hospital and pharmacy, but there’s no trace of Mr. Dmitry. It’s like he vanished into thin air!”
10
“How is this possible?”
The usually composed and calm President Dalena now seemed visibly flustered.
She had initially refused to personally call Dmitry, but after much hesitation, she finally dialed his number.
“Sorry! The number you dialed does not exist, please check it and dial later.”
Her call didn’t go through, and every other method of contact had been blocked.
Dalena finally grasped the seriousness of the situation. She rushed out to search for him herself but ended up back where she started.
As she replayed her memories of Dmitry, she realized with a sinking feeling that she didn’t know him at all.
His interests, his background, his social circle–not even the places he frequently visited. Where could she possibly begin?
At that moment, Cyril returned from playing soccer,
As soon as he walked in, he started shouting, “Bad Dad! Hurry and make me dinner! I’m starving!”
“Stop yelling. Your dad is missing,” Dalena snapped irritably, hoping to quiet him.
Instead, Cyril clapped his hands in glee.
“That useless loser finally left? Great!”
“Mom, let’s have Uncle Fabio move in and make him my new dad!”
Cyril’s excitement quickly turned to cruel insults about Dmitry-
His words were so barsh that even Dalena felt a chill,
Shocked, she demanded, “Who taught you to say such awful things? He’s your father!”
Dalena remembered that while father and son didn’t always get along, it had never escalated to outright hatred.
But ever since Fabio returned, Cyril’s behavior had grown increasingly malicious. Now, he was like a little monster.
“He doesn’t deserve to be my dad! I don’t have such a pathetic loser as a father!”
Cyril snored. “He even embarrassed us at the banquet today, I should have just pushed him harder!”
“Enough! Be quiet!
Dalena’s face darkened. “He raised you for six whole years, How dare you curse him like this?”
“Now tell me, who’s been teaching you to talk like this?”
Sering his mother’s anger, Cyril hesitated, clearly frightened.
“It it was Uncle Fabio. He said my dad is a loser, and having a dad like him would make my classmates laugh at me…”
Just as Cyril was stammering out his confession, Dalena’s phone buzzed with a message from her assistant.
“President Dalena, we’ve discovered that the Jones Family has gone bankrupt overseas. Fabio only returned to the country to seize your assets. Please don’t be deceived anymore!”
So this was all Pablo’s doing!
Dalena collapsed onto the couch, her heart wrenching in pain.
