Chapter 144
"Sophia, don't worry, I'm always on your side. If James is really that stupid, I'll definitely help you. I won't let him bully you." Liliana hugged me and gently patted my back. "Don't be sad."
I hugged her back. "Don't worry, I won't shed a single tear for people who don't matter anymore."
Liliana kept gathering information.
She told me James had used all his connections to track down Amelia, but Amelia had vanished as she'd disappeared off the face of the earth. No matter how hard they searched, they couldn't find her.
An uneasy feeling came over me again.
She wouldn't let this go.
She would definitely find a chance to deal me a fatal blow. I couldn't just sit around waiting.
I strengthened the security around me and told Liliana to be careful, too.
But there's always a weak spot. Someone dressed as a nurse came in to give me an injection. Something felt off. "I don't think I've ever seen you before."
Usually, only two nurses gave me injections. I'd never seen this one.
She didn't say anything. She pulled a handkerchief from her pocket, and before I could cry out, a sharp smell rushed into my nose. Everything went black, and I lost consciousness.
When I woke up, I found myself in an abandoned warehouse, hands tied behind my back, mouth stuffed with cloth.
In the open space in the middle of the warehouse stood several people.
Besides two masked thugs watching me, there was a middle-aged man with his back to me, wearing an expensive suit that couldn't hide his sinister aura.
Amelia, who had been missing for so long, stood beside the man, her face showing flattery.
She looked much more haggard than before, but her eyes were frighteningly bright, full of madness.
"Awake?" The man in the suit turned around. He was probably in his forties, with sharp features, but eyes as cold as a snake's.
I recognized him—Terrence Wheeler, a bitter rival of the Smith Group in business. He'd lost to James several times in competition and held a grudge.
"Ms. Brown, what a pleasure." Terrence looked at me with a fake smile. "Sorry to invite you here this way."
"James pushed me too hard. I had no choice but to ask you to come, so I'd have some leverage to negotiate with him properly."
Amelia said with a smile, "Sophia, didn't expect this, did you?"
"You drove me to jump off a building, had James throw me out of the country like trash, but I wasn't meant to die." Amelia laughed. "I escaped, and I met Mr. Wheeler. He said he'd help me get revenge. Today is the day you die."
Terrence pulled out his phone and made a video call.
The screen lit up, showing James's extremely anxious face. The background looked like his office.
"James, see who this is?" Terrence turned the camera toward me and Amelia, who had somehow been tied up.
James's face instantly turned pale. "Terrence, what do you want? Let her go right now!"
"What do I want?" Terrence said leisurely. "Mr. Smith bankrupted me. I'm not happy about it, so I want to play a game with you."
He fixed the phone on a stand, making sure James could see the whole scene.
Then he walked between Amelia and me, holding a gleaming dagger.
"These two—one is your ex-wife, the other woman is carrying your child."
Mr. Wheeler traced the knife tip back and forth between Amelia and me. "Now, I'm giving you a choice."
"I can only let one of these two women go. Who do you choose to live with? The one you choose, I'll let leave safely. As for the other one..."
He licked his lips, showing a cruel smile. "She'll have to stay here and die with me."
"Terrence, if you touch a hair on their heads, I'll make your whole family pay!" James's eyes were bloodshot on the screen, his voice full of violent killing intent.
"Cut the crap. I'll send you an address in a bit. Come in person and choose face-to-face. Maybe that way you'll feel more immersed and choose faster."
He hung up and fiddled with his phone for a while. After quite some time, James arrived with his people.
"I'm here. Let them go immediately." James walked in, his face full of anger.
"Cut the crap!" Mr. Wheeler held a knife to both my and Amelia's necks, shouting harshly, "Choose now! If you don't, I'll kill them both!"
Amelia cried and urged, "James, choose me, choose me! I'm the one who loves you most. I saved your life, and I'm carrying your child!"
"Sophia is a shameless woman who sleeps around. She's not worthy of you. She's even pregnant with some bastard's child."
"If you save me, I'll forgive you. We can forget all these unhappy things and live a good life together."
Even at this moment, she didn't forget to put me down. It was really hard for her to still be thinking about me when she was about to die.
My mouth was stuffed with cloth. I couldn't make a sound, could only stare coldly at James.
Time passed second by second.
James stared at us intently, eyes bloodshot, chest heaving violently.
His gaze moved back and forth between Amelia and me.
Amelia kept shouting, "Choose me, James!"
Finally, when Terrence counted down to "ten," James closed his eyes. When he opened them again, they were filled with desperate crimson.
He opened his mouth, his voice hoarse but firm: "Let Sophia go."
After he said this, there was a moment of dead silence in the warehouse.
The crazed, expectant smile on Amelia's face froze, then cracked inch by inch, turning into disbelief and overwhelming hatred.
She looked like she'd been punched hard in the face. She staggered back a step, staring at James.
"You... what did you say? James, you chose her? You actually chose this bitch?" She shrieked, her voice piercing. "I saved your life, I'm carrying your child, and you're abandoning me to choose a woman pregnant with some bastard?"
Terrence raised an eyebrow, seeming not at all surprised by James's choice.
He looked at the crazed Amelia with interest, then at me.
My mouth was stuffed with cloth, I couldn't make any sound, but my heart was equally in turmoil.
James chose me?
Why?
Could it be because of what happened last time that he felt guilty?
Before I could figure it out, Terrence was already grinning wickedly. "Thank you for letting me know you really do like your ex-wife!"
His eyes turned fierce as he signaled his men. "Bring Sophia here!"
A thug walked over, roughly pulled me up from the ground, yanked the cloth from my mouth, and shoved me toward Terrence.
"Terrence, let Sophia go. If you dare touch her, I swear I'll make you die a horrible death!" James roared.
"Such good leverage, and you want me to let her go? Are you joking?" Terrence laughed darkly. He grabbed me, pulled me in front of him, and yanked my hair, forcing me to scream.