“Hey, you are my wife. Don’t forget about that.”
Horace looked at Clara with a flickering smile. His words struck Clara into a daze.
Clara didn’t know how to face Horace.
She was planning on giving him a cold shoulder and leaving him without even the slightest hesitation. But now, her heart melted by the words coming out of Horace’s mouth.
Clara really didn’t know how to handle his sweet talks.
Horace had seemingly seen through Clara’s struggle inside.
However, he remained silent. He wanted Clara to really think it through whether she chose to trust him or leave him.
If she picked the latter, Horace definitely wouldn’t let her go.
That left Clara with only one choice, which was to trust him.
Only she was forced to trust him.
Silence fell upon the office. Three minutes later, Clara broke the ice, “You and Jocelyn Landry, what on earth was that about?”
“About you.”
“What?”
Clara was confused, thinking that Horace might hear the question wrong. “But it can’t be. He looks so serious right now.” Clara thought.
“You’re in both Jocelyn Landry’s and my hearts.”
That was barely a satisfying explanation to Clara.
Looking at Clara’s puzzled face, he added,
“Jocelyn Landry hates you in her heart, while I, I love you.”
Clara was still in a daze while she was walking on the street. She didn’t know how she got out of the company building.
Everything was kind of a blur after Horace said the three big words. She could only recall she left Horace’s office after saying goodbye to him.
Since Horace told her that he didn’t cheat on her, Clara chose to trust him for the one last time.
“Wait a minute.
Was that Horace? And Jocelyn? He just said he love me a few minutes ago. Why is he with her now? How can he do this to me?”
Clara rubbed her eyes in disbelief.
She wanted to catch up to them and ask Horace what was going on. Just then, someone covered her mouth with a damp cloth from behind, and she passed out almost immediately.
Eye-piercing light woke Clara up.
“What is this place?”
Clara was confused.
She scanned the unfamiliar surroundings. The searing pain in the back of her head made her want to reach out to rub it, but her hands were tied up.
Clara realized that she might be kidnapped.
But she wasn’t scared at all. She still felt betrayed and angry after witnessing Horace with another woman.
“Why did he lie to me? Am I so embarrassing to him that he has to be with that Jocelyn?”
Clara wanted to cry but she physically couldn’t.
She cried so many times in the past few days that her eyes were running dry now.
Clara strained against the rope, trying to wriggle free.
“Don’t you even try.” A man’s voice sounded.
The kidnapper looked at Clara’s face, reaching out his hand in an attempt to get ahold of her chin.
Clara dodged and glared at the man.
“Feisty,” the kidnapper teased. “Call Horace Kirkland and ask him to save you.”
Hearing that, Clara laughed at herself. Horace was with Jocelyn right now.
He would never come to save her. He probably wanted her out of his life more than anyone.
But then, the kidnapper added,
“That man doesn’t want us to find you so he has been pretending that he doesn’t care about you. But I’ve seen through his trick. Does he really think we are that stupid to fall for it? We know how important you are to him. As long as we got you in our hands, he will say yes to whatever we ask of him.”
The man’s words woke her up.
She finally understood why Horace treated her like that. The man standing in front of her was one of the investors who invested in Solrace.
They made a failed investment. Therefore, now, they wanted to take out their anger on Horace. However, they couldn’t get their hands on Horace himself. That was why they targeted Clara instead.
They knew Clara was Horace’s Achilles’ heel.
Ever since Solrace got back on its feet, old foes had been coming to seek revenge one after another. To ensure Clara’s safety, Horace had no choice but to do so.
Now that Clara knew what exactly happened,
the anger in her heart slowly dissipated. Her heart ached for Horace for having to go through all these on his own.
“Hurry up. Call him,”
The man urged, getting more and more impatient.
Seeing that Clara wouldn’t make the call, the man slapped her. But still, Clara wouldn’t do it.
The kidnapper finally gave up. He dialed Horace’s number and said into the phone, “Horace Kirkland, your wife is in my hands. Come here alone if you want her to live.”
With that, the man hung up the phone and sent Horace their location. Now, all they had to do was wait.
Horace was still with Jocelyn when he received the call. Hearing that, he immediately left her, got into the car, and headed to the address sent to his phone.
Clara hoped Horace would come to save her.
But she didn’t want to see him getting injured.
There were almost twenty kidnappers here. If Horace came here alone, he would be walking right into their trap.
She didn’t want that to happen. However, her hope was dashed.
It only took Horace fifteen minutes to get here.
He must have been doing over 100 miles per hour on the way here.
“Let her go. I’ll give you whatever you want.”
Horace tensed up the minute he saw that Clara was tied up, afraid that the kidnappers would harm her.
He knew the kidnappers’ actual target was him, so he asked them to let her go.
But of course, the kidnapper wouldn’t do it that easily.
Horace always knew that someone was hiding in plain sight and watching his every move, but he hadn’t figured out who it was.
He had also sent people to investigate but they all came back with nothing. He never thought that they would choose to make a move at this time.
“Really? Do you realize what you are up against? ” The kidnapper looked at Horace, irritated by his words.
“What do you want?” Horace cut to the chase.
There must be something they were looking for. Or else, they wouldn’t drag so many people through this.
“We want Solrace,”
The man answered. That was a bold demand. He literally asked for the most precious business from Horace. And now, he also got the most important person to Horace in his hands.