The Ex and Her Riches novel (Gwendolyn and Maverick)

There was pin-drop silence in the surveillance room as everyone waited for an update.

Nobody dared say a word when they felt the intimidating aura that Cedrick exuded.

Cedrick had an icy-cold look in his eyes as he glared at the screen.

The time Swain managed to track the GPS signal from Gwendolyn’s phone was exactly when the car stopped

outside the surveillance camera’s field of view.

That was way too much of a coincidence.

However, that car had left the moment they decided to head toward Xanthon Highway. Cedrick could only watch as

the car, which Gwendolyn could be in, disappeared from sight.

“Mr. Jenson! Chief Jaeger! Chief Swain! We’ve discovered something!” said a police officer dressed in a raincoat as

he came running in through the door.

He then quickly took his raincoat off and retrieved a piece of evidence that he had kept safely inside his pocket.

“Mr. Jenson, this is what we managed to find on the highway after searching the blind spots of the two surveillance

cameras. It was found at a very obvious spot, so I’m not sure how useful it will be,” the police officer continued

while handing it over to Cedrick.

Cedrick’s expression slid into a frown as he took the phone over and saw that it had Gwendolyn’s favorite phone

case on it.

“Boss, that’s Mrs. Jenson’s phone!” Swain exclaimed in shock.

Cedrick stared at the screen of the phone in silence as he unlocked it. Apparently, it had been formatted and put on

flight mode, which was why their calls couldn’t get through.

In the phone’s memo, he saw a sentence that read: It looks like your wife really is your weakness, Cedrick!

Each word sounded incredibly menacing and threatening.

Swain gasped anxiously from the side. “It looks like they really are holding Mrs. Jenson captive!”

Cedrick’s eyes reddened with hatred and rage as he glared at the memo on the phone. His body exuded a

terrifying aura as his veins bulged underneath his skin.

Kyro was so intimidated that he didn’t dare say a word. His face turned pale when he received another message on

his tablet shortly after.

“M-Mr. Jenson, we have received the report on the car. The license plate is fake, and the same goes for all of its

registered information…” he said hesitantly.

Cedrick clenched his fist tightly as he ordered, “Continue investigating it! Check the footage from all surveillance

cameras in the city! I want to know where the car was headed!”

He then handed Gwendolyn’s phone over to Swain and continued, “Bring this back to the Federal Bureau of

Investigation and have the technicians restore its data from before it was formatted. I want to check the call log.”

“Understood!” Swain replied as he whipped out a clear plastic bag and carefully placed the phone inside.

Just like that, everyone ran off to carry out their respective orders.

It was still raining late at night.

Cedrick absent-mindedly walked back to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. With his wife’s whereabouts still

unknown, he couldn’t bring himself to go home and face the questioning from the two kids.

It looks like your wife really is your weakness, Cedrick!

The sentence from the memo kept replaying itself in his head.

He was so stressed out that he could barely breathe as he slumped tiredly against his chair.

My weakness, huh? Gwenny is my life! It took me almost everything just to get her to turn back once!

As feelings of guilt and self-blame filled his heart, Cedrick retrieved the box of cigarettes from his drawer, switched

off the lights in his office, and began puffing away in the dark.

The ember looked particularly bright in the darkness of the office and would intensify from time to time.

Meanwhile, Charles was reading Zendaya a story in the laboratory.

Due to his poor storytelling skills, however, Zendaya complained that he sounded really boring.

As a result, he had to keep reading on for a really long time before she fell asleep.

Charles was suddenly woken up in the middle of the night by the sound of someone crying.

He glanced about and saw Zendaya sobbing at the edge of the bed.

It pained Charles to see that her eyes had turned red from all that crying.

“What’s the matter, Zendy? Did you have a nightmare?” he asked while giving her a comforting hug.

Zendaya grabbed hold of his muscular arms and buried her face in his chest.

“I-I dreamt of Mommy… She was injured and didn’t want us anymore…” Zendaya mumbled incoherently while

sobbing, but Charles was able to figure out what she said.

“There, there… Your mommy won’t abandon you two, and your daddy and I will protect her. It was just a

nightmare, Zendy. Dreams aren’t real,” he said in a soft voice while gently patting her on the back.

Zendaya used his shirt to wipe her tears and snot as she continued, “I miss Mommy, Uncle Charles! Could you bring

me to see her? I want Mommy to tuck me in!”

Charles fell silent when he heard that.

Seeing as she was crying so much that she started hiccupping, Charles had no choice but to call Cedrick.

He tried calling a few times more when the first attempt was unsuccessful, but all he heard was the automated

message stating that Cedrick’s phone was switched off.

That was when Charles had a feeling that something wasn’t quite right.

If Cedrick was worried that the mastermind behind the mass murder at the Cloud residence would target the two

kids, then all he had to do was have a few armed technicals escort them back to the Jenson residence.

However, Cedrick ordered Nico to pack the kids’ clothes and had them spend a few days at the laboratory instead.

Charles couldn’t help but find Cedrick’s behavior and his order incredibly strange.

“I can’t sleep, Uncle Charles! I want Mommy to kiss me and hug me!” Zendaya sobbed while tugging at Charles’

arm, snapping him out of his train of thought.

He retrieved a paper towel from the nightstand and wiped her tears dry as he whispered, “Stop crying, Zendy. I’ll

take you to look for your mommy tomorrow if you be a good girl and go to bed.”

Zendaya wasn’t buying it, though. “I won’t sleep until I see Mommy! If you want to watch me stay up all night, then

so be it!”

Charles had a little furrow between his eyebrows when he heard that. For the first time ever, he got a little angry

with Zendaya.

The temperature was rather low due to the heavy rain outside, and Charles couldn’t get through to both Cedrick

and Gwendolyn.

He then flipped Zendaya onto her tummy and held her firmly against his thigh as he raised his hand.

“Kids get spanked if they don’t behave themselves, Zendy. I’ve never hit you before, but I will if you don’t cut this

out right now!” he said while raising his hand threateningly.

Zendaya was so scared that she curled her toes and sobbed, “Oh, no! You’ve become just as mean as Daddy, Uncle

Charles! Mommy doesn’t want me anymore, and now, you don’t want me anymore, either! I’ve got no one left!”

Whatever feelings of anger Charles had was gone in an instant when he heard that.

Zendaya looked just like Gwendolyn when she was little, so he couldn’t even bring himself to raise his voice at her,

let alone hit her.

Since threatening her didn’t work, he had no choice but to carry Zendaya into the next ward and see if they could

obtain any useful information.

There was a faint light shining through the crack in the doorway of Benedict’s ward.

Are they still awake as well?