Chapter 27 Not Intentionally Lost

"By the way, Melinda, if you have nothing to do after dinner, let's go to the mall! As your good friend, I should buy a gift for Elsie!"

To stop Melinda from continuing, Elsie immediately changed the subject.

At first, Melinda flatly refused, but Elsie was persistent and kept persuading her.

Melinda was somewhat swayed by her words and finally reluctantly agreed.

Although Sam didn't like Elsie very much, he was very sensible and remained silent throughout, without expressing any opinions.

After dinner, Melinda held Sam's hand and went to the mall with Elsie.

"Sam, let's go. I'll buy you whatever you like."

Elsie began to flatter Sam in various ways. Along the way, she was a bit anxious. If Sam was taken back, her fate would be terrible. But if she couldn't produce the information, Melinda would definitely become suspicious, which would be even more troublesome. So she made up her mind to stop hesitating and decided to go all the way.

Without waiting for Melinda's consent, Elsie took Sam to a toy store.

"Elsie, my mommy said I can't take things from others." Sam said sensibly.

"I'm Melinda's best friend, how can I be considered 'others'?" Elsie didn't care whether

Sam liked it or not and directly stuffed two toys into his arms.

Just as Melinda was about to say "that's enough," her phone suddenly rang.

"Hello! Lena..." Melinda walked to the door to answer the call.

"Melinda, I'm really sorry to call you at this time. I found an error in today's data and I want to revise the report, but I can't get into the lab. I don't have the password." Lena pleaded with a sobbing voice.

"I'm at the lab entrance now."

Afraid that Melinda wouldn't agree, she started crying, making it hard to refuse.

Melinda was in a dilemma. She looked back at Sam and Elsie happily picking out gifts and hesitated for a moment, "Alright! Wait for me."

After hanging up the phone, Melinda frowned slightly. She walked up to Elsie, with a hint of urgency in her voice, "There's an emergency at the lab. I have to take Sam back immediately."

Hearing this, Elsie showed a trace of concern, "What's wrong? Do you need my help?"

Melinda shook her head and forced a smile, "No, you go ahead. It's just some urgent matters at the lab. I'll go back and handle it."

After saying that, she turned to Sam, took his little hand, and was about to leave.

Hearing this, Elsie felt it was a golden opportunity. She said all the good things she could think of, "Melinda, we've been friends for so many years. Don't you trust me?" Melinda hesitated. She really didn't want to be separated from Sam and didn't feel comfortable leaving Sam in someone else's care.

But Elsie was her long-time friend, and tonight it seemed that Elsie indeed cared for Sam a lot.

Finally, Melinda took a deep breath, looked at Sam, and asked, "Sam, mommy has to go back to work. Do you want to go with mommy or stay with Elsie?" Melinda was still reluctant, but she wanted to respect Sam's decision.

"Sam, I really like you. Besides, now that Melinda is leaving me, don't you want to stay with me?"

Sam didn't really like Elsie, but he couldn't resist her acting pitiful.

"Alright! Mommy, you come back quickly. I'll wait here and won't go anywhere." In the end, he relented. Hearing Sam's words, Melinda stopped hesitating and took a cab to the lab.

Seeing Melinda leave, Elsie couldn't wait to text Emily.

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On the other side, when Melinda arrived, Lena's eyes were filled with tears, looking pitiful, "I'm sorry, Melinda. I really shouldn't have made such a low-level mistake."

"It's alright, no problem." Melinda entered the password and took Lena into the lab. Lena picked up the report and kept thanking her.

After they came out of the lab, Melinda's phone rang.

"Melinda, something's wrong. Sam is missing."

On the other end of the line, Elsie's anxious voice made Melinda's whole body go cold.

They had only been apart for a little over ten minutes, how could Sam be missing? She didn't even care about Lena and ran out of the lab, hailing a cab to the mall.

"What happened? How did Sam go missing?" When Melinda breathlessly found Elsie, Elsie was crying her eyes out.

"I just went to the bathroom, and when I came out, Sam was gone." Elsie found a particularly good excuse. With so many people in the mall, it would be time- consuming and laborious to find a lost child. Once the best time for searching passed, it would be even harder to find him.

At this moment, Elsie acted very distressed, thinking Melinda wouldn't suspect her.

"Melinda, I'm sorry. It's all my fault. I've already called the police, and the mall is broadcasting a search."

Melinda searched every floor, frantically calling out Sam's name, almost looking in every corner.

Her mental state began to collapse. She couldn't live without Sam. For so many years, it had been just the two of them, and Sam was her everything, her only reason to keep going in this world.

She had thought countless times that if it weren't for Sam, she might not have been able to hold on.

But now, Sam was missing, and she felt like her whole world was collapsing, her heart seemed to be hollowed out.

She anxiously searched for Sam's figure everywhere, only to be disappointed again and again.

Seeing Melinda like this, Elsie couldn't be happier.

The next second, Melinda's phone rang. Seeing it was Raymond, she felt a sudden

tightness in her chest, as if she had found someone who could help her.

Melinda's fingers trembled as she finally answered the call, her voice filled with uncontrollable sobs, "Hello, Sam is missing."

"I called you about this. Sam just called me."

Raymond's call was like a ray of sunshine, instantly warming Melinda's cold heart.

"Melinda, where are you going?"

Elsie naturally didn't know who was calling, only seeing Melinda rushing out of the mall like a madwoman.

She had a sinister smile on her face and quickly took out her phone to report the situation to Emily.

When Melinda arrived, she saw Raymond holding Sam, talking and laughing.

"Sam."

Melinda angrily walked over and pulled Sam into her arms.

"I'm sorry, mommy. I won't run off again. I won't make you worry anymore."

Seeing Melinda's tear-stained eyes, Sam felt very remorseful.

Raymond frowned and remained silent.