Chapter 276

Chapter 276

Elaine cleared her throat, then pinched her voice higher and called out toward the door: "Hello! Property management! The downstairs neighbors reported that your bathroom might be leaking—it's seeping into their ceiling! Please open the door so we can check the plumbing!"

The sound of the TV inside stopped abruptly.

After a few suffocating seconds of silence, hesitant footsteps came from inside, approaching the door.

The footsteps stopped behind the door. The peephole on the security door darkened—clearly someone inside was looking out.

"Leaking? No way, everything's fine in here."

A somewhat stiff female voice came through—it was that fake Kathy's voice.

"The downstairs neighbors are really worried. The water stain is pretty obvious, and it's coming from your unit's location."

Elaine continued with her pinched voice, "Please cooperate with us. We'll just take a quick look and leave. Otherwise, the neighbors downstairs will come up and make a scene, which won't be good for you either."

Silence again from inside for a few seconds, as if weighing the options.

Finally, there was a soft click from the door lock, and the security door was pulled open a crack.

A familiar face appeared in the gap—

It was the woman wearing Kathy's face!

Her gaze first fell on Bradley and his men at the door, dressed in casual clothes but clearly not ordinary property management staff. Her pupils contracted sharply.

In that instant, her eyes swept past and suddenly locked onto Elaine's face behind Bradley!

The fake Kathy's disguise shattered instantly.

"It's you—!"

She screamed, and without any hesitation, used all her strength to slam the door shut!

"Now!"

Bradley barked.

In a flash, Elaine, already prepared, raised her leg just as the security door was about to close and jammed her knee firmly into the gap!

At the same time, the ceramic shard she'd been gripping tightly slashed viciously toward the hand trying to push the door closed!

"Ah!"

The fake Kathy cried out in pain and instinctively pulled her hand back.

The door was stuck and couldn't close!

Bradley and his men quickly applied force, shoulders ramming into the door!

The already worn-out security door, under the tremendous impact, was completely forced open!

The fake mother was knocked backward by the door, and before she could steady herself, two well-trained men had already pounced from left and right, twisting her arms behind her back and pinning her to the ground!

"What are you doing! Let me go! I'm calling the police!"

The fake Kathy struggled desperately, screaming shrilly.

Elaine rushed into the room, Bradley close behind, scanning the surroundings alertly.

The scene before them made them both gasp.

This old apartment unit, barely seventy square meters, had its living room furniture pushed into the corners. In their place were several old tables pushed together, covered with various laboratory equipment.

The walls were plastered with handwritten chemical formulas, and the air was thick with the smell of chemical reagents.

This wasn't a temporary hideout at all—it was a small-scale drug laboratory!

Elaine's heart sank.

She quickly scanned the items piled on the tables. The stolen research materials were scattered about, but...

"Where are the most important extracts? Where are those semi-finished drug samples?"

Elaine spun around, her gaze sharp as a blade, fixed on the fake mother pinned to the ground.

Those were the key breakthroughs in the research, the core of what had been stolen last time.

The fake Kathy stopped struggling, raised her head, and showed a strange smile: "Heh heh... guess?"

Elaine walked up to her in a few steps, crouched down, forced herself to stay calm, and asked word by word: "Where are those drugs? You stole them—what exactly do you want to do with them?"

The fake Kathy just sneered coldly and turned her head away.

Elaine took a deep breath and asked the question weighing most heavily on her heart: "And where's my mom? What have you done to her? Kathy... the real Kathy, where is she now?"

Hearing the name "Kathy," the fake Kathy's body stiffened for a moment.

But she still clenched her teeth and said nothing.

Bradley stepped forward, signaling his men to lift her up.

He looked coldly at the fake Kathy: "You think staying silent will work? We have plenty of ways to make you talk."

Seeing Bradley was about to get serious, the fake Kathy's pupils contracted, and her previous arrogance faltered.

Her eyes darted around rapidly, and that strange cold smile quickly faded, replaced by a weak expression desperately trying to mimic Kathy's mannerisms.

"Elaine... you, you really don't recognize me anymore? I'm your mother! I just... I'm just sick, my memory's confused, I was used by bad people... Look, they're treating me like this..."

She looked at Elaine with pitiful eyes, as if she'd suffered a terrible injustice.

If this had been a few months ago, Elaine might have wavered for a moment.

But now, she just felt disgusted.

She walked up to the fake Kathy and looked down at her, her gaze sharp.

"Even now, you still want to act?"

Elaine's voice carried undisguised mockery: "From the moment you came back with 'amnesia' and stumbled through that award acceptance speech full of holes in front of me; from when you sneaked around looking through my files but couldn't even do basic sterile procedures; from that poorly hidden coldness toward Vera... I knew you weren't her."

The fake Kathy's sorrowful expression froze instantly, her pupils contracting sharply.

"I played along with you for so long, watching you clumsily imitate her, watching you eagerly steal research results, even watching you spread rumors online..."

Elaine's voice grew colder and colder, "I just wanted to see what you and the organization behind you were really after, what you'd done to my mother."

"You..."

The fake Kathy's disguise completely shattered, her whole face twisting.

She glared at Elaine, her eyes full of venom, "You knew all along? You've been playing me this whole time?"

"What else? Did you really think your lousy acting was flawless?"

Elaine's eyes were cold.

"Elaine! You bitch! If I'd known... if I'd known, I should have killed you right there in the lab! Would've saved you from gloating here now!"

The fake Kathy cursed wildly, no longer bothering with any disguise, only naked hatred remaining.

Elaine ignored her curses.

She suddenly stepped forward, dropping the ceramic shard she'd been gripping tightly.

Under the fake Kathy's terrified gaze, she moved swiftly, and the sharp edge of the shard was now pressed firmly against the fake Kathy's carotid artery!

The instant sting of pierced skin made the fake Kathy freeze. All her curses stopped abruptly.

"Talk."

Elaine's voice was very low, her hand holding the shard steady as a rock. "Where are the rest of the drug samples? Who else are your accomplices? Where's your base? My mother, Kathy—where are you keeping her?"