The hidden billionaire heiress (Lyra Melvin)

Chapter 1039 Alistair is the scapegoat

In the late afternoon, Anthony had just finished a meeting when he saw the small cake box that Zack had left on his desk. Strawberry milk foam cake. The little guy, Alistair, had been feeling down lately and loved sweets, so Anthony planned to use it to cheer him up.

"Zack, have the director of marketing send me all the project reports he has on hand recently and also..."

Before he could finish instructing Zack via their internal phone line, his phone suddenly rang.

It was from his home security guard.

At this time? Anthony frowned and answered the call.

"Mr. Callahan... um... Alistair seems to be missing."

He furrowed his brow. "You can't keep an eye on such a young child at home?"

"I'm sorry it was our negligence. Alistair was playing with Momo ten minutes ago. She said she lost Alistair's jade bracelet while they were playing together and asked us for help finding it. But then... Alistair disappeared along with Momo."

"Check the surveillance footage."

"We did but they've already left Callahan Residence because they walked into a blind spot in surveillance cameras. And since Alistair is so small, we don't know where they went."

Anthony remained silent for some time as he considered what could have happened in those blind spots that even monitoring couldn't catch. Alistair was too young to think of something like this but Molly might have done something mischievous instead.

While he was pondering over these thoughts, there came another hesitant voice from the other end of phone, "Mr. Callahan..."

"What?" His tone turned cold mixed with impatience.

"Before checking surveillance footage, we searched through every corner of the villa several times. We found out that Alistair took something away with him."

"What did he take?"

"His panda pillow and strawberry blanket..."

This brat! He brought everything necessary for camping outside. It seemed like he wanted to play runaway game!

Despite being so young in age yet having such strong temperaments...

"It's okay," said Anthony after thinking about it for a moment longer, "Momo is still there. Nothing should happen if she's around him. Let him go out for some fresh air or whatever else makes him feel better. Until 7:30 pm tonight when it gets dark outside, if by then he hasn't returned home yet, contact Malcolm to find someone who can help locate them both."

"Okay."

The call ended abruptly as Anthony continued working diligently without showing any signs of anger towards his son's antics or worry about how things would turn out later tonight.

After two more hours passed by quickly enough, Zach knocked on his door, "Mr. Callahan, the National Investigation Bureau has completed their investigation into the twin brothers who were beaten by Alistair. Please take a look at this complete report." A file was handed to Anthony.

Anthony immediately stopped what he was doing and picked up the file, carefully examining it. Zack stood in front of his desk and reported, "The kindergarten's surveillance footage clearly shows Alistair fighting. It's true that he threw one of the twin brothers over his shoulder and caused him to hit his leg on a rock, but it turns out that Alistair didn't cause the left leg fracture..."

The investigation showed that as soon as the fight was discovered by the kindergarten principal, they were sent to check on them in the medical room. One of these documents was restored with initial diagnosis records from kindergarten medical room by a special mean.

The initial examination results for those twin brothers only showed minor skin injuries without any major issues. However, this result was deleted half an hour later by someone from within their school who then called 120 emergency services and took them to a nearby hospital for full body checks.

The second examination result was exactly what Anthony had seen before: left leg fractures, intracranial bleeding, nasal collapse and so on.

This matter involved bribery from within their school. They deliberately framed Alistair for this incident. If it weren't for Anthony spending so much money to suppress this matter down quietly, it would have been exposed in news reports regarding how Alistair severely injured another children around his age.

Zack sighed, "I found it unbelievable when I first heard about this incident. Even if Alistair had learned some taekwondo moves at five years old, it wouldn't have been enough reason for him to use such forceful actions against another children."

"Now we can see clearly that he has been wrongly accused. Someone else used him as an excuse just because they wanted to target Callahan Group."

He paused before adding thankfully, "Fortunately you are standing with him now, and will investigate thoroughly without blaming Alistair too much."

Anthony tightened his fingertips until all pages crumpled under pressure. A surge of indescribable emotions churned inside him.

"I hit him."

"Hmm?" He suddenly spoke up, Zack not reacting fast enough.

"That day when I brought him back, I hit him."

Zack was taken aback and quickly tried to make up for it.

"You... you were just angry at the time, but you calmed down later and still believed in Alistair. There's no long-standing grudge between a child and a father. Don't blame yourself too much. Alistair shouldn't be too mad at you."

"He is angry and upset. Otherwise he wouldn't have run away from home."

Zack lowered his head, not saying anything more. Anthony put down the documents in his hand and calmly instructed, "Please continue investigating with the National Investigation Bureau to find out who's behind this. As for the kindergarten principal and parents of those twins, they must have received some benefits. The National Investigation Bureau should arrest them if necessary." "Don't worry. I understand," Zack replied.

"Please help Alistair withdraw from school as soon as possible," Anthony continued. "Such a kindergarten doesn't need to be operated anymore to avoid harming other children."

Zack bowed slightly, "It's not hard work. It's what I should do. You can trust me with this task."

Ever since Anthony became CEO of Callahan Group, Zack had been working by his side for nearly eleven years now. And naturally he trusted Zack's abilities.

"Well then go ahead," said Anthony.

Zack nodded slightly before turning around towards the door.

"Wait a minute," called out Anthony after looking at his watch. It was almost six o'clock in the afternoon.

"The family bodyguards haven't called yet so Alistair probably hasn't returned home yet," he said urgently. "Immediately notify Malcolm through NIB's assistance without alarming them first when you find him." "I understand," replied Zack firmly.

...

The red glow on the horizon reflected off of Alistair's delicate little face under sunlight, shining on his sapphire blue eyes that were beautiful but anxious-looking.

"Momo! Does my dad know that I ran away from home? Is he raging right now? When he finds me, will he beat me up badly?"

Alistair felt extremely guilty while burying himself inside a thin quilt covered with strawberry prints while making whimpering sounds.

"Waaah! My dad gets super scary when angry! I can't win against him! What should we do?"

Although he was usually playful and mischievous over trivial matters only, this rebellious act of running away from home was something new even for him. Molly saw the little body trembling under the covers and quickly leaned over to pat his back to comfort him.

"Don't be afraid, Milk Tofu. This is my secret hideout, and no one knows about it except for you and Spencer. Your dad won't find us so quickly, and I won't let him hurt you," she said reassuringly. Beside them, eleven-year-old Spencer leaned against the window with a cold laugh. "It's only natural for someone to discipline their own child. You just like sticking your nose where it doesn't belong."