Spencer received a call from Eric while in the helicopter. "Hey, Dad. What? When?"His expression darkened, and his demeanor turned frosty. Ethan and Zachary immediately realized something was wrong.Spencer said, "Leave it to me, Dad."An hour ago, Lila had gone missing. She'd met up with a friend that morning and was supposed to return by 3:30 pm but had yet to come home despite it being almost 4:00 pm.She hadn't even bothered calling, which had struck Eric as odd. He'd called her, but neither she nor the driver could be reached.So, he'd called Lila's friend. The latter told him they'd gone their separate ways at 2:30 pm. Only then did Eric realize something was wrong.He knew Lila like the back of his hand. Even if she had other things to attend to, she would've told him that she'd be out later than expected. There was no way she would ignore his calls. So, Eric had asked someone to check the surveillance cameras.From the surveillance footage, it was clear that Lila had go
Lucille fired at the tunnel's ceiling. The sound reverberated throughout the tunnel. Then, she swiftly aimed her gun at the ground and fired it.This stunned everyone, including Dexter. Those who'd doubted Lucille earlier now knew that she wouldn't hesitate to fire.One of Dexter's men shouted, "They're at the tunnel's exit!"Lucille frowned at that. Then, she told Tobias, "Let's head to the tunnel's exit. Take him with us."Tobias replied, "Yes, Ms. Lucille."Dexter was in their hands, so his men could only stand there and watch as they took him away. Lucille drove while Tobias sat in the back with Dexter."Aren't we going to do anything about Dex, Loco?" a man asked another man with a crew cut.Loco was the man who'd earlier answered Lucille's question. "Mettle and the others are at the exit. She's not getting anywhere."His eyes glinted slyly. "Knock the cars aside. We have to go after them."Meanwhile, in Lucille's car, Dexter suppressed the pain from his broken ankle and
After Lucille hung up, Dexter turned to Tobias and asked, "Who was the Spencer she mentioned?"Tobias knew Lucille was already married, of course. He rolled his eyes at Dexter. "How many people do you think have the name Spencer Layton? He's the man you're thinking of, dude. Spencer Layton, the head of the Layton family."He nodded at Lucille. "She's his lawfully wedded wife."His words made Dexter feel like a bomb had detonated in his mind. His head and ears buzzed, and his voice was shaky as he mumbled, "But… that person told me she was from one of the Layton family's other branches…"He raised his head. Even in the dim lighting, it was clear his forehead was covered in sweat. Some drops of sweat even trickled down the sides of his face. There was no telling whether the sweat had formed due to his pain or due to his fear of offending someone he couldn't afford to offend.The longer he stared at Lucille, the more panicked he became. Only then did he recall her calling Hunter by h
Connor called Spencer. "Taylor's made a run for it."Spencer said coldly, "Find him, dead or alive.""Got it."…Meanwhile, Taylor sat in a room in an underground base. He was watching the screens before him with relish. One showed Connor arriving at his villa with a few people and coming back out shortly after. The other showed the inside of a car, where Lila sat.Her hands and legs were bound, and her mouth was taped shut. She looked a little disheveled, but her expression was relatively calm.Taylor couldn't help smiling menacingly at the sight. It was disgusting. He hadn't abducted Lila to threaten Lucille. No, it was because he wanted Spencer to lose the two most important women in his life.Once a person had a weakness, it was easy to use it against them. Even if Taylor ultimately lost the fight for the Layton family, he wouldn't allow Spencer to have a happily ever after. He wanted the latter to spend the rest of his life in hatred and anguish.Spencer thought he could
"Boss, the tracker shows that Mrs. Layton is moving rapidly." Seamus handed his tablet to Spencer. It showed a red dot speeding ahead.Spencer's brows were tightly furrowed as he ordered, "Check where she's going!"Seamus immediately turned to his laptop. Soon, he pulled up a terrain map of the direction Lucille was heading toward. "Based on the direction Mrs. Layton is headed, Solnine Bridge is about 1.5 miles ahead of her. Solnine River is beneath the bridge.""How long will we take to get there?" Spencer asked."About 30 to 40 minutes."…Meanwhile, Lucille finally saw a car parked on Solnine Bridge after racing forward at full speed for a few minutes. It was on the opposite side of traffic, though.The screeching of a car's brakes pulled Lila back to her senses. She looked up to see a slender figure jump out of the car opposite hers. It was Lucille.She wondered what Lucille was doing there when she saw the latter deftly jump over the median barrier and run to her.Lucille
Lila hadn't expected to experience an abduction at her age. It hadn't happened to her when she was younger. She didn't have any regrets in life, really.She'd married a great guy and had given birth to two outstanding sons. She even had a wonderful daughter-in-law. Her only regret was that she couldn't witness Spencer and Lucille's wedding."I promised Spencer I'd bring you home safe and sound, Mom," Lucille said. She bent down to undo the cable around Lila's foot. "Don't worry, okay? I won't let anything happen to you."She'd observed the cable earlier. As long as the pressure on the cable remained, the bomb wouldn't go off. That way, she would have time to get Lila out safely.But first, she needed to untie the rope around Lila's ankles. The cable was tied to the ropes. If she could arrive at this conclusion, so could Taylor. That was why the rope around Lila's ankles had been tied in a complex manner. Untying them would take time, and time was something Lucille didn't have."Af
Lila was telling Lucille about Spencer and Seth's childhood when Lucille suddenly said, "We're good to go, Mom."Lucille had untied the rope around Lila's ankles but couldn't move. She could only tell Lila to lift her feet and move them away slowly."Slowly lift your feet, Mom," she said. "Be careful not to touch the rope I'm holding.""Okay. But what about you?"Lucille looked up at her, her smile comforting. "Don't worry. I'll be fine."Taylor heard their conversation through the surveillance equipment in the car. He hadn't expected Lucille to be able to get Lila free. It looked like he'd underestimated her.She was intelligent, beautiful, calm in the face of adversity, and decisive when the situation called for it. She was a rare species. It was too bad she was about to leave the world.Lila held her breath as she carefully lifted her feet and moved away. Just then, Lucille glanced at the front of the car. She saw a decorative animal's eye hanging before the passenger seat; a
Taylor laughed while saying, "If you get out of the car now, my men will immediately shoot Lila dead."Lucille finally felt threatened. She couldn't outrun a sniper's bullet no matter how fast she was, and she wasn't sure how many people Taylor had hidden in the shadows.She mocked, saying, "This is all you're capable of, Taylor. Using innocent people to achieve your objective is the only thing you can do."Taylor knew what she meant but didn't let it bother him. "It doesn't matter what my methods are as long as the result is what I want."Lucille sat in the backseat. She had nothing to hide—Taylor could see everything she was doing anyway. He suddenly said, "I'm pretty reluctant to part with you, actually. You tick all the boxes for what I like in a woman."She almost rolled her eyes. "You're a freak."Her left hand was in the surveillance camera's blind spot, so she secretly pulled out her phone and put it behind her. She knew exactly where to press, even if she couldn't see