Wesley hesitated for a while, and he finally unmuted the phone and said to Rowdy, "I will send Emily back tomorrow morning. Rowdy, I hope you can keep your word."

"Don't worry." Rowdy said, "As long as you send Emily back, I will definitely release one hostage. As for the other one, she will be released only when you send Yuna back. Don't try to find other ways. Otherwise, your losses will be greater!"

Undoubtedly, Rowdy was making a threat.

Wesley hung up the phone and looked at Brian, saying, "Tomorrow, I'll ask Kai to send Emily back."

"Okay," Brian said. "Tell Kai to watch out for Rowdy."

Wesley knew why Brian specifically reminded him.

The reason was that Brian knew too well how Rowdy did things.

Some people kept their word, but Rowdy liked to do the opposite. He always ate his words.

It wouldn't hurt Kai to watch out in the exchange.

After that, Brian continued, "Tomorrow, we will try to trace Rowdy's whereabouts. Maybe we can find out where he locked up my mother."

If they wanted to rescue Iris, the first step was to locate her. They must use Rowdy to complete it.

They would take advantage of the exchange tomorrow and try to trace and analyze Rowdy's whereabouts, so as to deduce Iris's location. It was a good idea.

Wesley nodded and said, "I'll ask someone to prepare for it right away."

The two of them busied themselves to work. Before they knew it, the sky had already brightened. A new day came as scheduled.

At the top of the mountain.

Joanne was uneasy, so she did not sleep well. She woke up as soon as the first light of dawn shone into the room.

The moment she opened her eyes, Joanne subconsciously reached for her mobile phone.

The lock screen showed that she had received a new message. She opened it and saw that it was indeed from Brian.

Brian reported in the message that he was almost done with work and would not sleep for the time being. If she woke up, she could call him.

Joanne heaved a long sigh of relief and dialed Brian's number.

The call was soon answered, and Brian's slightly tired voice came. "Joanne? Why did you wake up so early?"

"I just woke up. It's not early now." Joanne asked, "Have you been up all night?"

"Having something to deal with, I don't have time to sleep." Brian knew that Joanne was worried about him, so he comforted her. "Don't worry. I'm fine."

"If you are really tired, you have to first rest for a while anyway. Your health may go wrong if you are always up."

Joanne sounded anxious as if she were eager to engrave these words on Brian's mind and force him to do so.

Brian smiled and felt that his tiredness dissipated a lot. "I see."

Only then did Joanne ask, "About Mom and Aunt Helen... how's it going?"

"I was just about to tell you this." Brian paused for a moment and continued, "Joanne, I can't bring Mom back for the time being."

"Why?" Joanne's voice suddenly tightened. "What does Rowdy want from us?"

"Rowdy required us to send Emily back. In exchange, he will release one hostage, but he has the final say on who is going to be released."

Joanne had already understood Rowdy's intention, and then added, "Rowdy will release Aunt Helen and make Mom stay, so as to put Wesley and Yuna in dilemma."

"Yep." Brian said, "That's what Rowdy thought."

"Then what about Mom?" Being worried, Joanne's voice was exceptionally low. "Rowdy will definitely require us to send Yuna back in exchange for Mom, but are we really going to send Yuna back?"

"No." Brian said, "If we send Yuna back, Wesley will quite possibly collapse. Also, Mom will not allow us to do that. We're drawing up a rescue plan. Now, we need to locate Mom."

Joanne used to work at the police station. When they got into trouble this time, her first thought was to ask the police for help. She asked, "Brian, shall we call the police and ask them to intervene?"

"We have no direct evidence to prove that Rowdy is a criminal, so calling the police is only our last resort." Brian added, "Moreover, Mom and Aunt Helen are both in Rowdy's grasp. If we call the police, it will infuriate Rowdy."

Joanne asked in frustration, "Are we going to let Rowdy go unpunished?"

"No." Brian said, "I will bring him to justice."

There was always a comforting force in Brian's voice. Joanne slowly calmed down and asked, "Then what should we do exactly?"

"To collect stronger evidence and then ask Tory to show up, so as to reverse the verdict and reveal Rowdy's true colors to the public." Wesley said, "Joanne, we need time."

Joanne closed her eyes and nodded. "Do what you should do. I'll take good care of Aiden and Romy."

"Fine." After a pause, Brian continued, "Joanne, I have another thing to discuss with you."

It had been a long time since Joanne heard Brian speak in such a serious tone. She could not help becoming serious too. "What's it?"

"I suspect that Wendy has other relatives alive, who also work as international criminal police like her biological parents and take charge of Rowdy's case." Brian added, "I will contact international criminal police and thoroughly investigate Wendy's family background and her biological parents. We may cooperate with them then."

Joanne understood. If Brian cooperated with international criminal police, Wendy... was very likely to see her relatives.

But until now, Wendy still did not know her parents' true identities and the real cause of that car accident.

Once Wendy's relatives appeared, it would bring a dramatic change to her life.

Brian was afraid that Wendy would not be able to bear it.

Joanne did not think so.

She said, "Wendy's parents are international criminal police after all. Wendy is not as weak as you think. I will explain it to her then. Do whatever you want to do."

"There is one more thing." Brian paused for a long time before continuing, "Wesley will arrange for Kai to send Emily back this morning."

"..." Joanne also did not speak for a moment, and she finally comforted herself. "Emily's surname is Kang. He will go back to the Kent family sooner or later. He can't be always with us. I... I'll tell Yuna about it later."

"Also, pay attention to Yuna." Brian said, "Don't let her do anything crazy."

Yuna's behavior mattered to Wesley's mood.

In this case, Brian did not allow anything wrong.

"I know." Joanne asked, "Aren't you busy now?"

"No." Brian said leisurely, "We can still..."

Before Brian said "talk for another while", Joanne had interrupted him and said, "Since you are not busy, you can rest for a while. Hurry up! I'll hang up now!"

After that, Joanne hung up the phone directly and went to the children's room.

Aiden and Romy were both awake, and Martha and Simon were feeding them milk.

Joanne walked over and took Romy from Martha's arms. While taking the milk bottle, she asked Martha, "Didn't you sleep well last night?"

Martha waved her hand with a smile and said, "On the contrary, Aiden and Romy were very well-behaved last night. They were asleep all night, so I had a good rest."

Joanne fed the milk in the bottle to Romy. "That's good. Thanks for what you and Simon have done."

"Don't mention it." Martha asked, "As for your mom, how is it going?"

"Brian is handling it." Joanne did not go into too much detail. She just said, "He will handle it well."

Martha did not ask any more questions. She got up and said, "I'll prepare breakfast downstairs. Mrs. Lambert, what would you like to eat?"

"Don't bother, Martha. You have a rest." Joanne said, "If I'm hungry later, I will go to the club to eat. You too."

Martha knew that Joanne was not in the mood for breakfast, so she didn't go downstairs. She took Romy from Joanne's arms and said, "Mrs. Lambert, if you have something to do, just go ahead. Leave the two little guys to me."

Joanne walked out of the children's room. When she passed the room where Freya and Chris stayed, she did make a sound. She went back to her room, got changed, and left the villa.

This was the first time she went out of the villa so early after moving to the top of the mountain.

At the top of the mountain, in the heavily frosty and foggy morning, the air was so cold as if it were about to freeze everything.

Joanne walked toward Yuna's villa and came across Kai.

Kai greeted Joanne and said, "I received a call from Brother Wesley. I'm here to tell Yuna."

Joanne thought for a moment and said, "Actually, even if you don't tell her, Yuna should have guessed it."

Kai was somewhat confused and looked at Joanne blankly. "So, what should we do? Should I go in?"

"We... we'd better not disturb Yuna and Emily." Joanne said, "Let's go to the club and wait for them to have breakfast there."

Kai did not know how much Yuna and Emily meant to each other, but he believed that there must be a reason for Joanne to say that. He did not say anything else and followed Joanne to the club.

At this time, Emily had just woken up in the room.

The little boy temporarily forgot what had happened yesterday. In a daze, he got up with the quilt on his body and called in a childish voice, "Granny Helen...

In the past, Aunt Helen would warmly respond to Emily at this time. She would touch his head and ask, "What do you want to eat for breakfast? Granny Helen will make it for you."

But today, Emily did not hear Aunt Helen's voice.

"Granny Helen?"

There was a tinge of doubt and a lot of grievance in the little boy's voice. However, he still did not hear Aunt Helen respond.

Then, Emily finally remembered that Granny Helen was not here because she had been kidnapped by his daddy.

The little boy immediately looked frustrated.

Yuna stayed up late, but she woke up early. She saw the change in Emily's mood just now and called, "Emily."

Emily looked in the direction of the voice and saw Yuna. He pursed his lips and said in a tearful voice, "Auntie Yuna, I miss Granny Helen."