Chapter 196
When everyone heard Alice’s voice coming through, they froze in shock. Carmen, who had been wallowing in misery, jerked her head up. She stared at the two people on the screen in disbelief.
Quentin’s fist clenched as they continued listening to the conversation. Brent asked, “Ms. Lambert, should I call your family and threaten them to come rescue you?”
Alice nodded, her face showing absolute confidence. The Lamberts were already familiar with Brent by now. Normally, they would definitely panic whenever they heard his voice.
A smug smile spread across her face, and every bit of it was captured perfectly by the camera. Carmen’s phone started ringing. She stared at it numbly, unable to answer for a long while.
Brent asked Alice, “What if nobody picks up?”
Alice thought that Brent would soon be a dead man, so she didn’t bother hiding anything. “Just keep calling. Everyone in my family cares about me. They won’t leave me hanging.
“When they come, demand 50 million dollars from them. I’ll give you some extra cash on the side.”
“Funny how you always pull this trick, Ms. Lambert. The Lamberts must be idiots for falling for it year after year. All that money ends up in your pocket, and it’s strange how nobody ever checks your accounts.”
When Alice heard him rambling, a dangerous look flashed in her eyes. “Shut up. Why are you talking about this now? Just do what I tell you, and you’ll get your cut.”
Carmen’s phone rang again. The experience of watching this live feed still felt surreal.
She answered this time, and Brent’s menacing voice came through, “Mrs. Lambert, it’s me. It’s been a while, hasn’t it? I blew through that 30 million dollars pretty fast.
“Now I’ve got your daughter. If you don’t bring 50 million dollars to bail her out, I can’t promise what might happen to her. Your daughter’s quite the beauty, after all.”
In the past, Carmen would have scrambled to pay immediately. But this time, she said nothing and merely watched the live feed.
Every word from the phone matched what was playing on the screen. This was happening live; there was no way to fake it. Color drained from Carmen’s face as she let out a deep sigh.
Brent, knowing everything was being broadcast, had to pretend he was in the dark. “Why so quiet, Mrs. Lambert? Do you want to see your daughter roughed up? I’m telling you, I want money, or things will get ugly!”
He thrust the phone toward Alice, signaling her to say something. Alice’s voice instantly became pathetic and tearful.
“Mom, I told you his demands would only get worse. We shouldn’t have given in last time. Just call the police-I don’t want our family blackmailed over and over. Have we run out of money?”
Every word matched what was playing on the wall, so Carmen couldn’t possibly defend her now. The maids at the Lambert residence started whispering among themselves.
Alice heard the commotion through the phone but didn’t understand what it meant. She kept crying and pleading.
Seconds later, she heard an angry shout. “You worthless piece of scum!”
It was Quentin’s voice. Alice perked up, thinking Quentin was yelling at her kidnapper. She started crying again.
“Dad, don’t worry about me. I’m okay for now.”
Quentin stood up, his entire body shaking with rage. Then he collapsed. Anyone
who saw their seemingly sweet daughter reveal her true colors would break.
The Lamberts rushed Quentin to the hospital. Alice had no clue what had happened. She was still expecting her family to rescue her so she could put on her little show.
But after three hours of waiting, her performance had already spread like wildfire through their social circles, though she remained totally clueless.
At the same time, Brent’s phone lit up with a notification. He had received one and a half million dollars from Grace.