Chapter 271

Latisha froze, the piece of bread slipping from her fingers and falling to the ground. She stared intently at the car, as if trying to see right through it.

Ziven was also taken aback, watching in disbelief as a figure emerged from the vehicle.

Clifford got out, slammed the car door shut, and strode toward the house without so much as a glance at Latisha, even as he passed right by her.

The breeze from his coat carried the scent of gardenias, and as the clean fragrance filled her nostrils, Latisha realized this wasn't a hallucination or a dream. Clifford had actually come back.

Ziven tried to peer inside the house, but the door slammed shut with a bang, cutting off the view for everyone in the courtyard.

Latisha crouched there in a daze, a strange heat rising in her eyes.

...

Inside, Santino looked at the man before him and couldn't help but laugh—a

genuine, triumphant laugh filled with the joy of victory.

Clifford stood before his bed, radiating an icy aura that seemed to have followed him

from outside, causing the room's temperature to drop several degrees.

"Just as I thought. You say one thing and do another, Mr. Lambert."

Clifford grabbed him by the collar and hauled him up from the bed. "First thing tomorrow morning, you will remove the bomb from her ankle."

Santino choked and coughed, signaling for Clifford to put him down.

Clifford released his grip, and Santino fell back onto the bed with a thud that left his head spinning. After a moment, he managed to say, "Relax. I'm a man of my word."

Clifford met this with a cold sneer before turning to sit opposite Santino.

Outside, Ziven pressed his ear against the door, trying to overhear their conversation, but he couldn't hear a thing. He started to get anxious.

"Oh no, what are we going to do? If we're delayed overnight, Mr. Lambert won't make it back for the shareholder meeting."

Latisha, meanwhile, was a mess of conflicting emotions. She lowered her head, looking at the device on her ankle as the timer ticked down, second by second.

As the night deepened, Ziven told Latisha to go get some rest. She tugged on his sleeve, then crouched down, dipped her finger in some water, and wrote on the ground: *I'm going to the bathroom.*

"Uh... do you need me to go with you?" Ziven asked.

His reasoning was simple: if she felt the need to tell him she was going to the bathroom out here in the middle of nowhere she must be scared. would be perfectly normal for him to accompany her.

Latisha shook her head, stood up, and walked out of the courtyard.

For a moment, Ziven felt a flicker of suspicion. Was the farmhouse bathroom located

outside? But Latisha had already taken a lamp and left.

Ziven watched her back disappear beyond the courtyard, a nagging feeling that something was wrong.

Ten minutes passed. Latisha didn't return.

Twenty minutes passed, and still no sign of her.

Ziven finally realized something was terribly wrong. He immediately ran out, searching the vegetable patches on both sides of the courtyard, but found no one. He went further down the path, checking every possible spot one might use as a restroom, but she was nowhere to be found.

"Damn it!" Ziven slapped his forehead and shouted down the mountain, "Mrs. Lambert!"

Realizing she couldn't speak, he immediately turned and ran back to the house, pounding frantically on the door.

"Mr. Lambert! Mr. Lambert! Latisha's gone!"

Hearing this, the men inside turned

their heads toward the door. Santino narrowed his eyes, a thoughtful expression on his face. Clifford.

threw the door open to find Ziven standing there his face, etched with panic.

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"Where did she go?"

Ziven stammered, "I-I don't know. She told me she was going to the bathroom half

an hour ago, then she left the farmhouse and never came back..."