Chapter 451 Thankless Effort
Clara's screams echoed through the room as she was beaten, her already pale face looking even more pitiful.
But no one in the room felt any sympathy for her, least of all the person hitting her, who didn't ease up in the slightest.
Clara knew she had said something to upset Emma again. Between her cries, she begged Emma for mercy.
Emma lazily called for a stop after Clara's second plea.
The punches stopped, but Clara's tears didn't.
She had been crying uncontrollably and was beaten so hard that she looked a complete mess.
Even though the beating had stopped, Clara trembled and whispered, "Ms. Kate, I'm sorry."
Clara realized that Emma was angry because she had suggested that Emma help Ryan kidnap Katniss.
She thought Emma didn't like being associated with Ryan.
"I shouldn't have made such a reckless suggestion."
As Clara wiped her tears, she thought about how bad Emma's temper was and resolved to be more careful with her words in the future.
"Good that you understand. People like that..." Emma said, her expression relaxing.
Clara had guessed part of Emma's thoughts correctly, but the main reason was that Emma had no intention of kidnapping Katniss.
Even if she did want to kidnap Katniss, she wouldn't do it with someone like Ryan.
After all, Ryan was a liability and wouldn't be of any help.
Perhaps sensing Emma's unspoken disdain, Clara carefully said, "Ms. Kate, even without help, you could definitely..."
But before she could finish, Emma interrupted her with displeasure.
"I have no plans to move against Katniss for now. Forget those stupid ideas you had."
When Emma first learned that Katniss was Maximilian's wife, she had considered making a move against her.
But directly targeting Katniss would surely anger Maximilian.
She could tell that Maximilian had genuine feelings for Katniss.
After her people discovered that the bodyguards Maximilian had placed around Katniss were all ex-soldiers or mercenaries, she was even more certain that Maximilian cared about Katniss.
Emma thought it was a good thing her people were thorough.
While investigating Ryan, they also checked out Katniss's security situation.
Although she had been looking at Ryan's information and the day's events in front of Clara, she had also seen the information on the people around Katniss.
Even though the investigation was rushed and incomplete, the fact that three of Katniss's bodyguards had taken down seven opponents in a confrontation, combined with their military backgrounds, made Emma wary of directly targeting Katniss as Clara had suggested.
Doing so would not only anger Maximilian but also be a futile effort.
Clara was stunned, unable to understand why Emma had changed her mind after initially being interested.
Her confused expression was almost comical, and Emma, fed up with her stupidity, kicked her again.
This kick was merciless and hit Clara's sore spot.
Hearing Clara's scream, Emma said, "You'd better figure out a way to get Desmond back to Starhaven. Until you do, you'll be my guest here."
At the mention of being a guest, Clara shuddered.
But seeing the warning in Emma's eyes, she didn't dare say a word despite her turmoil.
Emma leisurely got up and headed for the door.
Before leaving, she instructed her people to keep an eye on Clara and take good care of her.
Clara trembled as she watched Emma leave, then looked at the two people left behind, unsure of what to do.
Getting Desmond to return to Starhaven seemed impossible after he had suddenly gone silent and hung up on her.
But with two people watching her, even though it was late at night, she was reluctant to take out her phone.
When she took it out, Clara realized her phone was dead.
She had put it on silent earlier when she noticed someone calling her, afraid of angering Emma during their conversation.
After putting it on silent, she hadn't checked it again.
But now, her phone had died, and she couldn't turn it on because it was out of battery.
Looking at the two intimidating people guarding her, Clara asked with a bitter smile, "My phone's dead. Can I charge it?"
The two didn't make things difficult for her.
One of them quickly fetched a charger for Clara.
As she plugged in her phone, Clara thought about how to persuade Desmond and how to ensure Ryan would still target Katniss after he got out.
She didn't want Ryan to turn his attention to her, especially since he had compromising photos of her.
When her phone finally had enough charge to turn on, Clara saw the missed calls and frowned.
There were calls from Ryan, Elodie, and even Lucas.
Her first thought was that Lucas had arrived in Starhaven.
After all, Elodie had said Lucas would come to handle Dylan's situation.
Thinking of Lucas's capabilities, Clara felt a glimmer of hope and decided to call him back first.
Just as she was about to dial Lucas's number, Elodie called.
Earlier, Elodie had seen Lucas rush home.
She immediately told him that she had tried calling Clara in the afternoon.
At first, there was no answer, and then the phone was turned off.
This made her worry about Clara's safety.
Lucas, hearing Elodie's concerns, tried calling Clara and found her phone was indeed off.
Elodie's eyes reddened, and she was about to go out and look for Clara, but Lucas stopped her, seeing how late it was.
"Mom, you're not fully recovered yet. It's late. Let me find Clara."
Seeing Lucas's concern for Clara, Elodie felt slightly less worried.
Lucas quickly contacted the few people he knew in Starhaven to help find Clara.
He didn't know many people there, but it was better than Elodie searching aimlessly.
After asking his friends for help, he was at a loss for what to do next.
Seeing Lucas's uncertainty, Elodie couldn't help but voice her suspicion.
"Lucas, do you think it could be Katniss?"
Lucas asked, "Why do you think it's Katniss?"
He found it odd but didn't think Katniss was capable of such a thing.
"Katniss has always disliked Clara and wants her to suffer, so I thought it might be her."
Clara had told Elodie about how Katniss had caused her breakup with Ethan.
Combined with Katniss's cold attitude towards them and Nathan and Dylan, Clara had subtly painted Katniss as the villain in Elodie's eyes.
Elodie now disliked Katniss even more.
If she could turn back time, she would never have wanted to give birth to someone as despicable as Katniss.
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