third person's POV
Over here, Cliff teamed up with all the security teams in LA and tracked them to the dock.
There was only one boat at the dock. Beta Elliot saw it and immediately said to Cliff, "Alpha Cliff, these kidnappers probably just want to grab the ransom and run."
"We couldn't let them get away!"
Cliff stared hard at the boat, "Vanya's still in there. Give them the money and tell them to let her go right now!"
"But Alpha Cliff, that was five million dollars!"
Beta Elliott looked upset, "Right now, the Todd family has a lot of projects that need cash flow. If we gave this money to the kidnappers, a lot of projects would have to stop, and the losses would be huge."
"Cut the crap! Do as I said!"
"Alpha Cliff..."
"Nothing was more important than Vanya's life! Do you understand?"
Hearing Cliff's words, Beta Elliot finally replied, "...Yes, Alpha Cliff."
Beta Elliot had people take out bags of US dollars in cash from the car trunk, one bag after another.
The kidnappers on the boat already had a knife to Vanya's neck. They walked up to the top deck and shouted, "Bring all the money onto the boat! Nobody move, or I'll kill her!"
Beta Elliot said to his bodyguards, "Move all the money upstairs!"
Everyone carried bags of cash onto the boat, and Vanya watched it all coldly.
After all the money was loaded onto the boat, Beta Elliot shouted through a megaphone, "The money's yours! Let them go!"
The kidnappers opened the money bags one by one to make sure all the cash was real. They grinned from ear to ear: "Alright, let them go!" There was a vicious smile on their faces.
At this moment, Melinda also arrived at the shore and hid in a corner where no one noticed, nervously watching what was happening.
The ship suddenly started, Cliff's nerves instantly tightened, and he dashed toward the shore without thinking.
Beta Elliot immediately stepped forward to stop him: "Alpha Cliff! You couldn't go! It was too dangerous!"
"Let go! Let me go!" Cliff screamed hysterically, veins bulging all over his body.
The next second, a figure was thrown off the boat that had already gone hundreds of meters.
Not sure which guard shouted, "The kidnappers threw the hostage into the sea! Rescue team, start the rescue!"
For a moment, the whole security team was mobilized, but out on the vast sea, they just couldn't see any sign of Vanya.
Cliff just felt all his blood turn cold. He trembled and said, "Go start the boat! Start the boat!"
"Yes, Alpha Cliff!" Beta Elliot went to start the boat himself.
The guards went all out to chase the kidnappers, and the rescue teams searched for survivors at sea in groups.
Melinda in the corner saw this and finally relaxed: "Vanya, you never thought this day would come, huh... haha..."
After confirming Vanya had fallen into the sea, she got scared of being found out and left quickly.
After dark, the rescue team searched at sea for six hours but still didn't find Vanya.
Cliff had been drifting at sea for six hours and was already on the verge of breaking down.
"Alpha Cliff, just go back. There were rescue teams and our people here, the lady would be fine."
Beta Elliot comforted with words, but deep down he knew there was little hope—how could anyone still be alive after six hours in the sea?
"Keep looking! Don't stop until you find her!" Cliff wouldn't give up. "She's so smart, how could something just happen to her like that?"
He grabbed Beta Elliot by the collar, "What about those kidnappers? Did you catch them?"
Beta Elliot lowered his head, "Not yet... They slipped away too fast, and the sea is too big. We couldn't track their route..."
Cliff just felt like all his strength was gone.
"Why... they got the money, why did they still kill the hostage!" he shouted. "Go check it right now! Find out what happened!"
Late at night, Cliff stormed back to the Todd family and shoved the door open.
Veronica, who had already gone to bed, heard a noise at the door and asked Guinevere to help her walk to the door.
As soon as she got to the living room, she saw Cliff looking gloomy.
Veronica frowned, "What's wrong with you?"
"You, come here!" Cliff stepped forward and grabbed Ginny, looking fierce.
Guinevere had never seen Clif so furious, her face turned pale: "Clif! Clif, what are you doing..."
"I didn't allow you to call me that! How could you be so mean? Were you the one who switched the five million dollars?!"
Clif had a fierce look in his eyes. Guinevere shook her head desperately: "Clif... this had nothing to do with me... really, you gotta believe me..."
"Let me trust you?" Cliff narrowed his eyes dangerously, "Vanya fell into the sea and still hasn't been found! If she's dead, I want your whole Watkins family to pay!"
Guinevere looked upset, but Veronica suddenly spoke up: "Enough!"
She took a deep breath: "What does this have to do with Ginny? She didn't have the authority to ask finance to change the bills, I was the one who told them to do it."
In an instant, Cliff felt all his strength leave him: "Grandma, what did you mean by that?"
"Stupid kid, even if Vanya was the Dalton family's daughter and could help the Todd family, she still wasn't worth five million dollars!"
Ronika said coldly, "I think you've been blinded by Vanya. As the head of the Todd family, you had to think about the whole family. You couldn't give up the entire Todd family for one woman!"
Cliff's voice was hoarse: "Grandma, did you know how much Vanya meant to me?"
"Of course I knew! Back then you were crazy about Melinda, you talked back to me again and again for her, but now?"
Veronica sat on the couch, "When your excitement wears off, you won't care about Vanya either. Grandma's been through this, it's all for your own good."
"For my own good?" Cliff took a step back, the look of despair on his face turning cold. "The Todd family always taught us to be indifferent, to control our feelings, so we wouldn't be ruled by them. I've done that all these years… but now, I just want Vanya."
"Grandma, if something happened to Vanya, I wouldn't want to live either."