Late at night, a cab drove to the north of the city near the highway entrance. Anna and Jennie got out of the car while they were still miles away from their destination. And the driver looked surprised by it.
“Keep the change, sir!” Anna said as she handed the driver a fifty-dollar bill and looked him in the eyes.
The driver took the bill and kindly reminded her, “Thank you. Please be careful because this is a dangerous neighbourhood. Do you two live here?”
Anna said with a nod, “Our house isn’t far away. We’ll just walk there because the road ahead is rocky. Thank you so much:”
After that, the driver drove away.
The location was desolate. There were dim street lights on both sides of the road, and no one was in sight. Anna turned on her phone’s navigation and walked slowly to the abandoned power plant by the river with Jennie.
“Boss, they’ve arrived.” The large, abandoned plant echoed with a man’s voice.
William soon walked down the stairs. He walked down the concrete stairs slowly, wearing his military boots. More dust drifted in the dim light with each step he took
“I told you that I only allowed you to come alone,” William said, surprised, as he saw Anna standing beside Jennie.
Jennie turned to face him and shouted, “She drove me here because I didn’t know the way. Cut the crap, William. I’ve brought the money. Where’s Ryan?”
William glanced at Jennie with a cold stare and said, “He’s where he belongs. Show me the money!”
“Here itis,” Jennie said, pulling the check from her pocket.
When William saw the check, he froze and yelled angrily, “Jennie, are you kidding me?!”
Jennie screamed angrily, “Here’s your money. You want to break your promise, don’t you? In that case, I’ll die with you and immediately tear up the check! Then you won’t get a penny from me!”
William gave her a stern look and said, “Do you think I’m stupid? I know what will happen after that. You’ll tell the bank after I take the check. After I get to the bank, I will not be able to get the money at all. Plus, the police who are there in ambush will take me away.”
“Huh? What do you mean?” “I want them in cash,” William explained.
When she heard this, Jennie almost shivered with rage, “You didn’t even say that in the first place! Besides, I don’t even have that much cash! Are you out of your mind?”
William frowned at Anna and said, “Fine! I want one of you to stay and the other to pick up the money tomorrow morning. You won’t see him unless you give me the cash.”
“William, you f*****g asshole!” Jennie tried to rush over to William and hit him. However, Anna stopped her.
Anna answered, “Okay, I’ll stay while she goes to the bank to get the money. But we have a request. I want to know if Ryan is still alive.”
William had no idea who Anna was. He looked at her and said, “Who the hell are you? Who are you to make a deal with me?”
Anna lied calmly and said, “I work at the hotel and I am Ryan’s best friend. You must allow me to see him! Otherwise, we’re not sure whether we will exchange $5 million for a corpse or a living person.”
Meanwhile, Jennie winced, gritted her teeth, and yelled angrily, “If Ryan gets hurt, I won’t give you a penny!”
Their words irritated William. He became even more enraged when he realized he wouldn’t be getting the money for a while. “Bring that guy over here,” he said, pacing around and kicking the man next to him.
The gang member bolted up the stairs. He then dragged Ryan to the ground and slammed him to the ground. Ryan stumbled and fell to the floor, landing on his back. His brows were covered with frost, and he appeared to have passed out.
“Ryan!” Anna and Jennie both shouted. But Ryan didn’t respond.
Jennie asked anxiously, “What did you do to him?”
William said impatiently, “He’s too weak to take the cold wind. It has nothing to do with me.”
Anna had suspected something was wrong from the beginning. Since they had brought the money, William should have turned over Ryan to. them. However, William didn’t do it until they forced him to do so.
“What’s wrong with him?” Anna asked angrily.
The gang member beside William grumbled, “Why are you speaking to
William this way? He’s far too frail! He has a high fever because he spent the night in the wind. This has absolutely nothing to do with us!”
“Shut up.” William gave him a stern look.
“Why don’t you guys take him to the hospital?” Out of nervousness, Jennie asked a stupid question. Then she realized they didn’t care if Ryan was sick because they kidnapped him. William said grimly, “Cut the crap! You have to give me the cash before twelve tomorrow! Otherwise, I will drown him in the lake!”
Because William was being too aggressive, Jennie knew it was not the time to deal with them. Her son was lying on the cold ground, making her heart ache, So, she had no choice but to agree to William’s demands and went downtown with a gang member to withdraw money from the bank.
Jennie left shortly after nightfall, so Anna had to stay there and wait with them for a long time. The wind was blowing in through the factory’s wall.
Taking a step back from William, Anna couldn’t bear the thought of Ryan lying on the cold floor. She said, “Will you help Ryan get up and find him a chair to sit in”
don’t give a f**k!” a gangster said, rolling his eyes at her.
Anna said grimly, “It’s too cold today, so he might get sicker if he lies on the floor all night. That way, you’re not going to get the money. And you will definitely regret it!”
William looked at them and said, “Shut the f**k up and go get him a damn chair.”
The man dragged a broken chair over and leaned it against the wall. He then helped Ryan sit on the chair and lean against the wall. For fear that he’d fall off, they roped him to the wall.
After that, William surveyed Anna, When he realized she had remained calm, he began to suspect her. He asked, “You’re Ryan’s best friend? How come I’ve never seen you before?”
“I was on vacation when you went there,” Anna replied calmly.
William frowned and did not ask any further questions. He didn’t mind that Jennie had brought Anna along with her. After all, he only wanted the money, and Jennie only wanted her son back
Much to his surprise, he never imagined that Jennie could manage to get five million dollars in such a short period or that she would have so much money. And he began to regret not having asked for more before.
When Anna noticed William’s eager and greedy eyes, she felt sick. She could obviously see that William had entirely destroyed Jennie’s life. Ifit weren’t for William, Jennie would’ve still been the naive affluent woman, and Wayne would not have become withdrawn. Anna believed that this selfish and cruel man was the source of all the tragedy.
Ithad already gotten late. Anna looked down at her watch and spotted the person beside Ryan resting against the wall, yawning, and appearing to fall asleep in the next second, William also appeared sleepy and smoked a cigarette every ten minutes to keep himself awake.
Then Anna coughed softly, signaling the teams to take action.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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