Chapter 93
Emily Windsor's POV
It seemed I had never truly entered Luke's world.
In his eyes, I was ultimately just that fragile Emily who needed to be pushed away and protected.
I clutched that note so tightly in my palm that my nails dug into my flesh.
I finished all the remaining food in one go. My frozen limbs finally gained a trace of warmth.
I wiped away my tears, walked to the door, and addressed the two expressionless bodyguards with an unprecedented calm: "Tell Lily I want to see her."
Lily arrived quickly, as if she'd been waiting for my summons all along.
I sat on the sofa, watching her quietly. My eyes no longer held the breakdown and hysteria from before—only a cold, deathly stillness remained.
"What's the plan?" I cut straight to the point.
Lily sat down across from me. Those sharp eyes lingered on my face for a moment, as if evaluating my current state. She didn't answer my question directly, merely adopting that cold, hard posture and asking flatly, "What do you think?"
I knew she was still testing me. Or rather, in Luke's plan, I was still excluded from the inner circle.
I didn't press further.
Since they weren't willing to tell me, asking more would be useless.
Meeting her scrutinizing gaze, I pulled out a cold smile devoid of warmth.
"What do you need me to do to cooperate with you?"
Lily didn't answer my question directly. She merely pulled a cold, cryptic smile across that exquisite face.
Before I could probe deeper into what lay behind that smile, the hospital room door was violently shoved open again.
Lawrence strode in wearing a tailored gray suit, the thick bandaging at his right shoulder barely concealed. That once-handsome face now looked sinister, almost twisted.
Several bodyguards followed behind him, entering as if they owned the place, filling the room with a chilling air of menace.
"Miss Victor, three days are up," Lawrence's gaze slid past Lily, landing on me like a venomous snake—filled with nauseating greed and destructive desire. "Time to hand her over, don't you think?"
I instinctively gripped the blanket's edge, my knuckles turning white from the pressure.
"Mr. Lowe, what's the rush?" Lily sat on the sofa with crossed legs, casually toying with a lighter in her hand. "Emily is the only eyewitness to Luke's case right now, and she's my trump card. You just waltz in here wanting to take her—isn't that a bit disrespectful?"
"Lily!"
Before Lawrence could respond, several elderly men with graying temples entered from outside.
These were the Victor family elders—the same ones who'd stood with Lily at the press conference denouncing Luke just days ago.
Now they looked panicked, glaring furiously at Lily.
"The Lowe family already has a stranglehold on several of our core trade operations. Why are you still protecting this woman? Are you really going to sacrifice the entire Victor family for an outsider?"
"Exactly! Luke has already caused enough damage to the Victor family. You're acting CEO now—you need to think about the bigger picture!"
The elders' voices rose one after another, each sentence pressuring Lily to hand me over.
Watching these sanctimonious old men, a wave of nausea rose in my chest.
In their eyes, human life, innocence, family bonds—none of it mattered when weighed against profit.
Hearing this, Lawrence stepped forward. That pungent tobacco smell invaded my space. "Miss Victor, you heard them. This is the will of the people."
Lily suddenly laughed—a sound eerily out of place in the oppressive hospital room.
She slowly stood and walked toward me.
Watching that cold, beautiful face approach, my breath caught.
"Fine, I'll hand her over." Lily suddenly raised her hand, pressing her fingertip heavily against her left cheek. Though several days had passed, the mark I'd left on her in the storage room that day seemed to still linger there. "But as Mr. Lowe can see, when this woman goes crazy, she even dares to hit me. I've lived over twenty years and never been humiliated like that."
She turned around, staring at Lawrence with vicious eyes. "I need to take her somewhere first—somewhere quiet—to vent this grievance. Once I've had my fill, I'll naturally hand the bitch over to you. How about it?"
Lawrence narrowed his eyes, his gaze circling Lily's face as if weighing the authenticity of her words.
"Lily, you can't be reckless!" the elders continued protesting.
"Shut up!" Lily whipped her head around, her aura at full force, silencing those old men instantly. "I'm in charge of the Victor family now. Mr. Lowe, one word—yes or no?"
Lawrence looked at the almost obsessive hatred in Lily's eyes and finally relented, revealing a cruel smile. "Miss Victor, since you have such refined tastes, I'd naturally hate to spoil your fun. But don't kill her—I still have many things I want to say to Miss Windsor."
"Don't worry. I know what I'm doing."
Lily snorted coldly, then suddenly turned to look at me, undisguised disgust in her eyes. "Take her away!"
Two bodyguards rushed forward and roughly pinned my arms behind my back.
I struggled and screamed, playing the role of a terrified victim to perfection. "Lily! You psycho! You sold out your own brother, and now you're going to murder me to cover it up? You'll rot in hell!"
Lily backhanded me across the face.
The slap was brutal. It snapped my head to the side, and blood immediately seeped from the corner of my mouth.
"Put her in the trunk. Don't let her dirty my leather seats," she ordered coldly.
I was stuffed into the trunk of Lily's black Maybach like a piece of garbage.
With a loud "bang," the world plunged into absolute darkness and claustrophobic confinement.
The car jolted violently. The engine released a low rumble, followed by the sensation of speeding acceleration.
The air inside the trunk was thin and stifling. I curled up, listening to the sound of wheels crushing pavement, my heart pounding wildly.
"Lily, you vicious witch! You think you can cover up the truth like this?" I banged against the trunk's interior while screaming at the top of my lungs.
"Shut up! Scream one more time and I'll cut out your tongue right now!"
Lily's voice came through the seat partition, dripping with gritted-teeth malice.
We continued this pointless, hostile exchange throughout the ride.
I knew—this car must be riddled with Lawrence's listening devices.
Every word, every scream, was performed for that venomous snake lurking in the shadows.
The car moved extremely fast, the bumps growing more intense.
After what felt like an eternity, the vehicle seemed to enter a rough mountain road before finally slamming to a stop.
The trunk popped open. Blinding sunlight flooded in.
Lily roughly grabbed my hair and dragged me bodily out of the car.