Chapter 382 Attract Attention

Chapter 382 Attract Attention

Harriet quickly got up to open the door. "What happened? Why would Ms. Rodriguez suddenly run away?"

"I don't know. She said she was going out to buy something, and the bodyguard followed her. But then she went into a convenience store and when the bodyguard wasn't paying attention, she escaped through the back door!"

Harriet felt dizzy. "Send more people out. We must find her!"

"Don't worry, Mrs. Lancaster. We're already searching."

Her people searched all night but couldn't find any trace of Helena.

Just when one problem wasn't solved, another one came up.

Griffin's call came through quickly. "Harriet, have you decided?"

"With all your connections, you should know what happened on my end." Harriet pressed her temples. "Even if I wanted to trade Ms. Rodriguez for Coralie, I can't anymore. She ran away."

"Well, can't blame me for that." Griffin let out a light sigh. "Looks like Coralie is meant to die because of you."

"Griffin, what are you trying to do?" Harriet asked anxiously. "Coralie is innocent. Let her go!"

"Harriet, how can you become someone like me without sacrificing some innocent people?"

Griffin immediately sent out a message.

At that moment, in an abandoned factory in the suburbs, one of the men in black glanced at his phone, immediately put down the bread in his hand, picked up the gun beside him, and aimed it at Coralie's head.

"No!" Coralie shook her head in despair. "My daughter is still so young. She can't lose her mother. Please let me go! Please, don't kill me... Qiana... my Qiana!"

A gunshot rang out.

Coralie trembled hard, even her crying stopped.

She slowly opened her eyes, only to see the man with the gun in front of her had fallen to the ground.

The other accomplice sensed something was wrong and immediately pulled out his gun to kill Coralie.

But before he could shoot, he was hit by several bullets and fell to the ground!

Coralie stared in shock at the bodyguards rushing in from all directions, tears falling again.

"Ms. Walker, don't be afraid!" Ryder came forward to untie her. "Mr. Lancaster and Mrs. Lancaster sent us to rescue you."

Coralie was still scared, trembling uncontrollably. "Thank you..."

On the other side, Griffin hadn't received any feedback from his men for a while. Just as he was about to ask, he heard Harriet on the phone say, "Griffin, don't waste your effort. Your men are already dead."

Griffin frowned. "What did you say?"

Harriet smiled. "Did you really think I would let people around me fall into your hands so easily again?"

"Coralie's phone was left at the scene, but I had installed a tracker on her beforehand. No matter where your people took her, I could find her."

"I didn't rush to rescue her as long as your people didn't hurt her. Because I wasn't sure how many people you had hiding in Emberfall, so of course I wanted to deal with them all at once."

"Last night you texted Ms. Rodriguez, telling her I was going to trade her life for Coralie. Did you really think Ms. Rodriguez could escape from the bodyguards' sight without my permission?"

"I knew your people must be hiding around Cloud Bay, watching every move here. I was prepared. When your people were tracking Ms. Rodriguez to kill her, they were captured by my men."

"The messages they reported to you last night were all forced by my people."

"Not only that, they also gave up other accomplices they knew about, and I dealt with them all last night. Griffin, you lost dozens of people in one night. Even if you still have people left, there can't be many, right?"

Griffin laughed softly. "Good, Harriet, you've really learned well."

"Dealing with someone like you doesn't require playing by the rules."

"It's just a shame that no matter how much you hate me, you can't kill me. As long as the curse is on you, Tristan won't let me die."

Harriet smiled. "Maybe one day, I'd rather die together with you than let you stay in this world to harm people."

When Coralie was brought back to Cloud Bay, her emotions had stabilized a lot, but her face was still pale.

"Coralie!" Harriet greeted her at the door. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you in advance and scared you. Because I needed to clear out Griffin's men overnight, I needed time and couldn't rescue you right away."

"Harriet, I'm fine." Coralie held her hand. "You did the right thing. Griffin's men had to be cleared out to make Cloud Bay safer. And I came back unharmed, so you don't need to blame yourself."

"Thank you for understanding."

No matter what, Harriet still felt guilty. "Go take a shower first. I'll have the kitchen prepare food for you."

"Okay."

After Coralie finished her shower, Harriet knocked and came in with food.

"Coralie, eat first."

"Okay."

While eating, Coralie said, "Harriet, there's something I want to ask you."

"Go ahead."

"I heard from the two men who kidnapped me that Griffin called you and made you choose between me and Ms. Rodriguez, right?"

"Yes, but both your and Ms. Rodriguez's safety were under my control."

"I know." Coralie smiled slightly. "I know that with your personality, even if you really faced a dead end and had to choose one, you wouldn't give up on me. But Caspian gave up on me, didn't he?"

"This has nothing to do with him. Why would you say that?"

"Because I asked Caspian's assistant. He didn't even use his own resources to look for me." Coralie gave a bitter smile. "Harriet, even for Qiana's sake, he didn't think about rescuing me or bringing me back safely."

"Coralie, you misunderstood." Harriet said seriously. "I told him not to get involved in this."

"Harriet, you don't need to lie to me." Coralie held back her tears. "Actually, I don't feel sad. I just feel cold."

"I thought that at least as Qiana's mother, he would use his resources to look for me."

"This is good too. I was still a bit reluctant before, but now I've completely let him go."

Harriet didn't know what to say.

For the plan to succeed, she and Tristan hadn't told Caspian about their secret arrangements.

It was true that Caspian didn't use his people to look for Coralie.

Anyone would feel hurt if they were in her shoes.

"Coralie, maybe letting him go isn't a bad thing." Harriet reached out to touch her freshly dried hair. "Everything will get better."

"Harriet, when they pointed the gun at me today, I really thought I was going to die." Coralie's tears fell uncontrollably. "So now I feel that being able to come back alive and see Qiana again is already very, very good. Nothing else matters."

Harriet hugged her. "It's my fault for putting you through such a scare. I'm really sorry."

"Harriet, I told you, it's not your fault." Coralie said through her tears. "On the contrary, I should thank you. Going through this made me see a lot of things clearly."

"Then don't be sad anymore, okay?"

"I'm not sad, I'm happy." Coralie closed her eyes, letting the tears fall. "You're right, everything will get better."

Harriet only returned to the master bedroom after Coralie fell asleep.

Tristan's video call came through quickly.

"What's wrong?" Tristan saw that Harriet didn't look too cheerful. "Unhappy?"

"Tristan, I think Coralie is mad at Caspian for not trying to rescue her."

"To prevent any moles around us, we kept this from even Caspian. But since he didn't try to rescue Coralie, it's natural for her to be angry."

"So what do we do now?"

"Honey, they've already separated. Other than being the mother of Caspian's child, Coralie has nothing to do with Caspian anymore." Tristan took a sip of coffee. "I'll say something you might not like to hear—Caspian has no obligation to rescue her."

"Are all you men this cold?" Harriet disagreed. "Coralie loved Caspian for so many years."

Tristan: "Baby, I'm trying to analyze this rationally, and you're talking to me about feelings. Let's not talk about this anymore. If we keep going, you'll get upset."

Harriet pouted. "Anyway, I think things between Caspian and Coralie won't end so easily. I have a feeling that sooner or later, Caspian will regret this."

Tristan chuckled. "Like I did back then?"

Harriet raised an eyebrow. "You didn't really pursue me that much."

"Honey, I worked so hard to pursue you back then, and you call that not much?"

Harriet couldn't help but laugh. "Well, I've pretty much forgotten it all. Why don't you find time to pursue me again?"

Tristan looked at the stunningly beautiful face on the video, his heart aching.

Harriet seemed to sense his emotions and froze slightly.

She smiled and changed the subject. "Tristan, do you think Griffin's people in Emberfall have been mostly cleared out?"

"There should be more than just these people, but Griffin's every move is now under our control. His actions are limited, so naturally his people's actions won't be easy either."

"That's good. This round, we won." Harriet smiled. "So Tristan, I believe that one day we'll be reunited."

"Okay, I'll listen to my wife and wait patiently for that day."

When Coralie woke up, it was already dark.

She got up, washed up, and went downstairs to Qiana's room to find her.

She opened the door and saw Caspian holding Qiana and feeding her formula.

Hearing the sound, Caspian instinctively looked up.

Their eyes met, but neither of them reacted much.

But Coralie could still clearly feel the storm raging inside her.

Unlike before, what she felt more was sadness.

If she could, she didn't want to see Caspian.

But she also knew clearly that with Qiana between them, they would always be connected. They couldn't avoid seeing each other for the rest of their lives.

Coralie suppressed her inner turmoil and walked forward calmly. "Let me do it."

"Qiana's being good. She's almost done. Don't keep passing her around."

Coralie didn't insist and squatted down to pick up the toys on the floor.

Caspian looked at this familiar scene and said, "You don't need to do these things."

"I'm used to it."

She had always been diligent and couldn't stand mess.

"You're not hurt, are you?"

"No." Coralie replied flatly. "Actually, Harriet's people had already set everything up. If those two men had hurt me, her people would have rushed in to save me immediately."

"Harriet is really capable." Caspian felt relieved. "She did this beautifully. Even I was kept in the dark, thinking we were being controlled by Griffin again."

Coralie said, "Mr. Lancaster and Harriet are united as husband and wife, so naturally they're unstoppable. Taking down Griffin is just a matter of time."

"What's wrong with you?" Caspian belatedly sensed that something was off with Coralie's mood. "Were you scared yesterday?"

"No." Coralie denied. "I'm fine."

"Then who are you giving that cold face to?" Caspian frowned. "Did I upset you?"

Coralie looked up at him. "I'm not giving anyone a cold face."

"Go look in the mirror and see how you look right now, like someone owes you money." Caspian's face darkened slightly. "Coralie, you left without a word before and made Qiana suffer so much. I didn't hold you accountable, but that doesn't mean you didn't do anything wrong."

Coralie pulled at her lips. "The wrong things I've done—this is hardly the only one."

"From what you're saying, your mistakes are related to me?" Caspian said coldly. "Tell me about it."

"It's all in the past. I don't want to say anything." Coralie took Qiana from his arms. "Qiana's full. I'll take her back to the room first."

Caspian was almost amused by his anger.

It had been less than a month since they'd seen each other, and she'd learned to throw tantrums at him.

In all his years, no one had ever dared treat him like this!

Just as Coralie was about to turn and leave, her arm was grabbed by a strong hand.

Coralie turned to look at him. "What?"

"I hate it most when people talk in riddles. Make yourself clear."

"I have nothing to say to you." Coralie pulled her hand free. "Qiana's here. I don't want to fight with you."

Caspian took Qiana from her and walked straight out.

"Caspian, what are you doing?" Coralie immediately chased after him. "Give Qiana back to me!"

Caspian carried Qiana downstairs and handed her to Harriet, who had just returned from a walk, then directly pulled Coralie's hand and headed outside.

"What's going on with them?" Iris asked worriedly. "Are they fighting? Should you go after them and talk to them?"

"Although Caspian is domineering, he wouldn't get physical with Coralie. And fighting isn't necessarily a bad thing." Harriet smiled. "Fighting is also a way of communicating. It's better than them having no communication at all like before."

Iris felt much more at ease. "That's true."

Coralie resisted the whole way, but she was no match for Caspian's strength. She was forcibly taken out of the villa and put into the car parked at the door.

She instinctively tried to open the door and get out, but Caspian locked it immediately.

"Caspian, what do you want?" Coralie couldn't hide her anger.

Caspian reached out and grabbed her chin, his eyes full of mockery. "You left without a word before and didn't get my attention, so now you're trying a different approach? Changing from the good girl image and daring to resist me—is this all to get my attention?"