After a moment of silence, Joseph suddenly raised his head and burst out laughing. "Amazing! Oh, my dear daughter, I've underestimated you!" Arianna stared coldly, showing little reaction. She realized she might have suffered a crushing defeat had she not taken her actions.

After laughing for a while, his phone rang. He ignored it initially, answering only after some time. "Hello?"

He listened for a few moments, then abruptly raised his head. Standing up, he asked anxiously, his gaze darting to Arianna, "What? Are you sure you searched everywhere?"

Puzzled, Arianna looked back at him.

"Okay, I got it. Calm down. No, don't call the police. Wait first"

He hung up and glared at Arianna, phone still in hand. "What have you done to Damian?"

Arianna was bewildered.

"Is there any need to act in front of me now?" Joseph scoffed, his distrust evident. "Did you kidnap him after shifting all the blame? Where is he?"

"Kidnap?" Arianna chuckled. "Dad, you said it yourself. The police will be looking for him because he's at fault, so why would I kidnap him? Where could I possibly hide him? And what good would it do me?"

She appeared calm and unconvincingly truthful. Joseph stared at her intently before frowning. "Is it really not you?"

"Was that Elizabeth?" Arianna asked. Who else would know Damian's whereabouts?

"It's been two days since we last spoke to Damian." Reluctant to give up, Joseph dialed Damian's number again, but it remained switched off. "Elizabeth is frantic! We thought he was unreachable because he was in a bad mood, but something's wrong. Everyone's watching him; he can't go unnoticed if he's wandering around."

Therefore, Joseph immediately suspected Arianna had kidnapped Damian.

"That's right. Everyone's attention is on him, so there must be a trace if he's gone anywhere!" Arianna nodded. "What if he just found a place to hide?"

"That's impossible!" Joseph firmly shook his head. "You don't understand how helpless Damian is. He can only wait for my updates, for my help, but"

He hadn't just failed to rectify the situation; he'd made it worse. He felt instantly distressed.

"Yeah, he's helpless, dependent on you, or even me. But Dad, I've always had to rely on myself. Do you know how hard it's been for me to get where I am? You never see the effort I put in!"

Her words didn't sway Joseph. Sighing, he said, "What's the point of that now? Ari, did you really not take Damian?"