Chapter 533 Regret
Scarlett struggled to her feet, gripping the steel rod tightly. With all her might, she slammed it against the iron door.
The clang of metal echoed through the empty warehouse, but the door didn't budge.
"Damn it!" she cursed, raising the rod again to strike the lock. Sparks flew, and her hands went numb from the impact, but the lock only slightly deformed.
"Somebody! Let us out!" She began banging the rod against the walls, the sound of metal on concrete piercingly loud. "You cowards! Come out if you dare!"
No response. Only the cold wind howled through the broken windows, mocking her futile efforts.
Scarlett's sanity began to fray. She kicked over wooden crates and grabbed a rusty chain, whipping it against the walls.
"I know you're out there!" she screamed, her voice hoarse. "The Russell family won't let you get away with this! My son will tear you apart!"
Suddenly, she noticed a rusty oil drum in the corner. A wild idea flashed through her mind. She stumbled over and struck the drum with the rod.
"Boom!" The drum made a deafening noise, creating a terrifying echo in the confined space. Scarlett's ears rang, but she continued making noise.
"Come on! You cowards!" She whipped the chain against the floor, the sound of metal on concrete relentless. "Too scared to show your faces!"
The iron door was suddenly kicked open, and two burly men entered. The leader, a man with a scarred face, threw a bucket of ice water over the two women.
"Old lady, what's all the racket?" The scarred man grabbed Scarlett by the collar. "Keep it up, and we'll feed you to the dogs!"
Scarlett's nails dug into her palms. "She needs a doctor! This is murder!"
"Oh, really?" The blue-haired man sneered, approaching the unconscious Emma. "Weren't you calling her a bitch just yesterday?"
After the thugs left, Scarlett shakily removed her cashmere coat and carefully placed it under Emma's head. In the moonlight, she looked at Emma closely for the first time. Emma's eyelashes were frosted, and her lips were blue from blood loss.
"Idiot," Scarlett choked out, "who told you to save me?"
Her mind flashed back to three years ago, when she had looked down on Emma and said, "Women like you deserve to die." And now, this woman she despised had taken a blow meant for her.
Emma suddenly coughed violently, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth.
"Somebody! Help!" Scarlett pounded on the iron door, her desperate cries echoing through the empty warehouse. "She's dying! I'll give you anything you want!"
The blue-haired man sauntered in, a cigarette dangling from his lips. "What's all the noise?"
Scarlett fell to her knees. "Please, give us some medicine to stop the bleeding." She had never begged like this in her life. "I'll transfer a million dollars to you. Is that enough?"
"Mrs. Russell, begging? What a sight." The blue-haired man squatted down and patted her face. "Too bad our boss doesn't want money."
He deliberately extinguished his cigarette near Emma's hand, watching her flinch unconsciously, and laughed maliciously. "I hear Mr. Russell treasures this woman? Let's see how much he'll pay when we start cutting off her fingers on a live stream tomorrow."
Scarlett's pupils contracted. As the blue-haired man turned, she grabbed the chain from the floor and wrapped it around his neck.
"Old woman, you..." The man's face turned red instantly.
"Don't you dare touch her!" Scarlett, fueled by a surge of strength, dragged the man to the ground. "My son is blind, isn't that enough for you? Now you want to destroy the woman he loves?"
The chain bit into the man's flesh, his struggles growing weaker. Suddenly, a sharp pain exploded in the back of her head as the scarred man struck her with the butt of his gun, knocking her out.
When Scarlett came to, she found herself locked in a cage. Through the bars, she saw Emma tied to a torture rack, her wounds still bleeding.
"Emma," she called weakly, her throat burning.
Emma's eyes fluttered open, and she gave a faint smile. "Mrs. Russell, you're okay. That's good."
The words cut Scarlett like a knife. She remembered the first thing her son said after losing his sight: "Is Emma okay?"
"Foolish girl," tears blurred her vision, "why did you save a wicked old woman like me?"
Late at night, the guards were drunk. Scarlett used a hairpin to pick the lock and crawled over to Emma.
"Hold on," she said, tearing a strip from her shirt and using rainwater to clean Emma's wounds.
Emma trembled in pain but tried to reassure her. "It's okay, I can handle it."
"Shut up!" Scarlett clumsily pressed on the bleeding points. "I'm not doing this because I care about you! I just don't want George to be sad!"
Despite her harsh words, her actions grew gentler. When she realized Emma had a fever, she wrapped the only tattered blanket around her.
"You'll be cold," Emma whispered weakly.
"Let a wicked old woman like me freeze to death!" Scarlett retorted, but she held Emma's cold hands to warm them. "Why did you come to save me?"
Emma smiled faintly, not really knowing herself. Maybe she had lost her mind.
Yesterday, she had been working on her designs in her apartment when her phone rang. The screen showed an unknown number. She hesitated but answered.
"Hello?"
"Is this Ms. Stuart?" A woman's voice, deliberately lowered, came through. "I'm Eva, a maid for the Russell family. Mrs. Russell is in trouble!"
Emma snapped the pencil in her hand. "What happened? Tell me slowly."
"Mrs. Russell left home last night, and Mr. Charles Russell was worried, so he had me follow her. I watched her check into a hotel. Since she only booked for one night, I went to pick her up this morning, but she had already checked out. The staff said she left some luggage behind." Eva's voice trembled. "I found a note saying, 'If I'm not back by noon, give the USB drive to George.'"
Emma's heart sank. She remembered the suspicious black car outside the restaurant last night.
"The note also mentioned an address, an old chemical plant on the outskirts of town," Eva added. "I didn't dare tell Mr. George Russell. His eyes..."
"I understand." Emma grabbed her coat. "Don't alert anyone. I'll go check it out."
After hanging up, Emma stood in the hallway, her fingers gripping the door handle tightly. Memories of Scarlett's harsh taunts, vicious insults, and three years of slander flashed through her mind.
"Why should I save her?" She laughed bitterly, letting go and walking back to the living room.
Log in with Google Account
Chapters
Favorite
Settings
