Charles was getting anxious, so he called Jay right away.
It was not long after that Jay came back home. He had just taken a shower and was having fun with
Ace.
When Jay noticed that Charles was calling him, he heaved a sigh. "It's Charles again. Is he planning to
work me to death?"
Doris sneered, "Nancy's missing, and Charles just wants to find her soon. You should cut him some
slack."
The main reason Doris said that was because he was just as anxious as Charles.
Doris couldn't remember how many times she had called Nancy. At first, her phone was ringing but
nobody was answering. The next moment, she couldn't reach her anymore.
One night, she suddenly got up and grabbed Jay's hand. "Jay, where's Nancy?"
"We're still looking for her," said Jay, caught by surprise.
"I had a dream just now. Nancy is... Nancy's dead!" Doris broke down in tears and hugged Jay.
Jay combed her hair and gently stroked her back to comfort her. "For the sake of your friendship, I
hope God doesn't have the heart to take away Nancy's life."
"It's not because we're good friends. It's because if she's gone, then who else am I going to bully?"
Doris bawled like a child.
Jay knew that Charles and Doris were both stricken with grief, but he was not faring much better than
either of them.
Now that they'd finally found some leads, Jay just wanted to take a little break, but Charles had to call
him again. He hoped that the moment he answered the phone, Charles would tell him "I've found
Nancy."
But Charles didn't. Charles told him to find the location of an unfamiliar number.
"Silly girl, I know you are all anxious; so am I." Jay shook his head and sighed.
"Maybe Nancy trying to contact Charles? What a foolish woman! Why didn't she call me if Charles
wouldn't answer her call?" Doris played it off as a banter.
"I hope it was Nancy. As long as we know she's alive, we'll all feel relieved. But for now, I think we
should take it easy..." After saying that, Jay called Hanson and asked him to track the location of the
number as soon as possible.
After leaving the police station, Charles drove to the hospital.
He wanted to check Frederic's physical condition and see if it was appropriate for him to ask the old
man about the club.
Frederic had woken up, but he was exhausted. Frederic often mumbled things like he was in a daze.
"Is the hospital on fire?" he would say.
"Yes, the hospital is on fire. Haven't we found Nancy yet?" Angelina complained.
In the past, when Nancy was still there, Angelina couldn't stand her presence. She wanted Nancy to
disappear immediately.
Now that Nancy had truly disappeared, Angelina could not help but worry about her almost every
minute of the day.
What was going to happen to Nancy's twins now that she's gone? Even if it was easy for Charles to
find a woman, would that woman even be kind to the children?
It was often said on the news that stepmothers abused their partner's children. What if Bobby and
Nadia were mistreated by their stepmother?
When Frederic heard that Nancy was missing, he suddenly opened his eyes and asked, "Can't you find
Nancy?"
"They said that she was burned to death." Angelina sounded frustrated.
"Nonsense! There should be a corpse even if she was burned to death. Have they not found anything?"
Hardy glared at Angelina.
"Then, if Nancy wasn't burned to death, where did she go? Were the media's rumors true? Does
Charles has another woman? Blah, blah, blah... It's like I'm not hearing myself. How can those pesky
paparazzi's words be true?" Angelina shook her head in disbelief.
"Bah! Everything that comes out of their mouths is absolute nonsense! How could Charles have other
women? If he wanted someone else, he would've gotten another one a long time ago. Why would he
wait until now?" Frederic thought for a while and said, "Nancy might have been kidnapped."
"Yes, many people are saying so. But even if she was kidnapped by a bad person, there should be a
reason for the kidnapping and they probably would have left a trace, right? We still couldn't find her
until now. Even if she was dead, we would have at least found her body by now, yes? Isn't all of this
strange?" Hardy took a deep breath as he laid down his speculations.
"What's so strange about it? Perhaps that person is just that clever. There are always two sides to
every story. It's a good chance to test the relationship between Nancy and Charles," Frederic added.
"Dad, don't say that again. You haven't seen what Nancy's disappearance had done to him. He can't
sleep; he can't eat. He's bent out of shape!" Angelina felt sorry for her son that it almost drove her to
tears.
"Nancy is fine. She won't die." Charles heard the conversation between his mother and grandfather in
the corridor, so he opened the door and came in.
"Did you find her?" they asked in unison.
"Not yet," Charles replied.
Angelina sat back on the sofa in disappointment. "For a second there, I thought you've already found
her."
"It's good to think that she's alive and that there's still hope," Hardy interjected.
Ignoring Angelina and Hardy, Charles went straight to Frederic's bed and said, "Grandpa, I have
something important to ask you."
"Just say it. When did you become so polite?" Frederic bantered.
"Do you know the Romantic Private Club in the suburbs?" Charles stared into Frederic's eyes.
Frederic was not a liar. But Charles always felt that Romantic Private Club couldn't be managed so well
by Dale if he was alone. There must be someone supporting his operations. Could it be Frederic? It
seemed impossible, but who else would it be except Frederic?
"Romantic Private Club?" Frederic frowned and muttered, "I think I've heard of it, maybe once or twice."
It had been a long time, and Frederic was indeed old. It was understandable that he couldn't remember
a lot of things right away.
"Where is Dale?" Charles asked again.
"Oh, what's wrong with him?" Hearing Dale's name, Frederic smiled and said, "He is a good man. He
has been working for me for many years. But I do remember something... Yes, he said he wanted to
open a club, so I opened one for him. Was there anything wrong with this club?"
"Grandpa, did you open this club for Dale?" Charles didn't answer Frederic's question.
"Well, he has been with me for so many years. He had always done his utmost to help me. When he
said that he wanted to open a club, I couldn't stop him. Besides, I don't know the annual profit of that
club, but I know it wouldn't make that much money." Frederic slowly recalled the scene at that time. "At
that time, Dale said that he wanted to open a club, and I agreed. He said that he had no influence, no
money, so he convinced me to invest. I invested, so I'm a shareholder and the club is registered under
my name. That's all. Is there a problem?"
"It seems that everything is fine on the surface, but do you really know what kind of project the club
runs?" Charles was afraid that Frederic couldn't bear it if he told the old man the entire story, so
Charles told him the truth bit by bit...
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