Chapter 171: Chapter 171



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“You’ll know after you take a look inside.” Abbott seemed oblivious to her panicked look and stepped straight out of the car. However, ‘Dolores’ didn’t move – why would anyone want to go to the detention center?

“Abbott, don’t play games with me, what are you planning?”

“What could I possibly do to you? Mr. Nelson values you, do you think I have the nerve to mess with you?” Abbott walked up to her and noticed her uncomfortable, but pretending to be composed look. He sneered. “Didn’t you want to see Mr. Nelson? He’s inside, why are you so afraid to go in, do you feel guilty?”

“Me, I don’t feel guilty, you feel guilty!” ‘Dolores’ responded guiltily.

“If not, after you.” Abbott gestured for her to come in politely to show his ‘respect’ for her. ‘Dolores’ stared at him for a few seconds and raised her head. “You’d better not lie to me, or you’ll be sorry!”. After uttering those harsh words, she headed inside, asking, “Where is she?” Abbott led the way in front of her.

‘Dolores’ looked around. She had been there before. Beulah Shawn had been inside before, and she had paid him a visit. It was also Beulah who had given her the idea to elope with the money back then. She told him, “Annie, your father is a cruel man. If he could easily abandon his first wife back then, he might as well abandon you and me now. Now that I’m in jail, I’m afraid you’ll be thrown out like Dolores if you stay home any longer. I’ll tell you the password to your father’s safe, go after you get the money.”

Beulah had been alert after living with Randolph. She had known the man was cruel and prioritized his profit the moment he threw Dolores and Jessica out without hesitation then. The reason he married Jessica was for her dowry. When he could no longer take advantage of her, he abandoned her regardless of their past relationship.

She was still young and could attract clients for him during social dinners. Now that she was getting on in years and was no longer as beautiful as before, and Annabelle had no outstanding accomplishments, and Dolores had married Matthew, Randolph might mistreat Annabelle to please his eldest daughter.

Therefore, he had thought of a way out for his daughter.

‘Dolores’ clenched her fists and her heart ached when she thought of Beulah. After all, she was her mother, the mother who really loved and cared for her. Thinking about that, she felt more determined to stay by Matthew’s side. Without her mother’s sacrifice, she wouldn’t have what she had today, so she couldn’t let her down. She couldn’t fail.

Meanwhile, she had followed Abbott to the interrogation building. It wasn’t the room from last time; the room was much larger. Tempered glass divided the room in two.

The inner space was used for interrogations, while outside there was seating for other people. Abbott pushed open the door when they reached the entrance. ‘Dolores’ did not enter directly. She only entered after taking a look inside and making sure Matthew was inside.

Armand pulled up a chair for her and pretended he didn’t know her true identity. He was enthusiastic and deferential as he looked her over from head to toe. “Miss Flores?” Boyce told him she was an imposter. He was slightly shocked when he found out. He was amazed at the advancement of today’s plastic surgery techniques. At first he thought it was difficult to make one person’s face look exactly like another’s through surgery, however, upon looking at her face, he secretly exclaimed at the high similarity.

He predicted that he had undergone surgery on his entire body. Her body must have been operated according to Dolores’, otherwise she would not have such a slim waist. He could not find a single flaw in her face. “What are you looking at?” ‘Dolores’ frowned and asked, “Is there anything on my face?”

Armand laughed recklessly. “No, your face is perfectly fine, it’s flawless.”

Her heart skipped a beat. He felt his words hinted at something. Then he approached Matthew and asked, “Why did you ask me to come here? This place is so creepy.”

Without waiting for Matthew to speak, Armand added, “To ask you to come see a show.” Then he pulled the chair to his side and sat down.

“What show?” ‘Dolores’ turned to him. Armand replied subtly, “You’ll know after a while.”

Matthew remained silent the whole time. The ring of lights illuminated his face from above and his face was blurred as if shrouded in a fine mist. The door to the room soon opened again. Boyce entered through the front and was followed by two haughty men in black uniforms. They were holding a person whose head was covered by a black sheath and was unable to walk.

‘Dolores’ looked at the person they were dragging and thought the person looked very much like Maria Herbert from the figure of the body. She became nervous. She was soon proven right when Boyce pulled the black cover off Maria’s head and showed her face. She had changed her clothes and her wound was not visible, but she looked extremely grim.

“Do you know her?” Armand approached. ‘Dolores’ shook her head and then nodded.

He said, “Yes, she kidnapped me after all.”

“I guess you still don’t know what Matthew hates the most.”

“What does he hate?” her voice inevitably trembled without warning.

Armand let out an evil grin. “He hates being cheated on.”

‘Dolores’ shuddered. “Is that so?”

“Yes, you’ll know when you see Maria Herbert. She lied to Matthew telling him she lost the child after the car accident, but in reality, she didn’t get pregnant in the first place. It was the Herbert Family that begged for her to get to keep her life of grief, but this time, even the president can’t save her now.”

‘Dolores’ grabbed Matthew’s arm and said, “Matthew, let’s go. I don’t want to see that, I’m scared.”

Matthew frowned absently and on his face was an indiscernible cruel look. “I thought you weren’t so shy before? Why, don’t you want to see the person who hurt you get punished?”

“I don’t. After all, it doesn’t hurt me.” ‘Dolores’ grabbed his arm. There were wrinkles in her immaculate suit. Matthew’s eyes fell on her hand gripping his arm. He lowered his eyes and there was an icy, sharp look on his face.

‘Dolores’ seemed to notice his cold aura and instinctively retrieved her hand. She clenched her hands into a fist as if that was the only way to protect herself.

At that moment, a shrill sound echoed throughout the room. ‘Dolores’ turned her head and realized that Boyce had torn off one of Maria’s fingernails. Nails were the most sensitive parts and excruciating pain was conceivable.

Mary was thrown to the ground and writhed. Blood trickled down to the floor through the nail like a curved stream. She slowly raised her head and stared at ‘Dolores’ who was sitting before her. ‘Dolores’ immediately turned away and did not dare to look into her bloodshot eyes. She was brimming with uneasiness and feared she would not be able to withstand that kind of cruel punishment and confess the truth that she was not Dolores.

He refused to see her, however, Boyce would not comply with his wish. He placed the torn off nail in front of her and said, “Miss Flores, please take a look, does it look pretty to you?”. That nail was placed on a white metal plate, and there was still blood on it, disgusting while leaving a deep impression on her.

“Take it away.” ‘Dolores’ curled up and became very frightened.

“Why is Miss Flores so afraid to look at such a pretty thing?” Armand intervened and pulled her head towards what was on the plate.

“No, no.” That was too horrifying, he wanted to leave. It was obvious that ‘Dolores’ was traumatized.

Armand deliberately leaned close to her ear and said, “This is only the beginning, the most interesting part of the show is just behind. You have to know that you will always have to pay the price when you do bad things, especially for those who don’t recognize their ability, but still want to impersonate others. Their consequence would be a thousand times worse than hers.”

“Indeed, this is nothing. There is no problem for me to use this pair of hands to peel someone’s skin without breaking it.” Boyce and Armand cooperated with each other and managed to terrify ‘Dolores’ in such a way that her back wouldn’t stop breaking out in a cold sweat. Her legs wouldn’t stop shaking and her muscles tensed. With a dry throat, he said, “You, you…” You are demons. But she didn’t manage to say it out loud.

Armand pouted as he saw that it was too easy to terrify her. They had yet to officially make an example of someone. Matthew intended to kill two birds with one stone. The first was to let ‘Dolores’ witness the consequence when she cheated on him, the second was to let Mary see, when she endured the punishment, that Annabelle was just sitting back watching her suffering.

Mental torment was easier to destroy one’s will compared to physical torment. Of course, her ultimate purpose was to find out Dolores’ whereabouts from her confession.

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