The Secret Obsession of the CEO
Chapter 62: Missing Baby

Chapter 62: Missing Baby

Rory looked around the nursery room. She couldn’t believe that her grandmother had this room prepared for Ellie. This room used to be a generic guest room of the house and now, it was obviously remodeled.

It was painted in a neutral yellow shade and it looked tasteful with contemporary design. Her lips curved seeing the solid wood crib. Mrs. Delport said that the crib was once used by her father. There was a rocking chair next to the crib and a single bed next to the window. Even the curtains were light and bright giving a lively feeling to the room.

She loved this room. She felt warm and loved.

She didn’t know when Liam left. She didn’t see him after she left her room. Uncle Charles and Ian left in the evening even before dinner. Ian had somewhere else to go. She looked through the window at the distance. Liam’s house was lit up but she could not see anything there. She locked the window and closed the curtains.

She placed Ellie in the crib and sat on the rocking chair. There was a shelf with some books. Those were books for babies and with a smile, she picked one of them and read it to Ellie.

Ellie enjoyed those small poems with rhyming words. But she was still blinking her big almond eyes wide.

"Do you know, Ellie... My dad used to read me stories. He had such a wonderful voice, I’ve never listened to him finish a book because I’d fall asleep on the second or third page..." she let out a deep breath. Closing her eyes, she smiled as she remembered her father.

Her mother would always admonish her for running around wild like a feral cat, but her father would hug her and tell her that she did nothing wrong. He always pampered her beyond measures.

"Gaah..." Ellie kicked her legs wanting to hear her mother’s story more.

"You want to listen more?" Rory poked her apple cheeks. Ellie tapped her feet and laughed.

"Okay...When I came to this house first, I was 12 years old and my grandpa offered to read me stories because I told him that my dad used to do it. His voice was a lot like my dad’s but a bit more hoarse. But I won’t be able to fall asleep. Grandpa would fall asleep reading the book before I could even feel sleepy. He’d sit on the chair and doze off. Sometimes the book would slip and..." Rory laughed.

Ellie laughed along as if she understood her.

"What a smart girl you are!" Rory kissed Ellie. "I told him that I don’t want him to read to me anymore. He was sad but I wanted him to have a good rest. From then on, he’d open the door just a wee bit and peek in to see if I am sleeping every night. I won’t be sleeping most days, but I would pretend, not to make him worry. And once...on my thirteenth birthday, he got inside my room and...he left a beautiful watch for me as a gift..."

Rory talked about the good memories she had in this house. Most of them involved her grandfather and the rest involved Mrs. Delport and the chicken they raised. After a while, Ellie fell asleep. Rory lay on the bed. Looking at her baby, she fell asleep.

In the middle of the night, she woke up suddenly. There was perspiration on her forehead and she wiped it. She checked on Ellie and she was still asleep. But she had an eerie feeling as if she was being watched. Clutching the duvet, she looked around to see if there is anything odd.

Gah!

She almost screamed seeing a shadow on the curtain. The window was next to her head and she couldn’t get a complete view of the shadow. Everything was closed and the curtains weren’t moving.

But she knew someone was standing on the other side of the window.

She held her breath and looked for signs to make sure it is not a hallucination. She pinched herself and it definitely hurt. When she looked closer, there surely was something dark she saw on the curtain. And on the floor, she saw it...the shadow of a figure... A head and shoulders...

It was a person!

The head was tilted to the side as if that person was looking at her. Rory didn’t know if she should scream to alert others. She feared if that person might have a weapon in his hand. She didn’t want to put Ellie in danger.

Her heart started to pound and she looked at the shadow for some time observing if there is any movement outside. She didn’t know who that was or how they got here. The guard dogs should be out, but she didn’t hear them barking. Even the chickens were dead quiet.

They have night watchmen who patrol around the house at night.

Why is the watchman not here? Is something wrong happening?

She patted around the bed softly to see if there are some weapons. She didn’t want to alert the person watching her. She hoped there is at least a BB gun in this room.

*Tic* *Tic* *Tic*

She heard the sound of the night watchman tapping with his stick. And with a whoosh, the shadow on the curtain disappeared. Rory sighed in relief. She waited for some time to check if the shadow reappears. The shadow of the night watchman passed through the window. They always keep their noises down when they are close to the house.

The watchman’s boots made noise against the fallen leaves and Rory wondered why she couldn’t hear anything when that dark figure disappeared. She tried to listen over the sound of her pounding heart. She heard the sound of the watchman walking away. And nothing else.

She crawled on the floor to get Ellie and climbed back on the bed. Hugging the baby close to her, she watched to see if the dark figure returns. Time trickled away and she didn’t see the dark figure returning. She heard the guard dogs around the house as she lay on the bed.

She tried to keep her eyes open, but the familiar noises calmed her down, and without knowing she fell asleep with Ellie in her arms.

*Tac* *Tac* *Tac*

Rory woke up to the sound of a woodpecker pecking a tree in the distance. Birds were chirping. The room was chilly and by the light inside the room, she figured that its daybreak, and yet she was awake. She didn’t like that she woke up before sunrise. Her eyes ended up at the crib.

But Ellie was not there. Her heart raced but then she remembered that Ellie slept with her on the bed.

But Ellie was not on the bed either.

Did she roll down?

She sat up with a gasp and searched all over the room. But Ellie was nowhere. She checked the window and it was locked from the inside.

She started to panic.

Where could she be?

Did Liam...