Since she couldn't have Lance, Bella was determined not to let Deanna have him either. She remembered how Deanna had been disgraced over a matter of being deflowered. If history repeated itself, Deanna would never have a chance to marry Lance.
Deanna was unaware of the approaching danger.
Over the next few days, she lived quite leisurely. After sending the two little ones to school during the day, she either went to the herb garden in the villa or stayed home to accompany her grandmother.
In the evenings, she picked up the children and returned to Hencard Villa together. Lance also came home early these days, with hardly any social engagements. The few of them were increasingly like a family.
Another week passed quickly. Bella, due to her plan, kept an eye on Deanna and Lance's situation. Unfortunately, despite watching for several days, she found no opportunity to act. Just as she was about to give up, an opportunity finally presented itself.
That day, Lance had an unavoidable social engagement at the Beyond Club in the city center. Before leaving, he called Deanna, "I have a social event tonight and will be back late. You and the kids don't need to wait for me for dinner."
"Got it. And don't drink; you can't handle it now," Deanna reminded him worriedly.
Lance responded with a smile, "Yes, ma'am."
Hearing his playful tone, Deanna couldn't help but laugh, "What nonsense are you talking about? Who's your superior?"
"You control my food and drink now; aren't you my superior?" Lance joked again.
Deanna's cheeks started to flush, "I'm not talking to you anymore; I'm going to eat."
With that, she hung up the phone directly. On the other end, Lance put down his phone with a faint smile on his lips, clearly in a good mood.
Soon after, he arrived at Beyond Club and found that Cody family members were also there. Bella was actually there under her mother's orders to keep an eye on Jeffery and prevent him from causing trouble outside.
Seeing Lance, Jeffery immediately came over with a drink to greet him. Although there had been unpleasantness between their families before, given the Mercer's status, Jeffery couldn't afford to completely sever ties.
"Lance, I heard you got injured abroad. Are you alright now?"
"I'm fine," Lance replied indifferently out of respect.
Jeffery smiled, "Glad to hear that. Tonight we can have a good drink together."
He made a gesture of clinking glasses. Lance glanced at him but showed no intention of drinking.
Jeffery's smile stiffened slightly. Finally, Lance spoke up, "My family doctor has strict orders not to let me drink. Please go ahead without me."
Hearing this, Jeffery was momentarily stunned and felt displeased inside. To him, it seemed like Lance was looking down on him.
Bella knew that Lance wasn't lying and felt a surge of jealousy inside. Since when did Lance listen to someone so obediently? She decided to carry out her plan tonight. She would see if Lance could stay with Deanna after tonight!
At ten o'clock that night, Deanna was making pills when her phone rang. It was someone claiming to be from Beyond Club.
"Hello, is this Miss Jones?"
"Yes, what is it?" Deanna asked in confusion.
The staff explained, "Mr. Mercer is drunk at the club. Could you come and pick him up?"
"Drunk... I understand." Deanna hung up the phone with a troubled expression and left with her phone in hand.
Upon arrival, she followed the address given by the staff and found the private room.
"Mr. Mercer, are you in there?" She knocked on the door but got no response.
Having no other choice, she pushed open the door only to find the room pitch dark. Feeling scared, she stood at the doorway and called out again, "Mr. Mercer?"
At that moment, a hand reached out from beside her and grabbed her wrist, pulling her inside.
Caught off guard, Deanna was dragged into the room. Once inside, she realized something was wrong as she heard voices speaking.
"Quickly, tie her up."
"You hold her down; I'll get the rope."
Realizing she had fallen into a trap, Deanna panicked but tried to stay calm.
"Who are you? Kidnapping is illegal!" She tried to scare them off with legal threats.
However, in the next second, someone stuffed a cloth into her mouth to silence her. At the same time, she felt someone tying up her feet and began struggling fiercely-kicking and thrashing about.
Several times she felt herself kick someone but couldn't break free; instead, it angered one of her captors.
"Bitch! How dare you kick me!"
With those words came a slap across Deanna's face so hard that it left her dizzy and ears ringing.
When she finally regained some clarity, she found herself tightly bound on a sofa with two figures standing nearby.