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“Yeah!” replied Lisanne solemnly. “Although I really want to find Christopher’s corpse, I don’t want you
to take any risks. I’m worried about your safety too. Since you’re still alive, your life and safety are more
important!”
Winnie felt touched when she heard that. Chuckling gently, she said, “Looks like our years of friendship
aren’t for nothing! Since you’re worried about me, I’m sure that you can also understand our worry for
you, right? We don’t want you to take risks too.”
“Yeah, I’ve been too rash earlier. I understand that. Actually, I’ve already met Christopher’s parents.
They know nothing except that their son has sacrificed his life. They believe that the organization will
definitely bring Christopher back and I believe that too. However, it happened outside the borders. The
organization would have to think about every step carefully since even the tiniest detail could have a
huge impact. That’s why I want to do this myself. Often, it’s much more efficient doing things personally
than to rely on an organization. Yet, I was too anxious and ignored your feelings. I’m sorry, Winnie. I’ve
been acting too selfishly toward you in the past few days.”
“I understand, Lisanne.” Winnie held her hand. “This is just human nature. You don’t have to apologize
to me. We’re good friends, after all.”
“No.” Lisanne was not someone to take advantage of relationships. “I want to apologize to you. I said
something quite hurtful at Yartranthe the other day. I don’t regret it. Regarding the incident at the
research center, I don’t regret helping you at all.”
“I know.” Winnie smiled. “I know that you said that in a fit of rage.”
“You don’t need to look for Lucas. Just tell him to deploy more men to Manchernius.”
“It’s fine. I’ve already decided.” Winnie chose to stick with her decision. “All of you are telling me to stay
hidden but that doesn’t solve the root problem. I don’t want to keep being hung up on something so
uncertain, so I want it to end quickly. Well, it looks like luring Harold out is the best solution. After all, he
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was the only one left other than us back then. As it’s highly possible that he has taken Christopher’s
corpse away, the most direct method is to look for him.”
“No, Winnie. That’s too dangerous.”
“I admit that it’s quite risky. However, instead of waiting for him to appear one day, I’d rather take the
initiative. At least, I can gain some control.”
Lisanne had already regained her rationality by then. After mulling over it, she thought that what Winnie
said made sense.
“I need to discuss with Lucas first.”
Winnie nodded. “Let’s go.”
Just when both of them were about to leave, the two phones on Winnie’s desk rang at the same time.
The phone connected to the internal line would only ring when she was in the office. Furthermore, all
the calls would be filtered by the secretary’s office first.
It was quite rare for both of her phones to ring simultaneously.
Just when she was about to answer the call, someone pounded on her office door abruptly.
As the knocks sounded extremely urgent, Winnie immediately responded, “Come in!”
Jasmine and a security guard rushed in instantly.
“Bad news, Ms. Garland!” reported Jasmine anxiously, her brows knitted in a frown. “Something
happened downstairs.”
“What happened? Be clear.”
Jasmine took a tablet from the security guard’s hands and played a video for Winnie. “A man held our
receptionist hostage. Look.”
“Why?” Winnie grabbed the tablet and asked, “Have you called the police?”
“Not yet. He said that he’ll kill the hostage if we called the police. He has already disconnected the
receptionist’s phone.”
The man in the video was in black and wearing a black cap too.
The cap was pulled over his face, concealing it when viewed from the surveillance cameras.
However, Winnie noticed that he shielded the receptionist’s neck with his thumb even when wielding
the knife. Since it seemed like he did not have the intention to harm the receptionist, she guessed that
he had other motives.
She asked Jasmine, “What does he want? Did he ask for anything?”
“Yeah!” Jasmine stared at Winnie worriedly and replied, “He said that he’s looking for you. Since his
clothes were so disheveled and he did not have an appointment, the receptionist refused to let him
come up. He continued to be insistent, so the receptionist summoned the security guards over. In a fit
of panic, he whipped out a knife and took her hostage.”
“Looking for me? Are you sure?”
“Yes!”
“Okay, I’ll go down.”
“Wait, Winnie!” Lisanne pulled her back. Taking in a deep breath, she said, “Don’t go. What if he’s
Harold?”
“He’s definitely not Harold,” affirmed Winnie. “He’s quite skinny and Harold’s much bigger.”
“Are you sure? Is it possible that you didn’t recognize him because of the surveillance footage’s angle?”
“No way. Harold’s figure is quite similar to Xavier’s. There’s no way I’ll be mistaken.”
Lisanne was still worried. “Let’s observe how things go first. Why don’t we call the police first?”
“Yeah, Ms. Garland,” agreed Jasmine. “Let’s call the police.”
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmThinking that it was necessary to call the police, Winnie nodded. Just when she was about to speak,
she caught a glimpse of a circular scar on the man’s hand.
It was an injury caused by a cigarette burn. If her memory did not fail her, Mason had a similar scar on
his hand too.
She immediately changed her mind. “Don’t call the police first. I know that man.”
Then, she turned her head around and told Lisanne, “Wait here for me. I’ll be back soon.”
She instructed Jasmine, “Follow me down with the security guard.”
“But Ms. Garland…” Jasmine asked anxiously, “Are we really not calling the police?”
“No!”
Two minutes later, Winnie, Jasmine, and the security guard arrived at the lobby on the ground floor.
As it was still office hours, there were not a lot of people in the lobby.
There were only a few security guards with two receptionists working on their shifts.
When Winnie walked closer and took a clearer look, she was sure that the person was Mason.
She strode toward him with a frown and declared, “I’m here. Let her go!”
Mason glanced upward but did not release the hostage immediately. “It’s you, Ms. Garland.”
“Yes. Since this is a grudge between us, don’t harm innocent people.”
Staring intently at Winnie, Mason said, “I’m only resorting to this because I’m out of options. Have you
called the police?”
“No. We followed your requests and did not call the police. You have my word.”
“Okay, I believe you. I’ll let her go.” After saying that, Mason immediately kept the dagger against the
receptionist’s neck. “I have no intention of harming anyone. I’m just looking for you regarding
something extremely important.”
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