Chapter 70: Efficient Threat

A few days have passed since Bella sent the gift from Grego to Johnny, the lock of Gavin's hair. However, no response from him has been sent, no other traitorous member or even a soldier who does the dirty work for the limitless and unscrupulous man who, which by the despite his betrayals, was married to Bella for 10 years, apparently accepting all of Anthony Hahn's orders, being an excellent son-in-law and brother-in-law, helping to take care of the Hahn family business. Bella, in turn, despite knowing about Johnny's character flaw because they had been friends since they were teenagers, thought she knew him very well and that was the mistake of all the Hahn's. Now she was waiting for news from the judge who was holding up her divorce proceedings, to get rid of her husband cunning once and for all.

"Mrs. Hahn, I have some news that may interest you, it's about your divorce." Susan enters Bella's office where she was in the middle of a phone call with Josiah Adams, one of the trusted men who took care of the hidden business that Bella headed. "I'll be traveling to the Bahamas in the first week of January. I'll stay with Théo for two weeks. I'll take advantage of it and try to expand our business. Stay tuned, Mr. Adams. We'll continue our conversation later. Don't forget to increase the final price by 15%. " Bella hung up the phone and turned her attention back to Susan. 

"I'm listening. What's the news? Did Judge Dawson finally release my divorce for Johnny to sign?" The brunette was hopeful.

"No. But I heard from some informants that his wife and children were seen shopping at renowned stores nearby." Bella thinks for a moment, but knowing that there would be no other way, since the Judge was Johnny's lackey, she looks at her advisor and gives the order:

"I really don't like this situation, but I have no other alternative. Send Charles and Hunter to follow them and, as soon as they are vulnerable, take them to one of the abandoned warehouses and let me know. Do it quickly, I can't wait to get rid of Johnny once and for all." Susan soon leaves to carry out her female boss's order, first calling Miller, the team's hacker, so that he can find out where the judge's wife is staying with her children. It wasn't difficult to track them, even with the little information that Susan passed on. Daniel Miller was soon passing on the coordinates to Hunter, who joined Charles and Debby, who was also part of the team, starting another operation that would be successful. As always, each one had their role: Hunter would play the role of waiter, Debby the maid, and Charles would be the driver. While Debby slowly walks down the hallway pushing a cart with clothes and cleaning products, Hunter is also carrying a cart, but this time with food, he rings the doorbell. The woman immediately opens the door and complains:

"This hotel, being a luxury hotel, should be more efficient. It's been more than 30 minutes since I ordered lunch."

"I'm sorry, ma'am. Where would you like me to serve the meal?"

"At the table, of course." The arrogant woman calls her children, a boy and a girl who looked to be 10 and 12 years old, and as soon as they were all at the table, he serves them water that contained a strong sleeping remedy. Soon, the three of them were lying on the table. Hunter called Debby, who carefully placed the three of them in her cart that was large and had a good space at the lower, from there they separate, Hunter leaves the cart behind to clean his fingerprints and Debby continues on her way down the service elevator pretending to be going to the laundry, but Charles was already with the car parked, helping to put the three of them in the back seat, Debby in turn, got in the passenger side and the two of them went to one of the abandoned warehouses, where it didn't take long for Hunter to join them.

When the three kidnapped people were well tied up and gagged, Hunter calls Susan to let her know that the mission was accomplished, taking a photo and sending it to her, who soon shows the photo to Bella, who smiles.

"Now it's my turn to act." Bella took out her cell phone and calmly making a call to the judge. 

"Good evening, Judge Dawson. I tried to be reasonable and patient, but you chose to align yourself with the wrong people and, unfortunately, there will be consequences." 

"Bella Hahn!? What are you trying to tell me?" 

"I'm sending you a picture. Look at it and then give me an answer. You have 5 minutes." Bella turned off her cell phone, sending the image that showed Judge Dawson's wife and their two children, tied up and gagged in the abandoned warehouse. The expression of fear on the children's faces was visible, even with the blindfolds." It didn't even take all the minutes for the judge to call back, 

"You bitch! If anything happens to them, I swear I'll..."

"What? You're going to kill me?" Bella smiles sarcastically: "I doubt it. But your family can't say the same. Release my fucking divorce and make Johnny sign it. You have 12 hours."

After sending the message, she handed the phone to Susan.

"Don't answer any calls that aren't from the judge. I want him to keep this boiling in his mind until he gives me an answer."

Meanwhile, in Dawson's office, the judge stared at his cell phone, sweating cold. The weight of the decision was crushing his mind. He underestimated Bella's power and what she was capable of. Taking a deep breath, he typed a message back:

"Understood. The divorce will be ready for signature tomorrow. Don't hurt my family."

Susan received the message and, realizing it was from the judge, passed it on to her female boss, who read it silently. A smile of triumph curved her lips.

"I told you he would give in."

"Now what do we do with his family?" Susan asked hesitantly.

"We'll keep them there until everything is finalized. Then we'll give them back. It was never my intention to hurt his family, just to scare him." The female counselor nodded and left, while Bella sat back in her chair, savoring her imminent victory. Thinking about Johnny's face when he found out that she had beaten him once again.

On the other hand, Judge Dawson, aware that Johnny would never sign the divorce papers willingly, decided to resort to a strategy. He printed the document disguised as something more trivial and contacted Johnny, claiming that he needed his signature on some papers related to the small port he had recently acquired. Dawson suggested sending a lawyer to handle the matter, but Johnny insisted on discussing it in person over dinner, leaving the judge with no choice.

At the meeting, Dawson tried hard to appear calm and rational. The two talked about business and family, maintaining a relaxed atmosphere. After dinner, while enjoying a few drinks, Johnny requested the documents he needed to sign. Dawson, with a casual air, handed over a manila envelope containing the sheets. Wasting no time, Johnny began signing the papers without reading them, but at the end, something caught his attention.

“Your Honor Judge Dawson, why does this document have your name on it, but not the other two?”