Chapter 225 Surprised?
When Rachel heard the familiar voice, her hands trembled. “Samuel!” Meanwhile, Frankie sensed that something was off and asked, “What’s wrong, Miss Hudson? What happened?”
“Samuel’s…” As she was about to explain, she remembered the kidnapper’s warning, so she immediately stopped. After all, she was reminded of the incident with her grandmother, and all she could feel in that instant was panic.
“What about Samuel?” Since she was too panicked to explain anything, Rachel grew impatient while waiting for the elevator and turned around before she stormed toward the staircase. On the other hand, Frankie couldn’t even stop her.
“President Burton, Miss Hudson just received a call and rushed off. Something seems to have happened to Samuel.” Upon returning to the office, Frankie relayed the situation to Justin.
The latter asked doubtfully, “What can possibly happen to that brat?” The brat’s always acting as if he’s a grown-up, running to my home to look for me and all that. Even if he were to bump into a trafficker, he’d be the one to traffic the trafficker.
“I’m not sure either, but it seemed urgent. Perhaps something has really happened to him. Why don’t we send someone to check it out, President Burton?”
As he scowled, Justin suddenly remembered the phone call from earlier. Instantly, he gripped the pen in his hand. To the outside world, Samuel was his own son—he was being kidnapped!
Meanwhile, Rachel phoned Julian as she rushed to the abandoned theater in Eastown. “Hello? Are you at my place? Is Samuel at home?”
“I was going to ask you if Samuel went out by himself. There’s no one here.”
Upon hearing Julian’s words, Rachel affirmed the kidnapper’s threats.
“What’s wrong, Chris?” Julian queried as he sensed something wrong with her tone.
“Nothing. There’s something I need to do. I’ll talk to you later.” Upon finishing her sentence, she quickly hung up on him.
Since Rachel feared that the kidnapper might be monitoring her phone calls, she didn’t dare to tell him about Samuel’s kidnapper. Otherwise, the kid would be dead.
After half an hour, the cab started navigating to the abandoned theater in Eastown.
The sky was rather cloudy, as if a downpour would occur very soon. While bushes of grass filled both sides of the path to the old theater, the complementing tall trees were left unmanaged. Nonetheless, they had grown quite healthily as the rich leaves shielded the sunrays. Despite being the afternoon, the place was so dark it felt like the sun had already set.
Once Rachel got out of the taxi, she stormed right into the theater. In the spacious hall, dust covered every surface as cobwebs pervaded the walls.
“Samuel!” Rachel immediately yelled when she entered the building as her concerned voice echoed throughout the hallway.
Unfortunately, the room was empty as there was no one to be seen. After countless shouts, the speakers in the corner suddenly sounded with piercing static noises that would force frowns on faces. “Have you come alone?”
The dumbfounded Rachel saw someone approaching. On the stage full of fixtures, a figure showed up from backstage, and he was followed by two men that seemed to be bodyguards who carried a chair with them.
“Mr. Wayne?” Rachel felt a chill. How is he already out of jail?
The chubby man sat on the chair; the wound on his face was still visible as the bruise under his eye made him appear even more intimidating.
“Are you surprised to see me, Mrs. Burton?”
“Don’t call me that. Justin and I divorced five years ago. I bear no relationship with him!”
At that moment, Rachel was aware that even if she had offended Mr. Wayne, a nobody like her could ever cause such big trouble that the man would come to her himself. Hence, it was obvious that the feud was between him and Justin, and that was why he addressed her that way. When she thought back to the earlier phone call, he did explicitly ask for Justin to show up.
“Am I a moron to you? Can’t I tell whether there’s a connection between the two of you?” Mr. Wayne leered at Rachel icily and continued, “Six years ago, you guys played me like a fool; six years later, you guys managed to clown me once more! What a pair you guys are! Masters of deceit, huh?”
“I have no idea what you are talking about, Mr. Wayne, but Samuel is innocent!”
“Bullsh*t! If Justin fails to come and kneel before me, I’ll feed the boy to the sharks. You better believe it!” As he finished speaking, another bodyguard appeared from backstage with a child all tied up before tossing him to the ground.
At once, Samuel let out a muffled sound. Since his mouth was taped, he couldn’t voice much.
“Samuel!” As the sight of her tormented son devastated her, Rachel charged toward the stage. However, she was easily pinned down by the two bodyguards.
“Let him go!” Rachel was about to collapse. Samuel’s only a boy! What did he do to deserve being tortured like this?
Mr. Wayne lit up a cigarette, and the subtle smoke wafting in the air of the gloomy theater was barely visible. “Let him go? What leverage would I have on you if I were to let him go? That sh*t you two pulled off years ago f*cked me up bad! In that case, who should I seek revenge from?”
“I still have no idea what you’re talking about! Justin and I divorced a long time ago!”
“Cut the sh*t! You were still together when you set me up. And now you’re all slithery, pushing sh*t to each other! Dream on, f*ckers!”
“What the hell do you want?”
“Where’s Justin? I want to see him.”
“He won’t come. Samuel’s not his son!”
“Ten minutes.” As if he didn’t hear her, he raised his hand and revealed a priceless stopwatch. “I’ll give you ten minutes. If he doesn’t show up by then, I’ll cut off one of the brat’s hands; another ten minutes will cost him the other hand. If he still doesn’t show up after twenty minutes, the brat is as good as fish food!”
At that moment, Rachel was utterly terrified. She opened her eyes wide and shrieked, “Don’t touch my boy!”
“Guess you better have Justin over as soon as possible if you want to keep your boy safe!” Mr. Wayne’s voice reverberated in the theater.
After shaking off the bodyguards grabbing her, she attempted to give Justin a call with her shaking hands.
“Sorry. The number you’ve dialed is unavailable. Please try again later.”
No one answered the call.
“He’s not picking up!”
“Seven minutes, Mrs. Burton.”
Even though she was losing hope, Rachel was still desperate. Hence, all she could do was phone Justin repetitively. After a while, the call finally got through as the man’s emotionless voice was heard. “Yes?”
At the end of her tether, she panickedly pleaded, “Please save Samuel, Justin!”
“What are you talking about? Where are you now?”
“Give me that sh*t!” As Mr. Wayne extended his hand toward Rachel, the bodyguard beside him snatched away the phone that was in her hand and handed it over to his boss.
Mr. Wayne proceeded to turn on the speakers right in front of Rachel. “How have you been, President Burton?”
Justin was stupefied for a moment, but he calmly said, “Mr. Wayne? Are you with Rachel?”
