The housemaid called Carlos and asked for one billion dollars ransom money in exchange for releasing the baby. She warned that, otherwise, she would kill her.
When Carlos and Evelyn arrived at the scene, Gwyn, who was just a few months old at the time, was tied up using a rope. Next to the baby, the housemaid was stabbing an already dead dog again and again with a kitchen knife.
It was a cruel and bloody scene, enough to make anyone's stomach churn in fear, let alone a child who was hardly a year old.
Who could have imagined that a regular housemaid could turn into something so inhuman? Another maid, who was with her at the time, tried to drop out of the kidnapping and surrender to the police because she was starting to get too scared.
The crazy housemaid disagreed, and when the two of them couldn't reach an agreement, the crazy lady killed the other housemaid with the same knife.
Evelyn cried out hysterically, as she screamed to Gwyn to shut her eyes. But after witnessing the death of the little dog, Gwyn was so frightened that she just lay frozen at one corner, unable to respond to her mom's cries. All this time, she kept her eyes wide open and watched the crazy housemaid chop up her partner.
Standing on the balcony of the third floor of the building, the housemaid threatened Carlos and Evelyn that Gwyn would die the same way if they didn't give her the money soon.
Carlos had come with some cash with him, just in case. He lifted the suitcase and said, "There's 200, 000 dollars in this. I'll have the rest transferred to you. Let go of the baby."
"Oh no! I want to see the amount transferred first! One billion! Hurry up, or I will kill her!" The housemaid denied any negotiation. She also knew that if she did not leave quickly, she would be surrounded by the police.
The mad female continued to wave the bloody knife in front of Gwyn. The little girl was so scared now that she burst into tears. The housemaid became irritated and yelled at the horrified baby, "Shut up! If you cry, I will kill you with this knife!" She pointed the knife at the child, grinning viciously at her.
Evelyn's heart broke into a million pieces when she heard her baby's cries. She shouted to the housemaid, "We need time to prepare the money! Please, give us my baby. I'll come upstairs and be your hostage instead! Please don't hurt her!"
"Huh? Do you think I'm an idiot?" The housemaid laughed wildly. She then grabbed Gwyn by the neck and lifted her up in the air. "Be quick! I will count to three; I want to see the money in my account by the end of it. Otherwise, I will kill her and throw her down from here!"
Gwyn's face went red as she struggled to breathe. Evelyn couldn't bear to watch her baby suffer.
She struggled to break free from Carlos and dashed towards the staircase, but he grabbed her hand again. He comforted her in an urgent, but soft voice, "Evelyn, calm down. Listen to me. This will be over soon."
But Evelyn wasn't listening. She was on the verge of a meltdown. "Dad, she is dying. She's dying..." she cried.
There was a loud bang at that moment, followed closely by the housemaid's scream.
Everything went silent for a second. Holding her breath, Evelyn looked up and saw that Gwyn had fallen to the floor. The maid was holding her wrist where it had been hit by the bullet and shouted hysterically, "I'm gonna kill her! I will kill her!"
She reached for the knife on the floor, ready to stab the baby.
Bang! Bang! Two more gunshots. The knife fell to the floor, and the housemaid went down with a thud as well.
A group of uniformed men rushed to the third floor.
Evelyn wanted to follow after them, to check on her daughter, but her legs were too weak to even move.
By the time Wesley's men brought Gwyn down to Evelyn, the baby had cried so much that her voice was hoarse.
The little girl struggled fiercely in the officer's arms. No one was able to calm her down. Evelyn hugged her tightly in her arms and continued to comfort her. After crying for the longest time, she finally fell asleep from exhaustion.
Gwyn ran a high fever that night. When she woke up the next morning, she was sensitive to any noise and often cried out loud.
Before long, Gwyn began to show symptoms of PTSD. Carlos hired dozens of psychologists, all of whom were world famous.
But whenever she saw strangers, she would cry aloud and refuse to let anyone get close to her.
Realizing that forcing her to mingle would only make her more aggressive, Evelyn finally gave up on the psychological treatments.
Later, the housemaid was sentenced to death, and was immediately executed. But the trauma she had caused to Gwyn was irreparable.
From then on, the Huo family members started to take care of Gwyn by themselves.
Even those housemaids who had worked for the Huo family for a long time were not allowed to approach the kid or be alone with her.
Gradually, Gwyn became quieter and quieter. She stopped crying when she saw strangers, but she didn't talk to anyone either. She would just hide her face and stay silent.
It wasn't until she had met Sheffield that the kid had started to smile and talk.
After telling Sheffield about everything that had happened, Evelyn trembled as fear washed over her. She was afraid that the same horrible thing would happen again. It would break her heart to see her daughter suffer any sort of harm ever again.
While she was narrating the past, Sheffield quietly moved and lay down in the middle of the bed, between Gwyn and Evelyn. With his left arm around Gwyn and right arm around Evelyn, he whispered tenderly, "Evelyn, don't be afraid. I promise that I will never let anything like that happen to our daughter again."
She nodded. "I trust you, Sheffield. I really don't want her to go through that in the future." A lone tear fell down her cheek.
"She won't have to," he promised. "I will protect you and our daughter." Anyone who wanted to hurt his precious girls would have to go over his dead body.
"Hmmm." She believed him.
She was ready to entrust her and Gwyn's future to Sheffield.
The night grew darker. Evelyn lay on Sheffield's chest and dozed off listening to his heartbeats, feeling a sense of absolute safety.
In Theo Group
Early the next morning, Peterson arrived at the company. He entered his son's office and stared at him. Sheffield was working and didn't bother to greet him or even so much as look at him. After a long while of hesitation, the old man finally asked, "Who is she?"
"Who?" Sheffield asked back, although he knew who his father was talking about.
"The kid Evelyn was holding."
"What do you care?"
Peterson knew that Sheffield would grab all the opportunities that came his way to piss him off, but he had still rushed to find him early in the morning.
It was a matter of importance. He had to know if the child was his granddaughter. "Is she yours?"
"Why do you ask questions you already know the answers to?" Sheffield finally looked at him and asked with a raised brow.
"Mr. Tang, what do you think? Does she look like me or Evelyn?"
Peterson gaped at him. Sheffield didn't act like a father at all.
"Are you sure it's your child?"
Displeased by the old man's words, Sheffield replied coldly, "Careful there, Mr. Tang. What are you implying? She is my daughter."
"Have you done a paternity test? Why didn't Evelyn tell you about this kid before?"
"I don't need a paternity test to know that she is mine. Mr. Tang, did you come here early in the morning just to upset me?" Sheffield put down his pen and looked Peterson in the eye. He was ready for the fight. It looked like Peterson didn't want to acknowledge Gwyn as his granddaughter.
"No, that's not why I'm here. If she is really your daughter, you have to bring her to the Tang family."