Chapter 6

Time crawled by. At some point, Raine could no longer make any sound, and it became increasingly hard for her to cling to consciousness.

It hurt. A deep sense of weakness filled her body, and her tears ran dry.

She wanted to desperately run away and learn about how Zach was, but she could only remain trapped in the dark basement to suffer.

An unknown amount of time passed, and Raine heard footsteps. She snapped awake.

The butler opened the door to the basement. She lunged at him like she had just seen her savior. Her hoarse voice was filled with helplessness and fear.

“Where’s Zach? How has he been over the past few days? Has he been bullied?

“Is he hurt? Is he crying because he misses me?”

The sight of her haggard face made the butler pity her, and he said haltingly, “You know that Mr. Jefferson is busy, Mrs. Jefferson.

“Miss Lane is the one who has been taking care of Mr. Zach.

“She does nothing wrong on the surface, but Mr. John often bullies Mr. Zach on the pretense of harmless roughhousing.

“Over the past few days, Mr. Zach has been burnt intentionally while eating. When he’s at home, Mr. John trips him and causes him to be covered in wounds. He has also been locked out on the balcony and was exposed to the cold for the entire night.”

When she heard that her son had been tormented for days, Raine’s heart bled.

She pushed her weak body up to leave, but the butler stopped her. “Mrs. Jefferson, the kindergarten had an outing today.

“Miss Lane brought Mr. John to it and dragged Mr. Zach as well. She refused to listen to us no matter what we said.

“She came back half an hour ago, but we didn’t see Mr. John. We were worried that something had happened and came to tell you.”

The news struck Raine like a nuclear bomb.

She trembled violently, and her already pale face became entirely bloodless.

She rushed out and wanted to look for Luke, but the moment she reached the living room, she saw Helen sitting on the couch.

Raine lost her composure as she glared at her.

“Where did you leave my son?”

Helen cast her a glance and said nonchalantly, “Your son wandered off on his own during the outing, and John sprained his ankle. I was in a hurry to come back and treat him, so I didn’t care where Zach went.

“Since you’re so worried about him, slap yourself thirty times. If I’m in a good mood, I’ll tell you which mountain your son went to.”

The smug look on Helen’s face made it clear to Raine that Helen was trying to humiliate her.

But as she remembered the fact that her five-year-old son was blind and alone in the mountains, she was filled with so much anxiety that she did not care about her dignity.

Raine started slapping herself without hesitation as she begged. “I’ll do it. Please just tell me where Zach is!”

The sight of her swollen face and her meek, pathetic behavior satisfied Helen, and she told Raine the address.

Raine scrambled out the door, dashed out, and hailed a cab.

When she reached the mountain, the sun was already setting. Since it was spring, the mountain was covered in lush trees and flowering plants, so she had to search for Zach alone in such an environment.

On the way, she fell plenty of times, and it hurt so much that it felt like all her bones had been broken.

But she did not dare to slow down. While enduring the pain, she kept searching and crying out for Zach’s name.

As the sky turned darker, her fear and despair grew.

Just as she was about to collapse, she heard someone crying, and she followed his cries until she found Zach.

He was sitting by the cliff, and he was just a few steps away from falling a few hundred yards down. At any moment, he could fall.

When she saw this, Raine felt her heart freeze to a stop.

While her nerves were stretched taut, she picked Zach up and brought him to a safe area. By then, her entire body was drenched in sweat.

Zach was crying so hard that his face was flushed red.

“Mom, I just knew you’d save me. I don’t want to stay away from you again. When are we leaving?”