“Isabelle, you?” Ivy’s mouth was slightly agape, staring at the same woman who had tried to ruin her reputation nearly a month ago.
She hadn’t attempted to determine who would have abducted her, but she never would have imagined Isabelle of all people. She requested to be sure. “You are the one who did the drugging, right? You were the one who paid those thugs to kidnap me.”
Isabelle finally shifted her gaze towards Ivy, the smirk still visible on her cheek. “Bravo.” She scoffed and shifted her gaze back to the windshield.
Ivy’s was unable to respond to her words. She had always thought Isabelle to be a sly and manipulative individual because of how she deceived the media, orchestrating her own attack, but for her to be so ruthless to the extent of indulging in such a hefty crime never crossed her mind.
“Then why did you allow me to discover you as the mastermind behind my abduction? What if I rat you out when I escape?”
Isabelle snorted, looking at her derisively. “Do you think you can escape? You should be begging for mercy.”
“Isabelle, what do you want from me?” Ivy asked, wondering why Isabelle would risk so much to get revenge. “Aren’t you afraid to go to jail for this?”
“Oh really, don’t worry about me, worry about yourself instead. After I drop you off and leave you in the hands of those thugs, I’ll disappear with satisfaction. I want you to suffer, just like I did.” She gloated, the smirk on her cheek never faltering. She turned her gaze to the windshield, thinking she had succeeded in making Ivy feel hopeless.
Ivy, on the other hand, burst into a fit of laughter. Though it was a bogus laughter, her heart was still throbbing in her chest, she refused to give Isabelle the satisfaction of seeing her frightened or anxious.
Isabelle scowled, obviously not expecting such a reaction from her. “Do I sound funny? Why are you laughing?”
“Because I feel you are stupid.” Ivy shot back with a scoff.
Isabelle’s eyebrows arched, completely thrown off guard by her response. “You… you think this is funny, huh,” she turned to the windshield again, trying to contain her anger. “I’ll make you pay… you’ll see…”
“Isabelle, do you know why I said you are stupid?” Ivy grinned as she noticed something Isabelle was totally unaware of. She chose to keep her mouth shut, so Isabelle could continue to drown in her delusion. She thinks she is smart; she is definitely lackluster.
“You stupid because you choose revenge over a fresh start. You could have changed careers or tried to regain public trust, but instead, you chose to add to your misery.”
“SHUT UP!” She hollered in fury. “You are the stupid one, you messed with the wrong people….”
The word ‘people’ caused a frown to appear on Ivy’s face. “What do you mean by that? Who else is involved?”
Isabelle went silent, her gaze focused on the main road.
Slowly, Ivy was artfully ripping confessions out of her. She didn’t dwell on her question as she knew Isabelle wouldn’t make the same mistake of blurting out the truth twice.
“After you get your revenge, how do you plan on escaping from your punishment?”
Isabelle just chuckled and said nothing else.
“Stop the car now, Isabelle. I’m warning you…” Ivy said in a stern voice, inwardly thinking of a way to elude from her snare of revenge.
“Would you like to know what happened to me after the press conference?” She glanced at Ivy before she continued. “I was arrested and abandoned by my manager, then this rich guy appeared out of nowhere and bailed me out. I was glad to be freed, not knowing his true intentions. He made me his toy, he used me and dumped me, offering me two million in exchange for my service as a slut. What should I do with that amount of money? Two million?”
Ivy’s eyes were pinned on the car window as she listened, observing the surroundings, so that when she successfully escapes, she could find her way back to the location she found the police.
While Isabelle wasn’t done with her rambling. “My career has been ruined all because of you!” Her voice trembled in anger. “You will regret what you did to me…”
“Isabelle, you are sick. You have yourself to blame for what happened to you, not me,” Ivy said abruptly.
“Don’t you dare talk back to me…” Isabelle snapped and stopped the car. “I’ll warn you, don’t try doing anything funny, just get down slowly…”
This was it, the chance she was waiting for. She was right, Isabelle was really stupid. She thought she could get away scot-free.
She got out of the car slowly as instructed and stood still. As she looked ahead, she noticed it was the same warehouse she left a few minutes ago. It seemed Isabelle must have taken a different route to bring her back.
Meanwhile, Isabelle was looking around, expecting the two men from earlier to come out but they were nowhere to be found.
“What do you want to do to me?” Ivy asked while her eyes roamed through the vast land.
“To ruin your reputation just like you ruined mine,” Isabelle replied as she grabbed her arm to pull her into the warehouse.
“And how do you plan on doing that?” Ivy asked.
“Can’t you guess?” Isabelle replied with a smug smile. “It completely ruined your career, with no chance for a comeback. I promise you… Ahhh!” Her words were suddenly interrupted by Ivy.
With all the might she possessed, Ivy stomped on Isabelle’s foot and brushed past her legs, causing her to fall to the ground. She ran off in the direction she saw the police vehicle a few seconds ago. Fortunately, she wouldn’t have to run all the way back to the spot she saw them earlier, because as soon as Isabelle stood up, a voice crackled through a loudspeaker.
“You are surrounded by the police, you are under arrest!”
From a distance, Ivy saw Zack running towards her, with a mix of emotions evident on his face.
“Ivy…”