Chapter 7 Kidnapping

"Kidnapped?" Letting out a soft chuckle, Bruce said, "Ivanka, you're so good at lying. So, what are the kidnappers' demands? How much are they asking for? No matter how much it is, tell them that I'll double it if they kill you. And tell them to remind me to bury your body when they are done." Without giving her a chance to say anything else, Bruce hung up the phone.

Tears welled up in Ivanka's eyes the second the conversation ended. As she looked at the cold night sky outside, it felt so suffocating, so much so that she could die right then and there. Bruce really wanted her to die! Without a doubt, he really was trying to kill her!

Ivanka's heart sank, and she started to feel weak in the knees. She had never been as desperate as she was right now. She was like a toy that no one really wanted, thrown away and easily forgotten.

After a while, she dialed another number. The phone only rang a few times and someone picked up right away.

"Hello, who's this, please?" a woman answered the phone with a heavy nasal voice, as if she had just been crying.

Ivanka's heart skipped a beat. With trembling voice, she said, "Mom, it's me!"

After a moment of silence, the woman on the other end of the line gave her an earful, "Ivanka, where have you been?! Didn't I tell you to go look for Bruce and bring him home with you?! Where did you go?! Why didn't you come home for so many days and nights?"

"I was kidnapped, Mom!" Ivanka cried out.

The woman on the other end of the line paused for a second then sneered, "Ivanka, you can't lie to me. Are you out of your mind? Why would the person who owns this phone number kidnap you?"

Ivanka was left at such a loss for words. She didn't know what phone number she was calling from.

"I don't care where you are. Come home this instant!" the middle-aged woman furiously yelled at her.

"Mom, how is Grandpa?" Ivanka worriedly asked.

The middle-aged woman scoffed at her and said, "Are you concerned about your grandfather? He's no longer with us! Are you happy now? Your grandpa didn't even get to see Bruce for the last time! Are you happy? Tell me the truth, you did it on purpose, didn't you?"

As the tears rolled down her face, Ivanka replied, "Mom, I didn't. Bruce didn't want to go home with me..."

"Stop it! This is all your fault. If it weren't for you, my family wouldn't have ended up like this! You bring nothing but bad luck! I never should've let Bruce marry you!" Ivanka didn't say a word, but she kept crying in silence. Sick and tired of scolding her at this point, the woman on the other end of the line furiously hung up the phone.

In another room, Liam watched the weeping girl on the LCD screen, wearing a deep frown.

"Tim!" he called out in a low voice, sounding quite irritated.

"Yes, sir?" asked Tim who was right behind him.

"I want you to give me all the information you can find related to the Xu family within an hour."

Ivanka stayed locked up in the room until late in the evening. She lay there with a blank look on her face, feeling cold all over. The memories of the past kept flooding her like a relentless tide. Wrapping her arms around her knees, Ivanka looked like such a helpless child.

The sky outside the window grew darker by the minute, and the entire room got enveloped by darkness little by little.

Ivanka recalled a time when they were still kids. Bruce had quite a short temper, but he was very patient when it came to her. Back when she was in middle school, Ivanka was pursued by a lot of boys because of her good looks. In fact, one of them was so obsessed with her that he often waited for her at the school gate, which made her feel so embarrassed.

Ivanka turned the boy down, but he got so upset and even threatened her.

Later on, Ivanka got bullied at school for no reason and kept getting tripped on the road. They scribbled all sorts of things on her schoolbag, and there were even times when snakes would climb out of her drawer when she opened it.

No one was willing to take her side or defend her, all because of that boy.

It caused a bit of a sensation in the school at that time. The boy she rejected happened to be the son of the school director. For that reason, he was used to bullying others in the school, and no one ever dared to go against him. As a result, all her friends and classmates steered clear of her.

For the first time in Ivanka's life, she felt so alone. After a while, Bruce, who was in the boarding high school, found out about it. One day, he climbed over the wall and went to Ivanka's school. Then, he rushed toward the boy's classroom and hit him.

He hit the boy so hard that no one could hold him back, let alone stop him. It reached the point where the security guards had to intervene.

Because of this incident, Bruce got chewed out by his father for a long time when he got back home.

Ivanka stood outside the study as Bruce received a talking-to. And the words Bruce's father said to him were still vivid in her memory. "Do you know what you just did?! Do you know how humiliating your actions were?"

"I do!" Bruce firmly raised his head and didn't think there was anything wrong with what he did. "I was the one who did it, and it doesn't have anything to do with you. I was the one who was disgraced, not the family."

"You are a member of the family. A lot of people are waiting for a reason to laugh at you, and you just had to go and stir up trouble because of someone so insignificant!" Foaming at the mouth, Mr. Xu banged the table.

Bruce's response made Ivanka's heart start pounding loudly in her chest for the first time in her life.

"He bullied Ivanka. No one is allowed to bully her."

Bruce, who was seventeen years old at that time, lightly said these words, much like a feather, which floated its way into Ivanka's heart. From that moment onward, she had been so in love with him.

Bruce left the study soon after. At that moment, as she looked at his black and blue face, Ivanka thought that he seemed much more handsome and charming than he was before.

Feeling so moved by his kind gesture, Ivanka couldn't hold back her tears and cried silently. Seeing this, he quickly wiped her tears with a smile and said, "Silly girl, why are you crying?" She held him in her arms tightly. This was the first hug the two of them shared, and it contained the feelings of a young girl. As she buried her head in his chest, she pouted and said, "Bruce, I will protect you as well."

Bruce stroked her hair and said, "I'm happy that you feel that way. But, you don't need to protect me."

He used to playfully call her a silly girl, but now he was asking her to die.

After so many years, the boy who always made her laugh and gave her a shoulder to lean on whenever she was sad had disappeared completely. He became more and more charming in her eyes, but he also became cold and ruthless. It was as if he could kill Ivanka out of anger every time he looked at her.

She would never forget the day the two of them finally tied the knot. She stood in front of the priest, wearing the latest and most stunning wedding dress made by a well-known designer. All of their friends and loved ones were there to witness their union. With the flowers in her hands, she stood there and waited for him for a long time. But, Bruce was nowhere to be found.

Everyone gave her a pitiful look and felt so sorry for her, and only she was wearing a bitter smile on her face. After some time, Bruce finally showed up, He was two hours late. In fact, a number of guests had already left, but Ivanka didn't move an inch and kept her gaze at the door of the hall the entire time.

She believed that he would definitely come.

With the stench of alcohol, Bruce walked up to Ivanka. With a cunning smile on his face, he said, "You want to marry me, right? All right!" Without delay, the priest said, "Ladies and gentlemen, we're gathered here on this glorious day to witness the union of Ivanka Su and Bruce Xu. Bruce Xu, do you take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife?"