Chapter 267: Don’t bring that up

The public reward for finding Nana had turned into complete chaos, with Adrian and Logan slowly losing their minds over the kind of people who showed up claiming to be the missing woman.

Adrian had genuinely believed that announcing the reward would finally help him find Nana. Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined that people would go to such lengths to twist the truth without giving a second thought to the consequences.

"Why is it so difficult to find Nana?" Adrian groaned, rubbing his forehead as he slumped against the couch inside the restaurant.

"Because you haven’t looked at the details properly, Boss," Logan replied nonchalantly, handing him the file containing the information collected during the search.

Adrian opened the file, only to find the same disappointing information staring back at him. Apart from Nana’s photograph, there was barely anything useful to help identify her.

His eyebrows knitted together.

"Are you telling me we’ve been running around for days with nothing more than a photograph?"

Logan gave him a sympathetic look. "When you put it that way, it does sound a little embarrassing."

"A little?" Adrian repeated, slowly turning his head towards him.

Logan immediately straightened. "All right, extremely embarrassing. But don’t look at me like that, Boss. I’m not the one who decided to make finding an old lady a public competition."

Adrian shut the file with a loud snap.

"That’s not even the worst part! How can someone walk into a restaurant with her grandmother and confidently claim that she’s the missing Nana? That girl actually expected me to believe her!"

The incident from the previous day flashed through Logan’s mind. A young woman had arrived with her elderly grandmother, insisting that the old lady was Nana. It hadn’t taken Adrian long to discover that the woman had simply been hoping to collect the reward money.

Apparently, desperation had made people remarkably creative.

"Perhaps she genuinely doesn’t know who you are," Logan suggested with a shrug.

Adrian shot him a murderous glare.

"And what difference would that make?"

"None, I suppose. But at least she wouldn’t have known whose patience she was testing."

"Logan."

"Yes, Boss?"

"Do you want to be fired?"

Logan pressed his lips together, fighting the urge to laugh. "Will you be okay with that?"

"No," Adrian declined right away.

"Then don’t bring that up because you won’t."

"Understood."

For approximately three seconds, Logan managed to remain silent.

Then he added, "Although, if we’re being honest, I think the girl deserves some credit for her courage. Bringing her grandmother here and presenting her as someone else? That’s a level of confidence I could never achieve."

Adrian stared at him in disbelief.

"Are you praising her?"

"Absolutely not. I’m admiring her ability to make terrible decisions with such conviction."

Adrian dragged a hand down his face.

He had expected people to take advantage of the reward. After all, the promise of a substantial sum of money was bound to attract dishonest claimants. That was precisely why he had instructed his men to verify every detail before accepting anyone’s claims.

Still, he hadn’t anticipated that the search would turn into a parade of people trying to pass off their relatives as Nana.

If he wasn’t careful, the entire affair would spiral out of control.

"I hope today won’t be another waste of time," Adrian muttered, leaning back against the couch. "I’m running out of patience."

Logan studied his boss’s exhausted face. In just two days, Adrian looked as though he’d aged several years.

For once, Logan couldn’t even blame him. Every promising lead had ended in disappointment, and they were no closer to finding Nana than when the search had begun.

"Don’t worry, Boss," Logan said, patting his shoulder. "We’ll find her eventually."

Adrian glanced at him. "And if another woman shows up claiming to be Nana?"

Logan considered the question seriously.

"I’ll ask her to bring her birth certificate, identification, and three generations of family photographs."

Adrian closed his eyes. "Get out."

Logan immediately stood. "Gladly. But if the next Nana arrives, should I bring her in or send her straight back?"

"LOGAN!"

"I’m going! I’m going!"

And with that, Logan hurried away, leaving Adrian alone with his headache, his useless file, and the growing suspicion that finding Nana might be the easiest part of this entire nightmare.

Adrian remained seated on the couch, staring at the closed door through which Logan had disappeared.

For several seconds, he didn’t move. Then he drew in a deep breath, held it for a moment, and slowly released it.

He needed to calm down. Losing his temper wouldn’t help him find Nana any faster. Neither would threaten to fire Logan, although the thought had become increasingly tempting over the past two days.

Adrian rubbed his temples and leaned back against the couch.

One more chance. I’ll give this search one more chance.

If the next person who walked through that door claimed to be Nana while dragging along an entire elderly family reunion, he would personally make sure they regretted wasting his time.

He had barely finished that thought when a knock sounded at the door.

Adrian closed his eyes.

Unbelievable.

"Come in," he called, his voice dangerously calm.

The door opened, and Logan poked his head inside.

Adrian’s eyes snapped open.

"What now?" he demanded. "Didn’t I tell you to get out?"

Logan stepped into the room, wisely ignoring the murderous expression on his boss’s face.

"Yes, Boss. You did."

"Then why are you back?"

"Because we have a visitor."

Adrian let out a humourless laugh.

"Wonderful. Another Nana?"

"Well..."

"Logan, I swear, if you’ve brought another woman here with her grandmother, mother, aunt, and the entire family tree, I’ll—"

"It’s not like that, Boss."

"Then what is it?"

Logan hesitated.

For once, the man who could usually find something ridiculous to say in every situation seemed to have lost his words.

That alone made Adrian pause.

He straightened on the couch, studying Logan’s unusually serious expression.

"What happened?"

"Nothing happened," Logan replied, though his voice carried a strange note of disbelief. "It’s just that... you might want to see this for yourself."

Adrian frowned.

"See what?"

Instead of answering, Logan stepped aside.

Adrian’s gaze shifted past him towards the doorway.

And then he froze.

For one long, bewildering moment, he simply stared at the person standing behind Logan, wondering whether his exhaustion had finally begun playing tricks on him.

However, the shock on Adrian’s face soon gave way to a cold expression. His eyes narrowed as he stared at the person before him, and when he finally spoke, he couldn’t hide the hostility in his voice.

"What are you doing here?"