bChapter /bb223 /b

    “Mom, I was just trying to protect you!” Brian retorted defensively, raising his chin stubbornly. “Besides, I’m all grown up now. You don’t need to babysit me anymore!”

    Maxine froze for a moment. He had a point. She had missed three crucial years of Brian’s growth due to various circumstances. The little boy who used to stand there with his arms crossed, putting on a facade of maturity, had somehow grown tall enough to stand before her now and dere he would protect her.

    Seeing that Maxine remained silent, Brian assumed she was mad at him. Too proud to apologize, he took several deep breaths before sulkily turning his face away.

    After what felt like an eternity, Brian finally broke the silence. “Did… did Dad evene looking for me?”

    After calming down a bit, Maxine felt her anger had mostly dissipated. Then it hit her that she hadn’t even told Sebastian she was going here. Will he be mad when he finds out i rushed over here without saying anything?‘ she wondered.

    Reading her expression, Brian instantly caught on. With suspicion, he asked, “Wait… you didn’t tell Dad, did you?”

    Maxine’s silence was answer enough.

    In some ways, the mother and son were truly cut from the same stubborn cloth, their tempers were exactly alike.

    Maxine cleared her throat. “Our top priority now is figuring out how to get out of here,” she said decisively.

    With that, she pulled out her phone. At first, she wondered if it was an oversight on Hamlin’s part that they hadn’t taken it when they “invited” her up here, but the real reason soon became clear.

    Maxine unlocked her phone but found that there was no signal. She couldn’t even send a text, let alone share her location.

    Maxine wondered, ‘How on earth did the Jenson family find such a remote spot?‘

    Maxine sat on the swing out on the balcony, her gaze fixed on the faint outline of a road winding through the dense mountain forest far below. “I’ve got to find a way out of here,” she told herself.

    Sebastian followed Cleo’s map up the mountain. He spotted Maxine’s car along the winding road. After some trouble finding the way, he paused as dusk began to fall, his gaze lifting toward the steep mountain road ahead

    Maxine set off ages ago. If she still hadn’te down by now, something must have gone wrong. He felt that she was probably discovered.

    Sebastian knew Maxine’s temper all too well. Hamlin must have set this trap long ago, just waiting for her to walk right into it.

    Sebastian stopped and called Cleo.

    Cleo’s expression turned serious as she heard his guess. She turned to the police officer beside her and said anxiously, “Maxine might have already gone into the Jenson’s vi to rescue Brian. We’ve lost contact with her. What should we do now?b” /b

    The police officer sighed helplessly. “I get that you’re desperate to rescue them, but this kind of reckless move isn’t the answer. We still don’t know what’s happening over there, charging in like this could put them in grave danger.”

    Cleo forced a polite smile as she apologized to the police, though anxiety twisted inside her. She knew exactly what Maxine was thinking, without direct evidence that Hamlin was the one who kidnapped Brian, she had no choice but to resort to this desperate measure.

    But by the looks of it, Maxine had most likely found Brian already.

    Half an hourter, the two groups met on the mountain trail. After examining the traces around them, the police concluded that Maxine had gone further up the mountain.

    b09:54 /b

    bFri /bb27 /bJU

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