The Ultimate Chance-Chapter 46

Avery instinctively looked at Damon in horror. "What do you mean he ran away? He was hugging you a moment ago, wasn’t he?"

Damon realized just how he had fucked up and raked a hand through his hair. "Shit."

Mabella held Avery’s hand before she could go crazy. "Okay. I admit I exaggerated it. I saw Angel running towards the cottages a moment ago. I wasn’t sure it was him so I came to check and... Avery?"

She was already on her way to the cottage, walking as fast as she could and soon breaking into a nervous run.

Damon exchanged glances with his sister and ran after her, catching up just as she left the cottage with unease written all over her face.

"He is not here." She shut her eyes in frustration and had to take a few deep breaths to calm herself down. "Why did you let him go?"

Mabella arrived just before she flipped out, and she clung to her hand like her life depended on it. "Did you see him clearly? What was he wearing?"

"Blue swim trunks." Mabella answered with unease. Did her exaggerated words come true?

Avery shot a mean look at Damon and stopped one of the resort staff passing by.

"Ma’am, may I help you?" He asked.

Her entire body was a bundle of nerves as she held out her phone to display pictures she had taken of Angel at the beach earlier. "Do you happen to have seen this boy anywhere?"

The man looked closely at the picture and remembered him. "I saw him this morning." When he looked at her and saw her fallen expression, he finally remembered where he saw him. "Isn’t this your son, Miss Vaillant? I saw you with him when I served your breakfast."

She took her phone back and fought back tears.

"I will let the reception know you are looking for him, just in case anyone sees him." He promised.

"Thank you." It was barely a whisper, before she glared at the man standing behind her.

"Why the hell did you let him go?"

Damon knew better than to say a word about it. He knew he was at fault for letting go of Angel’s hand without actually making sure he went back to his mother. It was a mistake on his part so he simply nudged Mabella. "I’ll go and look for him at the beach. Do you mind helping me search in case he got the wrong cottage? Avery, you can ask around in case the staff or other kids saw him."

He rushed away before she could respond because he knew what she would say. Arguing right now wouldn’t help in any way.

She gripped her phone in her hand and finally sent pictures of Angel to Mabella and Damon before hurriedly stopping a waitress.

By the time she got to the reception after getting nothing helpful from the staff, she was out of breath.

"Ma’am do you need any help?" Asked the receptionist when Avery didn’t say a word for a while.

She swallowed and showed a picture of Angel. "My son. He went missing."

The receptionist didn’t even glance at the phone. "When did you last see him?"

"It should be an hour ago. We were at the beach building castles and then..."

"Ma’am," Interrupted the receptionist, "There are many fun games at the beach and many kids playing around. Your son could be having fun with his new friends. You don’t need to worry."

Avery nearly snapped at the dismissal. "My son is introverted and won’t play with other kids. He doesn’t like going out so for him to go anywhere but our cottage is unexpected. Could you help me check the security footage?"

"We cannot do that." The receptionist once again dismissed.

It took all her strength to calmly ask why without yelling at her for incompetence.

"We have many guests and we only have surveillance cameras to ensure the safety of our guests. We cannot just pull up the footage for a case that’s not a security concern." She went back to her work while ignoring Avery.

"Not a security concern? My son is missing! Did you not hear a word I said?" She finally couldn’t take it anymore and broke down. But no matter what she said, the receptionist didn’t say anything different from the rules and the fact that no one could be considered missing unless they had been gone for more than twenty four hours.

In the end, the receptionist was tired of having to deal with her and asked her to contact the police if she thought the resort was not doing a good enough job.

Her heart sank. She didn’t need to seek the police to know she would need to wait for twenty-four hours.

She ran to the beach and asked everyone she met if they saw him, earning weird stares and some of them didn’t even spare her a glance before shaking their heads.

She recognized a little girl she had seen near Angel earlier and her heart filled with newly found hope.

She tapped her shoulder and leaned over when the girl looked up. "Little girl, do you remember this boy? You were playing with him earlier. Have you seen him anywhere?"

The girl looked confused. "But miss, I don’t see any boy."

Avery looked at her phone screen just as it went off, having run out of battery.

She barely registered a woman pushing her away.

"What are you doing? Trying to kidnap my daughter?" The woman roared at her.

She slumped in the sand helplessly. She wanted to say she was not trying to take anyone’s child but rather, looking for her own. However, her mouth felt dry and her body weak. She couldn’t move an inch.

The sun was already setting and all she could think of was how scared Angel would be once he realized he was on his own. What would he do when he couldn’t find her? Would he break down?

"Avery?" She heard Damon’s voice behind her and shuffled to her feet. But her heart broke when she saw him on his own.

He looked deflated but she still clung to a tiny ray of hope.

"Did you find him? Is he with Mabella?"

"Avery," He closed in on her, wrapping his arms around her despite knowing the consequences of his action.

She wanted to push him away but she didn’t have the strength to. She slumped her head against his chest, feeling just how sore her body was from running around all day.

"I’m sorry. We didn’t get any news of him. We have to wait until morning before the police can help us search for him." He explained.

Her tears fell as soon as his words were out. Her shoulders shook and he held her tightly, gently tousling her hair.

"I will make sure we find him in one piece. Our son will be alright." He promised.

She punched his chest in anger. "Don’t you fucking talk to me about promises!"

She pulled her head off his chest and sniffled. "You promised to be a good father to him, Damon. But you let him go." She accused. "You promised never to leave me but what did you do? You ran for the hills as soon as you found out you were going to be a father and you were not ready to be one."

He was taken aback by her words but it was not entirely unexpected. "Avery, I would never have left if I knew you were pregnant."

She rolled her eyes. Did this man have amnesia, or was he taking her for a fool?