Leo Carter's eyes were bloodshot.
Yet his voice remained eerily calm.
"Miss Evans, I want a million in cash."
"It's nothing to someone like you."
He had to see Chloe Evans in person.
"Alley 3, Main Street. Be there in three hours."
"If you don't show, the recording goes to Sophia Sullivan."
Chloe trembled with rage.
"Are you insane? A million in cash—"
The line went dead.
She hurled her phone across the room.
Regret gnawed at her for ever working with such trash.
That recording could never reach Sophia.
Ethan Sullivan finding out would be worse.
If Liam Winston or Mrs. Winston learned the truth, she'd be thrown out of the Winston family.
Chloe hastily withdrew the cash.
Sunglasses and hat in place, she chose a blind spot away from cameras.
The stocky man came into view.
Disgust flickered in her eyes.
"Take the money and get out of A-City."
She tossed the briefcase onto the ground.
"Useless fool. Consider this payment for your silence."
"Threaten me again, and you'll regret it."
Leo stared at the case with a cold smirk.
Rich people always treated him like an idiot.
Not this time.
He approached the briefcase slowly.
Two meters away, he lunged.
A chloroform-soaked rag clamped over her mouth and nose.
"Let's see how you like suffering, Miss Evans."
Chloe's eyes widened.
Her struggles weakened, then ceased.
One thought filled her fading consciousness—
This is the end.
......
She woke in a derelict factory.
The stench of rust hung thick in the air.
Leo's shadowed face made her blood run cold.
Instantly, she adopted a pitiful expression.
"Leo, we're both victims here."
"It's Sophia Sullivan's fault. Go after her."
The glint of a knife made her shudder.
"I know where she lives—the villa near The Underground City."
"I can get you more money!"
Leo remembered her haughty sneers.
"No rush. You'll both die."
Chloe turned deathly pale.
"I have so much—"
The iron door slammed shut.
Bound and helpless, she strained against the ropes.
Leo's words echoed in her ears.
This was truly the end.
The madman intended to take them both down.