"Please, Mr. Williams. Have mercy on my husband! Please… I'm begging you… We'll do anything! Please let him go…"Torsten smirked at this and said coldly, "Well, that was easy, wasn't it? Why did it have to take you so long?"Then, with a quick wave, he gestured for his student to release Hayden, who fell to the ground in a crumpled heap, clutching his neck as he panted for breath!Samantha rushed over to his side and helped him to his feet, looking frightened. "My dear, how are you feeling? Are you okay?"Hayden shook his head, his entire face flushed crimson from the effort it took him to get air into his lungs, then cast Torsten a nervous glance and muttered, "Mr… Mr. Williams, we'll do exactly as you say…"To which Torsten grinned sinisterly and replied, "Amazing! Well, there's no time like the present, is there? Get Celena Stone to meet me for dinner at seven o'clock tonight. If she doesn't show, you'll have me to answer to!"With that, he stood up and swept out of the room,
Reginald did not reply, and instead merely sat there, looking solemn and deep in thought.Samantha, on the other hand, was rather annoyed by her husband's brief display of kindness. She scoffed and snapped, "My dear, what are you trying to say? What do you mean, we'll be delivering her right into the jowls of a wolf? Who was it that landed us in this predicament in the first place? Whose fault was it? Liam was the one who had offended the Nasso Group in the first place, and he is the very reason we are in this spot of trouble today! He should've known better!"Another member of the Stones seemed equally irked by Hayden's statement, for he called out sharply, "Samantha's right! It was Liam's fault in the first place, and now that he's gotten all of us into trouble, why shouldn't we give Celena up, knowing she's the only possible solution to this problem?"The remaining Stones all fell silent upon hearing this.After a pause, Reginald turned to glance at Yafe and asked, "Yafe, Celena
Meanwhile, Cheryl stood at the sidelines, watching gleefully as the clan argued over their fate. She thought to herself, 'That wretched Celena! She's finally met her fate! Perhaps too much beauty is not necessarily a good thing at all!'With a sinister smile playing on her lips, Cheryl slowly made her way to the center and laced her arm around Reginald's lovingly. In a syrupy sweet voice she added, "Grandpa, if it were up to me, I would've said yes to Mr. Williams immediately! There's no point keeping Celena around. She doesn't care about us, and all she thinks about is that good-for-nothing husband of hers! He's got her wrapped around his finger! When has she ever thanked you for all that you've done for her?"Just take a look around! Is she anywhere to be found right now, knowing what trouble her husband has landed our entire family into? She doesn't care! All she does is cause trouble left and right while leaving the rest of us to pick up after her!"Reginald scowled at this, and
Celena, although unsure of what was going on, knew that her father's sudden arrival could mean nothing good. She was practically shaking like a leaf as she replied timidly, "He went out to get the groceries…" "Pffft!" Yafe snorted, then said disdainfully, "What a useless piece of sh*t! What kind of man does the shopping? It's probably because he knows what else to do with his life!"With that, he turned to Celena with a sneer. "Well then, that makes things much easier. Boys, get her!"His men lumbered forward, prised Celena and Jovie apart, then quickly bound her tightly with ropes so that she could not move even an inch. Her face was as pale as a ghost as she cried out, thrashing and flailing, "Father! What are you doing? Why are you tying me up? Let me go!"Jovie, on the other hand, was kicked aside and landed with a thump on the ground. The next moment, all she could see was her mother being captured and restrained, and she lunged forward, trying to get these people away from C
"Tell me then, why did you have to return to us in the first place? You're nothing but a curse to this family! You've brought nothing but disaster and calamity everywhere you go! There has never been a peaceful moment ever since you returned to the Stone family! This was all you and your husband's fault!" Yafe said with bitterness and resentment that Celena had never seen before. This was his first time ever admitting out loud his hatred toward Celena. Although Celena knew that her father had never liked her very much, it was still a great shock to hear him admitting just how much he despised her, so much so that he was willing to deliver her right into the hands of another man. She was at an utter loss for words. Yafe merely scoffed at the look of astonishment on Celena's face and gestured to his men. "Take her away, boys!"With that, he turned and swept out of the yard, with his men following closely behind as they dragged Celena between them. By the time Celena snapped out of
Jovie burst into tears, grateful to have her heroic father home. "Daddy… Why did it take you so long… Daddy… They took Mommy away…"Jovie clung to her father like a drowning swimmer that had found shore. She was panting heavily from all the crying, and her eyes were swollen to twice their original size, but she did not stop crying for her mother. Liam, however, froze upon hearing this. The next moment, comprehension dawned on him, and a glint of malice flashed through his eyes.Someone took Celena away!He patted Jovie's back reassuringly, then waited for her to calm down before asking, "Jovie, you have to tell me everything. What happened? Where's Mommy? Who took her?"Jovie replied, hiccuping, "Daddy, there were a lot of bad guys here… They took Mommy away… It was Grandpa… He took Mommy away…"A surge of cold fury washed over Liam when he heard Yafe was behind this. He clenched his fists, making his knuckles crack menacingly, but he knew he had to tend to his daughter first.
"Did something happen? What can possibly be worse than almost getting killed by the Nasso Group? Anything less than that should be the least of our worries!""Come on, we already brought Celena over as Mr. Williams requested, so what's the worst that can happen?" The Stones whispered among themselves. Reginald was not around, so Yafe sat at the head of the table, sipping leisurely on his cup of tea as he toyed with a couple of walnuts in his hand. When he heard this, he smiled and replied coolly, "Come on, it's just some unpredictable weather, don't make a fuss out of it. Besides, I've already brought Celena to the hotel where Mr. Williams is staying, and didn't he promise that he wouldn't touch us once we fulfill that request of his?"Yafe said this with a sneer, as though he had not just sent his own daughter to her doom. In fact, he seemed rather pleased that he had successfully mitigated the entire Stone family's impending downfall.Sherah snickered at this and added, "Yafe is
At this point, the rest of the Stones had snapped out of their stupor and were shooting Liam murderous looks."Liam! What on earth are you doing here? Do you have any idea what you just did?""This is unacceptable! We cannot tolerate such behavior coming from a good-for-nothing like you!""How dare you disrespect us like this? All of us here are your elders, and you should be treating us with respect! What gives you the right to behave this way?"The Stones were practically seething with rage at Liam's audacity to barge in unannounced. A middle-aged man who was a distant uncle of Celena's leaped to his feet and stomped over to Liam, propelled by his indignation at being shown such disrespect. He pointed a stubby finger at Liam and shouted, "This is unacceptable! Liam, you have trespassed into the Stone family's territory, and I'm warning you, you better get out of here, or else—"Before he could even finish his sentence, however, Liam punched him squarely in the middle of his ches