Chapter 196
"Ms. Kennedy, we owe you so much!"
In the office, employees gathered around Josephine. Emma hugged her from behind.
Haven stood in the crowd, eyes full of gratitude.
Josephine patted Emma's arm. "All right, enough with the flattery. You've all been slacking off lately. The project progress you've fallen behind on—make it up within three days, or I'm docking pay."
"What?"
Emma immediately wailed. The others looked equally dejected.
Joking aside, work was work. After the laughter faded, everyone returned to their stations.
Josephine then made a trip to the hospital.
She was going to see Lily. When she arrived, she walked right into a scene of chaos.
Lily's brother had shown up, causing a huge disturbance. The nurses and doctors couldn't stop him. He'd gotten a knife from somewhere and looked threatening.
"Don't come near me! Anyone who comes near, I'll stab you dead!" Yves held the knife, his face vicious. "I'm here to take my sister home. What's it to you? A bunch of busybodies with nothing better to do! Say one more word, and I'll chop your hands off!"
Security hadn't arrived yet. The doctors and nurses didn't dare approach, only trying to reason with him from a distance.
"Sir, please don't do anything rash. This is a hospital. If you hurt someone, you'll face legal consequences."
"That's right. Put down the knife now and we won't call the police. Whatever the issue is, we can sit down and talk. Besides, your sister is staying in the hospital. You'll scare her like this."
"That wretched girl has guts of steel—how could a little knife scare her!" Yves waved the blade through the air. The knife was sharp, gleaming coldly, making everyone step back further. Josephine had just pushed her way to the front when she heard the door slam shut.
Yves had gone inside.
By the time Josephine reached the door, it was too late. She quickly turned to the doctor. "Where's security?"
The doctor was sweating profusely with anxiety. "We notified security five minutes ago, but this is shift change time—there's a ten-minute gap..."
Josephine immediately understood. Yves had planned this. Worried he might do something desperate and hurt Lily, Josephine decisively called the police.
But before she could dial, the person inside seemed to hear her voice and shouted, "Josephine, if you dare call the cops, I'll die here with my sister!"
Josephine's hand froze.
"Do you know what you're doing? If you hurt someone, you're breaking the law. No one will be able to save you then."
"Don't try to scare me! I wasn't raised to be scared! This is their fault for stopping me from taking my sister!" Yves's voice was manic. Clearly, being stuck here so long had exhausted his patience, making him increasingly volatile.
Inside the room, he kicked tables and chairs. The loud crashes made everyone's hearts jump.
Lily made no sound at all.
Josephine was both worried and anxious, but panic wouldn't help now. She forced herself to stay calm. "It's not that we won't let you take her. She's physically weak and needs hospitalization. You want to take her? Fine. Wait until she recovers, then she can go wherever she wants."
"This little brat doesn't respect me as her brother anymore. If I wait until she recovers, she'll be long gone!"
From his words, it seemed Yves had planned this in advance, trying to take her away while he had the chance.
This wasn't going to be easy to negotiate.
Josephine lowered her eyes, thinking. Just then, Gideon passed by at the end of the corridor. Seeing the situation, he was about to ignore it when he suddenly heard Josephine's voice.
He walked over.
"Who's inside?"
Josephine hadn't expected to see him here, but now wasn't the time for a "reunion." She quickly explained the situation.
"Simple." After hearing everything, Gideon acted as if it were no challenge at all. He even stepped forward and lightly knocked on the door.
The person inside was volatile and immediately roared in fury. "I don't care who you are—get lost!"
Josephine frowned. "Don't deliberately provoke him right now."
But Gideon said, "Don't you want him to come out?"
Josephine paused. "I do. And I don't just want him out—I want him to stop harassing Lily."
"Not difficult."
Remembering his usual methods and ruthlessness, Josephine couldn't help feeling wary. "What do you mean?"
Was he planning to silence him permanently?
Gideon seemed to read her thoughts and smiled wryly. "In your mind, am I some kind of criminal?"
"Aren't you?" Josephine had been married to him for years. She felt she knew him well enough. He was obsessive, domineering, and wouldn't tolerate being deceived, challenged, or threatened.
Yves's behavior had already crossed his line.
"Don't worry. The person inside is someone you want to save." Gideon looked at her deeply. "How could I let her get hurt?"
After speaking, he raised his hand and knocked on the door again. Ignoring the furious roaring from inside, his voice was incredibly calm. "Don't you just want money? Is a hundred thousand dollars enough?"
The cursing inside immediately stopped. Even the hospital corridor fell deathly silent, as if no one existed.
Gideon continued, "Two hundred thousand dollars."
He faintly heard a weak sound from inside the room, like a blade dropping to the floor.
Now he was more confident.
"Three hundred thousand dollars. That's the highest I'll go. Honestly, your sister isn't worth much to me. I'm only doing this because my friend wants to protect her. But I don't make losing deals. Three hundred thousand is my final offer."
Gideon's gaze shifted to Josephine.
Josephine was silent for a moment before speaking. "Yves, as you know, I'm just a supervisor. I don't have much money. My friend offering three hundred thousand is already my limit. If it goes higher than that... we'll just have to wait for the police to negotiate."
Inside the room, Yves paced frantically. He'd never seen this much money in his life. If he could get his hands on it, he'd be set for life.
But human greed is limitless.
He couldn't help wondering—if he dragged it out a bit longer, negotiated a bit more, could he get an even higher price than three hundred thousand?
The two outside were too sharp to let him stall.
Josephine held up three fingers.
Gideon understood. "I'll give you three seconds. Three."
Yves was stunned.
Three seconds was too short. And who starts counting right after they finish talking?!
"Two."
As soon as that number came out, the sense of urgency peaked. He had no more time to obsess over whether he should be greedier. He hurriedly pulled open the door. "Fine, three hundred thousand. But you better not be lying."
"Of course not. I'm a man of my word." Gideon smiled.
Seeing that smile, Josephine knew Yves was doomed. Whenever Gideon smiled like that, it meant he'd already figured out his strategy.
She rushed into the room first to check on Lily.
Lily lay on the hospital bed, unconscious. This was strange—the commotion earlier had been so loud, the shouting nonstop. How could she still be asleep?
Unless...
Josephine quickly called the doctors and nurses in for a full examination.
Fortunately, Lily hadn't been poisoned—just injected with a sedative.
Josephine breathed a sigh of relief. For a moment, she'd actually thought Yves had been deranged enough to kill her.
Confirming the person was still alive, Yves immediately turned to Gideon. "You just promised me three hundred thousand dollars. Shouldn't you honor that now?!"
Josephine's expression turned cold. "You heard everything, didn't you?"
Yves sensed something was wrong. Following her gaze behind him, he saw police officers in uniform standing not far away.
The officer smiled at him. "Kidnapping, causing a disturbance, extortion—come with us."