third person's POV
Vanya was listening on the side.
There was only one way back from the Royal Restaurant. If Guinevere had come back, she would've definitely run into Beta Elliot's car. Looks like something really happened.
Was it Melinda who hit Ginevra?
She frowned a little—Melinda wouldn't have made a move on Ginevra so soon. It was just their first meeting, so it was unlikely.
At that moment, Cliff hung up the phone and said to Vanya, "Go take a shower first, don't worry about anything else."
As soon as he finished speaking, his phone got a text: If you want to save Miss Watkins, get ten million in ransom ready first! No cops!
After that, the kidnapper sent a location.
Vanya just glanced at the text and said to Cliff in a flat tone, "You're going yourself?"
She knew that if something happened to Guinevere, Veronica would never just let Cliff send someone to look for her.
Seeing that Cliff didn't say anything, she knew he understood too—he had to go himself.
"I'm coming with you," Vanya said.
Downstairs, Veronica found out that Guinevere had been kidnapped and got really mad.
Guinevere was, after all, the precious daughter of the Watkins family, and besides, the Watkins and Todd families got along well and had joint projects. Plus, Guinevere was someone she really liked.
For a while, a lot of people in the Todd family were out looking for Ginevra.
Cliff set off with a ten million check, and Vanya sat in the passenger seat without saying a word.
The car reached the suburbs, and in front of me was an abandoned car factory.
Cliff got out of the car right away. It was quiet in the abandoned factory, and he could faintly hear a woman struggling: "Mmm—!"
Vanya quickly figured out where Ginevra was, right in the small workshop up ahead.
But the next second, a masked figure rushed out from the corner and held a knife to Vanya's neck.
Cliff's face fell instantly. "I brought the money, let them go!"
Vanya could clearly feel that the hand holding the knife was shaking, definitely not a professional kidnapper.
Last time she was kidnapped by Jasper, those guys were way more professional than the person behind her now.
"Don't come over! If you come any closer, I'll kill her!" The man's voice sounded young, like a teenager.
Vanya said calmly, "Keep your hand steady with the knife. If you hurt me, you won't get the money, and you won't keep your life either."
"Shut up!" The man talked tough, but the hand holding the knife moved a bit farther from Vanya's neck.
Vanya said, "The money's already given to you, let the person go, we won't go after this, and we won't call the police."
"You, you serious?" The man seemed to be judging if it was true.
"Of course it was true." Vanya said calmly, "You kidnapped Miss Watkins just for money, right? Now you got the money, so why are you still keeping me tied up?"
There wasn't any sign of panic on her face, and instead, the man felt an invisible pressure from her that made it hard for him to breathe.
"This is a ten million check." Cliff took out the check.
The man really fell for it. He stared at the check, rushed over, grabbed it, and ran off.
Vanya and Cliff didn't plan to chase—this kidnapping was just like kids playing house.
Cliff's eyes fell on Vanya's smooth neck. The guy had been too nervous just now, and the blade had grazed her neck, leaving little spots of blood. He frowned, "Let me see."
"Go check on Miss Watkins first, don't leave her bored."
Vanya walked straight to the workshop, opened a metal box, and sure enough, saw Guinevere tied up inside, looking panicked and pitiful.
Vanya raised her hand and tore off the tape on her mouth.
Guinevere didn't expect it was Vanya, and she froze for a second.
When Clif walked up, she immediately threw herself into his arms and cried, "Clif, you finally came... I thought I'd never see you again."
She cried really hard, but Cliff just calmly pushed her away and ignored how pitiful she looked.
The people from Beta Elliot had already arrived. Cliff didn't even spare Guinevere a glance and just said to the Beta Elliot next to him, "Send her back."
"Yes, Alpha Cliff." Beta Elliot gave Guinevere a deep look.
Guinevere still didn't get what was going on, she just felt that Cliff was even colder to her.
Vanya looked at the way she kept looking back every few steps and found it kind of funny—seemed like she had overestimated her.
[AI幻觉导致翻译异常][人称指代错误]I thought Guinevere was really clever, but she turned out to be an even sillier kid than Melinda. Coming up with this kind of lame kidnapping thing was just childish.
Cliff's eyes went back to Vanya's neck. "I'll take care of your wound when we get back."
"Just a little scratch."
Vanya looked up at him, "Get that ten million back, it's our joint property after all."
"Don't worry."
Vanya got in Cliff's car.
[AI幻觉导致翻译异常][人称指代错误]When I got back to the Todd family, Ginevra was crying in front of Veronica.
Veronica looked impatient. She obviously already knew all about the kidnapping.
"Madam, we're back." Vanya and Cliff walked in side by side.
Veronica just took a glance and asked, "Cliff, why didn't you walk Ginny back?"
"It was safer to have Elliot bring Miss Watkins back."
"What kind of attitude is that?" Veronica looked at Cliff, clearly unhappy.