Chapter 4

A few heated residents even stepped forward, shoving my parents by their shoulders.

"Hand the kid over right now! Otherwise, none of you are leaving this hallway!"

"If you can't have your own, don't steal someone else's! Have some shame!"

Seeing my parents get shoved, my blood boiled.

I stepped forward to push away the woman grabbing my mother, but two other neighbors grabbed my arms, pinning me in place.

Anger and urgency surged through me. Just as I was about to pull out my evidence, Brenda suddenly changed her tune.

"Chloe, as things stand, I don't want to push this to the absolute extreme."

Greed flashed blatantly across her bloodshot eyes.

"Just pay me for this past month's Mommy Experience Fee, plus pain and suffering for me and my son—let's call it thirty thousand dollars."

"Then bring my son back safe and sound. If you do that, I'll be generous and let this whole thing slide."

Hearing this, the surrounding neighbors actually chimed in.

"Look how forgiving this mother is! Her kid was stolen, and she's still willing to settle out of court."

"Exactly! Just pay the money and give the boy back. If the cops get involved, your whole family is going to prison!"

I stared at Brenda’s smug, triumphant face, completely sickened to my stomach.

"I will say this one last time. My family just landed today. We haven't laid eyes on your son once."

"And as for your thirty grand? You won't see a single damn penny."

Brenda’s face darkened instantly.

"So you want to do this the hard way?! You really think I can't touch you?!"

Right at that moment, the screech of police sirens echoed from down the street, followed by heavy footsteps echoing up the stairs.

Two officers hurried down the hall, pushing through the crowd with stern expressions.

"Who called 911 reporting an alleged missing child?"

Brenda immediately threw herself at the officers.

"I did! Officers, it's her! This woman locked my five-year-old son away and refuses to give him back!"

Several neighbors who had shoved us earlier jumped in to back her up.

"Officers, we saw the footage! Her doorbell camera caught it all—the kid walked right into their apartment!"

The lead officer sized up my family, his expression hardening.

"Ma'am, since there is video evidence, I need your family to come down to the precinct for questioning. If the child is inside your unit, bring him out immediately."

Ethan grew anxious, opening his mouth to explain, but I grabbed his arm to hold him back.

Meeting the officer’s stern gaze, I allowed a cold, sharp smile to touch my lips.

"Officer, you're welcome to investigate. But before we go anywhere, I have evidence of my own."

"Why don't we all take a look together?"

I pulled out my phone and tapped play on a video.

As the video played, everyone’s eyes went wide, their jaws dropping in shock.

"Wh... what?!"