Page 100 of Surprise! I'm Engaged To My Boss
Well... not exactly alone. The policeman was there, as was Elizabeth, the housekeeper, whom Michael had asked to stay close by in case I needed anything.
But all I needed was to have Alice back.
It was already night, and Michael had been on the phone for over an hour when he finally returned to the room. I got up and, like the other times, ran to hug him. He held me tightly in his arms and that gave me comfort, although I knew that I was the one who should be comforting him.
Michael was proving to be very strong with all of this. Much stronger than me.
“I'm going out to see if I can find any clues,” he told me.
I stepped away from him and declared, “I'll go with you.”
“No, Camila.”
“I can't just stand here. I need to do something to help.”
“But we need someone to stay. We have a landline in the house and it's possible that the son of a bitch who took Alice will try to contact us through it to ask for a ransom.”
“Where do you intend to look?” I asked, distressed.
“I'll try places where he might have stopped. Gas stations, convenience stores... Even hospitals.”
The last word sent a chill through my body. The idea that Alice might have been hurt in some accident or something seemed to make me panic.
I tried to say something, but the police officer in the room did, “I'm sorry, sir, but I think this will all be in vain. Our team has probably already checked these places.”
“I'll check again, then,” Michael replied. “What I can't do is sit here with my arms crossed.”
The police officer opened his mouth to retort, but his voice was drowned out by the ringing of a telephone, which caused great apprehension among everyone there. It was the police officer's own phone, which he answered.
He said a few succinct words like 'great', 'understood' and 'okay', and ended with 'we're on our way'. I gripped Michael's hand tightly, both of us looking at the officer and waiting for him to tell us what had happened. To our relief, he seemed to have good news.
But I honestly didn't expect one as wonderful as the one he gave, “They found the girl. She's fine.”
I felt my legs weaken with emotion, and I was grateful for Michael's strong arm that wrapped around me, supporting me so I wouldn't fall.
I couldn't say a single word, and Michael still took a few seconds, seemingly recovering from the shock, to finally be able to ask something, “How is she? Where is she?”
“She's fine. She was taken to a hospital just to confirm that everything is really okay, but she's already being treated.”
“Where did you find her?” I asked, still nervous. I would only be able to calm down completely when I had her in my arms.
“Right at a gas station. She was sitting alone on the floor in a hallway that leads to the bathrooms.”
“None of that matters now,” Michael said. “What hospital did they take her to?”
“I will accompany you there,” the officer declared.
And we left, being guided by the police officer.
On the way, I prayed to God that our little girl was really okay and that no one had done her any harm.
The distance from Michael's house to the hospital was not that far, just a few miles. However, that journey seemed to take forever.
Chapter Forty-Five
MICHAEL
As soon as we arrived at the hospital and I was told which room my daughter was in, I grabbed Camila's hand and we went in together, practically running. We opened the door without knocking and, along with the relief of seeing my daughter there, well, awake and apparently without any injuries, came the unpleasant surprise of seeing who was holding her in their arms.
