Chapter 78
Since the start of her workday, Joycelyn had been feeling stressed. Since Aurelia had been promoted to director by their boss, Joycelyn had unexpectedly been tasked with taking over the regional work.
She had been busy all day, not even having time for a sip of water, as its demands were extraordinarily high.
At 4 PM, her phone, which had been sitting on her desk, began ringing.
At first, Joycelyn thought it was from the Mercer family. She stood up to block the ringtone, but then a text message popped up.
It read that her mother had collapsed and was bleeding from her mouth.
Accompanying the message were three pictures.
Two showed her mother in the midst of coughing up blood, a gruesome sight, and the third showed her mother lying in a hospital bed, hooked up to an oxygen mask.
Her heart immediately tightened in worry, but she suppressed the urge to respond.
The images stirred painful memories of the Mercer family’s past mistreatment, and the cold reality that her mother had never once stood up for her.
Her heart slowly turned colder as she thought about it.
Just as she was about to block the number, another message came through: “Dad’s been detained. I have to go to school, so you should come over, take care of Mom, and pay for her medical bills. If you don’t, you can come pick up her body later. I won’t deal with it.”
As she read this, Joycelyn’s face turned icy, and her hands began to shake with anger.
This was how her mother’s stepdaughter treated her—hoping she’d die at the most crucial moment. Meanwhile, Joycelyn had been bending over backward, trying to maintain good relations with them, treating them like family.
Joycelyn didn’t respond and quickly blocked the number.
About ten minutes later, her phone rang again. This time it was a landline, showing it was from the hospital.
She hesitated for a moment before picking it up.
A senior nurse’s voice came through, explaining her mother’s condition and expressing concern about the surgery.
They wanted her to sign a consent form, as they couldn’t proceed without it. They warned that any delay could worsen her mother’s condition.
“Okay, I’ll be right there,” Joycelyn said, though she wasn’t keen on going. Her mother had stomach issues, and now she had developed acute appendicitis. Despite everything, Joycelyn knew she couldn’t ignore her.
She glanced at her unfinished work, got up, and asked Linda for leave. Surprisingly, Linda agreed quickly.
After hastily gathering her things, Joycelyn rushed to the hospital.
Chapter 78
At the hospital, she paid the medical and surgery fees, signed the necessary paperwork, and watched as her mother was wheeled into the operating room.
She stood silently outside, expressionless, her face devoid of any emotion—no pain, no tears.
All that flashed through her mind were memories of her past self—weak, helpless, abandoned, and oppressed.
At least now, she was grown, with her own life. She didn’t have to stay in that toxic environment any longer.
With a deep sigh, she went to the nurse’s station to hire a temporary caregiver.
As she finished making the arrangements, her phone rang again—this time a call from a towing company.
“My car was hit?” she murmured, confused. She’d parked it safely in the garage. As the towing agent read out her license plate, she began to wonder if today was her unlucky day.
Her car had been fine in the garage, and now it had been hit.
“I’ll be right there,” she replied, hanging up quickly. She gave the caregiver a few instructions before rushing downstairs to the garage.
Once there, she inspected the car from front to back but couldn’t find any damage.
Just as she stood up, she spotted a familiar, sinister face with a mask, staring at her through the car window.
Her eyes widened in shock, but before she could scream, Cedric stunned her with an electric baton.
“Get the keys. Open the trunk,” Cedric ordered, steadying Joycelyn as his brother Tristan opened the trunk.
In just a few minutes, the car left the garage, and Joycelyn, still dazed, was thrown into the cramped trunk.
The car’s rough suspension jolted her head, forcing her to regain consciousness.
As soon as she stirred, she felt the tight bonds around her wrists, her mouth taped shut, preventing her from making any sound.
She looked around. This was her own car. It had to be Octavia and her gambling cousin, Tristan, who were behind this.
But Joycelyn didn’t know why they risked everything to kidnap her.
“She’s a beauty, isn’t she?” Tristan’s disgusting voice came from the front seat. “Maybe we should take her home for a bit.”
The words made Joycelyn’s skin crawl with revulsion and anger.
“Yeah, when we get bored, we can deal with her,” Tristan laughed lewdly.
Joycelyn noticed the car speeding up.
‘More money?’ This caught her attention.
Joycelyn thought, ‘Who was paying to destroy me? Octavia? It didn’t make sense. She was deep in debt from her cosmetic surgery bills. There’s no way she could afford to take such a risk. Who else could it be?’
Joycelyn pondered but couldn’t figure it out.
She curled up, unable to break free from the rope tied to her hands.
Chapter 78
The hospital was only about ten minutes away from the Mercer family estate, and if she was taken there by Cedric and Tristan, her life could be over. She needed to escape.
Desperate, she struggled against the ropes, but they were tied too tightly to break free. As she moved, her hand brushed against her fitness tracker.
It was linked to her phone, and with a distress signal, it would send an alert to her emergency contacts.
She felt a surge of hope.
As soon as she pressed the button, the tracker vibrated, but then panic set in.
Her emergency contact was still her mother’s phone number.
The car screeched to a halt, and the back door was thrown open.
“There’s no one here. Let’s hurry,” Tristan urged impatiently.
