Chapter 145

“Ahh! What is this…”

Inside the hemp sack was an unconscious woman. Her hair was so messy, resembling a bird’s nest, covering her face. Her body emitted a sour odor. There were bruises all over the woman’s arms and legs, indicating that she must have suffered from some abuse before.

Samantha looked up at the man with a puzzled expression.

The man did not speak and just smiled—a smile that carried a hidden meaning.

Suppressing the urge to vomit, Samantha covered her mouth and nose and carefully lifted the woman’s messy hair.

“Is… this Natasha?” she murmured.

Wasn’t she sent to jail by Gwendolyn? I heard she was sentenced to ten years. How did she get out so soon?

“She was divorced by the Wright family and disowned by the Mossey family. She’s nothing now, just a useless person. How useful can she be?” The man’s smile deepened.

“You’ll find out soon enough,” he added.

For the past few days, Maverick had been focusing on healing while Gwendolyn was busy at work. Though they lived in the same villa at night, they hardly saw each other.

The next morning, Gwendolyn finished washing up and tidying her room before heading downstairs. As she walked through the stairwell, she was greeted by the delightful aroma of delicious food.

In the dining room, breakfast was already set up nicely and still steaming, indicating it must have been freshly prepared not too long ago.

Gwendolyn’s lips curled into a smile. In such a short time, someone’s cooking skills have improved rapidly.

She walked over, only to find the kitchen quiet and empty, with no sign of Maverick. So she called out, “Elven, where’s Maverick?”

“Ms. Shalders, Mr. Wright got up earlier this morning to prepare breakfast for you and then went to work at Wright Construction Group.”

Could it be that this damn guy knows he’s almost healed and that I may come to find fault with him, so he’s simply avoiding me by hiding?

Gwendolyn chuckled and shook her head. She ate a few bites of breakfast before heading off to work at Angle.

Just as she sat in her office chair, William knocked on the door to report the investigation results.

“Ms. Shalders, Mr. Wright wasn’t lying. Mr. Ferguson was indeed taken from Dunearn Hotel, wrapped up, and carelessly thrown onto a cargo ship at Fairlake Pier. As for his current whereabouts, it’s quite difficult to determine.”

William paused for a second before continuing, “Although the surveillance camera at Dunearn Hotel during that time was destroyed, I accidentally discovered a familiar face that had been overlooked in the deletion.”

He handed Gwendolyn a photo extracted from the surveillance footage. “Even though this person is wearing a mask, don’t you think his eyes and eyebrows resemble Nico?”

Gwendolyn took the photo and carefully examined it.

Since Gwendolyn had previously allowed Nico to become Maverick’s assistant nominally, they had occasionally worked together for more than half a month. As a result, she had seen Nico a few times and had a slight impression of him.

If it really was Nico, then I could rule out the possibility that Maverick was the one who took Natasha away.

It felt as if a weight had been lifted from her heart. Gwendolyn put down the photo and continued giving orders. “Keep searching for Natasha’s whereabouts until we find her. Also, investigate if there have been any recent personnel movements within the Harris family.”

“Yes, Ms. Shalders.”

Gwendolyn nodded, signaling William to leave and continue his work.

Watching him walk away, she was lost in thought. If William gathers the people from Shadow Bell to investigate thoroughly and still can’t find anything, then such a meticulous modus operandi could very likely be the work of the person from the Harris family who harmed me before. What exactly does that person want to achieve by using Natasha?

For some unknown reason, Gwendolyn couldn’t help but feel uneasy about Natasha’s disappearance. She even sensed something serious was going to happen.

As she anxiously pondered, her hands remained busy. While checking the latest schedules and shooting progress of all the artists, Gwendolyn unexpectedly found out Joaquin’s filming had mysteriously halted since yesterday afternoon, and he did not show up for shooting at the film production set that morning.

Gwendolyn immediately called Joaquin’s manager.

“Ms. Shalders, I’m innocent! Yesterday, Joaquin was filming just fine, but somehow, he had a conflict with Mr. Joseph Xanthos from the neighboring film production team. Mr. Xanthos is not someone to be messed with. So they fought, and Mr. Xanthos ended up in the hospital. Many spectators at Fairlake Film Studios witnessed the incident. I’m currently discussing a solution with the two production teams.”

As Gwendolyn listened, her frown deepened. “Why wasn’t this incident reported yesterday? Where’s Joaquin?”

“Sorry, Ms. Shalders. I was considering settling it directly with the production team since Joaquin had experienced similar incidents before. However, I didn’t expect Mr. Xanthos’ injury to be quite serious this time, and Joaquin was taken away from the hotel by someone from the Zipper family early this morning. We haven’t been able to contact him since…”

Gwendolyn fell silent for a moment.

Given Patrick’s temper, once the troublemaker returned home, Joaquin would definitely face a round of domestic discipline.

“Okay, I got it.”

Gwendolyn held her forehead and decided to visit the Zipper residence in person to prevent Patrick from hitting Joaquin too hard, which might delay the spoiled brat’s upcoming filming.

After explaining her identity to the bodyguards outside the entrance, Gwendolyn was immediately let in.

Since Patrick had mentioned before that whenever the daughter of the Harris family wanted to come in, she did not need to notify anyone and could enter directly anytime.

Gwendolyn walked in smoothly without any obstacles, led by the butler, Adam.

Before she even reached the meeting room door, she heard loud beating sounds mixed with Joaquin’s painful moans. Just listening to it was enough to make one shudder.

Gwendolyn instinctively walked faster.

In the meeting room, Joaquin knelt on the ground, gritting his teeth to endure the pain, his expression defiant.

Patrick was enraged. Although he felt a little distressed, he knew the troublemaker, who would cause mischief if not disciplined for three days, could never learn to behave.

Patrick waved his hand, and the sound of scolding stopped. “I’m asking you; do you know you’re at fault?”

Joaquin took a couple of deep breaths, and the expression in his eyes was still rebellious. “I did nothing wrong. He deserved to be beaten. I’ll do it again next time. I’ll beat him every time I see him!”

When Gwendolyn reached the meeting room door, she heard Joaquin’s words loud and clear.

Silly boy, even if you’re dissatisfied, don’t you know to at least pretend to give in?

As expected, the sounds of scolding and beating inside intensified.

“Hit him! Beat him to death! Keep beating until he admits his mistake!” Patrick ordered.

Adam hurried inside and whispered to Patrick about Gwendolyn’s arrival.

“Old Mr. Zipper, it’s been so long since we last met! You really haven’t aged a bit and still look so young,” Gwendolyn greeted, walking in with a smile and taking over the cane from the servant. “Old Mr. Zipper, this thing sure inflicts a lot of pain when used to beat people, am I right? Joaquin is still young. Please don’t punish him too hard.”

Patrick’s face was full of affection when he saw Gwendolyn. He grinned from ear to ear. “Oh my! Gwendolyn, you’ve grown up so much! Quickly, come here and sit. Let me have a good look at you.”

Gwendolyn obediently walked over and sat next to Patrick.

“Don’t worry about this kid. I’ve been disciplining him since he was little, and he’s tough as nails! While my Gwendolyn is the apple of our Zipper and Harris families’ eyes, you deserve all the pampering!”

Upon hearing that, Joaquin hissed as he drew in a cold breath, secretly straightening his back to massage his wound.

He complained silently. My grandfather doesn’t care about me, his grandson, but only dotes on someone else’s granddaughter! Is there something wrong with him?