A Replacement Bride

Chapter 433

The man furrowed his brows, his face looking unpleasant as he gave Emmanuel a fierce glare before turning to Katherine. "It's not your turn to ask me questions yet. When it's time for you to know, I will tell you," he said.

Upon hearing this, Katherine smiled, but the smile did not reach her eyes. She then spoke in a cold and harsh tone, "It’s not my turn to ask you questions?! What does that mean? Do you expect me to just stand here and wait?"

At that moment, she turned the tables on him, her aura suddenly becoming fierce. "Who do you think you are to make me wait? Even Jayden is just a foolish loser who lost to me. You're just his lapdog, and yet you’re trying to show off in front of me? Ha, we'll see if you're worthy of that!"

She berated him, causing his face to turn as black as coal. He tried to retaliate by threatening her, "Who do you think you are then? You’re just a trapped woman. I still have your daughter in my hands, so you should cooperate with me or she will face the consequences!"

He thought she would be afraid, but Katherine's reaction was unexpected; her pressure dropped sharply, and she fixed a deadly gaze upon him. "If you dare to touch her, try me," she warned.

From a distance, her gaze shot toward the man like an arrow, fierce and sharp. For some unknown reason, the man felt a chill run down his spine and even broke out in cold sweat on his back. He felt inexplicably uneasy. Just as the atmosphere became tense to the extreme, a burly man walked in with something in his hand and quickly approached the man, whispering something into his ear.

His expression immediately changed as he took whatever the burly man was holding and squinted at it.

Katherine watched their every move, her eyes lingering on the bag while she contemplated her next move. At the same time, she calculated when Carmine and the others would arrive.

At first, she thought she could hold on for a while longer, but unexpectedly, the man's expression returned to his previous arrogance, with a glint of determination in his eyes.

"Ha..." he let out a cold laugh from his throat, then raised his hand and clapped.

After a few claps, more burly men rushed out and immediately surrounded Katherine.

The man stood outside the encirclement, watching the scene with cold eyes before saying slowly, "Miss Cornell, you know very well that we captured your child to lure you out. Now that you're here, we'll proceed according to protocol," the man said.

Protocol? Katherine's heart sank, sensing a bad omen.

She kept her composure, not showing any emotions, and asked, "What protocol?"

The man chuckled. "I can't tell you the protocol, but if you want to save your daughter, there's only one way. You have to surrender."

Surrender? Ha, that's not my style.

Immediately, she raised her chin arrogantly and said, "Since you're Jayden's people, you should know from him that capturing me and making me surrender is not an easy task. I can tell you without reservation that even if all of you attack me together, you may not gain the upper hand!"

The man nodded knowingly. "That's true. I admit that your skills are impressive. However, don't forget that your daughter is still in our hands. If you fight us, there won't be enough time to save her. Do you want to watch her die in our hands?"

Katherine gritted her teeth at the mention of Noah and raised her eyes to the second-floor platform.

Noah was full of worry at this moment; she wanted to rush to Katherine's side immediately!

However, she couldn't because not only was she tied up, but there were also two burly men guarding her, making her unable to move.

Katherine naturally understood this and knew that if she acted rashly now, it would inevitably be detrimental to Noah.

Noah was her weak point. Her weak point was currently in the hands of the enemy, so she couldn't act recklessly.

As Katherine watched the atmosphere become increasingly tense, her brows furrowed, secretly wondering why Carmine and the others hadn't arrived yet.

According to the plan, the Vermillion Alliance should have already arrived by now!

As if he had guessed what was on her mind, the man suddenly laughed, looking arrogant and proud.

"Are you still waiting for reinforcements? Let me give you some news. Your subordinates are all trapped and killed in your villa. Seeing them again will be difficult, let alone them coming here," he said.

As soon as these words were spoken, Katherine's gaze became serious. "What do you mean by that?"

The man looked calm and composed. "You won't get a chance to see them again anyway, so telling you won't hurt. Here's the thing. After you left, I had my men pour gasoline around Silver Gardens and set it on fire. Your subordinates are trapped there and, given the time estimate, they should be burning in Silver Gardens by now. You'll never see them again in your life!"

Hearing this, Katherine froze. Her blood seemed to freeze, her pupils suddenly dilated, and her face turned pale.

The man leisurely enjoyed her reaction and continued, "You're smart, but so what? Mr. Hall is even smarter. He already knew your people would come to rescue you, so he preemptively dealt with them from the start. Mr. Hall sent a few inconspicuous men disguised as beggars to wander around, and they made their move when you left Silver Gardens. They set it on fire, and from what I heard, none of them made it out. They were all burned in the fire."

Jayden… Jayden! Property belongs to Nôvel(D)r/ama.Org.

In an instant, a fierce hatred burned in Katherine’s heart. The thought of her comrades in arms who had followed her everywhere being killed caused her blood to surge to her head.

Her eyes were filled with blood, and her teeth were almost ground to pieces. Her hands, which hung at her sides, clenched into fists, and her fingernails dug into her palms while she was oblivious to the pain.

At that moment, she really felt an impulse to kill these people!

Sensing her intention, the man slowly glanced upstairs.

The two strong men upstairs received his signal and finally got up. They pulled Noah down the stairs and stopped a few steps away from the encirclement.

Then, the strong men surrounding Katherine opened up a path, placing Noah at the other end of the pathway.

At that moment, the mother and daughter faced each other across a distance. Katherine could clearly see the tears and fear in the little girl's eyes as well as the determination and stubbornness to control the fear.

"What a touching mother-daughter scene. Miss Cornell, for the sake of your daughter, shouldn't you make a sacrifice voluntarily?"