third person's POV
"Words alone didn't count, you had to sign and put your fingerprint!"
The other person let go of Melinda, took out a piece of paper, one of them wrote something on it, then pushed the paper in front of her.
It said on the paper, if you couldn't pay on time, you'd have to pay with your life.
Melinda's face went pale, but she quickly steeled herself—if she wanted to kill Vanya, she had to go all in!
High risk meant high reward, that's what she had learned over the years. She signed her name on the paper right away.
Belinda stood by, shaking all over—this was risking their lives! One wrong move and someone could get killed.
"Melinda... where did you get a hundred thousand bucks?"
A hundred thousand was already a lot, they just couldn't come up with it!
The next second, Melinda opened the drawer next to her.
It was too late for Belinda to stop her. Melinda took a bag of money from the cabinet and handed it straight to the three men.
Belinda's face changed. She rushed over, "No way! That's my retirement money! How could you use your mom's retirement money to hire a killer?"
Melinda grabbed Belinda and said to the three men, "Keep the money. I want to get rid of Vanya as soon as possible!"
The three men looked at each other and walked out of the rental room.
Belinda wanted to run after, but Melinda pushed her to the ground.
Melinda said coldly, "Isn't it just a hundred thousand? When I take Mrs. Todd's place, I'll have as much money as I want. Do you still want to pay off your gambling debts or not?"
Belinda was speechless as soon as she heard "pay off the gambling debt."
If you wanted to save your life with money these days, you could only count on Melinda. She asked, trembling, "If you don't become Mrs. Todd, then I..."
"I was pregnant with Cliff's child. Once Vanya died, Mrs. Todd's place would definitely be mine." There was a cold light in Melinda's eyes.
[AI幻觉导致翻译异常][人称指代错误]In the evening, Vanya's phone popped up a message from Cliff: Get ready, I'll have someone pick you up.
She replied casually, Where are you going?
The other person didn't reply again.
Vanya just had to quickly pack up. As soon as she walked out the door, she saw a black car, but the person who got out wasn't Beta Elliot.
"Ma'am, Alpha Cliff sent us to pick you up, please get in the car."
The driver looked weak, but Vanya felt he was a stranger.
She looked him over and asked, "Why didn't Elliot come?"
"Beta Elliot had something to take care of, so he sent me over." The other person was respectful, and you couldn't tell anything was off.
Vanya asked again, "I don't think I've seen you before."
"I'm the new driver, it's normal that madam hasn't seen me."
"Cliff just hired a new driver, how could I not know?"
Only Cliff needed a personal driver in the whole company. Before, this kind of thing was always Beta Elliot's job. Even if he didn't come, it should've been one of the company's old drivers. She had never seen this guy in front of her before.
The other person didn't know what to say, just opened the car door.
Vanya glanced inside through the car window and vaguely saw a man's figure.
The next second, Vanya just felt someone hold her from behind, a man came around her back and covered her nose and mouth with a handkerchief.
She froze, and a rough voice came from beside her: "Sorry, Mrs. Todd, someone wants your life..."
Consciousness blurred for a moment, and Vanya passed out.
The rough-voiced man barked at the driver, "Get in!"
The driver got scared, nodded and bowed, and got in the car right away.
This scene was all seen by Ginevra, who was standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling window on the first floor of the Todd family's house.
Her face went pale—this kidnapping was real!
"Jinny, is dinner ready?" Veronica's voice came from the living room.
Guinevere pushed down the panic on her face, still looking pale as she turned back. "It'll be ready soon."
Veronica looked at her and frowned, "What's wrong? You look so pale."
"Nothing... nothing," Guinevere lowered her head, biting her lip.
She couldn't say that Vanya was kidnapped—if she did, Vanya would definitely be rescued.
She actually hoped Vanya would have an accident. As long as Vanya was gone, Mrs. Todd's spot would open up, and she'd have a chance to take it.
In the president's office of the Todd family.
Cliff just finished a meeting. When he looked down at his phone, a message popped up—it was from Vanya, just three words: "Where to?"
Where to? Cliff frowned.
It seemed like he never messaged Vanya.
He hesitantly opened the chat box and found that the last message was actually sent from his phone.
Seeing this, Cliff's face changed suddenly: "Elliot!"
Beta Elliot walked in from outside and asked with a puzzled look, "Alpha Cliff, you wanted to see me?"
"Who touched my phone?"
"No one touched it."
Beta Elliot shook his head and said, "I've been holding onto your phone the whole time."
"Then why did someone use my phone to text Vanya?" Cliff picked up his phone and opened the chat.
Beta Elliot leaned over to take a look, looking confused: "Alpha Cliff, could someone have hacked into your phone?"
Cliff's face got even darker—in LA, who would dare hack his phone?
"Tell the tech department to check right now, find out who did it!"
"Yes!" Beta Elliot didn't dare to delay and hurried downstairs with his phone.
Cliff just felt his heart pounding, like something bad was about to happen.
He grabbed the car keys from the table and rushed out of the office, speeding all the way back to the Todd family.
[AI幻觉导致翻译异常][人称指代错误]Just as I walked in, I saw Ginny and Veronica eating in the living room, but there was no sign of Vanya.