Mr. Anderson was really confused as to the reason for Ryan's sudden outburst when he had been acting calm all along making him doubt if Selena wasn't that important to him after all.
And to say the truth, since the moment he recognized Dan as his b*stard son, he saw the chance to permanently have Ryan stop breathing down their necks and ending up destroying the family he had spent his whole life building, a thousand times better than the temporary compromise that the capture of Selena would bring.
Moreover, he couldn't be sure whether that woman was just a shield or smokescreen for Ryan, and he knew that if she wasn't, even if they hid her at the most secretive place, it wouldn't take long before Ryan found her with the great power and connections he held in his hand.
Sending his men to monitor Selena and then capturing her had been a desperate plan he had thought up in the heat of the moment in the first place. It was a plan that wouldn't have succeeded on normal days, considering how tightly Ryan protected the woman, yet, it had succeeded owing to a freak combination of events.
Now that there was a better option, he of course had no plans to offend Ryan any further and planned to order those men to free Selena. Moreover, even before he made that decision, he had ordered Luke to tell those men to treat the woman as politely as possible and that nothing should happen to her as he understood quite well that if anything untoward should happen to her while she was in their hands, it would only hasten the family's demise.
Or...
He suddenly threw Luke a sharp look.
...did he do something behind his back?
Luke flinched on seeing the look in his eyes, a subconscious reaction as a result of his father's influence on him over the years. And on understanding the question in his eyes, he denied almost instantly, "..I haven't done anything!"
Mr. Anderson didn't answer him and kept his gaze on Luke's face for a few more seconds and shifted it away only after he determined that Luke was saying the truth.
He then came face-to-face with the enlarged face that belonged to Ryan who also happened to strengthen the strength with which he was grabbing him by the neck at that moment.
Both Dan and Flynn who hadn't said anything since all this while noticed that Mr. Anderson had turned red in the face, a sign of suffocation and looked at Ryan in worry, fearing that he would do something irreversible in his rage. But they still didn't dare go forward to stop him, not even Dan who was very close to him because neither of them had ever seen Ryan lose control to this extent before and therefore, couldn't guarantee that he wouldn't injure them as well.
Moreover, they didn't have much love for Mr. Anderson that would make them risk their own lives to save him.
Besides, just look at Luke who was the old man's 'beloved' son, not even him was saying anything!
In the end, they decided to watch Ryan closely and planned to go forward only if they noticed the old man was on his last breath and might be unable to make it any longer.
On the other hand, Mr. Anderson felt like he was on the verge of death but even so, he tried to grit out as calmly as possible.
"I don't understand what you mean.."
Unfortunately, he had no idea that his words only served to enrage Ryan even more as he misunderstood that Mr. Anderson was deliberately unwilling to tell him where Selena was hidden and so, he increased the strength in his hand again and soon after, there was a seemingly inaudible sound of bones cracking in the room.
"Ryan!", Dan shouted at him in alarm when he heard that sickening sound.
No matter how horrible the old man was, he didn't want his brother's hands to be stained with his blood, so he hurriedly called out for fear that Ryan would really lose his mind and end up taking the old man's life.
The blood in Ryan's eyes receded a little bit at Dan's scream and he slowly loosened his hand from Mr. Anderson's neck and watched emotionlessly as he slumped to the floor while gasping for breath desperately.
At this moment, Ryan really hated his d*mn rationality that had stopped him from looking for Selena personally and had instead, taught him to head over here in order to act as a smokescreen.
This was so as not to make the Anderson father and son suspicious and then make them move Selena away to another hidden location, making them repeat the whole rescue process over and over again.
He had also thought that they wouldn't dare hurt her since they should see her as the key to their survival but when he remembered the strong unease he felt in his heart few minutes ago, Ryan doubted his judgement for the first time.
How could he have calmly made such a plan and even be able to sit down here calmly, though that wasn't exactly true because in truth, he had been feeling really anxious and had been secretly checking his phone frequently for news from Justin and group. However, he had tried his best to hide that in order not to give the game away by pretending to be watching a show, to the point that Dan who was one of the person who knew him best was also fooled successfully.
He who had never believed in telepathy just knew it somehow, though it was a feeling he couldn't put a hand to, that his woman was probably in danger or should be feeling scared at that moment. And which normal woman, no matter how strong she was, wouldn't be? To suddenly wake up in a strange place surrounded by strange people..
Following that had been an intense feeling to see her standing safe and sound in front of him, so when he heard the old man's words that sounded like an evading tactic im his ears, he almost lost his rationality(whatever little was left of it) and choked him to death. But fortunately, Dan stopped him from doing so.
He squatted down to look the miserable looking old man in the eye and suddenly laughed. However, it was a mirthless laugh with no hint of humor at all, instead it made you feel a chill run down your spine.
"Do you know whose daughter you had kidnapped?", He asked lightly like he was just making a normal conversation but of course, none of the people in the room thought his question was really that simple.
Hearing his question, Mr. Anderson temporarily stopped himself from coughing and confusion appeared in eyes.
"Isn't she just an orphan?", He asked his doubts out aloud on remembering the results from the investigations he had ordered on Selena. He had only felt bold enough to order that woman's kidnapping because he thought she was an orphan and had no substantial background to speak of.
Of course, he knew that she had grown up with Justin Walters' wife in the orphanage and was also her best friend, but even so, he wasn't worried at all because he believed that the Walters' wouldn't offend him because of an insignificant woman.
Moreover, he had always believed that his family was more influential and powerful than the Walters' since they were an officials aristocratical family while the former were just merchants. Therefore, he wasn't worried at all about retaliation from the Walters'.
Luke also showed confusion at Ryan's question, but for some reason, he just had a feeling that Ryan's answer wouldn't be anything good.
On the other hand, both Dan and Flynn exchanged glances between themselves and saw the same doubt in each other's eyes.
'What is Ryan(boss) planning? Does he really want to reveal Selena's true background?'
In the next second, Ryab answered the question in their hearts.
"Ha.. Do you really think that my, Ryan's woman would really be an ordinary person?"
The bad feeling in both Mr. Anderson and Luke's hearts grew even more at his words. They opened their mouths to say something but Ryan gave them no chance and continued saying.
"Ever heard of the F Nation's Preston family?", He asked slowly and felt some sadistic pleasure on seeing the dawn of realisation tinted with horror and disbelief gradually appearing on both Mr. Anderson and Luke's faces.
"No..", Mr. Anderson shook his head desperately trying to deny the conjecture that was forming in his mind but would Ryan let him have that chance?
You bet the answer was no!
"Yes. It is exactly that Preston family that you have in mind that I meant. The one who has a deep friendship with F Nation's Royal family and just so you know, Selena is that family's youngest daughter!"
Mr. Anderson's face lost all colour aftee hearing him say that and his eyes slowly went out of focus as he muttered under his breath, "No.. No... No.. This can't be..."
Luke was no much better as he also looked like he lost his soul.
He couldn't believe that he and his father had dared to actually order the kidnapping of the Preston family's princess!
Not even the president of this country would dare do such a ridiculous thing. This was because even if that family's root wasn't here, their power and influences were definitely not to be underestimated considering they owned the largest part of F Nation's abundant oil mines and was Country Z's biggest supplier of crude oil!
So, you can even offend the country's president but should not even think of offending the Preston family because if they should decide against supplying oil to the country, it would be a disaster for a non-oil producing country like theirs!
And also, not to talk of the fact that the family had a deep relationship with the Royale family who though were gradually declining was also not to be underestimated.
"My official career is done for..", This was Luke's current thought.
"So... are you now ready to tell me where she is?", Ryan asked Mr. Anderson who seemed to have gone crazy calmly though hidden deep in his eyes was anxiety and expectation.
At first, Luke had the intention of giving up since he now knew he no longer had any chance of turning over but he however lost his mind on hearing Ryan's words as strong unwillingness suddenly burst from his eyes as he stared venomously at Ryan.
'Why... Why! Just why could Ryan be so lucky to be able to win the heart of the daughter of a powerful family like the Preston's and also obtain the Blood Gang's controlling power while he could only slave himself away to their father and right when he thought his dreams were just a step away, everything fell apart!'
And this brother of his was one of the culprits!
They were biological brothers, weren't they? But why was their fates so vastly different?', Luke thought inwardly to himself while going crazy with jealously.
Even he couldn't understand his mentality towards Ryan - the only thing he knew that he hated and envied him at the same time. Hated him for being better than he was and envied him for getting the things he could only wish for in his dreams.
'I won't make him feel batter even if I had to die!', He swore to himself as his eyes flashed with resentment and sinisterness.
With that, he sneakily took out his phone and tried to act as normally as possible as he hurriedly typed out message. Unfortunately, he failed to notice that Flynn always had an eye out for him and when he saw him with his phone, especially after seeing the flash of resentment in his eyes as he looked at his boss.
So, before Luke could send out the message he had typed out, he had already been subdued and could only watch helplessly as his phone was handed over to Ryan.
The moment his phone landed in Ryan's hands, Luke closed his eyes in defeat and gave up all thoughts of resisting because he knew very well that the moment Ryan saw the contents of the message, he was done for and even if he had thoughts of escaping, he wouldn't be able to do so any longer.
Not in this lifetime!
Author's Note: Thank you to everyone who has been voting, commenting, reviewing and also unlocking the chapters. You have my deepest thanks and adoration, you guys are the one who keeps me writing.
Thank you for all the time and hope you all stay behind till the end of the book!
Thank you once again!