Chapter 372 Hand Over the Shares
Since Isabella took time off, Kennedy didn't go to the lab either.
She received a call from Garth and hung up directly as usual.
But the next second, she got a text message:
[Kennedy, your mom is back at the Hope family castle. Are you sure you don't want to come over for dinner?]
Seeing this message, Kennedy's pupils contracted.
She called her mother, Calista Day.
No one answered.
Kennedy immediately took a cab to the place where she and Calista had been living after being kicked out of the Hope family castle - a rented small villa.
No one was there.
The house was a mess, like there had been a fight.
Kennedy didn't dare waste a moment and immediately went to the Hope family castle.
As soon as she walked into the familiar hall, she saw Garth sitting in the main seat, while Calista was tied to a chair beside him.
"Mom!"
Kennedy rushed over to untie the ropes binding Calista.
"No! Kennedy, leave now, don't come over!" Calista's face was covered in injuries. She shouted at Kennedy urgently, looking extremely anxious.
Kennedy ignored her and kept going.
Before she could reach Calista, Garth had already flashed from the main seat to behind Kennedy and kicked her in the back.
Kennedy was immediately bent over and fell forward onto the ground.
Garth's eyes were full of anger.
"Is it really that hard to hand over the shares?"
He grabbed Kennedy by the back of her collar and pulled her up from the ground, roughly turning her shoulders around, staring at her with an intimidating presence. "Your dad is dead. What's the point of keeping the shares?"
Kennedy clenched her fists and gritted her teeth. "That's the only thing my dad left me. I'll never give it to you."
"Good!"
Garth laughed.
"Good, 'never'!"
Garth raised his hand and slapped Kennedy hard across the face.
The slap was solid and carried inner force.
Half of Kennedy's face immediately turned purple and blue, the skin swelling up, a shocking sight.
Watching this scene, Calista's eyelashes trembled. Although the slap landed on Kennedy, Calista felt like her heart had been cut with a knife.
"No!"
She cried out in heartbreak, pained by Garth's cruelty.
"Garth, do you even have a heart? Kennedy is your niece no matter what. How can you hit her so hard?"
Garth didn't even bother with Calista. His eyes were only on the shares.
He grabbed Kennedy by the hair and pulled her up, punching her hard in the stomach.
Kennedy's pupils suddenly contracted, and she spat out a mouthful of blood.
"Hand over the shares, do you hear me?!" Garth shouted hysterically, his face fierce.
Calista sobbed uncontrollably beside them. "No, Garth, please, she's my only daughter. You can't beat her like this. She can't take it. Let her go. I'll give you the shares. I'll give you whatever you want, okay?"
Garth stared at Kennedy. "Will you give them or not?"
Kennedy shook her head. "No."
Blood was still dripping from the corner of her mouth, and even her words carried a bloody smell.
Even so, she still wouldn't give them up.
Garth had already taken everything from her. The entire Hope family had become his. What more did he want?
The shares were the only security Eldridge had left her, the only thing she and Calista had to survive on. She couldn't give them up.
"You won't give them? You won't? You're asking for death!"
Garth instantly flew into a rage.
He forcefully let go of Kennedy's hair. The huge force made Kennedy fall backward onto the ground. Garth lifted his foot and stomped hard on Kennedy's knee.
The clear sound of bones cracking came through.
Tremendous pain shot through her nerves.
Kennedy screamed until her voice broke.
"You really think I won't beat you to death?" Garth's face was dark and furious.
He lifted his foot and stomped down again, lifted it and stomped down again, repeatedly kicking Kennedy's wound.
At first Kennedy could still make sounds, but later the pain nearly made her lose consciousness, and she couldn't even make a sound.
Her head was dizzy and foggy, and cold sweat soaked through her clothes.
Watching this scene, Calista broke down and shouted: "Garth, stop, stop, I'm begging you. You can't do this to Kennedy. She's your brother's child... She's your brother's beloved daughter..."
Calista was so emotional that she knocked over the chair and fell to the ground with it.
She desperately looked in Kennedy's direction.
Garth, like a madman, punched Kennedy in the face and body again and again.
"I told you to hand over the shares and you won't!"
"I'll beat you to death!"
Garth cursed with foul language, grabbed Kennedy by the hair and dragged her to the table, slamming Kennedy's head hard against the table edge.
Once, twice, three times, enjoying it endlessly.
A lot of blood flowed down from Kennedy's head, onto her face, and dripped onto the floor.
Calista watched this scene helplessly, so broken down she almost fainted.
No one knew how long it lasted.
When Garth saw that Kennedy wasn't moving anymore, he cursed a few times and kicked Kennedy away.
He came to Calista, first slapping her across the face, then untying the ropes.
Calista immediately crawled toward Kennedy.
"Kennedy." Calista looked at Kennedy's injuries all over her body, not a single patch of good skin, her face covered in blood. This scene cut her heart like a knife.
Kennedy still... still had a breath...
Calista picked up Kennedy and limped outside.
Garth watched Kennedy and Calista's backs and laughed coldly in threat. "If you don't want another beating, hand over the shares obediently."
The Northern Ice Empire's procedures for share transfers were very complicated - it wasn't just a matter of signing an agreement. This was also why after all this time, Garth still hadn't gotten the shares from Kennedy.
To get the shares, Kennedy herself had to personally go to the share transfer center to apply for the transfer. All procedures required facial recognition. Most importantly, the share transfer center, as an official institution, was controlled by the Powell family and couldn't possibly be bought off, and no one could cause trouble there.
So as long as Kennedy didn't go through with the share transfer, he had no way to force Kennedy to do it.
Calista heard the voice from behind and hated him so much her nails dug into her palms.
Garth was extremely vicious and brutal, with no heart at all.
Looking at Kennedy, barely alive in her arms, tears slid down Calista's eyes.
She endured the pain and desperately quickened her pace, carrying Kennedy away from the Hope family castle.
As she passed by a group of guards, one of them looked at the injured Calista and Kennedy in her arms with somewhat sympathetic eyes.
He walked toward Kennedy and Calista. "Calista... I... I'm sorry..."
He wanted to say something but didn't know what to say.
Calista recognized this guard as someone Eldridge had once valued highly.
"I don't blame you," she said.
After Eldridge died, these guards who once worked hard for Eldridge now had to continue working for Garth. So even if they saw Eldridge's wife and child being treated so cruelly by Garth, they couldn't do anything.