Lucian did not hesitate as he made his way to the botanical garden right away.
Estella wanted to hang out with Roxanne, so the only place she would go was to the latter. Besides the botanical garden. there was nowhere else she could go.
Lucian ran all the way to the botanical garden, but Estella was nowhere to be seen.
His heart sank. He fished his phone out of his pocket and called Roxanne.
Roxanne was strolling around the botanical garden with the kids when her phone rang. She couldn‘t help frowning when she saw the caller ID on her screen.
Lucian? Shouldn‘t he be with Aubree? Why is he calling me?
The phone rang for quite some time before Roxanne finally picked it up.
“Have you seen Essie?” Lucian asked in his deep voice the moment the call connected.
He sounds nervous.
Roxanne didn‘t know why, but she had a bad feeling. “No, I haven‘t seen her. What happened?”
Lucian scanned his surroundings. He didn‘t dare to blink because he was worried that he would miss his daughter. “Essie is missing.”
Roxanne‘s heart trembled when she heard that. Panic was written all over her face. “Isn‘t she with you? How did she get lost?”
Thinking about the events that led to Estella going missing made Lucian frown. “It‘s a long story. Let‘s look for her for now. She should be somewhere around the botanical garden.”
Roxanne dared not dawdle. She immediately agreed to his plan. “Okay, I‘ll search around the place with the kids.”
After hanging up, she turned to Archie and Benny, wanting to bring them along to search for Estella.
“Mommy, what‘s wrong?” asked the kids in confusion when they saw the panicked look on Roxanne‘s face.
Roxanne, who was worried, took a deep breath to force herself to sound calm as she said, “Essie is missing. We have to look around for her.”
Archie and Benny were shocked to hear that. Their faces were filled with worry as well.
Archie, however, was calmer. He let go of his mother‘s hand and suggested, “Mommy, let‘s split up. We‘ll have a better chance of finding her that way.”
Benny nodded in agreement.
Roxanne wasn‘t worried about Archie and Benny getting lost, so she simply advised, “Okay, look for ner inside the botanical garden. If you can‘t find her, then go to the entrance and wait for me there.”
Archie and Benny nodded obediently. Then all three of them walked away in different directions.
Roxanne made her way to the entrance of the botanical garden immediately.
After all, no one had seen Estella walking into the botanical garden. She reckoned that Estella might have gotten lost nearby.
When Roxanne reached the entrance, she saw Lucian, who had the same idea.
He was frowning deeply and his lips were set in a hard line.
“How is it? Have you found her?” Roxanne asked anxiously.
It was obvious that Lucian was focused on looking for Estella because he didn‘t even notice Roxanne until he heard her voice.
He looked over slowly and into her eyes, his frown relaxing a little. But he still did not look good as he answered her question by shaking his head.
Roxanne‘s face was scrunched up. Seeing Lucian shake his head only made her feel worse.
Essie was still smiling and planting trees with us this morning. Yet now she‘s missing…
Roxanne was filled with guilt.
When she left the cafeteria earlier, she could tell that Estella had definitely wanted to tag along. However, she had turned her down ruthlessly because Lucian and Aubree were there.
If I had agreed to take her along, things would have turned out differently…
