Chapter 346: NOT LEAVING
"Start searching for him already!" Francis instructed and they started to move about but ignored the used car that was parked right in front of them since they never suspected that Robert would be hidden under it. "Have you found him yet?!" Francis questioned when no one had called for his attention yet about finding Robert.
"Not yet, boss." Some of the men replied in unison as they continued their search by looking up the trees in case he’d climbed up the trees or perhaps hid himself inside the bushes.
Robert glared at the people he once called his friends searching for him just so he would be killed off by their boss. Even if they saw him, he wasn’t sure if they would let him off and lie to Francis that they never saw him. He was in a life-or-death situation while the people he once called friends were trying to hunt him down.
He sighed from beneath the car as he continued to wait for them. The area they were in wasn’t completely secluded as there were houses surrounding it.
One of the windows to a house opened and a woman peeked out from it when she heard the voice of someone yelling at the other.
Francis made eye contact with the middle-aged lady and smiled sheepishly.
"I’m so sorry for disturbing your peace Grandma, but we are looking for a criminal who ran into this area. But don’t worry. We will catch him as soon as possible," Francis said to the old lady and wished she could just close back the windows. Robert’s nose twitched when he heard Francis’ lie.
’You are the real criminal here,’ he thought to himself.
Luckily for Francis, the old lady smiled at him before closing back her windows. She wouldn’t want to be involved in what was happening.
"We need to leave this place before another person sights us around here," he said to his men through gritted teeth. He was so close to finding Robert but wasn’t able to else he wanted to draw more attention to himself. "We need to leave now," he repeated and started to walk away from there without waiting for either of them.
The men surveyed the area one last time with their eyes before they started to walk away as well.
Robert waited until he couldn’t hear any steps anymore before he pulled himself out from under the car. When he looked in the direction where they’d gone he sighted them at the furthest distance. When they took a turn and disappeared, he sighed in relief.
With his bleeding leg, he had no choice but to limp towards Beatrice’s house.
**
"Mummy, why can’t we go to school anymore? We miss our friends so much and the teachers as well," said Levi as Emma tried to make him wear his clothes after taking his bath.
"Yes, mummy. And why can’t we go back to our own house? Why are we in Mrs. Winter’s house?" Oliver asked next and Emma couldn’t help but sigh.
They started questioning and she could only wonder how long it would take before their life would go back to normal. The normal normal where her husband would start working a normal job.
"All these are temporary. We will go back to our house or even a better one and then you both will go back to school. All these will end soon, hmm?" She tried to convince them but she knew she was doing a bad job at it since she wasn’t convinced herself that things were going to go back to normal.
After dressing the both of them, she looked at the clock to check the time once more and realized that Robert had been gone for three straight hours.
She didn’t want to worry earlier but now, she couldn’t help it. Beatrice had arrived more than an hour ago but Robert still hadn’t. She didn’t want to think of the worst and luckily, her thoughts were disrupted when she heard a knock on the front door.
Quickly, she ran towards it with the hope that it was finally Robert.
As soon as she opened the door, what she saw broke her heart.
"Robert," she mumbled his name as her eyes brimmed with tears. When she noticed that Robert was about to fall, she quickly moved her body so that he could fall on her. Immediately, she helped him inside the house and locked the door.
Beatrice rushed out of her room when she heard the door open. When she saw the state Robert was in, she gasped in shock.
Before they could get the chance to ask him what had happened, he replied to their inner questions, "Francis nearly caught me but I was able to escape."
Hearing his words, they only gasped even more.
"He’s in this area?" Beatrice asked and he nodded as he closed his eyes.
"Quickly get me a bowl of water," Beatrice urged Emma and the lady went to do as she was told without wasting time.
Both the twins came down, saw the condition their father was in, and started to cry.
"What happened to daddy?" They asked in unison.
"He’s going to be fine but I need you both to go back inside your rooms," said Beatrice but they weren’t willing to move an inch as tears continued to flow from their eyes.
"Go inside. I will be with you two soon," said Robert as he ruffled each of their hair playfully.
After so much convincing, they finally decided to listen and do as they were told.
Emma arrived with a bowl of water, a cloth, and a knife.
"You are never leaving this house after you get better," she said before handing everything to Beatrice. The old woman had treated a lot of her late husband’s injuries so she was quite familiar with things like that.
"This will hurt a lot," she told him. Without wasting a second, she dug the knife into his skin before she pulled out the bullet.
