Garth's POV
I opened up the food delivery app, only to find that everything near the hospital was closed at this hour. The few places still taking orders weren’t offering anything Zelene could eat.
With no better option, my mother-in-law stood up and said, “I’ll go get her some chicken noodle soup.”
I glanced at my father-in-law, who was staying behind with me. I nodded—so long as I wasn’t left alone with Zelene, she wouldn’t get another chance to make up lies about me.
Just three minutes to 2:10 a.m., Zelene suddenly started crying again, saying the back of her hand hurt. When we checked, we saw the IV needle had slipped. Her hand was swollen, bruised into a purplish lump. I quickly pulled the needle out.
My father-in-law got up to find a doctor, but I stopped him. “You can just press the call button.”
I hit the button by the bed, but no nurse came.
That’s when the clock struck 2:10 a.m., and Zelene began wailing in agony, gasping like she was about to pass out.
My father-in-law’s heart broke at the sight. “I’ll go get a nurse!”
He turned to leave, but I blocked him again. “Dad, it’s just a slipped needle. She’ll be fine in a minute.”
He opened his mouth to argue, but then Zelene’s lips turned blue. She let out a choking cry and vomited all over the bed.
“It’s a drug reaction! If we don’t do something fast, she could die!” he shouted, then shoved me aside and ran for help.
My daughter looked up at me with that small, pale face and said, “Daddy… I don’t feel good… I want some water…”
Despite everything, she was still my daughter. I couldn’t bear to see her suffer.
So, I turned away and poured her a cup of warm water.
But when I turned back around, she was gone.
The bed was empty, except for the mess she’d thrown up, and my phone, still playing her cartoon.
Just then, my father-in-law rushed back in with a nurse. “Where’s Zelene? Let the nurse take a look at her!”
My stomach dropped. “Dad… didn’t you see her leave just now?”
He froze. “What?! I just came from the reception desk with the nurse, we didn’t see anyone!”
The nurse’s station faced the only two elevators. Anyone coming or going would’ve been in full view.
But both he and the nurse swore they hadn’t seen a soul, aside from my mother-in-law going downstairs earlier.
We turned the room upside down, checked every corner of the ward, but Zelene had vanished.
We even ran up and down the emergency stairwell, but there was nothing, no trace of her.
My six-year-old daughter had disappeared without a sound.
Just then, my mother-in-law rushed back holding the takeout, only to break down sobbing when she heard the news.
I forced myself to stay calm. If we didn’t find her soon, she might end up like she did in my last life.
I couldn’t let that happen again.
Without hesitation, I called the police.
They arrived quickly and pulled surveillance footage from every hospital camera, but there was nothing suspicious. I begged them to check the streets outside, too, but still, nothing. Not a single lead.
By dawn, the police could only tell us to stay calm and wait for more information. Then they left.
My in-laws and I returned home, hollow and numb. My mother-in-law sobbed as she called Naomi and told her that Zelene was missing.
Naomi caught the first flight home that afternoon.
The moment she found out our daughter had disappeared while she was with me, she completely lost it.
“No wonder she told me last night that you were going to kidnap her!” she screamed. “You’re sick! You’re a monster! Where is she?! Tell me what you did with her!”
In her fury, she grabbed a vase from the table and hurled it at my face.
It shattered against me, and its sharp shards cut into my skin. I felt the burn of blood dripping down my cheeks.
The police tried to calm her down while my father-in-law quickly stepped in.
“Naomi, listen! Garth and I were with Zelene the whole time. She was never alone with him! I only stepped away for two minutes, and even then, I was right by the elevator! He couldn’t have done anything!”
“Then how did she just vanish into thin air?!” she cried. “Tell me what the hell happened!”
Garth's POV
Naomi glared at me with bloodshot eyes, teeth clenched like she was ready to tear me apart.
Before I could say another word, the police got a call.
They’d found my daughter.
Just like in my previous life, she was discovered on a remote, desolate road outside the city. Covered in blood, she lay in the back of a beat-up van that looked like it belonged in a junkyard, trembling and coughing up blood.
When I saw her, my heart stopped. Both of her legs had been broken, twisted in unnatural angles, and her tongue had been cut out.
Naomi collapsed, sobbing as she pulled her into her arms.
When Zelene spotted me, her whole body trembled. With what little strength she had, she dipped her finger in her own blood and scrawled on the ground.
[Dad did it. He wants to kill me.]
My blood boiled.
“Zelene, why… why would you lie about me like this?!”
But she only stared at me in terror and grabbed my arm, frantically banging her forehead on the ground as if begging for mercy.
By the fifteenth time her head hit the floor, her tiny body gave out, and she collapsed unconscious.
Naomi tried to lunge at me, fists flying, but the police restrained her just in time.
And that’s when I realized there was something clenched in my hand. A blood-soaked ball of paper.
My daughter had slipped it to me when no one was looking.
With shaking hands, I unwrapped it and read the words smeared in red.
My pupils shrank, and my chest tightened.
The truth had been right in front of me all along.
