“You’re awake? Are you okay?” Lyle asked worriedly. He was about to walk towards me but was stopped by someone.
“We haven’t agreed on the terms yet, Mr. Smith. It’s best if you don’t step forward now. Your ex-wife is doing okay. I didn’t lie to you, did I?” the person said plainly as he blocked the former.
“Terms?” I glanced at Lyle, and then at the rest in the room. Suddenly, I realized that because of my bad luck, I encountered people who were competing with Lyle to get contracts or investors. However, they were unsuccessful, so they turned their attention to me.
But am I really unlucky?
Back then, the incident with Lyle, Crystal, and I caused such a huge commotion in Avenport. It wasn’t a secret that I was Lyle’s ex-wife. However, these people seemed to have mistaken something. Where did they get the confidence that this man would give up on his benefits for me? After all, the person he always loved was Crystal.
If Crystal hadn’t made so many mistakes, tricked Lyle, and even tried to take over the Smith family’s assets, it wouldn’t have been my place to speak.
“Just say what you want.” He took a glance at me, a guilty look on his face. He must have never expected me to be dragged into his mess.
“It’s simple. We were the ones who were supposed to have the project. If it wasn’t for you getting in our way and taking it away from us, we wouldn’t have lost such a great opportunity. As long as you sign the contract that says that you’ll give me the project, I’ll let go of your ex-wife,” someone answered.
“For no other conditions?” Lyle scoffed. “I’ve already spent fifty thousand just for this project, and I finally got my hands on it. Why should I give it to you just like that?”
His words were cold, and it didn’t seem like he had any intentions of backing down.
“What? Are you going to be so cruel that you won’t even care about your ex-wife anymore?” The scrawny man standing next to me became frantic and started to wave the knife he was holding before me. “What’s the point? It’s just fifty thousand. The Smith family is powerful and wealthy. You can’t possibly tell me that you can’t pay fifty thousand, can you?”
“What if I say no?” Lyle questioned scornfully. “If you’re going to kidnap someone, shouldn’t you have stopped to think first? If you had kidnapped Crystal, I would agree to whatever condition you propose. But as for Yvonne, do you really think fifty thousand is worth it? She’s the daughter-in-law of the Lane family. Do you think Christopher Lane’s woman has anything to do with me? Or are you implying that I should give him a call to let him know that his woman has been kidnapped and that he would have to pay compensation to let her go? Do you need me to talk through the conditions with him?”
My heart sank, and I got more worried upon hearing his words. Even though I was dragged into this mess because of Lyle, his words were still true. In the past, as he stood before Crystal and me, he didn’t even want to save me. That was why it wasn’t much of a surprise that he wasn’t willing to save me now.
Will I die here in Yorksland if he doesn’t save me? My only regret is that I didn’t manage to find Christopher.
“Are you really not going to care, Lyle? I could kill her right now,” the scrawny man said. He had already put the knife by my throat. I could feel that it was extremely sharp even though it had only slightly grazed my skin.
Lyle remained nonchalant. He swept a glance at me before saying, “I don’t mind. However, you’ll be the ones ending up in misery if you touch her. The Lane family isn’t as easy to handle as the Smith family. Let’s not talk about Mr. Darius for now. Old Mr. Lane was an important person back when he used to be a governor. And as for Christopher, do you think he’d feed you to the dogs if he found out what you did?”
“You-”
My heart felt empty having heard his words. Not only was he not going to save me, but he was also adding fuel to the fire. These men were already angered, and I could feel the man beside me bringing the knife closer to my neck. Am I really going to die here?
