Chapter 157

Chapter 157

Aiden's face went pale when he suddenly heard William say this.

Jasper, Daniel, and Milo rushed forward together, and the few bodyguards the Taylor family had left quickly surrounded William.

In their eyes, William wasn't trying to take Aiden along to rescue Emily—he was planning to take Aiden hostage too.

"William, I'm telling you, you're not taking my father anywhere today."

"You've already taken Emily hostage, and now you want to take Father too. Are you crazy?"

William's brows furrowed tight, a hint of killing intent showing on his face. After scanning everyone closing in around him, he said word by word, "Either get out of my way right now, and I'll bring him along to get Emily back safe and sound. Or I'll take action now, take down everyone blocking my way, then bring him along to bring Emily home and explain everything to her afterward."

As those words landed, everyone present trembled.

From William's tone, they could tell this lunatic might actually do exactly what he said.

At this critical moment, Aiden, the family patriarch, finally spoke up to protect everyone in the Taylor family, saying to Daniel and the others, "All of you, step back. I'm going with him today. I want to see what exactly he's planning to do to me."

Daniel said tearfully, "Father, no, you absolutely can't. If this guy takes you away from the Taylor family and does something to you, what will we do?"

Milo also wiped away tears and choked out, "Father, you can't go with him. If anyone goes, let me go with him!"

Right now, Daniel, Milo, and the others were all putting on a show of being devoted sons and grandsons.

They said these things out loud, but in their hearts they were actually hoping William would take Aiden away, maybe even keep Aiden from ever returning to the Taylor family.

After all, in their view, only if Aiden left completely would they, his descendants, have a chance to rise.

William sneered coldly, turning his gaze to Milo. "Are you really willing to switch places with him?"

Milo froze, opening and closing his mouth without knowing how to answer.

William smiled and gave Aiden a look.

Aiden wasn't stupid. Though he felt heartache seeing Milo's expression, thinking about how young Milo still was—if William really took him away and killed him somewhere outside—he as a father would feel guilty.

Thinking this, Aiden smiled bitterly, let out a somewhat helpless sigh and said, "Let's go. I'll go with you."

William didn't waste words and directly led Aiden out of the villa.

The moment they got in the car and started it up, the phone William had left on the passenger seat rang.

The phone was still Daniel's.

William glanced at it and said coldly to Aiden sitting beside him, "Put it on speaker. Answer it."

Aiden trembled all over with anger.

Though he was filled with hatred for William right now, from William's behavior he could tell that this guy might really have nothing to do with Emily being taken.

He picked up the phone and just answered when a man's cold laugh came through, "So? Have you prepared the three hundred million dollars in ransom?"

The veins on Aiden's forehead bulged as he demanded angrily, "You bastard, tell me, who exactly are you people?"

The man on the other end paused for a few seconds before laughing out loud. "Aiden, I really didn't expect this matter would get your attention too. But that's good—since you've shown up, I assume the three hundred million dollars is ready, right? Here's what we'll do: you start preparing now, and in five minutes I'll give you some account numbers. You'll transfer the three hundred million dollars into the accounts I give you. Once we get the money, we'll definitely let Ms. Taylor return safe and sound."

Aiden clenched his fists and cursed viciously, "Bastard, don't even think about it. I'm telling you, forget three hundred million dollars—we won't give you even three dollars today!"

The man didn't get angry. Instead, he said lightly with a laugh, "That's fine. You don't have to give me the money. But as I understand it, tomorrow or the day after, Mr. Sanchez is going to hold a banquet for Ms. Taylor to celebrate her taking over as president of the Taylor Group. Everyone in the Taylor family is against Ms. Taylor becoming president of the Taylor Group. At this critical moment, if you tell Mr. Sanchez that Ms. Taylor was kidnapped and then killed, what do you think Mr. Sanchez will think? Do you think Mr. Sanchez might suspect that you staged the whole thing and killed Ms. Taylor yourselves?"

These words made Aiden furious. "Shameless, shameless!"

The man laughed loudly. "Say whatever you want. We're just after money. We really don't want to hurt anyone, so think it over carefully. I'll send you the account numbers in five minutes."

When the man hung up, William had already received a text from Fox.

After seeing clearly where Emily was now, William asked the furious Aiden, "The East Suburbs Horse Ranch in Novaria—do you know it?"

When Aiden heard the words "East Suburbs Horse Ranch," his eyes widened in surprise. "What? The East Suburbs Horse Ranch? Wait, are you saying Emily was taken to the East Suburbs Horse Ranch?"

William's brows furrowed tight as he shot Aiden an icy look.

Aiden licked his dry lips, his tone softening considerably. "I know the East Suburbs Horse Ranch. That area is Infernal Order's territory. But all these years, the Taylor family and Infernal Order have stayed out of each other's way. Why would Infernal Order take Emily?"

During his time in Novaria, William had also learned about the various factions.

The Infernal Order Aiden mentioned—in terms of fighting power, it wasn't even one-tenth of the Novaria branch of the Azure Society. But in terms of overall strength, it was on par with the Azure Society's Novaria branch.

The Novaria branch of the Azure Society, backed by the Azure Society headquarters, was at least a relatively legitimate organization with strict internal rules and some respect for underworld codes.

But Infernal Order was different. They didn't have many skilled fighters, but their methods were ruthless and underhanded.

Of course, these were just things William had heard in passing. He wasn't entirely clear on what the internal situation of Infernal Order was actually like.

But thinking about how Aiden had lived in Novaria for many years, William could be pretty certain that Aiden definitely understood Infernal Order better than he did.