Female NovelChapter 495: Grandfather's Disappearance
The room was covered in blood and signs of a struggle, indicating that a recent murder had taken place here. The black-robed man was from TWILIGHT. The bloody handprints on the wall stirred up old Mr. Foley's memories of past tragedies, causing him to clench his cane and mutter under his breath, his white beard trembling with each word.
Kelvin's attention was solely focused on Cheyenne, so he didn't hear what his grandfather said behind him. He paused for a second before walking towards Cheyenne.
He wrapped his warm arms around her shoulders from behind and used his broad chest to support her as he whispered her name with concern.
Cheyenne remained unresponsive like a wooden doll as tears rolled down her cheeks and soaked into Kelvin's shirt collar. The colors around them seemed to darken unevenly as she bit down hard on her pale lip before finally breaking down in sobs.
"Grandpa... I can't find Grandpa!"
She searched the entire villa including the basement but couldn't find any trace of him anywhere. His phone went unanswered, and no one in his workplace had seen or heard from Layne for ten days. Since Cheyenne's disappearance, he had gone to work.
Kelvin watched closely as Cheyenne cried silently; it broke his heart. Now he realized that even strong people like Cheyenne could be like a helpless child at times like this.
He held onto her tightly with both hands while trying to comfort her. "Cheyenne, everything will be okay! Trust me; Grandpa is safe somewhere else. There is no body here. It means he was taken away." Kelvin's analysis gave Cheyenne hope again; she raised her head suddenly with tear-filled eyes shining brightly with anticipation. "Is what you're saying true?"novelbin
Even if it wasn't true, she hoped Kelvin would nod anyway.
"It must be," replied Kelvin firmly while holding back tears himself. "Maybe Grandpa is waiting for us just like Mr. Owen did before we saved him! You have to stay strong because crying won't solve anything." His words helped lift up Cheyenne's spirits again; her tears stopped flowing immediately.
Determination and hopefulness about finding her grandpa filled her eyes.
She wiped her slightly swollen eyes with her sleeve and looked around the room, searching for clues.
"You're right, Grandpa is the President's personal doctor. They must be interested in the Edwards family's secrets, which is why they kidnapped him."
"I need to pull myself together and find Grandpa as soon as possible."
In that moment, Cheyenne returned to her former self, even more determined.
Her strong willpower left Kelvin stunned. He lifted his hand and gently stroked her long hair.
This tender scene caught two other pairs of eyes off guard. Omari held a piece of broken cloth in his hand but his smile disappeared suddenly.
His gaze was sharp like a knife as he glanced at Kelvin before walking over from the stairs and grabbing Kelvin's hand.
He shook it off, saying, "Just speak your mind instead of being all lovey-dovey! Cheyenne, look what I found behind the flowerpot upstairs!"
Omari presented evidence he had discovered to both of them like it was treasure.
Cheyenne didn't have time to care about how Kelvin felt at this moment; she quickly took what Omari handed over and opened it up to take a look inside. There were several lines, circles and small triangles on the broken cloth.
She recognized "Layne" written at the bottom but everything else was confusing jargon she couldn't understand.
"This is my grandfather's handwriting... but what does it mean?"
She had never seen him take out something like this before...
Just then, old Mr. Foley walked up from behind everyone else and took a glance at Cheyenne.
"I never thought old Mr. Edwards would have such an item... follow me."
"Grandpa..." Kelvin turned around surprisedly; he seemed to remember seeing this thing somewhere before...
Yes!
It was hinted underground in the Foley mansion's secret place!
When he was young, he sneaked into there once secretly where he saw his grandpa along with several mysterious men discussing something under the lamp light together.
On the table were several pieces of broken cloth, there were mysterious and strange patterns drawn on them.
He was caught by his grandfather and thrown out.
Later, he never saw those men again, and his grandfather closed off that dark room.
More than a decade passed in a blink of an eye, and he forgot about it.
Unexpectedly, Cheyenne's grandpa had the same pattern in his hands... Could one of those men he saw back then be Cheyenne's grandpa?
"What are you waiting for? Come up here." Old Mr. Foley urged them to move forward.
Iker was the first to react. He asked Tanner to drive away the reporters outside while he followed old Mr. Foley's up to Cheyenne's private study on the second floor.
Old Mr. Foley sat down without
hesitation in the main seat and placed that blood-stained piece of cloth on top of the table for carefu examination. His old fingers rubbed over its pen strokes as a hint of sadness appeared on his face which made everyone even more curious about it all.
Cheyenne couldn't help but ask, "Grandpa, do you know what this is? What is it?"
Old Mr. Foley didn't directly answer her question but instead told everyone a story from over 100 years ago in Onistead:
The scorching July heat lasted for
half a month before finally showing
signs of cooling down today with black clouds covering up the blue sky as they brewed into an O impending storm.
A piercing scream echoed through thick air causing birds to flutter away while gunpowder filled smoke wafted through the town; yet even during these turbulent times heroes emerged to save their people.
The hero was Abel Harrison, the head of the Harrison family.
His trusted subordinates were from other prominent families within Onistead: the Lawrence, Edwards, Foley, Wood, and Walsh family.
Their counterpart was the Xona Lucas family, which rose amidst chaos due to their mastery over arcanes.