Chapter 11
"Otherwise," Juliana's lips curved into a poisonous smile, "you'd better pray your gastric cancer cures itself."
She turned and left without looking back.
"Crazy! She's absolutely insane!" Ashley finally snapped out of it, grabbing the pillow from her bedside and hurling it to the floor. "Lucas! Go find him! Find Dami right now! If anything happens to my precious grandson, I don't want to live either!"
"Mom." Lucas's voice came out rough and hoarse. "From this moment on, you're not going anywhere. Stay here."
"I need to find Dami!"
"I'll find him." Lucas cut her off. "But until we do, you'd better pray that Juliana's son is safe and sound too." Because if he wasn't, not even transplanting the entire Lynd family here could save her life.
Ashley collapsed on the bed, as if all her strength had been drained away, still muttering "crazy woman" under her breath. The distant wail of police sirens grew louder, shattering the suffocating silence.
Lucas turned and headed downstairs without sparing his mother another glance.
The living room had transformed into a makeshift command center. Lucas sat on the sofa, calmly answering the officers' questions—Damian's physical description, what he'd been wearing, places he might go.
Just then, his phone screen lit up. [One hundred million dollars. For your son's life. Don't try anything funny or you'll be identifying a body.]
The officer conducting the interview had sharp eyes. "Mr. Sharp?"
Lucas handed over his phone. A tech officer immediately took it, attempting to trace the signal source. A few minutes later, the tech officer shook his head. "Whoever this is knows what they're doing. Virtual cell towers, multiple signal bounces. The trace ends up overseas—can't pinpoint a specific location."
The result was within Lucas's expectations, but it completely shattered Ashley, who the butler had just helped downstairs.
"A hundred million! They want a hundred million!" She rushed over, grabbing Lucas's arm. "Lucas, give them the money! Just give it to them! If anything happens to Dami, I won't survive it!"
"Enough!" Ashley froze at his shout, then started crying even harder, turning to sob at the nearby officers. "Officers, you have to believe me! I only wanted to scare that woman a little... I arranged the best bodyguards for Dami, took him to his favorite amusement park—how was I supposed to know this would happen? I love my grandson more than anyone..."
Her incoherent sobbing made all the officers present frown.
Lucas looked at her coldly. "Scare her? Using our own child to scare someone who has absolutely nothing to do with Dami?" Ashley's crying stopped abruptly.
Lucas's gaze was sharp as a blade. "Why did you think that would work?"
Ashley was struck speechless, her face cycling between red and white.
Just then, a commotion erupted at the entrance. Juliana walked in. Lucas's gaze landed on her, his chest inexplicably tightening.
"I'm a doctor. If the child is injured, I need to be there immediately to provide the most professional medical assessment. That's my right, and my responsibility." Juliana's tone was flat. "I'm participating in this rescue operation."
She walked straight up to Detective Robert, who was in charge of the case. "Sir, have the kidnappers made any new demands?"
Robert glanced at Lucas. Lucas's throat bobbed, but he said nothing—tacit permission. Robert gave her a brief rundown of the situation.
When she heard the kidnappers were demanding a hundred million dollars in ransom and couldn't be traced, Juliana's fingers, hanging at her sides, curled almost imperceptibly. She took the map from the police, which had all the possible search areas marked.
In the midst of everything, Lucas couldn't help but watch her. This woman was far more resilient than he'd imagined.
Ashley couldn't hold on any longer. The butler persuaded her to return to her room to rest. In the living room, only Lucas and Juliana remained, along with the constant flow of hurried officers.
In the suburbs, inside an abandoned villa, Bianca irritably hung up the phone.
Her loser distant cousin was desperate for money and had hatched a plan to kidnap Damian for ransom. She'd initially meant to stop him, but then thought better of it—maybe this was the perfect opportunity to drive Juliana out of Nexus City for good. So she'd gone along with it, providing Damian's whereabouts.
What she hadn't anticipated was that those idiots would grab two kids! Who the hell knew who the other kid's parents were?!
She'd just hissed into the phone. "Keep Damian! Do whatever you want with the other one! After you get the money, let Damian go. Got it?!"
Her cousin's hesitant voice came through. "Bee, which one of these kids is Damian?"
"The good-looking one!" Bianca nearly threw her phone in frustration. Before the kidnapper could say anything else, she hung up.
At the Sharp Estate, police confirmed the location. "Move out immediately!"
Police cars screamed out, sirens blazing. Lucas grabbed his coat and followed. He reached the door, paused, and looked back at Juliana.
"You stay here."
Juliana lifted her head. "I told you. I'm a doctor." She walked right past him and got into another police car.
Lucas's throat tightened. In the end, he said nothing.
Outside the abandoned factory, dozens of SWAT officers had silently completed their perimeter. Robert peered through binoculars. "Two kidnappers, both armed. The hostages are tied to a load-bearing column—tricky position. A direct assault carries too much risk."
Lucas's gaze was locked on that warehouse, a vein pulsing at his temple.
Juliana's eyes scanned the structural diagram of the building with lightning speed. Her finger finally stopped at an inconspicuous corner. "Here. It's the ventilation duct outlet. Very hidden, positioned directly behind the column where the children are tied."
Robert looked where she pointed. "The duct's too narrow. No adult male could fit through there."
"I can." Juliana's voice was steady.
Every eye turned to her.
"Absolutely not!" Lucas didn't even hesitate. "Too dangerous."
"Nothing is more dangerous than the situation we're in right now." Juliana met his gaze, each word deliberate. "Lucas, there are two children in there. One is your son. The other is mine."
She wanted to say they were both her sons.