes he had smoked, intending to find a trash can to dispose of them.
“Did he help you?” he asked.
“Yes,” Rosalind nodded but clearly did not want to discuss the details with Ulric. He didn’t ask further and simply got into the car. Rosalind noticed that Ulric never forced her to sit in the front passenger seat, so she could accept riding in his car. If he had insisted from the beginning that she sit next to him, she would have refused and preferred to walk.
On the way back, Rosalind kept her head down, calculating her remaining savings and assets. She didn’t want to end up being that weirdo’s girlfriend. The car drove all the way to W Group’s underground parking lot. Just as Rosalind was about to get out of the car, her phone rang.
She glanced at it; it was Malcolm. She thought he was calling about meeting B7, so she didn’t answer immediately. Instead, she walked a few steps away from Ulric before calling back.
“Hello, Malcolm!”
On the other end, Malcolm’s usually calm voice was now extremely anxious.
“Rosalind, I can’t reach Tilda! Last night she said she would take Floyd out today, so I called her several times this morning but she didn’t answer. I wasn’t too worried at first, but now it’s late and there’s still no word from her!”
Rosalind felt her heart tighten with worry.
“What should we do? I’m heading back now!”
“Okay, I’m also driving to Tilda’s place. We’ll stay in touch by phone.”
After hanging up, Rosalind turned and ran towards the exit of the parking garage. Ulric saw her urgency as he parked his car and quickly caught up with her with his long strides.
“Rosalind!” he called out. “What’s wrong?”
“Tilda is missing; I need to find her!” she replied.
“I’ll go with you,” Ulric offered.
Rosalind immediately refused. “No need, you go ahead with your work.”
If Ulric got involved, he might find out about Tilda’s child. Since it was still unclear whether Tilda had been kidnapped or just forgot to check her phone, she couldn’t risk involving Ulric yet.
As she ran off, Ulric received a call from Cedric.
“Mr. Walters, Miss Ruell’s good friend Tilda has been kidnapped! And a little girl was taken too.”
“Track their location immediately! Send me their last known whereabouts!”
Rosalind hurried out of the garage and flagged down a taxi. The recent events had put her in a constant state of crisis. As they neared Tilda’s place, she received a text message from an unknown number.
“If you want your daughter to live, come find me quietly! If you tell anyone, you’ll be collecting your daughter’s corpse!”
Just as Rosalind finished reading the message and before she could react, the taxi driver turned around with a sinister smile.
“Miss Ruell, I advise you not to resist.”