Chapter 128
nan
Anthony paced the floor, restless as a panther on the loose, his entire being shrouded in ominous chill. Johnson scrambled to his feet from the ground, his trembling hands clutching the blanket to his body. “Mr. Hoffman, what are you doing?”
Anthony’s bodyguards stood ready, not showing any sign of leaving. Anthony approached step by step, terrifyingly like a demon straight out of hell.
Gripping Johnson by the hair, Anthony’s eyes were undisguised in their fury, his voice deep and icy as he said, “Where’s Genevieve?”
Johnson panicked for a moment and said, “I… I don’t know! Why would I know where Ms. Lawrence is?”
Daniel stepped forward and cut him off, “The security cameras caught you sticking a signal jammer on Ms. Lawrence’s phone. She came looking for you. After she got off the elevator on the sixth floor, she disappeared. Where are you hiding her?”
Johnson’s face turned a shade paler and he shook his head vigorously, “I didn’t, you can search all you want. I’ve been with my secretary the entire time!”
The crying woman in the bed was his secretary.
With a look from Anthony, Daniel had the bodyguards start to search the room, paying no mind to the naked secretary.
Johnson swallowed hard, his face still laced with shock and fear. “M–Mr. Hoffman! I haven’t congratulated you on your engagement yet.”
Anthony’s gaze grew even colder as he tightened his grip and smashed Johnson’s head against the corner of the bed.
“Aaah-“Johnson screamed in pain as Anthony held fast to his hair, his expression severe. “Who told you I got engaged today, huh?”
Johnson trembled violently. “It’s your fiancée, Ms. Thomson!”
A dark glint passed through Anthony’s eyes, “So, it was her who had you set up Genevieve?”
Johnson’s eyes widened and he began to shake his head fiercely, “No, no, no, it really wasn’t me, I swear, Mr. Hoffman!”
He was already regretting it, but even in regret, he dared not reveal the truth. If Anthony cared. about Genevieve, revealing the truth would only make things worse for him. It was better to bite down hard and never admit to anything.
After the bodyguards finished searching the room, leaving no stone unturned and even checking the adjacent rooms, they found nothing. Daniel’s face grew grim as he shook his head at Anthony.
Anthony’s eyes frosted over, and with a surge of rage, he slammed Johnson’s head into the corner of the bed again. This time, blood started to ooze from Johnson’s head.
1/3
65%
Chapter 128
His screams filled the room, and his face turned deathly pale as Anthony, unapologetically stern, pressed on with a frosty tone, “Stop pretending, I know it was you. Hand her over. You owe billions in gambling debts; I will clear them for you. If you don’t cough her up, don’t wait for this cruise to dock. I’ll have you swimming with the fishes.”
Johnson trembled violently. He could feel Anthony’s intense protectiveness towards Genevieve. That cold. penetrating stare was too much to bear–it seemed to strip bare all his lies and deceit.
Inside, he struggled with his dilemma, but ultimately he didn’t dare to come clean.
Gulping, his body quaking in a mess, Johnson denied, “I honestly don’t know where Ms. Lawrence
is!”
Anthony’s eyes suddenly turned frosty, as he abruptly stood up and spoke in a low, ominous tone, “Throw him overboard.”
“Yes, sir.” One of the bodyguards stepped forward, sealed Johnson’s screaming mouth with duct. tape, then they hauled him away.
Anthony’s gaze was dark and ominous as he swept a look over the woman on the bed; he patted his hands together as if he’d touched something filthy. “And what about you? Want to join him?”
The secretary, white as a sheet, didn’t care about her fame anymore. She scurried down, pleading and in tears, “I don’t know anything! He told me to book two rooms. I was waiting for him in the next one. He dragged me over here. I didn’t see Ms. Lawrence when I came…” She blurted out everything she knew in her panic.
Anthony withdrew his gaze and turned to leave, making his way to the railing.
Standing there, his eyes were like pools in the night, and his voice brooded darkly, “No one gets up on this floor. Search every room, one by one!”
“Understood.”
The fireworks continued to blaze brightly in the night sky. But his initial excitement was gone, replaced by a growing unease.
When Anthony’s men arrived, Johnson’s mad antics came to an abrupt halt.
It seemed he had a strong sense of alertness but wasn’t about to let her go. He tied Genevieve’s hands with a ready rope and gagged her mouth, then in a rush, he hung her over the railing outside
the window.
Throughout the whole process, she was too weak to resist.
This room led to nowhere outside–the cruise ship was designed to taper upward, which meant no one from outside would spot Genevieve if they didn’t look up from their windows.
Johnson, the sick freak, had whipped Genevieve into a foggy consciousness. However, the delayed searing pain, combined, with the chill from the wind blowing against her shaky frame, slowly brought back some of her strength.
09:42 Sat, 20 Apr
Chapter 128
65%1
Genevieve’s hands were tied, and she was hanging in mid–air. If she fell, it would be into the ocean to become food for the fish or onto the deck below, potentially leaving her crippled.
She couldn’t even make a sound, the entire ordeal leaving her desperate and agonized.
The cold night breeze was chilling, sending shivers down her spine.
Below, the sea roared fiercely, as if ready to swallow up every sound and scrap of hope in the night.
Genevieve’s thin party dress fluttered in the wind as she hung there, goosebumps covering her body. Panic–induced fear made her shake uncontrollably.
She desperately wanted to call for help, to survive, to escape this nightmare. Her life had been a blur, losing what mattered most and making too many wrong choices. But now, her biggest regret was trusting Johnson–that sick freak!
Genevieve could only hear Johnson’s cries of agony from the room. Was someone coming to rescue her? A rush of blood surged through her, her hands in excruciating pain, but she couldn’t let her guard down. Soon, the noise from the room stopped, and no one peered out of the windows. Her heart grew colder.
Unable to see the splendid fireworks above, her mind was blank. She tried to shake the rope to draw attention but to no avail. Though her legs could still move, she pushed herself up with her arms. and crashed against the wall, trying to kick downwards with all her might for as many times as she could.
Her arms raw and bleeding, her stomach pained from the impact, unable to touch the deck below, and feeling entirely powerless, she wanted to cry.
Suddenly, faint voices from downstairs reached her. It was Lauraine’s voice. “I swear I just saw a pair of feet at the window. So creepy!”
Andrea asked, “Are you sure you saw it right?”
“I’m positive!” Lauraine walked to the window, looked up, and screamed. “Someone’s really there!”
Upon hearing Lauraine’s voice, Genevieve kicked her legs frantically, as if seeing a glimmer of hope. After a moment, Lauraine mustered the courage to open the window and look up, only for her face to change dramatically. “Genevieve?”
