Paul glanced at Alec from the ICU entrance and sat by the door. At that moment, he was incredibly troubled by Jenny's words even though he didn't believe her. He was sure that Stephanie loved him. It would be impossible for her to be with another man in such a short time. But what if…At that thought, he had the urge to meet with Stephanie and question her. Still, he had to put that on hold because Alec had not woken up.Meanwhile, Jenny hung around in the staff lounge after the surgery. She didn't have to work the subsequent shift, but she stayed on anyway for reasons unknown. Perhaps, she fully knew what was going on in her mind but was reluctant to admit it.The hospital was tranquil at night, and Alec was in stable condition. However, the same could not be said for some others in Bardoff City.At 3 am, Jenny finally managed to fall asleep in the lounge but was woken up by her ringing phone. She shot up, thinking that something might have happened to Alec, only to realize it was
Half an hour later, the car rolled to a stop by the interstate highway."The police said they only have surveillance footage up to this point. If we want to investigate further, we'll have to look into private surveillance cameras," Neil briefed Jenny, following closely behind her. She surveyed the surroundings and noticed the lack of surveillance cameras. Since the abductors had deliberately dodged the areas with surveillance, they could not be easily tracked down. A short pause later, she instructed him, "Get someone to make a copy of all available surveillance footage along this route.""All of them?" Neil sounded doubtful."All of them." She nodded. Although Neil was confused, he still carried her orders because she was the de facto head of the Walter family now that Graham had disappeared.Once he was gone, Jenny drove the car down the route slowly. She wracked her brain to figure out the destination where the abductors were headed with Graham and James. "Could they be kept
Graham's worries were not unfounded. James frowned at his words. "I think there's a tiny possibility of that happening, so we can't rule it out. Why don't we ask them right away?" Then, he kicked the table beside him, and it toppled over.The huge crash attracted the attention of those who were standing guard outside. Someone entered the room—it was the blond man, the same one that had attacked Jenny."Wow! What do you want, gentlemen? You don't act like prisoners, do you?" He was pissed when he detected no hint of fear on Graham and James' faces. James ignored his smirk and asked, "What do you want?"The blond man was stunned by James' boldness. Then, he chuckled and said, "You two are clever men." He didn't abduct them for no good reason. If he had followed the instructions of the Glasses, he would have killed off the two hostages instead of going through the trouble of hiding them.James scoffed, thinking, "Isn't that obvious? I don't even need to guess.""I bet you know who'
Graham and James were well aware of the blond man's craftiness but did not object to the ransom amount. "Money is not a problem. But how can you guarantee you'd let us go after you get the money?" James asked. In his eyes, the abductors had no credibility at all."Mr. Windsor, just trust us," the blond man offered a lackadaisical promise, unconcerned with whether Graham and James were convinced, knowing full well they had no other option. His hostages didn't have the luxury of giving up their only hope, even if he walked back on the promise. That was the reason behind his cockiness.James glanced at him but did not call him out. "How about this? We'll pay you the first 300 million dollars to release Mr. Walter. You can let me go when you receive the second payment," he suggested. At the very least, one of them could be free. Graham would be safe even if the blond man took back his word."No!" Graham spoke ahead of the blond man. "James, you leave first. I'll be the last to go." He
James wanted to chat with Jenny, but the blond man was aiming the gun at him. His intention was obvious; he didn't want James to waste time. James said, "They told me they'll only let us go if we pay 300 million dollars each.""Tell him that's not a problem, but we will do the exchange in person," Jenny replied. The blond man heard her answer through speaker mode and said, "Wire the money. I will text you the account later. Remember, Miss Walter, you don't have a choice now."Hearing that, she bit her lips, struggling to keep her composure. "Okay. But I need to talk to my dad. I need to make sure he's safe." Knowing that Graham was shot in the thigh, she'd be worried if she couldn't verify that he was safe.The blond man was happy to oblige her at the thought of the incoming 600 million dollars. James handed the phone to Graham. Graham took the call and assured her, "Jenny, I'm fine.""Dad, don't worry. I'll get you out," she comforted him and added, "Is everything okay over ther
Kevin was well aware of the obstacles in his path that Jenny brought up. More than that, he wanted to understand her motive. Perhaps, he now had a newfound respect for her because she had survived their attack. "Miss Walter, what do you want out of this?""My goal is simple; do not lay a finger on your hostages. If you're worried about revenge from the Glasses, I can solve that problem for you." Jenny was satisfied with her proposed solution. Kevin had no good reason to turn her down unless he didn't want to get out of Clusia safely.Indeed, Kevin hesitated at the attractive offer. The problem of leaving Clusia after getting the ransom weighed heavily on his mind. Jenny remained calm in the face of his silence. At the same time, she urged Neil to work faster to locate Graham and James. Two minutes later, Kevin chuckled. "I'll consider your suggestion.""Great. I'll wait for your reply," Jenny replied. Kevin hung up soon after when she did not insist on staying on the line. Pushi
Sunlight poured into the hospital room. Alec opened his eyes and was greeted with the sight of the white ceiling above his head. Briefly dazed, he furrowed his brows in pain when a rush of painful memories flooded in. That was perhaps the reason his heart rate increased, causing the machine at the headboard to beep incessantly. A nurse immediately rushed in to check on him. Call the doctor," she told another nurse. She checked Alec's vitals while the other went to get the doctor. When the doctor arrived, Alec was finally feeling like himself. He could recall all the memories from his past, but that overwhelmed him a little. Once the doctor was done with the check-up, he called out to Alec, "Mr. Faust?"Although there didn't seem to be any issues with Alec's physical health, the doctor noticed that Alec's mental state seemed off. "Could something else be wrong with him?" the doctor wondered."Yeah, I'm fine," Alec answered, voice hoarse. He hadn't taken any solids or liquids after
When morning came, the news of Graham and James' abductions was at the center of public attention as the business day started. As Jenny expected, the stock price of Walter Inc and Windsor Corp took a plunge right as the market opened. The two families had no choice but to release a joint statement to assure the investors about Graham and James' safety, promising that the incident would not have any material impact on the two companies.Jenny didn't have to worry about that because she had a team to deal with public relations. She had arrived at the small town and began exploring every nook and cranny that had anything to do with logs.Ten minutes away from the one-hour deadline, she was sweating profusely and still stuck in the middle of the search. She had also instructed her staff to wire Kevin the money right in time to be safe.At the logging factory, Kevin stared at his phone, annoyed he hadn't received the wire notification. "Call Jenny Walter and ask her if she is giving up o