Kate burst into tears when the burly, middle-aged man with an axe seized her. "Save me, Mrs. Ripley!""Don't move, Kate. Calm down. I'm going to save you!"Lucy took a deep breath. "We can talk it out, mister. Let her go, now. She's just five years old, for God's sake!"Lucy tried getting closer as she spoke. But the man held the axe and said in an agitated tone, "Stay back. I said stay back, all of you!"He brandished his axe, looking like he was about to chop Kate's head off at any given moment. Lucy saw it, and her heart leaped to her throat. Although Kate wasn't her daughter, she'd spent substantial time with her. She loved Kate for how smart and adorable she was. Naturally, she wouldn't want anything to happen to the little girl. The people around them also screamed ceaselessly. More than half of them ran away. Only the bolder people stayed at the scene. Some of them recorded the whole thing, while some of them called the police. Lucy put her hands up, signaling to the m
The axeman's behavior swiftly caught the attention of the media and the police, who rushed to the scene.At the scene, the police tried negotiating with him through a loudspeaker, persuading him to release the hostages. They tried convincing him to turn over a new leaf. However, the axeman didn't open the door—he continued to imprison Lucy and Kate in the small pantry in the coffee shop.The lights in the pantry were turned off, and it was dark around them. The airtight environment made it hard to breathe.Lucy and Kate's hands and feet were tied with ropes. Kate's neck was bleeding, and she was about to pass out from the claustrophobic space.Lucy heard the police from the outside. "Listen to me, whoever you are. Please release the hostages. As long as the hostages are safe, we can discuss any terms you want…""Get Tobias Ripley here! I want to speak to him! Otherwise, I will kill them!"Tobias?Lucy's heart dropped. Initially, she thought she had been overthinking it. To her
"What did you say? Lucy is being held hostage?" Tobias' face drained of color, and his eyes widened. His heart was about to jump out of his body when he heard Lucy was held hostage."Damn it!" He would obliterate anyone who dared to hurt Lucy."Send me the location!"Tobias received the location Finn sent and sprinted to his car. It was as if the vehicle grew wings and zoomed off in the blink of an eye.In the car, Tobias asked, "What is going on? How did she get held hostage? Who is this person? Have we done a thorough check on the guy?"Finn replied over the phone, "The police have identified him as a 50-year-old man, Simon Lombardi. He requested that you speak with him at the scene.""Is he after me? Who sent him?"He had always attracted hate when he got in the way of someone's plans in the business field, so he was often the target of malicious schemes."Mr. Ripley, I found out through my investigation that he was the resident who posed an obstacle to our Pentacirclet Av
Everyone present had been riled up at first. Only God knew where Tobias got such authority from, but his statement instantly silenced everyone.Simon was unafraid of him and shouted, "Okay, I'll let you talk. You should come clean to everyone and explain how you forced the demolition and penny-pinched our compensation for the demolition!"Tobias scoffed at his statement. His smile slowly turned grim, as if he were covered in a layer of frost, giving off a cold and ruthless air.Simon was so terrified by Tobias' demeanor that he staggered backward. But since he hadn't gotten what he wanted, he continued to shriek, "What are you smiling at? The police and media are here. Let's see how long you can stay arrogant. "Are you scared? If you are, pay me the compensation for the demolition right now! If I don't receive eight million dollars, you can kiss demolishing my house goodbye!"Tobias quirked his eyebrow disapprovingly. "Who are you to negotiate terms with me?""Y-You…" Simon wa
Everyone was confused and unsure what had happened in the coffee shop. Suddenly, the door flung open.The police were on guard as they aimed their guns at the entrance of the coffee shop. However, to everyone's surprise, Lucy appeared before everyone's eyes."Babe!" Tobias shrieked and rushed to her. Seeing that, the police put down their weapons."Are you okay? Did anything happen to you?" Tobias held her shoulders and looked her up and down.Lucy was covered in dust. A black substance was on her face, making her look like a cat. She blinked, her eyes glistening like the stars in the night."I'm okay, darling. I heard what he said, and I'm so furious. He was distorting the truth and lying. I couldn't take it anymore and turned back to whack him!""Turn back?" Tobias quirked his eyebrow; he had noticed a keyword in her statement."Yeah, we had escaped before he noticed. Then, I crawled back in and gave him a piece of my mind!"Everyone around them buried their faces in their ha
At a corner, Rhett's wrist was bleeding when he had grazed it during his fall. He didn't care about his bleeding wrist and rushed to them, asking, "My dearest sister, are you okay?"Tobias held Lucy up. He heard how Rhett addressed her and glanced at him. Then, he retracted his gaze and looked at Lucy again.During that dangerous moment, Tobias hadn't been able to push Lucy away in time, so he could only hug her in his arms. Even if Simon's blade came at them, it would only hurt him!However, he had never expected an accident to happen—Simon's blade had grazed Lucy's and Kate's arms."Shit, you got hurt in the end!" He had risked his life to save Lucy. He felt guilty and blamed himself as he saw that she was hurt."It's okay, Tobias." Lucy noticed the blood on his arm, making her heart ache terribly. She asked in shock, "Darling, why are you bleeding?"Then, Tobias realized that his hand had started bleeding without him noticing. However, it didn't hurt much, so he said nonchalan
Lucy didn't know what Tobias had in mind. Confused, she asked, "We're only mildly injured. Why do we need a blood test?"Tobias explained, "Who knows what might go wrong? It's better to be safe than sorry. It won't take much to get a check-up."Rhett wanted to get another DNA test done with Lucy but didn't have the opportunity to get Lucy's blood or hair sample. Now, the opportunity was right before his eyes.So, he played along and said, "Mr. Ripley is right. We should get a blood test. Who knows if there was anything wrong with that man?"Since they had both said so, Lucy had no choice but to follow the majority."Okay."As they conversed, they arrived at the hospital, and the group exited the ambulance. They placed Kate, who was still unconscious, on the gurney. After running a series of tests, the doctor said she was in shock and would potentially stay unconscious for some time.Then, the adults went to get a blood test done.…Joey hadn't seen Tobias since the latter ha
As Joey walked toward the laboratory, her phone rang. "Madam Joey, something terrible has happened. Ms. Hudson fainted.""What?" Rather than worry and concern, a glint flickered in her eyes. She asked, "Why did she faint? Has she gone to get herself checked?""We've brought her to Central Hospital. The doctors are checking on her as we speak."Coincidentally, Joey was in Central Hospital. "Give me her room number. Please take extra good care of her. She might be pregnant!""Okay."After ending the call, Joey glanced at the laboratory and decided to look.The doctor in the laboratory went to test the blood samples. When Joey quietly entered, she overheard a conversation between two doctors."This is weird. Mr. Ripley and Mr. Rhett decided to run a DNA test with Ms. Everhart. Did they plan this? Why would they secretly run separate tests instead of doing it together?""I have no idea!"The news struck Joey like a roaring thunder. Back then, she had meddled in Lucy's DNA test wit