Chapter 343
In a flash, all the noise around just vanished. Felix's eyes locked onto the figure Ryan was holding hostage, and man, his eyes were blazing red.
James was still grilling the manager about whether they'd called the cops and got a bomb squad on the way. Outta the corner of his eye, he saw Felix making a beeline for the banquet hall.
He was stunned for a sec and then rushed to stop him. "Mr. Clinton, it's crazy dangerous in there!"
Felix's face was stone cold. "Move. Gianna's in there. I gotta save her!"
James's eyes went wide, then he frowned. "She died three years ago, Mr. Clinton. The person in there now is Bella."
Felix shoved his phone in James's face and said, "Look closely. That's Gianna, not Bella!"
James took a glance and sighed, "Mr. Clinton, that's Bella."
Felix was so hung up on Gianna, he was seeing her everywhere.
Felix snapped, "I'm going in now!"
Ignoring James, he stormed towards the banquet hall.
James frowned and hurried after him.
Inside the banquet hall, Ryan was losing it. "Where's Felix? Why isn't he here yet?"
"I've already contacted Mr. Clinton, he's on his way!"
Ryan wasn't buying it and sneered, "Looks like he doesn't give a damn about his woman's life. Guess I'll just kill her first; I never planned on leaving here alive anyway!"
As he said that, he raised the dagger and aimed it at Constance.
Just as the dagger was about to hit Constance's chest, the lights went out.
Ryan felt a jolt in his arm and then blacked out.
Constance felt someone grab her wrist and heard Samuel's voice. "Come with me!"
In the dark, she couldn't help but smile. She didn't expect Samuel to show up so fast.
They jumped out the window, landing on the road where a car was waiting. They hopped in and sped off.
In the car, Constance started, "Samuel, if it weren't for you, I wouldn't be in this mess. How are you gonna make it up to me?"
Samuel looked all innocent. "How's this my fault? It was the waiter who led you the wrong way, and I risked my neck to save you. Why don't you mention that?"
Constance frowned, thinking he had a point. She couldn't exactly go after a waiter.
Constance shot back, "Even if you didn't come to rescue me, I can still find a way out."
Samuel grinned, "But I did save you, so now you owe me. No big deal, just lend me that Mercedes Dad gave you for your birthday last year for a few days."
Constance raised an eyebrow. "Feels like you set this whole thing up just to borrow my car."
Samuel laughed, "Am I that sneaky? I just met a girl and wanna impress her."
"Samuel, do you really need a fancy car to get a girl?"
Samuel's face went a bit red. "This time's different."
"Alright then."
Samuel looked shocked. "You really agreed?"
Constance nodded, "Yeah, but if you win her over, you owe me dinner."
Samuel grinned, "Deal! I knew you were the best."
After they left, the lights in the banquet hall flicked back on.
Everyone looked at the stage and saw Bella tied up, her face full of fear.
Ryan, who had been holding her, was now out cold on the floor, the dagger lying a few feet away.
Everyone was confused, not knowing what went down during the blackout.
Suddenly, the banquet hall doors flew open, and Felix stormed in, looking icy.
He rushed to the stage, kicked the dagger aside, and hurried to Bella.
As he helped her up, Felix froze.
She wasn't Gianna!
No one dared to say a word. They all had a hand in pushing Bella onto the stage to replace that woman, and they knew Felix might blow a fuse.
James and the manager trailed behind, and their crew hauled Ryan off to the police station. Everyone else let out a sigh of relief and started to leave.
Felix stood up, ice-cold. "James, get her to the hospital."
Jennifer, still shaken, glanced at the unconscious Bella as she left.
Suddenly, her eyes widened.
Jennifer thought, 'Wait a sec, this woman isn't the same! Their dresses are almost identical, but there's a tiny detail at the waist that's different, easy to miss. If this knocked-out woman is Bella, then who was the woman before? And what the heck happened during those two minutes of blackout?'
The cops quickly sent in a bomb squad to defuse any explosives in the hotel and nearby. Felix, being the guy Ryan was gunning for, also had to go to the station to give a statement.
By the time he was done, it was past eleven at night.
James rushed up. "Mr. Clinton, there's no way Ryan pulled this off solo. Someone had to be helping him. I've got people looking into it."
Felix nodded, still cold. "Get me a copy of the banquet hall's surveillance footage."
James looked awkward. "That's a no-go. The surveillance got trashed after Ryan went in, nothing got recorded."
Felix stopped dead in his tracks. The person he saw being held hostage had to be Gianna; he couldn't be wrong!
Felix ordered, "Keep digging. Get me any videos the guests took. I need to see everything."
"Got it, Mr. Clinton."
Soon, the videos started rolling in.
As Felix watched the footage, that weird feeling came back. He had a gut feeling the woman Ryan was holding was Gianna. But why did she suddenly turn into Bella?
Felix said, "Ask everyone at the banquet if anything weird happened when Ryan was holding Bella!"
He couldn't believe someone could just appear and vanish like that.
"On it!"
Felix stared at his phone screen, deep in thought.
Felix thought, 'If that woman really is Gianna, I'm not letting her slip away this time!'
News of the security mess at the top hotel under the Drake Group spread like wildfire in Thundertop, tanking the Drake Group's stock price.
Timothy had to hold an emergency press conference, promising to beef up hotel security and make sure this never happens again.
Constance was watching the press conference at home, munching on an apple. "It's clear someone's gunning for the Clinton Group and using Ryan to do it. The Drake Group's the victim here, but Dad has to apologize publicly. The Clinton Group should be the ones paying for our losses!"
Eliza chuckled. "In business, there's no right or wrong, only interests. Those people don't care about the truth. They'll jump at any chance to take a shot at the Drake family."
Constance huffed, "I get it, but sometimes Dad needs to fight back to show we're not pushovers."
Eliza looked at her fondly. "You're too headstrong. Now that you're back, you need to dial it down. I've set up a date for you this afternoon, and you can't mess it up this time."
Constance pouted, annoyed. "I was just being fun and humorous. They didn't get it."
Eliza responded helplessly. "Last time you went on a date with the Dixon family's son, you brought a giant python and scared him so bad he now brings bodyguards to dates. And the time before that, you knocked out the Harrison family's youngest son's teeth, and we had to shell out a ton for medical bills. You call that fun and humorous?"
Log in with Google Account
Chapters
Favorite
Settings
