Gabriel's breath hitched, his eyes wide open with disbelief. "You think hating her makes you strong? That anger you are dragging around, it's going to destroy you, Ting Cheng. You think your stepmother is perfect? She's not. Your biological mother is trying to rectify all the wrongs she has done to you."
"Hey... Hey... Don't speak of my Momma like that!" Lu Zi Zhen coldly glared at him. They could fight all they want but they better not drag his mama into this. She was very much innocent of all these.
Lu Ting Cheng slammed his hand against the table, rattling the laptops. "Trying? She's trying now, after years of silence? After leaving us to rot while she played happy family with someone else? Please don't preach to me about her sacrifices when she never made any for us! Do you think it's that easy to be a mother?" What was he even saying?
Gabriel went quiet and didn't dare irritate him even more. They had to rescue them. He didn't have any manpower like the Lu family had; he had to depend on them to solve this issue.
— — — — — —
Inside a moving black SUV carrying the two kidnapped people, somewhere deep in the winding mountain roads, the car moved hastily.
The interiors were dim, and the windows were tinted. Two unconscious figures, Ting Zhou and Song Yaya, lie bound and gagged in the back seat. The smell of pine and exhaust filled the air.
The driver adjusted his earpiece, voice steady. "Package secured. Both targets are in possession. No tails. We are five clicks away from the hideout."
In the passenger seat, a man with a scar down his left cheek lit a cigarette and then exhaled slowly, emitting the smoke out of his lips. "We didn't get the expected target, but these ones could do and be our hostages! With them, I'm certainly sure the expected target would show up. They are a good leverage..."
The earpiece crackled, and a deep, modulated voice responded from the other end of the phone call; it was cold and controlled. This was their boss.
"Confirm their identities."
He leaned back and glanced at the rear. "Ting Zhou, aged seventeen, heir to the Lu Conglomerate's offshore interests. Song Yaya, mid-thirties, once presumed dead, resurfaced only recently. She's the connection we needed. Both are secured and intact."
"Good. No mistakes are allowed. You know what will happen if this leaks out... Take control and let me know when you have arrived..."
The driver smirked. "No one's talking. We are ghosts on this route. No cams on this route, or any witnesses. It's just the forest, cliffs, and us. Everything is perfect and moving on smoothly"
"Deliver them to Site Three then, that's the closest and safest one. And remember, I want the woman alive. The boy… only if he proves useful can stay alive."
The line went dead and the call was disconnected.
He crushed his cigarette in the ashtray, eyes gleaming. "You have heard the man. Drive faster. We have got a show to prepare."
The SUV sped deeper into the mountains, headlights cutting through the mist.
— — — — — —
Somewhere in the city, at a hidden safe house in the industrial outskirts.
The smoke had barely cleared when the black SUV screeched into the garage.
The back doors slammed open and the female assassin stumbled out, blood still running down the side of her face.
Inside, a man sat in the shadows, arms folded. Only his pale silver ring caught the light, a serpent devouring its own tail.
"You failed such a small task? What an insolent!" he reprimanded, voice like ice cracking.