Chapter 352 I’m Quite Skilled
“From the two numbers you gave me, one is a virtual number which changes its location every five minutes. It will take a while to track that one, but I’ve already found out the address of the other number and sent it to you,” Elijah said over the phone.
“Alright. Hang on and let me see,” Courtney said before she hurriedly checked her phone.
Sure enough, it was a hotel in Shanghai.
After walking out of the airport, she beckoned for a cab. “Sir, to this hotel, please.” When the car started moving, she placed her cell phone next to her ear again. “Hello, Elijah. I’m in the cab now.”
“Okay, inform me once you reach the place. I’ve already asked someone to track the virtual number, and the results will most probably be out this evening.”
“Okay.”
Just when she was about to hang up, Elijah suddenly asked, “Courtney, does this have something to do with Alexander again?”
“Yeah, and it’s quite serious this time.”
“Where is he? Why is he always putting you into such dangerous situations?”
“It’s a long story, and I can’t explain it now. I’ll tell you about it once I have settled everything.”
Hearing that, Elijah was silent for a while before hanging up, as though he was angry.
Courtney glanced at her phone helplessly without caring too much. To her, Elijah was like a brother—he had been kind to her for so long that she found it normal and took it for granted. Of course, an older brother wouldn’t stay mad at his younger sister for long, so she sent another text to rush him. ‘Please be quick about that virtual number.’
Unbeknownst to her, Elijah was in a rather bad mood across the ocean, wondering why the woman whom he had held so carefully in his hands for almost five years started to live a worrywart life after she was by Alexander’s side.
The hotel was a little out of the way, but it was close to the airport, which was within a thirty minutes’ drive.
It was already midnight by the time Courtney reached Fiona’s room. Fiona was worn-out and tired; the shock she had received over the past few days was written all over her face, and she was astonished when she saw Courtney at her door.
“What are you doing here?”
“I’m worried that something might happen to you. Don’t even think about shaking me off. It’s better to have an extra person around to help out.” Marching into the room, Courtney set aside her complaints and said, “Madam, you left without a word this morning. What happened?”
Seeing that Courtney had traveled miles to be here, Fiona had mixed feelings and was embarrassed to hide anything from her anymore. “Felipe called me and said that I should go alone to hand over the money. I’m afraid that something unexpected might happen, so I don’t want to bring anyone along.”
“So, you’re waiting obediently to take the bait, knowing that there might be unexpected situations?” Courtney felt that she had a newfound understanding of the simplicity of her future mother-in-law’s mind. “Madam, what were you thinking? If the situation really turned out bad and Oliver couldn’t come home, you may not be able to return as well.”
“I’m prepared for this. No matter what, I can’t drag you guys into this anymore.”
“But I’m not just anyone.” Courtney took a deep breath as she needed to gather some courage to say such boastful words. “I’m practically your daughter-in-law. Even though I’m not married into the family yet, do you not plan to acknowledge me?”
Her words stunned Fiona, who looked at her in disbelief. After a long while, she finally returned to her senses and said sadly, “No, of course I acknowledge you.”
“That’s great, then.” A comforting smile spread across Courtney’s face. “Just relax. I’ve already arranged everything.”
“What did you do?”
“Don’t worry about it. Anyway, I’m going with you tomorrow. I’m quite skillful, and I can help you win a bit of time when the time comes. When it’s time to run, then we will run.”
Although Fiona wanted to turn her down, Courtney sounded so certain that she couldn’t refuse.
It was a sleepless night. The agreed time on the next day was supposed to be 2.00PM but it was later changed to 3.00PM; every time Courtney and Fiona reached a spot, they would receive a call saying that the transaction would be delayed for another hour at a new spot. In the end, it dragged on until 7.00PM, and since it was winter, the sky was already completely dark at that time.
Felipe’s voice sounded even more grim over the phone. “After leaving the city, go 50 kilometers north. There’s a power plant right next to the river. I’m waiting for you here. If you call the police, I assure you that you’ll never get to see your son again.”
“Don’t touch him!” Gritting her teeth, Fiona hissed, “I already prepared the money. If he loses even one strand of hair, I’ll perish with you, and nobody will have anything to gain.”
Felipe snorted. “Cut your crap and come over quickly. One minute late, and I’ll cut off a finger from him to feed it to the fishes in the river. Your son wants to be a police officer, right? I would like to see which criminal investigation team would accept a disabled person.”
The things he said were so terrifying to Fiona that she almost broke down. Along the way, Courtney watched as color gradually faded from Fiona’s face, and now, even her lips were pale, and there was no trace of blood left on her face after being tortured so much.
Actually, Felipe was playing around with them in a test to find out if they had really called the police. If they really did, it would be impossible for the police to redeploy to the spot he had just informed in such a short notice. In addition, he had changed the spots so many times, and it would be difficult to hide the police if such a big batch of them were moving from place to place.
On the way to the north of the city, Courtney tried to distract the jittery feelings in Fiona by speaking with her while driving. “Didn’t you tell me that Felipe already married a rich woman? Why is he still doing this?”
Fiona’s face turned solemn at the mention of this. “He was born to be a curse to people. Back then, his ex-wife divorced him because he owed too much in gambling debts, and I’m afraid he didn’t change this bad habit of his until now. No matter how rich the woman he finds is, it’s impossible for her to fill up such a big hole for him her whole life.”
Courtney was speechless.
In the abandoned power plant in the north of the city, a dim yellow light bulb swung from the wire on the second floor. The two men who were in charge of guarding the place stomped back and forth on the concrete floor as they shivered from the cold.
“It’s f*cking cold. There will be snow in Shanghai tonight, and the temperature will drop to below freezing point. Felipe couldn’t have chosen a better time to do this; now, we have to freeze ourselves in the cold.”
“The nerve of you to speak about timing. Think about it—it will be a major holiday soon, and if Felipe is unable to come up with the money for his gambling debt, do you think his wife will forgive him when he returns?”
One of the men quickly covered his mouth and whispered, “Shah! Do you want to die? If he hears you saying something like this so loudly, he’ll kill you first for sure!”
“Uh! Are you f*cking—” Finally, the man broke free and spat, “Are you f*cking trying to suffocate me? Felipe is making a call on the top floor, trying to please his wife now. He doesn’t have the time to be bothered about us.”
Speaking of Felipe on a phone call with his wife, both men exchanged glances and laughed sarcastically.
Felipe joined the underworld gang after taking his wife’s family name during marriage; they wouldn’t have listened to any of his commands if it wasn’t because of his wife.
The winds were strong on the balcony as Felipe breathed out a puff of vapor. Despite the fact that he was shaking from the cold, he said pleasingly into the phone, “Darling, I’m not having fun outside, and I’ll be back in a couple of days. I’ve already collected all the debts people owed me. Don’t worry. Not a single penny will be missing from that ten million.”
