Chapter 433
They Found Claire Bennett
When Marcus Reed saw this, he hurried after Julian Sterling. He'd thought they were about to spot Claire Bennett, but to his surprise, the room was completely empty. A bodyguard in black stood in the middle of it.
"Didn't you say you found something? How dare you talk nonsense—are you looking to die?" Marcus Reed stormed forward and berated the bodyguard.
"N-no, that's not it. Look! There's blood on the floor, and some clothes..." the bodyguard said aggrievedly.
At that moment, Marcus Reed and Julian Sterling both looked down at the floor.
Because the room was so filthy, they hadn't noticed the situation here at first, but now that they looked carefully, they discovered there really were fresh bloodstains, along with torn scraps of clothing. Could it be that something terrible had already happened to Claire Bennett?
Marcus Reed's face went white instantly!
A horrifying phrase flashed through his mind: first... first rape, then murder?
This was bad!
Julian Sterling's face was cold and grim, his gaze like icy blades as he stared at the traces on the ground. The air around him seemed to freeze solid.
"M-Mr. Sterling..." Marcus Reed couldn't even force out words of comfort now.
"Go find her right now! Even if you have to dig three feet into the ground, dig her out for me!"
With Julian Sterling's order given, everyone split up again and began searching farther out.
Five minutes later, someone came back. "Mr. Sterling, we found her!"
When Julian Sterling saw Claire Bennett crouched in the bushes, bedraggled from head to toe, his heart nearly stopped beating.
Claire Bennett had curled up into herself, and quite a bit of her clothing had been torn. Who knew whether she had already...
The bloodthirsty rage inside Julian Sterling surged at the sight before him, as if he wanted to wipe everything out.
This was a patch of waist-high shrubbery not far from that abandoned building just now. The bodyguards had found Claire Bennett here. They hadn't dared go up and touch her, and had only immediately reported it to Julian Sterling.
"Claire." Julian Sterling stepped forward carefully, not daring to agitate her.
He gently gathered Claire Bennett into his arms. In his warm embrace, her icy body temperature slowly began to recover. When she heard that familiar heartbeat and caught that clean, calming scent, the numbness gradually faded from her eyes.
She lifted her eyes to look at Julian Sterling. Once her gaze focused, she murmured, "Julian Sterling?"
"I'm here. Don't be afraid." Julian Sterling tightened his arms and rose to his feet with Claire Bennett in his embrace.
Marcus Reed came forward from behind. "Mr. Sterling."
"Find Ian Walsh." Julian Sterling only said it lightly, but after being by Julian Sterling's side for so long, Marcus Reed knew Julian Sterling was angry. They had to find the one responsible.
Julian Sterling carried Claire Bennett to the car.
He turned on the air-conditioning in the car, adjusted it to a comfortably warm temperature, and held Claire Bennett tightly.
Claire Bennett had regained quite a bit of awareness. Only then did she realize they were sitting in that luxury car from last time, the one belonging to Mr. Sterling. She asked softly, "You took Mr. Sterling's car out again?"
Suddenly, she remembered that she had been on her way to the airport to pick up Julian Sterling, but there had been some accidents on the road.
She hadn't expected that in the end, it would still be Julian Sterling who found her.
Seeing Claire Bennett fall silent, Julian Sterling thought she had been too badly traumatized. His fury toward Ian Walsh had already risen to the limit. He had actually dared to bully Claire Bennett—he deserved to die!
Julian Sterling didn't take Claire Bennett back to Parkview Heights. Instead, he went back to the Sterling family home.
Because the Sterling family had a family doctor, he wanted Claire Bennett to be thoroughly examined to see where she might have been hurt.
Claire Bennett gradually realized they weren't driving in the right direction. Wasn't this the road to Ruby's house?
She couldn't help asking, "Where are you taking me?"
"Don't be afraid." Julian Sterling's expression was stiff as he gently patted Claire Bennett's back and softly comforted her.
...
At this moment, three people at the Sterling family home were also pacing in anxious circles.
The news that Julian Sterling was searching the entire city for someone had already spread everywhere, and Mr. and Mrs. Sterling had learned about it immediately.
The three of them, together with Ruby Sterling, waited worriedly in the living room.
"Ugh! So what is going on? Where was my daughter-in-law taken after being kidnapped?"
"Don't panic. Julian will definitely find her."
Seeing how tense Mr. and Mrs. Sterling were, Ruby Sterling comforted them, saying, "Mom, Dad, don't worry. My brother will definitely bring Claire back. Good people are blessed by heaven—she'll definitely be fine."
Suddenly, a sound came from the doorway. Several of them turned to look and saw Julian Sterling carrying Claire Bennett inside.
They hurried over. "Julian, how's my daughter-in-law?"
"Bro, is Claire okay?"
"Julian, is she all right?"
The three voices rang out in unison, and Claire Bennett was instantly surrounded.