Chapter 190 Bruce Is Missing
At the Watson Villa.
Jennifer glared at Rachel. "Still nothing from Mrs. Green? Are you even trying to win her over? Didn't you two used to get along great? Why is she suddenly ignoring you? Is your attitude the problem?"
Jennifer had been forcing Rachel to butter up Mrs. Green and Ethan for days, but those two completely ignored her. Rachel felt like her dignity had been trampled underfoot, and her mother still wouldn't give up—just kept pushing and pushing.
If she had a way to fix this, would there still be zero progress? The Green family had already called off the engagement. They'd made up their minds—they didn't want her. What was she supposed to do about that?
Getting dumped was bad enough. Now her mother was hounding her on top of it!
"Anthony already said the Green family gave us compensation. What's the point of me chasing after them?" Rachel snapped impatiently. "I'm not some pathetic doormat. What am I supposed to do? Throw myself at people who don't want me? Can't we just pretend this engagement never happened? The company's crisis will blow over now that we've got those Green family projects anyway."
Jennifer looked at her with pure frustration. "How can you be so clueless? With your reputation in Majestic City right now, finding a decent marriage prospect is next to impossible! Add the Reeves family breathing down our necks, and if you don't lock down the Green family, you'll end up settling for just anyone. Are you really okay with that?"
Rachel kept her head down, twisting the hem of her shirt between her fingers. "Worst case, I just never get married. Or I'll move abroad. The Reeves family's reach can't extend overseas, right?"
"Overseas? You think that's so easy?" Jennifer jabbed a finger at her daughter's forehead. "Rachel, I swear, what am I supposed to do with you?!"
Rachel started to argue back. "I'm just—"
But before she could finish, Jennifer's phone rang. She made a shushing gesture at Rachel, glanced at the caller ID, and her eyes lit up with excitement. She quickly answered while walking out of the room. "Hello? Do you have news?"
On the other end, the club's public relations manager said, "Mrs. Watson, we finally have something! We found Bruce's phone!"
"Just his phone?" Jennifer's tone soured with disappointment. "Could you people try a little harder? I'm a VIP member at your establishment, aren't I? Is this how you treat me? You couldn't find him for days, and now after all this time, all you've got is a phone?"
The PR manager gave an awkward laugh. "It's really not that we haven't been trying. We've had plenty of people searching for Bruce these past few days, but there's just no trace of him. We're at a loss too. The kid just vanished into thin air. I was thinking... maybe he made enough money and went back to school or something?"
"Absolutely not," Jennifer said decisively. "What we have is real love. If he'd decided to quit working at your club, he definitely would have told me."
The PR manager played along with her delusion. "Of course, of course. We've all seen how Bruce feels about you—it's clearly genuine. He's probably just temporarily out of reach. So, um, when would be convenient for you to come pick up Bruce's phone?"
"I'm coming now," Jennifer said.
Though she was annoyed by the club's inefficiency, after searching for so long, even the tiniest lead—even just a phone—filled her with excitement.
"Perfect! I'll be waiting for you at the club," the PR manager said cheerfully.
After hanging up, Jennifer called her driver to take her to the club immediately.
Half an hour later, Jennifer pushed through the club's entrance. The PR manager rushed over with an obsequious smile. "Mrs. Watson! Finally! I've been waiting forever."
"Cut the chatter," Jennifer said. "Where's Bruce's phone?"
The manager promptly presented it with both hands.
Jennifer glanced at it—the latest iPhone model, one she'd given Bruce just last month. She'd paid ten times the normal price to get it a few days early, and it even had Bruce's initials engraved on it.
Definitely Bruce's phone.
She gripped the device, not immediately checking its contents. Instead she looked at the PR manager. "If nothing happened to him, why would he leave his phone behind? Under what circumstances would he abandon his precious phone?"
Bruce loved gaming. Whenever he had downtime, he'd play a few rounds. The phone was basically glued to his hand.
"Where did you find this?" Jennifer asked.
"In his dorm room," the manager replied. "As you know, we rent nearby studio apartments for our staff. We didn't have a key at first, so we couldn't get inside to look. We only got one from the landlord this morning. That's when we found Bruce's phone."
Jennifer nodded without further comment and opened the phone to check its contents.
The phone was clean. Call logs showed only conversations with roommates and with her. His WhatsApp only had chat records with her.
All activity stopped the day he disappeared. Every message sent after that went unanswered.
An ominous feeling crept over Jennifer. She couldn't help gripping the phone tighter.
Meanwhile, at Riverbend Manor in the suburbs.
Anthony picked up a bucket of cold water and dumped it over the unconscious man's head.
The man was bound hand and foot with iron chains. He had delicate, handsome features and was tall with a solid, muscular build. He wore a leather jacket and jeans—a stylish, good-looking guy.
After being doused with cold water, the man finally opened his eyes. The moment he registered his surroundings, his pupils contracted sharply. Instinctively, he opened his mouth and screamed, "Help! Somebody help me!"
Anthony looked down at him like he was a piece of meat on a cutting board. He didn't try to stop the shouting—just watched with leisurely interest, like a cat savoring a mouse's despair.
The man finally screamed himself hoarse, his voice giving out completely. Only then did Anthony kindly speak up. "The entire basement is soundproofed. Thanks for all that effort, but it was completely pointless."
At first, the man's gaze held only terror and panic at the unknown. But as he kept staring, recognition suddenly flickered across his face.
"You're... Jennifer's son?"
Anthony's mouth twitched. "Congratulations. You got it."
He tapped the knife in his hand against the man's face. The cold touch brought overwhelming terror. The man's face went deathly pale. "What are you going to do?"
"Guess what I'm going to do," Anthony said, leaning closer with a smile that somehow radiated chilling menace. "Bruce?"
Bruce flinched involuntarily, and then a warm stream flowed between his legs. Soon the foul stench of urine spread through the basement.
Anthony looked at him with contempt. "You had my mother completely fooled. I thought you'd at least have some backbone, but turns out you're nothing special. Already pissed yourself?"
He shook his head with mock regret, sighing as if disappointed. "If only my mother could see this. Poor thing—you've got her wrapped around your finger. She actually thinks she's your one and only, when you've got four or five girlfriends going at the same time."
Bruce felt desperation rising. "Sir, I'm a male escort! Of course I have multiple girlfriends! What normal person would actually fall for an escort? I don't think Mrs. Watson really likes me—she's just enjoying the experience."
He hoped this would make Anthony drop his animosity. He'd figured it out—Jennifer's son thought it was embarrassing that his mother was obsessed with him.
In that case, all Bruce had to do was play nice, right? No need for things to escalate.
Bruce started thinking maybe this was all just a misunderstanding. If he sweet-talked this rich guy, maybe he could still get out of here.
But then Anthony's knife slashed across his face without warning. Bruce screamed in agony. The pain was one thing, but his face—that was his pride and joy.
He made his living with that face!
Sticky, warm blood trickled down. Bruce trembled violently, reaching up to touch his face to see what it looked like now, but he didn't dare—terrified of causing an infection that would leave a scar.
He'd worked so hard to become the club's top earner, to hook Jennifer, this walking ATM. If his face was ruined, how could he enjoy the good life anymore?
Bruce shook as he begged Anthony for mercy. "Please let me go. I was wrong. I didn't know you didn't want your mother seeing people. I really didn't know! If I'd known earlier, I never would have taken her as a client... Please, don't hurt me..."
He was shaking so badly the chains binding his legs rattled continuously.
Anthony's usual refined demeanor had completely vanished. In this moment, his eyes showed undisguised savagery and bloodlust. He smiled—a deeply unsettling expression—and slid the knife from Bruce's face down to his throat, pressing the tip against his carotid artery.
Still smiling, he enunciated each word carefully. "Bruce. Male. Thirty-two years old. High school dropout. Born in a rural village. Never liked studying. Got into the business at eighteen. Had your face done six times. Am I wrong?"
Bruce looked up in horror. "How do you... how do you know..."
Those were secrets he'd buried for years!
He looked young for his age, and with careful styling, he could pass for much younger. For years he'd been telling people he was a university student from a prestigious school, and everyone believed him.
All that information from before he came to the club was private. How could anyone just casually get access to those details?
Bruce broke down crying. "Mr. Watson, please let me go. I know I was wrong. I'll never lie to anyone again. Whatever my real background is, that's what I'll be—I won't change a single thing..."
Anthony looked at him strangely, then jabbed the knife tip into Bruce's body a few times. Before Bruce's screams could escape, Anthony spoke first. "What makes you think you're walking out of here today?"
He asked with genuine curiosity, like he really wanted to know.
Bruce's mental state had already collapsed under Anthony's unpredictable behavior. He cried and tried to scoot backward. "Don't touch me! Don't touch me! Let me go home!"
Anthony smiled at him regretfully. "Sorry, if you said you were scared, I could give you some encouragement. But if you want to leave? Can't help you there."
"Because people who come to this secret property of mine don't leave so easily."
Anthony let out a disturbing laugh. Ever since he'd realized someone was watching him last time, he'd rarely taken action—especially at this estate. After that investigation had started snooping around, he'd scrubbed this place clean and shut it down completely. Until today.
Actually, Leo had advised him not to do this, but he was going stir-crazy. The Green family called off the engagement, the Watson family was struggling, the woman he liked wanted nothing to do with him, and that insurance salesman he used to look down on had turned out to be some rich kid.
Every single thing was driving him insane.
If he didn't find a way to release this tension, he was going to lose it.
So he had Leo bring the guy here.
The most dangerous place is the safest place, right? They'd never expect him to come back to Riverbend Manor so soon. Maybe that initial suspicion was just a coincidence, and whoever had been watching him had already pulled their surveillance?
In any case, everything today had gone unbelievably smoothly. Anthony felt like he hadn't been this satisfied in ages. Everything was completely under his control—not a single variable.
Today, he was going to dismember this pretty boy Bruce piece by piece right here.
Pathetic. Trash like this dared to latch onto the Watson family.
He deserved to die!
At the same time, outside Riverbend Manor, Moris was on the phone with Alexander from a concealed position.
"Mr. FitzRoy, he's inside. Yes, I saw clearly. Anthony's got some serious balls, playing it this close."
On the other end, Alexander's voice was flat and calm. "The basement's all set up?"
Moris chuckled. "Hidden cameras are fully in place. We'll get every angle of his crimes recorded, guaranteed."
Then he hesitated slightly. "Mr. FitzRoy, about this... are we really not going to do anything about that pretty boy who got dragged in there? It's still a human life. I just heard Anthony start cutting him. We could still save him now. In a bit, it'll be too late."
"Mm," Alexander gave his answer without hesitation. "We need more than just this one piece of evidence. We can't spook him. Besides, that person has no value worth saving."
"Oh... okay then." Moris could only suppress his discomfort and put on his game face, ready for whatever the day would bring.
Alexander added, "Last time he moved too fast and we lost track. This time, stay on him. We absolutely cannot let this turn out like last time."
"Consider it done!" Moris said immediately.
After hanging up, Moris kept his eyes glued to the estate, making sure not even a fly could slip out unnoticed.
Roy had been shipped off on business trips for months now. This was Moris's big opportunity. If he worked hard enough and impressed Mr. FitzRoy, maybe he really could replace Roy permanently.