Escape from Mr. Whitman (Emma and Theodore) novel Chapter 280

“You idiot,” Jared laughed. “Come on, we’re practically brothers, right? Real ride-or-die. You free tonight? Let’s grab a drink.”

“Sure!” Cecilia replied, her voice sweet as honey.

Theodore, fresh off the plane from Europe, had only one thing on his mind: finding his grandmother.

He touched down in Capital City, but it was like she’d vanished into thin air—no trace anywhere. Her cell number was disconnected, there was no record of her renting an apartment, and no hotel bookings under her name.

Just as he started to dig deeper, Jared called from Cresthaven, sounding frantic. Something urgent had come up at the company and he needed Theodore back immediately.

With no new leads, Theodore had no choice but to return to Cresthaven.

He even wondered if his grandmother might have come back there, but after searching every place she might have gone, he found nothing. It was baffling. She hadn’t left a single clue.

Still, the thought that something might have happened to her never really crossed his mind. After all, Emma was the one hiding her, and if anyone loved his grandmother enough to keep her safe, it was Emma. Theodore trusted that even if they were overseas, Emma would keep in constant contact with her. If anything went wrong, Emma would be the first to let him know—he was, after all, her only family left in the country.

(The three other members of the Bennett family didn’t count.)

Work at the company had been overwhelming lately, and Theodore had to split his focus. He instructed the driver to check the house every so often, just in case his grandmother returned.

Who could have guessed she’d actually disappear?

Emma refused to answer his calls, and Theodore was left completely in the dark, piecing together every possible scenario: Was she ill? Had she collapsed somewhere? Who else could be involved?

If it was an illness, surely the hospital would have some record—so he sent the driver around to check every hospital, one by one.

If she’d fainted in public or been in danger, someone would’ve found her. The police would know. He was sure Emma had reported her missing.

That left only one other possibility: the Bennett family. He hadn’t forgotten the way they’d eyed that old house in the village, greedy to get their hands on it.

But now the entire Bennett family had disappeared too, which made things even stranger.

They’d really gone to extremes—her family, terrified she’d report them, must have ditched the phones so their location couldn’t be tracked.

Emma wept as she clutched the evidence bag containing the phone—the very same phone she used to video call her grandmother every day.

“The other three phones were traced to an apartment complex,” the officer explained. “We checked it out, but no one was home.”

“Don’t worry. We’ll keep looking,” Larson said gently, wrapping an arm around Emma’s shoulders, steadying her as she swayed.

That was when Theodore walked in, and the first thing he saw was Emma leaning on another man.

“Emma!” he barked, striding over and yanking her away from Larson.

Theodore’s grip was too rough; pain shot through Emma’s wrist as she jerked free, her expression darkening with frustration. “What the hell are you doing? Now is really not the time to lose your mind. I’m not in the mood to talk to you!”