Chapter 939 - Defeated (1/2)

Two weeks passed with no meaningful results. Vega was missing without a trace.

In his entire life, Alaric never thought there would come a time when wealth and power would be meaningless. What good was all his wealth for if he could not even save his own daughter?

Everyone in the extended Schneider-Medici family felt broken and grieved. Their residences were quiet and filled with sadness. This had never happened in the history of the family before, after World War 2, which resulted in many people losing their loved ones.

Aleksis had been crying for days until she could no longer shed a single tear. Alaric was always loyal beside her. But her husband's condition was no better than her. The man was devastated and could not say anything.

Sophia was right to say that uncertainty gave greater suffering than death, and this was what Alaric felt now.

He knew he had killed so many people, both directly and indirectly, and he understood how much sadness was experienced by those who were left behind by his victims.

He had changed a lot over the past six years. He had turned over a new leaf. His anger at a handful of people who were fond of war and destroying nature had subsided as he was reunited with his family.

He understood that humans, in general, did not like war and wanted to live peacefully on sustainable earth. The ones responsible for committing all the crimes that resulted in war, and Luna being a victim of, were not humans in general, but only a handful of greedy rulers.

Now, when his life began to take turns for the better, events like this suddenly come to haunt him and destroy everything.

Alaric was willing to give all he had, provided Vega would be returned. But, unfortunately, even though they had put all their efforts in, no one had managed to find the girl.

***

While Alaric and Aleksis mourned for their missing daughter in Targu Mures, Nicolae returned to Grosseto to be with his family. Marie was very sorry to see her man's face tinged with sorrow. She knew how much Nicolae loved his goddaughter and blamed himself for not being in Paris when Vega was kidnapped.

They never talked about the wedding anymore because all of Nicolae's time was spent looking for clues about Vega's whereabouts. Marie did not want to add to his burden, so she never asked about continuing their wedding plans.

As much as possible, she did what she could do to help. Life in a new place, coupled with the problem of Vega's disappearance made her quite depressed, but Marie tried her best to always look happy and well in front of Nicolae.

”Luca is calling us for lunch,” Marie said that afternoon. She approached Nicolae, who was still busy reading various reports coming in from people claiming to have seen Vega in Asia. The man dedicated 16 hours each day to check all the reports.

Many reports were false, some people saw the wrong girl, and they had begun to lose hope. However, he never gave up, always trying to sort information and hope that one of the thousands of messages that came in gave clues, no matter how insignificant.

Nicolae was still trying to spend some time with Summer. His daughter would play in his study, or sit on his l.a.p while Nicolae worked, so the little girl did not feel ignored.

”Oh, is it lunchtime already?” Nicolae asked, raising his face from the computer. He sighed and nodded. ”Let us eat.”

He got up and took Marie by the hand to walk into the dining room. There Summer was waiting for them with their butler, Luca, who was playing with her while waiting for her parents.

”Maman, Daddy...” Summer immediately ran to them when she saw Nicolae and Marie entered the dining room. Nicolae immediately lifted his child and kissed her hair.

”Let's eat.”

They then had lunch quietly and did not talk about the progress of the case.

”Marie ... I want to talk,” Nicolae said suddenly after they had finished lunch and he saw Marie about to leave and bring Summer to go out and play.

”Oh .. about what?” Marie asked. She put down Summer on the floor and whispered to her. ”Go play with Luca, you can hunt rabbits in the garden. Maman and Daddy need to talk.”

”Yes, Maman.” Summer kissed her mother's cheek then approached her father and kissed Nicolae's cheek before she ran out looking for Luca.

”What is wrong?” Marie asked, approaching Nicolae. The man pulled her hand and hugged Marie suddenly, to her surprise. She didn't expect Nicolae would suddenly behave like this. She then asked in a cautious voice. ”Did something happen?”