Chapter 230 The Livestream Is Not Over
As soon as Karen finished speaking, Donald dragged Holden intoview.
Holden sat in a wheelchair, his limbs stiff, eyes cloudy and unfocused. He didn’t move at all. Even the lines on his face seemed frozen, as if the paralysis had stolen every trace of expression.
I remembered the curse Holden had hurled at Lucas earlier and instinctively glanced at him, my chest tightening.
Leaning out the car window, I reached for Lucas’s hand and gripped it tightly, feeling the faint tremor in his fingers.
Lucas quickly calmed down and held my fingers in return.
"Do you see this?" Donald pointed at Holden, his voice shrill and even more vicious. "This is the Don of the Valeri family, once powerful, my father and Lucas's own grandfather! Lucas angered him so he had a stroke and became paralyzed. You must be curious what Lucas did, right? He abused his aunt, killed his brother, and even tried to kill me too!"
Although Holden couldn’t move, it was clear his mind was still intact; he just couldn’t speak properly.
"You, me." He struggled to form the words, his lips trembling constantly, as he glanced sideways at Donald. His expression remained rigid, impossible to read.
It felt less like he couldn’t speak and more like he was too furious to.
A few minutes ago, I couldn't have imagined Donald would do something so shameless. He pulled a defenseless old man into this circus and used him as a weapon to smear Lucas.
Donald grabbed Holden's hand and cried out dramatically, "Lucas won't tolerate us anyway. If I'm going to die today, I'll take all the remaining Valeri family members with me!"
"Damn it, he's crazy!" Marcus cursed angrily.
I shot Lucas a worried look, but he simply turned to me and gave a reassuring glance.
He was much stronger and calmer than I imagined.
Several more people appeared at the edge of the high rooftop. I looked back at my phone screen. Besides Donald and Holden, there were eight others—two were Donald's illegitimate daughters, and the rest were Valeri family relatives.
None of them had ever treated Lucas well before, but now they were all threatening him with death.
"Bella, public opinion is turning against us," Karen said. "The headline about mass suicide has become the top trending topic."
"A bunch of bastards!" I muttered under my breath.
Leaning against the car door with one hand in his pocket, Lucas asked coolly, "How much money will it take for you to come down?"
The ten people who had been acting fearless just seconds ago immediately began shouting over one another.
"Eight million dollars!"
"Twenty million dollars!"
"I want shares in BlueWave Maritime Group!"
"Don't expect me to settle for less than a hundred million dollars!"
Donald angrily shouted at them, "Shut up!"
The live stream comments went quiet for two seconds before filling with rows of ellipses and question marks.
Even I had to laugh at these idiots.
Lucas’s quick thinking was incredible, one sentence had flipped the entire situation.
Then suddenly, a woman rushed out.
Her face was disfigured, but from her features and voice, I could tell it was Lucas's aunt, Tessa.
She wasn't on the rooftop but had been hiding among the reporters. She pushed her way to the camera, a few steps from Lucas, and dropped heavily to her knees with a dull thud.
"Lucas, just admit you were wrong!" Tessa cried, tears streaming down her face. "I'm begging you, just humble yourself and apologize to your father and grandfather. Are you really going to push them to their deaths?"
Her pleading voice was shrill and desperateand several reporters nearby looked visibly moved.
I looked around but didn't see Tessa's husband or son.
I knew Tessa had been chasing Lucas for money for her son. Tessa's son was musically talented and studying at a prestigious academy abroad. The tuition and living expenses weren't cheap, plus he was dating a girl from a noble family, constantly buying luxury goods to please her and treating people to expensive meals.
Her husband, Russell, on the other hand, was painfully ordinary, nothing like the philandering Donald, but just as useless in his own way.
If Russell weren't so incompetent, Tessa wouldn't have to scheme like this.
Last time we caught Tessa at the casino, Lucas let her go out of gratitude for the few meals she'd given him as a child. But human greed, if not satisfied, won't awaken any conscience.
She was probably still pinning all her hopes on her son—completely unaware that the girl he was dating was nothing but a fraud.
"Lucas, your grandfather was so angry at you he became paralyzed. The whole family has been driven to desperation by you. You can't be this cold-blooded!" She begged while kowtowing, sparing no effort to smear Lucas and me. "Is Isabella demanding you cut ties with the family? Wake up! Don't let her use you anymore! Ever since you met her, you've completely changed."
When she dragged me into it, Lucas's anger ignited instantly.
I held Lucas back, signaling I'd handle it.
Looking at Tessa, I cleared my throat and said gently, "The live stream was cut earlier. None of what you just did was broadcast. Would you like to try again?"
Tessa's face twisted. All that effort for nothing!
"Enough with the performance. The live stream is over." I got out of the car. "Tell me, how much money do you want?"
Tessa was silent for a few seconds, then stood up, dusted off her pants, her shrewd eyes full of hatred. "Not much. I just want a hundred million dollars! Give it to me within an hour, and I guarantee I’ll disappear for good."
That line sounded familiar. Then it hit me, Brenda had said something similar.
Brenda's ending wasn't pretty.
Lucas caught my hint and said to Donald on the phone, "Did you hear that? The live stream is over. Stop making a scene about dying. No matter how well you act, I won't give you an award."
Donald tried to say something, but Lucas cut him off coldly, "My money is limited. I can't satisfy everyone's demands. Discuss it among yourselves and give me a number. But after I pay, you all need to get as far away as possible!"
Donald immediately snapped, "Two billion dollars!"
"You couldn't get two billion dollars even if you robbed a bank!" I laughed in disbelief. "Stop daydreaming. You keep saying the Valeri family raised Lucas, but when Lucas was young, he didn't have enough to eat or warm clothes to wear. He paid his own way through college. Over the years, you’ve spent less on him than one of your mistress’s handbags. But Lucas has given back at least a hundred million dollars to the family! If you want to settle accounts, let's settle them properly!"
My words clearly struck a chord. Lucas looked at me, amusement flickering in his eyes, before turning back to Donald. "Don't make excessive demands. You should know my character. If you push me, I won't let any of you off!"
"You just wait!" Donald's tone was fierce, but anyone could hear his guilt.
He hung up and discussed with the others how much money to demand.
"How about a hundred million dollars?"
"Too little. With so many of us, how can a hundred million be enough to split?"
"Five hundred million dollars!"
"Isn't that too much? What if Lucas refuses and wants to kill us? How can we escape?"
Donald's live stream account had been banned by Mole, but the broadcast hadn't actually ended!
The drone Jonathan controlled had been quietly perched on the water tank, filming their every move.
Holden was the first to notice the drone.
He struggled to raise a finger, a harsh, broken sound escaping his throat.
Donald impatiently swatted his hand away. "Dad, you're useless now. Just stay quiet!"
Holden anxiously tried to alert him, "There!"
But the words came out too slurred to understand. Annoyed by the interruption, Donald lashed out and kicked the wheelchair.
An unexpected accident happened.
The wheelchair slid off the edge of the rooftop, and Holden fell straight down.
The empty wheelchair hung from a safety rope, swinging back and forth.