The Indifferent Ex-Husband Heartstrings in the Mall of Fate

Chapter 527

The search underwater was a long and soul-crushing ordeal. Susan watched as Brandon and the others bobbed up and down in the water, and with no word on Sophia, fear and despair nearly drowned her.

It was the deep blue here, not some woods or dry land where one could buy some extra time. A person couldn't last all that long in the water.

The search party had already spread out, heading downstream. The cops, too, rushed over after the alarm was raised and joined in the search.

From where Sophia fell in, the search stretched all the way down the river to the main channel, and even to the nearby mouth of the sea, but turned up zilch.

Desperation hung heavy in everyone's hearts. Whether she got trapped in a concrete column or swept out to sea, surviving was a long shot.

But no one dared to voice that; no one dared to even think it.

The wind and rain gradually let up. The sky over Zenithan began to show the first light of dawn, eventually brightening up.

The support crew had already brought dry clothes for those who'd been in the water, all except for Brandon.

Brandon, like a man possessed, kept diving back in numbly and doggedly. But the deep winter night was cold to the bone, with a fresh blast of cold air heading south.

As dawn broke, whether it was sheer exhaustion or despair from not finding Sophia that sapped his last bit of strength, Brandon's towering figure swayed and then he totally blacked out after another fruitless search, and in a frenzy, he was rushed to the hospital.

Daniel had also stood vigil by the river all night, but he couldn't sway Brandon.

Brandon's sudden collapse sent him into a total panic, and he scrambled to follow the ambulance to the hospital.

Susan was kneeling at the riverbank, having cried herself into a state where she couldn't even speak.

Kent felt equally sick to his stomach. He took off his jacket and draped it over Susan's shoulders, choking up as he told her, "No news is good news; Sophia's gonna be okay."

But even he couldn't convince himself with the weakness in his voice.

This was water they were talking about, not land. On land, there was still a chance if someone was missing, but in the water...

He couldn't bear to think about it.

catch her breath, just despairingly staring at the

had expanded the search to the sea outlet downstream. Grace, too, had red-rimmed eyes, fighting back tears

puffy eyes like walnuts, not wailing as she had the night before, but her

but her fearful and bewildered

someone finally notice her, Theresa asked him timidly, her

brought tears to Kent's eyes. He was not one to cry easily, but seeing Theresa's hidden unease, thinking of Sophia who might be gone, and Brandon who

reached out to her, barely forcing a smile, and said hoarsely, "Mommy's busy with

hesitated, looking cautiously at Kent, "when can mommy finish work? She said she'd take me and daddy out

unable to speak. Beside him, Susan's

and then at Kent, her hands nervously twined

it wasn't a hotel. She remembered her mom's promise

high-fived. Theresa remembered she couldn't reach her mom's

slept last night, so she hadn't seen mommy yet. She pulled back her anxious gaze, looking expectantly at Kent, and asked in a small voice,

smile, "I will take you back to the

go back to the hotel and rest for

Theresa was affected by her mood, her tears also starting to fall, but she earnestly said to Susan, "Godmom, mommy said, when I wake up, I'll see her. Will

cried louder, unable to contain her emotions. Kent helped her up and whispered in her ear, "Take Theresa back to rest; she hasn't slept all night either. Kids can't handle

them to the nearest hotel in town from

in the hotel room, didn't need coaxing; she obediently

her little doll,

Auntie Grace, goodnight. Uncle Kent,

doll, and immediately closed her eyes. She treated sleep with utmost care and reverence,

firmly believed that as long as she did as she promised with mommy, slept well, she'd wake up to

way back, but seeing Theresa like this, her

brimming with tears as he gently patted Susan on the

search and rescue operation was still ongoing, and the work to dismantle the

been a challenge to penetrate were only halfway done this time, yet they were poured

abnormality, along with the missing Sophia, filled the workers at the scene with a

police about the search efforts, Kent hurried off

by the bed looking haggard, with a cold breakfast untouched

even his lips white, still unconscious but with a furrowed