The missing child

Chapter 9

The Missing Child

“Lily!”

Ethan’s voice echoed through the hospital hallway as he rushed toward the waiting lounge.

The nanny stood there shaking in fear. “She was here… I swear she was here only a minute ago!”

Dan’s face hardened immediately. “Did you see who took her?”

The woman cried helplessly. “No… no… I only answered a phone call downstairs.”

Security guards began running through the corridors while nurses moved frightened patients away from the emergency section.

“Seal every exit now!” Dan ordered loudly.

Ethan grabbed his hair in panic and kicked a nearby chair. “Find my daughter!”

His voice sounded real just as his fear did.

But deep inside him, another emotion moved quietly beneath the panic.

He felt relieved.

Lily was finally away from the danger surrounding Judith.

Away from Dan and from questions Ethan was no longer ready to answer.

Still, guilt slowly grew within him.

Things were becoming bigger than he planned.

Inside the emergency room upstairs, Judith’s condition remained unstable.

Machines beeped rapidly around her bed while doctors adjusted medications carefully.

“She’s responding better now,” one nurse whispered.

The female doctor frowned slightly at the test results in her hands.

“That poison should have damaged her organs more seriously,” she muttered within her. “Unless the dosage was interrupted.”

Her thoughts immediately returned to the switched medicine bag.

Someone wanted Judith dead and it's obvious someone inside the hospital helped them.

Outside the room, Mr. Blackwood stood near the glass window with cold eyes.

The corrupt doctor beside him looked nervous.

“You told me this would end tonight,” Mr. Blackwood said quietly.

The doctor swallowed hard. “Sir, the nurse noticed the bag too early.”

Mr. Blackwood’s jaw tightened.

“Then fix your mistake.”

Before the man could answer, footsteps approached.

Dan appeared suddenly.

The corrupt doctor quickly stepped back.

“Lily was kidnapped,” Dan announced coldly.

For the first time, genuine shock crossed the doctor’s face.

“What?”

Mr. Blackwood acted concerned immediately. “Kidnapped? Inside this hospital?”

Dan stared at him carefully.

“Yes.”

Something about the timing bothered him deeply.

First Judith was poisoned.

Now Lily disappeared.

The events felt connected.

And someone close to the family had to be responsible.

Inside the security office, workers replayed hospital footage repeatedly.

“There!” a guard shouted.

The screen showed Lily leaving the waiting area with a hospital worker.

Dan stepped closer immediately.

“Pause it.”

The image froze.

The fake worker wore a mask and cap that hid most of the face.

“Zoom in.”

The footage blurred badly.

Ethan stood silently behind them, his heartbeat slowly increasing.

Another camera angle existed.

One that would show him secretly speaking with the kidnapper near the service hallway earlier that evening.

If Dan saw it, everything would collapse.

A technician clicked another video file.

Ethan reacted instantly.

“That camera doesn’t work properly,” he said quickly. “Check the elevator footage instead.”

The technician frowned. “Actually, sir, this angle might—”

Ethan suddenly knocked a cup of coffee across the keyboard.

“Damn it!”

The workers jumped backward as liquid spilled over the system controls.

Several screens went black immediately.

“Turn it off!” one guard shouted.

While everyone rushed to save the computers, Ethan quietly deleted the hidden footage from another monitor.

His hands trembled slightly afterward.

Nobody noticed at least so it seemed.

Far away from the hospital, rain poured heavily over the empty streets.

Inside the black van, Lily hugged her teddy tightly while crying softly.

“I want my mommy…”

The fake hospital worker sighed tiredly before stopping the vehicle behind an old apartment building.

He opened the van door.

A woman waited there holding an umbrella.

Erica.

She climbed inside slowly and smiled warmly at Lily.

“Hello, sweetheart.”

Lily moved backward nervously.

“Where’s Daddy?”

Erica gently touched her hair. “Your daddy asked me to take care of you for a while.”

“I want my mummy.”

Erica’s expression softened strangely.

For one second, she almost pitied the little girl.

Then she remembered Judith.

Beautiful Judith and perfect Judith.

Loved by all.

The woman who always took everything from others without trying.

Erica forced the bitterness away and smiled again.

“Come with me. I made soup for you.”

Lily hesitated before allowing Erica to carry her upstairs.

The apartment was small but clean. Toys and blankets already filled one corner.

Ethan had prepared everything carefully.

Lily looked around with frightened eyes. “When is Mommy coming?”

Erica slowly removed Lily’s wet shoes.

“She’s busy right now.”

“With me?”

Erica looked at her quietly.

Children understood more than adults expected.

“She chose to stay with another man instead of you,” Erica whispered gently.

Lily’s face slowly fell.

“That’s not true.”

“Then why didn’t she come looking for you?”

Lily opened her mouth but no words came out.

Back at the hospital, Juliana watched the chaos from the far end of the hallway.

Her phone vibrated suddenly.

An unknown number had sent her a video.

Confused, she pressed play.

Her argument with Dan appeared on the screen.

Every threat.

Every accusation.

Every word recorded clearly.

Then another message appeared beneath it.

Help us destroy Ethan Blackwood… or this goes public. And you and your fiance will be in trouble.

Juliana’s breathing slowed.

Someone is targeting Ethan too.

Inside Judith’s hospital room, the female doctor checked her pulse again carefully.

Suddenly Judith’s fingers twitched weakly.

The nurse gasped softly. “Doctor…”

Judith’s eyelids moved slightly.

The doctor stepped closer immediately.

“Judith? Can you hear me?”

Judith’s breathing became uneven.

Small flashes appeared inside her mind.

A shadow beside her bed.

A man’s voice whispering angrily.

Then Lily’s face.

Judith’s lips parted weakly.

“Lily…”

Outside the room, Ethan froze after hearing her voice.

Fear passed through him immediately.

She was waking up too early.

Mr. Blackwood noticed Ethan’s reaction instantly.

“You need to calm yourself,” he whispered coldly.

Ethan looked at him sharply. “She wasn’t supposed to wake up this soon.”

The older man’s eyes darkened.

“Then maybe you should finish what you started.”

Ethan stared at him in disbelief.

“That’s Judith.”

“And she’s becoming dangerous.”

For the first time that night, Ethan looked disturbed by his father’s cruelty.

He loved Judith so deeply.

He's obsessed with her.

But hearing his father speak about her death so casually unsettled him deeply.

Inside the room, Judith slowly forced her eyes open.

The bright hospital lights hurt immediately.

The female doctor smiled in shock.

“She’s awake.”

Dan rushed inside at once.

“Judith?”

Her weak eyes searched around the room desperately.

“Lily…”

Dan grabbed her trembling hand gently and whispered “We’ll find her.”

Tears rolled slowly from Judith’s eyes.

She has been hearing everything but couldn't just move or speak.

“My baby…”

Ethan stepped closer but stopped halfway.

For the first time in years, shame burned inside him.

Judith looked broken beyond words

Suddenly, Ethan’s phone vibrated quietly inside his pocket.

He checked the message secretly.

She survived. Finish this quickly before she remembers everything.

His face lost color immediately.

Dan noticed.

“What happened?”

Ethan locked the phone quickly. “Nothing.”

But Dan kept staring at him carefully.

The suspicion inside him grew stronger.

Across the hallway, thunder crashed loudly outside the hospital windows while Judith cried weakly inside Dan’s arms.

Somewhere far from the hospital, Lily slowly fell asleep on Erica’s couch