Chapter 171
The thought sent a flash of venom through Chloe's eyes.
She picked up her phone, connected to an encrypted network, and placed a video call.
"Why are you calling me? Is it done?"
"Nora, we have a huge problem!" Chloe took a deep breath, her face full of panic.
"What problem?"
Nora frowned, her expression impatient.
"Charlotte... she's not dead!" Chloe stammered through everything that had happened today. "Not only is she back, but she's traced it back to me—she knows we tried to kill her!"
"Nora, you have to think of something to stop her!"
"What?" On the other end, Nora was equally shocked. Her expression darkened as she cursed, "Useless! You can't even handle something this simple!"
"Didn't I tell you to make it clean? How could you..."
Hearing Nora's blame, Chloe's temper flared. She couldn't help but snap back.
"How was I supposed to know it would turn out like this? And if I remember correctly, you're the one who found the people to execute the plan. Now that something's gone wrong, how is this suddenly my fault?"
"Nora, we're in this together. If Charlotte comes after me, you won't escape either!"
"Are you threatening me?" Nora's face instantly darkened.
"I'm not threatening you—I'm just stating facts!"
Chloe's voice grew louder. "Am I wrong?"
"Given Charlotte's temper, do you really think she'll let you off the hook? You—"
Halfway through her sentence, an incoming call suddenly interrupted their conversation.
The moment she saw that number, Chloe's face went white with terror.
Nora's expression turned grim as well.
"What do we do? Should we answer?"
After a long pause, Chloe took a shaky breath and asked tremulously.
Did they dare not answer?
That would be suicide.
Nora rolled her eyes and pressed the accept button.
"Mr. Clark..."
The person on the other end gave a cold laugh.
"Ms. Johnson, where are my people?"
At those words, Chloe's heart leapt into her throat.
"I... I don't know..."
"You don't know?"
Richard's voice shot up several octaves, becoming sharp. "Do you have any idea that because your plan failed, the Harris family wiped out my operation?"
"And now you're telling me you don't know?"
Chloe was terrified by Richard's words and immediately shot Nora a desperate look.
Seeing her panic, Nora felt her own composure slipping.
After taking a deep breath, she quickly tried to explain to the person on the phone.
"Mr. Clark, please don't be angry. This really was an accident."
"Our plan was perfect—we just didn't expect Charlotte to be so lucky, and we certainly didn't expect Alexander to get involved."
"But please, rest assured, we will compensate you for your losses."
"Compensate?" Richard sounded like he'd heard something hilarious and let out a cold laugh. "What are you going to compensate me with?"
"Don't tell me you're planning to throw money at this!"
Hearing the disgust in Richard's tone, Nora's eyes shifted as an idea formed in her mind.
She narrowed her eyes and coaxed, "Mr. Clark, the real reason this plan failed is because Charlotte is too defiant."
"She always relies on her little bit of cleverness and opposes us at every turn!"
"If we could make her obedient, wouldn't that solve everything?"
"What Charlotte cares about most is her mother. If we teach Victoria a little lesson, couldn't we..."
After hearing her suggestion, the person on the other end fell silent for a few seconds.
But then Richard's satisfied laughter came through. "That's not a bad idea. Let's do it."
With that, the man hung up.
Having narrowly escaped disaster, both Nora and Chloe let out long breaths of relief.
After all, no matter what, they'd managed to resolve the situation smoothly.
At that moment, the Rolls-Royce was still speeding along the elevated highway.
Charlotte sat in the passenger seat, staring blankly at the scenery rushing past the window.
Finally, her phone vibrated with an incoming message.
She opened it to find a picture message from an unknown number.
The photo showed a dark, damp basement, with Victoria lying on the ground, covered in blood.
"Since you refuse to obey, you must pay the price!"
The moment she read those words, towering rage surged from Charlotte's chest. In an instant, her eyes turned bloodshot.
Richard... Chloe... Nora...
You all deserve to die!
Just then, Charlotte's phone vibrated again.
She paused and looked down.
It was a message from Jason: [Chloe just left!]
The moment she read it, Charlotte pressed her lips together.
She and Alexander had just left, and this woman was already going out.
She didn't believe for a second there wasn't something fishy going on!
She took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing her rage, and with trembling hands quickly typed two words in reply.
[Follow her.]
After sending the message, she opened another encrypted communication app and called K.
A moment later, a rather young voice came through. "What a surprise. You haven't contacted me since last time—I was starting to think you were going to use me and dump me."
Hearing the man's teasing tone, Charlotte had no interest in banter. Her voice was ice-cold.
"I'm giving you ten minutes. I need to know where a photo was taken."
"Ten minutes? That's insulting. I only need one minute..."
Before he could finish, Charlotte hung up and sent over the photo that had filled her with such rage.
After completing everything, she seemed to lose all her strength and slumped heavily against the seat back.
"What's wrong?"
Alexander, who had been silently observing her behavior, asked with concern.
He'd noticed something was off with Charlotte earlier, but seeing she was busy, he hadn't interrupted.
Charlotte didn't answer. Instead, she turned her phone screen toward him.
Looking at the content of the photo, Alexander's expression changed.
But he didn't press for details, because he knew Charlotte had already made arrangements. Instead, he silently accelerated.
In the silence, her phone vibrated again.
[Preliminary location is in the abandoned industrial district on the west side of the city, but signal interference in that area is severe. I'll need more time to pinpoint the exact location.]
[Also, this photo's original data shows signs of multiple alterations, and whoever did it was skilled. This is clearly not an amateur.]
After reading the entire message, Charlotte fell into thought.
Abandoned industrial district...
Silently repeating the name in her mind, Charlotte slowly closed her eyes.
She wasn't very familiar with Imperial City, but she knew that place.
Because the location was too remote and couldn't keep up with modern development, it had been abandoned twenty years ago.
The area was vast. Finding someone there in a short time would indeed be difficult.
At the thought, her heart sank uncontrollably.
Just as she was on the verge of breaking down, a warm hand covered her ice-cold one.