Chapter 7

Serena was blindfolded. All she could hear was Grace struggling and screaming beside her.

“Let me go!”

“All you want is money, right? If you hurt me, do you really think my brother will pay you a dime?”

“Miss Grant,” one of the kidnappers said with a cold laugh, “we wouldn't dare take your word for anything.

“If you hadn't told us to kidnap Serena and demand whatever ransom we wanted, why would we have gone after her in the first place?

“What, are you pretending to be innocent now?”

Smack!

A sharp slap rang out.

Serena kept her eyes closed, calmly listening to the commotion beside her.

Grace finally dropped the innocent act altogether.

“Call my brother right now!” she shrieked. “Ask him which one of us he'd choose! I guarantee he'll pick me!

“You think you can lay a hand on me and get away with it? I'll make sure you go down with me!”

The two kidnappers exchanged glances.

After a brief silence, one of them made the call.

Marvin answered anxiously.

“How much do you want?

“Fifty million each,” the kidnapper replied coldly. “A hundred million for both. That's not too unreasonable, is it, Mr. Grant?”

Marvin drew a deep breath.

“I can only come up with fifty million in cash right now.”

The kidnapper laughed.

“That's fine. Then you only get to take one of them.

“You can come back for the other when you've raised the rest.

“But who knows what might happen to her in the meantime?”

He let out a sinister chuckle.

Grace immediately burst into tears.

“Marvin, I'm scared! I'm so scared! This is exactly what happened last time! This is how those men treated me! What am I supposed to do?”

She sobbed harder.

“No, you should save Serena first. She's never been through anything like this. She doesn't deserve to be hurt. I've already been violated, so it doesn't matter what happens to me.”

“Grace!”

Pain filled Marvin's voice as he interrupted her.

Then he made his final decision.

“Release my sister first.”

“I'll get you the fifty million as soon as possible. I'll raise the other fifty million too. But neither of them is to be harmed. Understood?”

The kidnapper hung up without answering.

Silence settled over the room.

No one spoke.

Serena slowly raised her hand and removed her blindfold.

Then a faint, bitter laugh escaped her lips.

How ridiculous.

Even now, some part of her had still been hoping.

Hoping Marvin might surprise her with a different answer.

But he hadn't.

He'd done exactly what she'd expected.

He'd chosen Grace.

Hearing Serena laugh, Grace burst into laughter too.

Hers was loud and exaggerated.

“Oh, Serena. What a shame.

“You heard him, didn't you? No matter what happens or how bad things get, I'll always come first in my brother's heart.

“So what are you still holding on for?

“My brother will never, ever fall in love with you.”

She kept laughing, too caught up in her own triumph to notice that Serena had calmly risen to her feet.

Serena silently mouthed two words to the kidnappers.

Do it.

The men grabbed Grace and dragged her toward the abandoned factory's exit.

Even as they shoved her along, she shouted arrogantly,

“That woman's a real piece of work! Do whatever you want with her! My brother won't care!”

Serena stood in the corner, watching without expression as Grace was taken farther and farther away.

Until, at last, Marvin pulled Grace into his arms, his face full of concern.

“Grace, are you okay?”

He helped her into the car.

Then he asked, “How's Serena?”

His gaze shifted toward the abandoned factory in the distance, his expression tense and conflicted.

Marvin grew increasingly restless.

“I'll have my assistant take you to the hospital. I'm going to check on Serena.”

But before he could finish speaking, an enormous explosion shook the air.

Boom!

Flames erupted into the sky, swallowing everything in their path.

In the distance, the abandoned factory vanished beneath a raging inferno.

And for one horrifying instant, Marvin could almost see Serena's body being blown apart inside, torn into pieces by the blast.