Love beyond the mask ( Whitney )
Chapter 465

"Yeah, he reached out to me too. The kid's got a way with words, should be fine."

Ludwik leaned on her car window, his towering presence offering an unspoken reassurance. "Are you going in, or should I? Grandma's inside; she went back to the Lippert place this afternoon and just got here." It wouldn't look good if they both went in together.

"I'll go in!"

Understanding her urgency to see her son, Ludwik stepped aside to let her through.

His gaze softened a fraction. "Call me if you need anything. I'll be right here."

As Whitney rushed in, she caught a glimpse of him lighting a cigarette, his watchful eyes following her sprint towards the mansion.

"Danny?!" Whitney burst in, calling out.

In the Sheldon family's living room, Camilla, the venerable matriarch, had just arrived and was inquiring about something.

Holly, with a plastered smile, appeared clueless. "A problem? The young master has been playing in the backyard. What trouble could he possibly replace? Dear Mrs. Sheldon, perhaps a cup of tea first..." "Holly! The child got in touch with me; he said he fell into the pond!" Whitney bypassed the small talk and got straight to the point.

"Ludwik called me, said Danny fell into the water. Seems like it's true!" Camilla's expression turned grave.

A flicker of discomfort crossed Holly's face before she quickly replaced it with a smile, looking at Whitney. "And you are...? How does Danny know to contact you?"

Her question was clearly designed to stir doubt in the elderly lady.

Whitney, aware of Holly's game, retorted with a cold laugh, "Danny and I are close. And you're here worrying about formalities when he's in trouble at the Sheldon place?"

Camilla, catching Whitney's urgency, didn't dwell on the details. Her voice carried a hint of authority, "Mrs. Sheldon, have your staff check where Danny is on the Sheldon property, now!"

"Oh, right, I've been tied up in the study with some accounts... Butler!"

Seeing no way to stall further, Holly signaled the butler who came running, a look of panic on his face. "Madam, Danny is by the pond on the east side..."

"What!" Holly's pretended shock was almost convincing. "The young master hasn't actually drowned, has he?"

Whitney shot Holly a cold look and dashed towards the backyard's eastern part.

Camilla, supported by a servant, and Holly followed at a slower pace.

The east side featured a large pond, a scenic highlight of the Sheldon's garden landscape.

As Whitney arrived, several servants were frantically trying to fish something out of the water with the daylight fading fast.

"Danny!"

"Mummy... I'm here." Danny's weak voice came from atop a protruding artificial rock near the pond.

The pond was deep, and the rock was dangerously sharp; a wrong move could send someone tumbling into the water.

"Don't move, wait for them to get you," Whitney instructed, her face pale with worry.

Running up to the scene, Holly saw Danny safe, but Molly, the one who had fallen into the water, was in trouble. Her schemes had backfired.

Molly, worthless as ever...

"I'm fine! It's Molly who got what she deserved," Danny said with righteous indignation, peering down at the struggling girl in the water. "Did you replace her?"

"We've got her!" A male servant heaved a drenched girl from the water.

"Pff...wah... Grandma! Save me!" Molly's weak cries cut through the air.

The grandmother was taken aback. "Molly? What brought you to the Sheldon place?"

After the chaos subsided and both children were rescued from the pond, lying on the grass, Whitney quickly checked Danny for any signs of water ingestion and started CPR to expel any excess water. Danny, pale but comforted in his mother's arms, felt a wave of relief wash over him.

Molly, on the other hand, wasn't as fortunate. Suffering from a severe case of water inhalation and a gashed forehead from the artificial rock, she was a mess of tears and cyanosis, clearly traumatized.

Camilla, worried sick, leaned on her cane and turned to Holly. "Mrs. Sheldon, when did Molly arrive at the Sheldon property? Both children ended up in the water under your watch. How could you not know what happened?"

Holly, quick to regain her composure, had her story ready. "Miss Molly came by herself in the afternoon, right after you left for the Lippert place. I thought she came to play with Danny, so I let them be in the backyard. As for the drowning, dear Mrs. Sheldon, you saw it yourself, I arrived with you. Maybe the kids were roughhousing and fell in accidentally?"

Whitney listened quietly, her eyes narrowing before she turned to her son. "Danny, is it as Holly suggests?"

"No way." Danny pointed at Molly, still coughing and red-eyed. "I was playing by myself when Molly stormed in, looking for trouble like she knew I was here.

I wasn't even near the pond initially. She started shoving me towards it. The first shove didn't do the trick, I clung to a branch.

She wasn't satisfied, even had her servant push me. That's when we started fighting, and she ended up in the water herself!"

"You're lying! I didn't have any servant push you! Grandma, he's slandering me!"

Molly protested loudly.

"I saw it! There was a man behind you who pushed me!" Danny countered.

Whitney squinted her eyes. Molly claimed she hadn't brought the Lippert family's servant along, yet Danny mentioned a servant pushing him?

So, whose servant could it be?

Her gaze suddenly turned icy as she looked at Holly. If Holly had taken the opportunity of Danny visiting the Sheldons to make a move on him... This servant could very well belong to the Sheldons, sneaking around under the cover of chaos! And what about Molly suddenly showing up at the Sheldon estate? What was that about?

Whitney's gaze on Holly grew even colder, her mind racing with suspicions. She squatted down in front of Molly. "Little princess, don't you like Danny?"

"Of course, I don't like him!"

"If you don't like him, why did you follow him to the Sheldons today to play?" Whitney asked with a smile.

Holly's face started to change color as she hurried over. "Whitney, the kids had an accident in the pool; we need to replace a doctor quickly."

Whitney glanced at her, her smile deepening. "Holly, Miss Molly came to the Sheldons, and you didn't inform Camilla?"

"Miss Molly only arrived this afternoon. I was about to tell, but then the kids got into trouble in the pool," Holly replied, deflecting.

But Whitney didn't let it go, continuing to question Molly. "Little princess, who told you Danny was at the Sheldons today?"