After all this interview, the police asked, "Do you have any family you can call?"
Truthfully, the police didn't expect the little boy to have any contact or living relatives. Based on their investigation, his father abandoned them, and he also had no living relatives.
Meanwhile, the mother's side had Vincent Gray and his wife, which they discovered to be named Chloe Gray.
But they couldn't give the four boys with Vincent Gray now because of his status as a suspect since Chelsea kept on yelling his names repeatedly until she almost lost her voice.
Meanwhile, they got no contact with Chloe Gray. It seemed they had been estranged as well.
Aaron paused briefly and nodded slowly, "I want to meet my Aunt."
"Your Aunt?"
"Mm, Aunt Chloe…" Aaron said. "She is Mommy's sister. Uncle Vincent's wife."
The police sighed, "I'm sorry, young man. But we don't have her number, and we don't know if your Uncle Vincent will allow us to meet her."
Aaron shook his head, "Uncle and Aunt had a fight. Aunt is living alone right now…." Aaron replied as he remembered how his Gran wept nonstop for days because Uncle Vincent told them that Aunt Chloe cheated and left the house, which Aaron didn't believe.
Because Aunt Chloe was very kind, just the idea of her hurting someone was just unthinkable.
"I see…" the office coughed once to relieve the awkwardness and added, "Still, we don't have her contact. We can't call her."
"Um… I have it…." Aaron said. He fished a piece of paper inside his breast pocket and then gave it to the officer. "Please call this number, Sir. I met Aunt Chloe in the hospital today, and she gave me that number in case I needed help."
"And I… I need help…." Aaron said with a low voice. He lowered his head ashamedly, and his body started shaking as he felt vulnerable. "I want to meet Aunt Chloe. I really want to see her right now."
The officer picked up the piece of paper and read the number written inside.
He gave the little boy a pitiful look. He must've trusted his Aunt a lot to be looking for her to find safety in his heart after a painful night.
So he nodded, "Let me call her. Please wait here."
The officer left the investigation room and used his phone to call the number.
**
Chloe felt restless tonight.
She had been feeling restless since dinner ended, because she argued with Vernon about keeping the boys with her because Chelsea was abusive towards her children. But Vernon rejected the idea of allowing them to live here—in the Phoenix Tower.
Because he didn't want to raise any suspicion from Vincent, especially not at a crucial moment like this when he already planned to go full throttle to launch many of his secret projects to topple his Big Brother's businesses.
She knew that Vernon was the voice of logic, and she might be using her emotion a bit too much. But she just couldn't bear to see her little nephews get beaten by Chelsea.
She stared at the ceiling, thinking about Aaron, who had been slapped so hard by Chelsea today that his cheek was swollen when she met him.
She had a feeling that something terrible would happen soon, and she couldn't save the boys when they needed her.
Chloe checked her phone, thinking of unblocking her mother and Chelsea to see if they could negotiate about the boys. But then she remembered Chelsea's anger when she saw her, so there was no room for negotiation.
"Heck, I think Chelsea will only beat the boys even harder if I call her to talk about it…." Chloe sighed.
She was idle for a while, staring at the ceiling, until there was a phone call.
"Is it Dorothea? Does she need something?" Chloe wondered. She grabbed her phone and checked the caller, then frowned when she saw an unknown number.
She became cautious whenever a random number appeared on her phone after knowing Vincent was searching for her.
But her gut feeling told her she had to pick this up, or she'd regret it.
So she took a deep breath and accepted the call.
—
"H—Hello, who is this?" Chloe asked.
"Good evening, am I speaking with Mrs. Chloe Gray?"
"Ah—" It had been a while since someone called her Chloe Gray since she had abandoned that last name.
"Oh, pardon me, my name is Officer Derek from the New York Police department. I got your number from your nephew named Aaron Davis, Ma'am," the officer said.
Chloe's eyes widened, "Police department?! W—What happened to him? Is he okay?!"
"Calm down, Ma'am. Aaron and the other three boys are okay, though they are shaken by the incident that happened."
"What incident?"
"…" Officer Derek took a deep breath and replied, "Ma'am, I suggest you come here and let us explain it to you. But I should tell you that the little boys—especially the oldest one, really need you in here, right now. Please pity them."
"I—I will be there as soon as possible!" Chloe sprung up from her bed and grabbed her jacket on the hanger.
"Then I will send the address via text, thank you, Ma'am."
Beep.
—
The officer finally hung up, and Chloe quickly put her phone in her pocket.
She grabbed her wallet but couldn't find her car key.
"Shit, I forgot that Vernon doesn't allow me to drive alone anymore," Chloe panicked. "Then I have to borrow his car. Hopefully he's already asleep."
Chloe rushed upstairs to find Vernon's car key, but she was greeted by Vernon sitting in the living room with a laptop on his lap.
Vernon frowned when he saw Chloe's panicked face. She wore a jacket and flip-flop, indicating that she wanted to go out.
He frowned and asked, "Where are you going? It's almost midnight, and it's freezing outside."
Chloe tried to stabilize her breath before replying, "I—I need to borrow your car, Vernon. I need to go somewhere."
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