Chapter 177
William rushed to the scene. The maid had already called the property security guards, who had been trying to rescue for quite a while, and the fire department had arrived too.
Since the artificial lake had a pot-shaped bottom - shallow at the edges but deep in the middle - the search had been fruitless for a long time. Most likely, the person had already sunk to the center of the lake, and they would need to drain the water.
Everyone quickly got to work.
When the maid saw William, it was like she'd found her anchor.
"Mr. Morgan, I'm so sorry. I... I failed you. Miss Brown said it was stuffy inside and wanted to get some fresh air. I thought nothing could happen in the residential complex, so I came out with her. I just went upstairs to get some cookies, and Miss Brown disappeared."
The maid was crying her eyes out. She had lost track of the Morgan family's future heir - she felt like the sky was falling. She had worked for the Morgan family for so many years and had never made such a big mistake.
William didn't respond to the maid's confession. His mind was in turmoil.
He was also afraid of water. He nearly drowned while swimming as a child, and since then, he'd never dared to go near water again. It was Sarah who had dragged him out of the water, risking her own safety.
When he heard from the maid that Sarah had fallen into the lake, that feeling of death's terror enveloped him, making his whole heart clench.
Sarah had been forced by him to come live here, and now something had happened on his turf - drowning, of all things. Sarah could swim, but she was pregnant at the moment, which made it dangerous.
He felt he owed Sarah three lives - debts he could never repay in this lifetime.
The fire department had already launched a full professional rescue operation, but the person had been missing for over an hour. Even if they pulled her out, could she still be saved?
William's mind was already a complete mess.
At that moment, Sarah had already been taken to meet up with Nola.
Sarah didn't suffer much in the car. Those big guys knew she was pregnant and didn't dare be too rough.
The moment Sarah and Nola saw each other, they hugged in fright.
Sarah burst into tears and clung to Nola’s arms.
"Mom, Mom, what is this place? Have we been kidnapped?"
Nola had already cried herself hoarse. Now, seeing her precious daughter actually brought before her by those men of unknown identity, she completely lost it.
She knelt in the car and started banging her head, her forehead hitting the car floor with thudding sounds.
"Good sirs, please let my daughter go. The baby in her belly isn't even three months old yet. Please have mercy. You have families, too. Just let her go, I'm begging you."
Sarah didn't yet realize how serious things were. She stubbornly glanced at the two men who brought her and went to pull Nola up.
"Mom, get up. Don't beg them. I don't believe they'd dare kill anyone in broad daylight."
Nola cried with tears streaming, her hair a complete mess.
"Please let her go. She's carrying the heir to the Morgan Group. However much money you want, the Morgan family will pay it. If something happens to her, William Morgan definitely won't let this go."
Four men stood outside the van smoking. The old woman's crying was really annoying - they couldn't even smoke in peace.
"Stop crying!"
The man who spoke had a scar on his eyebrow and looked fierce - didn't look like a good person. When he yelled, Nola jumped in fright.
The man curled his lip.
"The sun's about to set. Save your tears to cry later. When it gets dark, we'll take you to a proper place to cry. If you can't cry then, we'll beat it out of you."
The other three men burst out laughing.
Nola felt even more uncertain.
"What exactly are you going to do?"
Scarface blew out a smoke ring, his posture casual, as if enjoying the show.
"You'll know when it gets dark. Oh, I wonder if you're afraid of ghosts? We'll take you to see some in a bit."
When Sarah heard Scarface say he'd take them to see ghosts, she looked terrified.
"What nonsense are you talking? There's no such thing as ghosts."
She'd been afraid of the dark since childhood, didn't even dare watch suspense dramas, let alone horror movies. Now she was thinking these men might throw her and Nola into a haunted house together, and she started to worry.
The sun set in the west, dyeing the horizon red.
Soon, the sky darkened.
One man stubbed out his cigarette, threw it on the ground, and stepped on it, asking,
"It's about time. Should we get ready?"
"Let's do it."
Sarah and Nola trembled in fear. They'd been kidnapped and trapped in this broken van, waiting until dark to "do it" - what good could come of this? Were they going to rape them and then harvest their organs?
Nola was already so scared she couldn't walk, losing control of her bladder and bowels.
Sarah was holding up better, probably because in the car, the men who brought her hadn't done anything too excessive to her.
The men took a rope from the trunk, tied both women's hands behind their backs, and dragged them out of the van. When Nola and Sarah saw the dense graves and tombstones in the distance, they immediately realized - this was the cemetery they'd visited two days ago.
Where that old bitch Nancy was buried.
Nola's legs went weak. She was already too scared to walk and had to be dragged forward by two men through the cemetery entrance.
Behind them, Sarah simply sat down on the ground and threw a tantrum, but was lifted up by two men with amazing arm strength and carried along.
Sarah and Nola cursed all the way. They'd already guessed who was behind this - it must be that little bitch's people coming to get revenge on them.
"Tell that little bitch Ava to come out. Tell her that her mother deserved to die, and she deserves to die too. She and Nancy - a pair of bitches!"
"Ava, come out! Show your face if you dare."
"Let go of me, let go..."
Sarah and Nola were dragged to Nancy's grave.
Nancy's grave had been given a new, clean headstone, with a circle of fresh flowers placed in front, and the grave had been repaired.
Nola and Sarah were completely tied up and forced to kneel before the grave. Scarface slapped each of them across the face.
"Now cry for me. If you can't cry, I'll gouge out your eyes."
Sarah had never experienced anything like this—tied up, brought to a cemetery to kneel, and beaten.
She said defiantly,
"Bah, what kind of trash was Nancy? Does she deserve me and my mother's mourning?"
Scarface went up and slapped her hard across the face again.
"Mourning? You think you're worthy? You're here to repent, to atone for your sins, got it? Now cry!"
Sarah struggled to break free from the ropes, while Nola had already lost all her strength - being able to stay kneeling there was already pretty good.
The leader had been silent the whole time. With a click, the sound of the lighter's wheel scraping echoed across the empty cemetery. The man lit a cigarette, took a drag, and ordered,
"Brothers, find a way to make these two stinking women cry. If they don't cry today, we won't get our final payment."
After all this effort, to earn half the money? That wouldn't do.
The other three men started working harder, taking turns with big slaps. After just a few, Nola surrendered first.
"Please spare us, we won't dare again, never again."
Sarah burst out crying with a wail.
"Mom, are we going to die?"
Only now did she feel true fear.