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Near the port, a truck full of goods pulled out, followed by two ordinary cars. As the truck passed him, Tony whispered into his earpiece, “The truck is heading over there!” “Got it. Donna is live reporting everything to me,” Thalia responded. “I’ll leave it to you then.”
“See you after half an hour,” Thalia replied.
“Okay.” As the car behind the truck approached, Tony took off his earpiece and put on an innocent look as he went forward. He dashed forward and stopped the car. The driver was startled by the boy’s sudden appearance and hit the brakes immediately. He wound down the car window and shouted at Tony, “Hey kid! What are you doing?”
Tony approached them and gave them a puppy-eyed look as he said, “Please help me. My brother and I have lost our way and can’t go home. Could you please help send us home?” The driver furrowed his brows in response. At the sight of the widening gap between his car and the truck, he said irritably, “Go away, child.” Of course, Tony would not budge. He stepped forward and said, “Please. My mommy and daddy will be so grateful and thank you guys with gifts if you will be so kind as to send us home!”
The driver eyed Tony from head to toe. Judging by his lavish clothes, the driver reckoned that Tony did come from a wealthy family. However, the truck in front was more important. “Let me repeat myself one more time. Go away! Otherwise, don’t blame me for being ruthless!” Tony kept up the innocent look and continued pleading, “In that case, can I borrow your phone so that I can call my mommy and daddy? I’ll ask them to come over and fetch us!”
“Go away!” the man hissed. Then, a man from the car behind them got out and approached them. He looked at Tony and Ben and asked with a puzzled look on his face, “What’s the matter?”
The man in the front car replied, “This kid claims to have lost his way, and he’s asking us to send him home.”
Tony turned to look at the man from the second car and said, “Mister, could you help us out? I would be really grateful if you could lend me your phone. Otherwise, my brother and I will have no choice but to roam the streets!”
The man merely eyed them from head to toe. Tony took off his necklace and said, “Mister, my daddy has gifted me this necklace. I heard that it is worth a lot. I’m going to give it to you guys. Could you guys please lend me your phone?”
The man took Tony’s necklace and hesitated for a moment before handing over his phone. “Thank you, mister!”
The men said nothing. Tony took the phone and entered a series of numbers, pretending as if he was making a call. Soon, the call went through. “Mommy, where are you?” Tony said. “Ben and I are lost. We’re at the port. Yes, please come pick us up! All right, I will wait here with Ben. Please hurry up. We’re hungry and really scared.”
On the other end of the phone, Thalia was executing her mission. Tony could hear her working in the background. She teased as she worked, “I consider myself very lucky to be able to witness you in action in this lifetime.”
Tony was scoffing at her inwardly, but he was still putting on an adorable look on the outside. “All right, Mommy. When are you coming to pick us up?” Tony asked. “I’m working on it. Have
some patience. It’s going to be done soon,” Thalia said casually. “Okay, understood.”
After hanging up the call, Tony took a deep breath, and as he turned around to face the men, he was already all smiles. “Thank you, mister. My mommy will come to fetch us soon.”
The man glanced at him and said, “It’s already so late. What are kids like you doing over here?”
Tony paused for a moment before saying, “Daddy and Mommy brought us somewhere around here at night. My little brother was naughty and ran off. I came to look for him. Then, both of us were lost.” What he said made sense.
The group of men could not seem to pinpoint anything wrong in his explanation. “Brat, don’t stop a car as you please in the future. You guys are going to be done for if you were to bump into bad men!” the man warned as he eyed Tony and Ben again. Tony smiled and nodded. “All right, mister. Thank you!”
The man said nothing further as he turned to the man in the first car. “Let’s go!” Then, he got into his car as well. Tony stood by the roadside and smiled as he saw them off. After they left, Ben said to Tony, “Let’s go. They’re going to realize something’s off soon.”
Surprisingly, after Donna heard everything, she was silent for a moment before saying, “Tony, the two of you-”
“No! It’s the three of us now.” Before she could complete her sentence, Tony cut in and emphasized, “We are in it together now.”
Donna frowned and said, “I wasn’t aware of anything.”
“That’s not the point. Without you, we won’t be able to accomplish our mission today!” Tony proclaimed.
Donna was rendered speechless.
It was true that she was involved too, albeit unwittingly. However, that was the truth.
At that moment, Tony looked at her and said, “Donna, there will be more such scenarios in the future. If Daddy doesn’t retire for good, situations like this will come up again and again.”
Donna was very worried. “Aren’t we making Daddy our enemy?”
Tony thought about it before responding, “We won’t. I won’t let things go that far. I also believe Daddy won’t allow that to happen.”
“Really?” asked Donna.
Tony nodded and assured her, “I promise you.”
Donna seemed more at ease and smiled as she looked at her brother. Even though Tony was only a few seconds older than her, she had always had complete trust in him for some strange reason.
“Okay!” she nodded.
Ben asked, “You’re not mad anymore?”
“I’m not mad. I understand that we have to draw the line somewhere. I’m only worried that Daddy will be mad,” said Donna.
After pondering what his sister had said, Ben smiled. “Daddy isn’t that petty. But, if he really gets angry, then let Mommy handle him.”
Donna laughed when she heard that. “That’s true.”
“Now that we have reached an agreement on this matter, we must keep it a secret,” said Ben.
Donna responded immediately, “Of course! I don’t want to destroy my cute and obedient image in Daddy’s heart.”
If Daddy finds out that we are all…
They could not imagine the consequences.
Ben looked at his sister affectionately and rubbed her head. “Yes, you’re the best!”
Tony couldn’t help but comment, “It looks like even Ben has been blinded by his love for you.” Donna pouted. “Tony, you’re annoying.”
Tony didn’t say anything in response. Instead, he just gave his sister a smile and adjusted his posture. At that moment, Ben spoke. “I think we should get our stories straight.”
“What stories?”
“The phone call today,” reminded Ben.
When that topic was brought up, Tony asked, “What do you mean?”
Ben gave it some thought before answering, “Daddy must be looking for us right now. Once Thalia gets back, we’ll ask her to drop me off at a public area. I will then phone Daddy and ask him to pick me up.”
Tony agreed to his plan. “Good idea.”
Donna sounded doubtful. “But, will Daddy buy our story?”
“He won’t have a choice as long as the three of us say the same thing,” said Ben. Tony spoke. “We’ll do as you say since we haven’t found a better solution.”
The three nodded in agreement. Half an hour later, Thalia came back.
She was in high spirits when she got into the car.
Although she had been up for most of the night, she still looked radiant.
Tony looked at her and asked, “How did it go?”
Thalia replied, “Don’t worry. There won’t be any problem.” Only then did Tony nod in relief.
“Where are we going to next?” asked Thalia.
“We’ll find a crowded area and leave Ben there.”