Chapter 229 Another Problem

"I can’t find them..."

Angel froze for a moment, struggling to process Charlie’s words. She wanted to scream, to grab the woman by the neck and force her to explain what had happened, but the soft cries coming from Ocean’s little mouth stopped her. Her baby girl was already frightened, and Angel refused to let her witness the full extent of her anger.

Taking a slow breath, she adjusted Ocean in her arms and gently rubbed her back, trying to soothe her while keeping her own emotions under control.

"What do you mean you can’t find them?" Angel asked in the quietest, most dangerous voice she could manage.

If Ocean wasn’t in her arms, Charlie would already be struggling to breathe with Angel’s fingers wrapped around her neck. She had travelled all the way from Mexico, brought Percy along as Charlie had requested, and done everything necessary to bring her family home safely. Yet, after all that trouble, she had arrived at an empty house with no sign of her wife or daughter.

Charlie looked just as confused, her eyes darting around the living room as she pointed towards the bedroom where she claimed she had left April and little Lucy May unconscious.

"I swear they were right there in that room this morning! I even double-checked the house before leaving to meet you."

Her voice trembled with genuine worry. She kept glancing towards the bedroom, almost as though she expected April and Lucy May to walk out at any moment and put an end to the nightmare unfolding before them.

"Bitch, you should have just sent me this location in the first place. You would not have left them alone while you went to meet me," Angel snapped.

"I had to make sure you brought Percy with you!"

"Charlie, just because I am keeping calm does not mean I am not furious right now." Angel shifted Ocean against her chest, carefully supporting the little girl’s head as she continued. "There are so many things I want to do to you right now, but my baby girl is the only reason I am restraining myself. If you cannot produce my family right now, I will drag you somewhere far away from her and beat the shit out of you until you tell me exactly where April and Lucy May are."

The threat sent a shiver down Charlie’s spine. She knew Angel well enough to understand that the woman wasn’t making an empty promise. The only thing keeping her from suffering the consequences of her actions was the little girl currently resting in Angel’s arms.

"Angel, you have to trust me. I kept them here safe."

"Then where the fuck are they?"

"I don’t know!"

Angel stared at her in disbelief. She had expected resistance, perhaps another argument about Percy, but she hadn’t expected to find herself standing in an empty house while the very woman responsible for kidnapping her family claimed to have no idea where they had gone.

For now, she had no intention of involving the local police. Charlie had kidnapped her wife and daughter, and the situation was already complicated enough without attracting unnecessary attention. If the authorities became involved, there was a chance the Morningstars would learn about her arrival in the United States before she could get April and Lucy May somewhere safe.

That was the last thing she needed.

She had come all the way from Mexico to bring her family home, only for everything to go wrong before she could even reunite with them. To make matters worse, she had ended up near River-West City, where April’s business meeting had taken place. What should have been a straightforward journey had turned into a nightmare, and Angel was beginning to lose patience with every passing second.

Meanwhile, Charlie started pacing around the living room, her shoes tapping against the floor as she desperately tried to remember what had happened. She ran her fingers through her hair, looking from the bedroom to the front door as if searching for an answer hidden somewhere in the house.

"Okay, I need to remember what went wrong," she muttered.

Angel watched her with narrowed eyes, her patience wearing dangerously thin.

"You had better remember," she warned. "Because if anything bad happens to them, you can say goodbye to your life, along with every single person who works at that hotel and helped you kidnap my family."

Charlie immediately stopped pacing.

Her eyes widened, and she suddenly looked as though she had remembered something important. She turned towards Angel, her expression changing from confusion to alarm.

"Oh! That’s right, the hotel!"

Angel’s crimson eyes narrowed further.

"What about the hotel?"

"I told one of the cleaners to help me spike their food with sleeping pills before my men carried them to my car." Charlie began pacing again, speaking rapidly as she tried to piece everything together. "Then I got a call from Tessa. She wanted to know where I was, but I tried not to tell her anything because I wanted to surprise her with Percy. She has been blaming me for years because of his disappearance, saying it was my fault and that I should have given him to April."

She dragged both hands through her hair, her face twisting with frustration.

"All I wanted was to return Percy to her, and then our lives could go back to the way they used to be."

"Hey, Charlie." Angel interrupted her rambling, keeping her voice low so she wouldn’t frighten Ocean further. "Take a deep breath and tell me what you mean by Tessa."

Charlie stopped and turned towards her.

For a few seconds, she said nothing. Her gaze shifted towards the floor as she considered the possibility, and the longer she remained silent, the more worried she seemed to become.

"I think Tessa might have taken them. She must have tracked my car and realised I had April."

Angel’s expression hardened. She tightened her hold on Ocean slightly, careful not to hurt the little girl, as she tried to understand what Charlie was telling her.

"Why would she take them? You are the one who wants Percy, so why is Tessa involved in this now?"

"The district has been in chaos since the explosion, and bad things have been happening there. Tessa’s boss has not been treating her kindly, either." Charlie swallowed nervously, her voice growing quieter as she continued. "She must have taken April and the little girl to the district because I told her you were coming to the United States..."