Chapter 4

At the police station.

Officer Miller, an experienced cop, frowned as he looked at the couple sitting across from him, both dressed in flashy, expensive clothes.

Brenda was still throwing a hysterical fit.

"Officer! Why are you guys so slow?"

"It’s been two hours! Why haven’t you caught that little brat yet?"

"That’s fifty thousand dollars! That’s my husband's life-saving money!"

Arthur chimed in, clutching his chest and coughing weakly.

"Yes... I have terminal lung cancer. I need that money for my surgery..."

Officer Miller threw a folder onto the table with a cold stare.

"Terminal lung cancer?"

"Arthur, this is your medical report from the general hospital last month."

"Aside from a slightly fatty liver and mild high blood pressure, you are as strong as an ox. Your lungs are perfectly clear. Not even a single spot. Care to explain your 'terminal cancer'?"

Arthur’s face stiffened, his eyes darting around.

"That... that was a misdiagnosis! The first doctor told me it was cancer..."

"Enough!"

Miller slammed his hand on the desk. The loud bang made Hunter drop his phone.

"We checked Chloe’s bank statements."

"Every single payday, her entire check was instantly transferred to an account under the name of Hunter. Is this what you call 'theft'?"

"Also, we just raided that illegal sweatshop."

Miller turned his screen around, showing several shocking photos.

A dark, damp workshop, piles of heavy metal parts, and a wooden cot with nothing but a thin, torn sheet.

On the small crate next to the bed sat a half-eaten jar of cheap pickles and a pack of the cheapest painkillers.

"This is where your daughter lived?"

"Her coworkers said she worked sixteen hours a day. She didn't even dare to take a sick day when she had a 104-degree fever."

"Because she believed her dad was dying and needed the money."

Miller’s voice shook with suppressed fury.

"You took the blood money she earned with her life to eat steaks, buy luxury apartments, and drive trucks."

"Yet you lied to her that her father had a terminal illness just to force her to slave away for you?"

"Are you people even human?!"

The interrogation room fell dead silent.

A young female cop standing next to Miller, Officer Avery, had red eyes, glaring at the three of them with pure disgust.

Brenda’s face flushed red, then turned pale.

But she quickly raised her chin defensively.

"So what? I’m her mother! I gave birth to her and raised her. She owes me!"

"Besides, we only lied to give her some motivation to work hard!"

"Young people today are lazy. If you don't push them, they'll never know their potential!"

Hunter muttered under his breath, "Exactly. I'm the son, the one who carries the family name. It's her duty to support me."

"Officer, stop lecturing us and just find her. Since she left, there's no one to clean the house."

Miller’s hands were shaking with rage.

He had been a cop for twenty years. He had seen bad people, but he had never seen parents this vile.

Just then, a tech officer burst into the room, his face completely pale.

"Captain! We tracked her!"

"Chloe's phone signal pinged one last time near the southern border!"

"And... the border patrol cameras caught the bus she boarded last night."

"It belongs to Scarface Nick. He's a notorious cartel smuggler who takes captives to the lawless compounds across the border!"

"What?!"

Miller stood up so fast his chair screeched against the floor.

Brenda and Arthur looked completely clueless.

"Across the border? Like a vacation? How did that brat have money for a trip?"

Hunter, however, realized what it meant. His face drained of all color.

He spent all his time online. He knew exactly what those cartel compounds were.

"Mom... that’s... that’s where they run scams and harvest organs..."

"Once you go in, you never come out."

Brenda froze, the color slowly leaving her face.

"Har... harvest what?" she stammered.

"But... people die there! Why would she go to a place like that..."

Terror washed over her, but then she shrieked, "That stupid girl! She must have been blinded by the high pay they promised! She got scammed! What does that have to do with me?"

"I gave her food and clothes! She walked into that hellhole herself! She's doing this to punish us! Even if she dies out there, she brought it on herself!"

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