Take My Breath Away

"Oh! So who's this new kid?" Wesley asked, scratching his head. But the next moment, his mood darkened. "Do you just go around picking up stray kids? You can even walk into a forest, and come out with another kid. How do we know this kid isn't yours, Gifford? Maybe one born out of wedlock? Maybe you've been hiding the kid all this time..."

Gifford couldn't believe his ears when he heard what his dad said. "Come on, Dad. Boswell found the kid, not me. And the kid's not mine! What a crazy idea! I'm happily married, with a kid of my own!" How could he have a love child? That was impossible.

Wesley's words amused everyone. Boswell had no idea what a love child was. But he felt the need to explain. "Grandpa, we got this kid from Mommy Bear," he explained.

"Mommy Bear?" After Boswell's explanation, Wesley was even more confused.

"Yeah!" Boswell nodded.

"Apparently this kid was lost, and raised by a bear. No clue what happened to the parents. We're the first humans the bear saw, so it gave the kid to us," Gifford said to his father.

"Oh! How weird!"

Matthew handed the kid to Wesley. "Dad, you and Boswell go home and get some sleep. I'll have my men scour the forest for Damian. Don't worry, we'll find him!"

"Dad, I know where my brother was headed. I can go with you!" Boswell said to Matthew, wrapping his arms around Wesley's neck.

Stroking his little head, Matthew said, "No, we're good. You stay here with your grandpa. We'll take care of this. We'll find your brother, trust me." The child must be still in the forest. Sheffield and Joshua were still searching there with their people. With so many people looking for him, the child was as good as found.

Wesley left with the two children. Matthew advised Gifford to take a break. Maybe nap in the car for a bit. He'd been looking for the kids nonstop, and a power nap would work wonders.

Matthew relieved the other crew that had been searching for his son, and took a fresh group of well-rested men with him.

Before Matthew could take a few steps inside the forest, he received a message from Sheffield. "I found Damian! The boy's hurt! Have the paramedics stand by!" the message said.

A while ago

In the forest, when night fell, Damian leaned against a big tree, his stomach rumbling.

He was very sleepy, but too jumpy to sleep. The forest looked very different at night. Branches that looked innocuous in daylight transformed to twisted, tentacle-like limbs in the darkness. The sound of night creatures was far from comforting, as well.

He managed to build a fire with a little good old fashioned ingenuity. He looked for dryer lint in his pocket, took some of the dry grass around him and added it to his fire pit, then he used his house key and a rock to create the sparks. He took some rocks from nearby and arranged them to surround the fire. But he had nothing to eat, so all he could do was stare at the fire and watch as it died down.

'No, I can't let the fire die, or I'll have more problems.'

Thinking of this, Damian stood up and began to look for some dry kindling to keep the fire going.

Fortunately, there were many branches close by, and he could ignite one of them so he could see better.

However, he didn't know what was hidden under the branch. Just as he was fumbling the branches, a little creature suddenly jumped up from underneath the branches and pounced on him.

"Ahhh!" Damian's little body was knocked down by the animal, and the black animal slashed his trousers and scratched his legs. The animal left several cuts in his legs. His dark blue trousers were soon painted red by the blood.

The little animal that hurt him left and vanished in the forest. Damian sat there and waited for his wounds to stop hurting. After a while, he gritted his teeth, picked up the branches he gathered, and made his way back to the campfire.

A few minutes later, he heard a buzzing sound. He craned his neck, so he could listen more intently.

Damian opened one of his eyes, and some mechanical contrivance was flying more than ten meters overhead. When he took a closer look, he knew it was a drone.

The drone began to land. It circled around the campfire and finally focused its lens on Damian.

Damian flashed a smile at the drone and said gently, "Hi Grandpa, Grandma, Dad, Mom."

'And my brothers, I miss you so much!' T

he drone was sent by Sheffield and Joshua's team. When they saw clearly that there was a boy sitting beside the fire on the screen, they rushed over as fast as they could.

More than ten minutes later, Sheffield's excited voice came. "Hey, dear nephew!"

The reason why he called him that was that Sheffield couldn't see him clearly in the dark. He couldn't tell whether it was Damian or Boswell.

Hearing the familiar voice, Damian struggled to stand up, but the wounds on his legs were too painful. He sat back and called in a weak voice, "Uncle Sheffield, Uncle Joshua..."

They didn't know who it was until they found his campsite in person.

The little boy's face was dirty, but he was pale underneath. "Are you hurt, Damian?" Joshua asked worriedly.

Damian nodded, pouting.

Sheffield aimed his flashlight at the boy's body. His dark blue trousers were covered with dark red.

He asked his men to find the first aid kit, strip off Damian's pants and deal with his wounds first.

Sheffield took a good look at the claw marks. They weren't shallow, but not real deep. He knew these wounds weren't made by weapons, or happenstance. "Did an animal get to you?" he asked.

Damian nodded and then shook his head. "Yeah, but I don't know what it was. I've never seen anything like it."

"All right! I'll clean your wounds. This might sting a bit. So brace yourself!" Sheffield handed the flashlight to Joshua and opened the first aid box himself.

A few minutes later, Joshua lifted the little boy in his arms. Sheffield worked on extinguishing the fire before catching up with the rest of the team.

After more than ten hours, the group of people turned the forest upside down. It was impossibly vast, and a difficult task to find anyone. Finally, they found both boys who disappeared, but not all at once. They also recovered a little girl.

Wesley had her cleaned and cut her hair because he could see lice in the strands. The next day, he took her to the hospital for a check-up.

The child was a little more than a year old and couldn't walk or talk. Except for a little malnutrition, there was nothing else wrong.

In the hospital, after Erica was wheeled out of the resuscitation room, she was directly sent to the ICU. She didn't return to the VIP ward until her condition stabilized. But she was still in a coma. Debbie and Evelyn were watching over her.

Matthew's clothes were rumpled, he had a 5 o'clock shadow, and there were dark circles under his eyes. He hadn't slept yet. Instead, he came to the hospital and asked someone to move Damian to the ward opposite Erica's, so that he could take care of mother and son.

In a villa in Y City

At this moment, there were more than a dozen people at the villa, and the mood was grim. Everyone was worried.

The man at the head of the table held his cup tightly in his hand, wishing that he were holding a deadly weapon. He'd use that weapon to get rid of Noreen.

In the end, Michel couldn't help cursing. He didn't behave like the gentle and elegant CEO anymore. "That fucking bitch! Who does she think she is? Why would she be so stupid as to try and murder Matthew Huo and his woman?"

The people around him were so frightened they didn't even breathe. They were worried he'd lose his temper.

"Who allowed her to get after the Huo family? Damn it! Now Erica Li is in the hospital, in a coma. What's more, her father and brother are involved, not to mention Sheffield Tang!" This was the reason why Michel went into hiding. If he dared to hurt anyone in the Huo family, he would have countless enemies.

Knowing that she had made a huge mistake and that Matthew and Erica had not been killed, Noreen ran away. She knew she was doomed. Michel gritted his teeth and demanded, "Go and find Noreen now. Get rid of her at all costs!"

He had never thought this woman would derail all his plans. Now he needed to clean up her mess.