Estrella Berrocal had searched the school, drenched in sweat, with hot and cold sensations running down her back, and she was panting hard, her eyes lost in concentration as she looked around at the swirling crowd of people.
“Paulita… Paulita… you don’t play hide and seek with Estrella! Paulita where are you?”
Tears quickly stain the eyes.
He pulled out his phone in a panic, his fingers trembling as he called Adán Rouco.
The phone rang for a long time before it was answered.
Estrella Berrocal opened her mouth so incoherently that she couldn’t even speak, with beads of sweat running down her forehead, and heard her voice tremble: “Cold, Adam…. Paulita … … Paulita has disappeared … What should I do? I’ve looked all over the school … Ciri Garzon has also been on the radio but no one has brought our Paulita back… Adam… ”
By the end of the sentence, Estrella Berrocal had lost control of her voice and was choking back sobs.
No woman can lose a child and still be sensible and calm enough to think of anything.
Now Estrella Berrocal’s mind felt as if a flat, blank beam had exploded, with only the buzzing in her head, the voice reminding her again and again: go find Paulita.
As he reached for his cell phone to call Adán Rouco, his eyes kept searching for Paulita in the crowd.
At school, Estrella Berrocal always checks on parents with children of Paulita’s stature.
But she exhausted all her strength and could not find Paulita. In the end, she sat on the bench, exhausted, wiping her face with both hands, unable to cry, only with a breath in her chest, which hurt as if it were about to break.
Adán Rouco immediately contacted Andreo Fanta and used the latter’s influence in Ciudad del Rey to find Paulita and secretly report the incident, contacting the local police to watch for suspicious vehicles at all entrances and exits of the Ciudad del Rey highway.
Half an hour later, Adán Rouco hurried to the Ciudad del Rey Media University.
Upon seeing Estrella Berrocal, he could not utter a word of reproach, but merely took her in his arms and gave her a tight hug, reassuringly telling her, “Don’t worry, we’ll find Paulita. ”
Estrella Berrocal buried herself in his shoulder, crying disconsolately, her thin shoulders shaking violently, “Adam you scold me! It’s because I didn’t take good care of Paulita … If I had been attentive to her … Paulita would not have been lost … I am sorry … you scolded me… you hit me… I am so sorry…”
Even if Paulita is smart, she is still very young, what would she do if she met a bad person?
Estrella Berrocal’s heart was filled with suffocating pain at the thought of Paulita being hurt by the bad guys, or even kidnapped forever.
“I’m sorry… Adam… it’s all my fault…”
Adán Rouco lowered his head and kissed her forehead, saying in a mute voice: “Right now the most important thing for us is to find Paulita, nothing else matters.”
Estrella Berrocal looked at him with reddened eyes, her small face pale and haggard, “We are bound to find Paulita, aren’t we?”
“So be it. Now, go back and remember carefully what happened and in detail, and tell me all about it.”
Estrella Berrocal nodded vigorously, trying to remember as she said: “At that moment, Ciri was at the window taking the food and I thought I couldn’t carry so much food alone, so I took Paulita to the window, there were many people at the window and I remember I was still holding Paulita by the hand, but then as I had to help Ciri I remember I was holding Paulita by the hand, but then I had to help Ciri with the food, so I asked Paulita to hold on to my shirt so I wouldn’t lose her.
Adán Rouco frowned, “Do you remember the exact place and the exact window you were at in the cantina?”
“If I remember correctly, it’s in the first canteen, second floor, window number three.”
Shortly thereafter, Andreo Fanta arrived at the university. Andreo Fanta was an old friend of the university president, and since Andreo Fanta had previously donated a library to Media University, there was no problem transferring oversight.
The cafeteria surveillance, although clearer, was crowded at lunchtime, and Paulita, a small tit, was hard to spot.
But Adán Rouco had a hunch that this man, who was only pretending to be a student, was not a student at the school.
Andreo Fanta quickly sent someone to investigate and, indeed, nothing was found on this person in the school files.
Estrella Berrocal looked at the paused surveillance video and said with some annoyance, “We don’t even know this man, and he has nothing to do with us, so why did he kidnap Paulita?”
Adán Rouco analyzed: “There must be someone behind it”.
Andreo Fanta’s dark eyes twitched as he said, “I suspect it could very well be Amara Montellano. ”
Adam Rouco’s brow furrowed further, “If it really is Amara Montellano, we should hear from her soon.”
No sooner had he uttered these words than Andreo Fanta’s cell phone rang.
It is a string of numbers opened by a black card of unknown attribution.
Andreo Fanta and Adán Rouco look at each other and pick each other up.
An unmanly voice came on the phone, altered through a voice changer.
“Andreo Fanta, I have your little niece, and if you and Adán Rouco want someone, now, you and Adán Rouco come to Acería de la Ciudad Santa with ten million dollars in one hour. ”
Andreo Fanta scoffed, “I thought it was my daughter you were kidnapping, who are you scaring with your voice changer?”.
“Don’t talk tough, if you and Adam Rouco don’t get to the Holy City Steel Mill in an hour, I’ll scare the kid to death.”
Andreo Fanta’s voice was as cold as ice when he said, “If Paulita is missing a hair, you won’t get out of Ciudad del Rey alive. ”
“Heh heh heh heh … Then I’ll wait, you better move fast, if I don’t see you when the time is up, I’m going to go on a killing spree hahahaha…”
There, the kidnappers seem to have ripped the duct tape off Paulita’s mouth and suddenly Paulita’s loud screams come through the phone.
“Daddy Paulita is afraid … Daddy come help me!”
Andreo Fanta handed the phone directly to Adán Rouco, who had veins throbbing in his temples as he gritted his teeth and blurted out: “If you touch Paulita, I’ll make you feel what it means to be cut in half”.
Paulita wailed and cried while Estrella Berrocal completely collapsed.
After hanging up the call, Estrella Berrocal said firmly, “Adam, I’m coming with you, it’s my fault Paulita is missing. ”
“If you leave, we may have to take care not only of Paulita but also of you, Estrella, do as I say and I will bring our Paulita back in one piece.”
Tears rolled down Estrella Berrocal’s face.
Andreo Fanta told Ciri Garzón: “Ciri, you and Estrella go home first, I will go with Adán to rescue the people”.
Ciri Garzón could not help but warn, “Then you should always be careful and contact us if you need anything.”
Andreo Fanta nodded slightly.