Chapter 1735

With that, Carter turned and left with a carefree demeanor.

Madeline, staring at Carter’s back as he walked away with such finality, felt slightly uneasy.

She felt her chest tightened upon seeing the vial of anti-toxoid test reagent shattered on the snow.

Noticing the changes in Madeline’s mood, Jeremy, whose face was surprisingly happy, held her hand and comforted her.

“Linnie, I know you’re worried about me, but your condition is more urgent now. Even if poison inside me were to flare up, it wouldn’t be much of a problem with Adam around. However, it’s a different story for you. Carter would never genuinely give you the anti-toxoid test reagent.”

Madeline could not deny that Jeremy had a point. Nonetheless, she was still fairly upset seeing the shattered vial.

Once Carter had left, Madeline and Jeremy returned to the guest room once again.

Jeremy examined the room’s condition and inspected the puddle of blood.

It was indeed human blood, and judging from the state of which it had dried up, this incident had likely happened not long ago.

“Jeremy, who do you think wanted to kidnap Shirley? What would they benefit from kidnapping Shirley?”

Jeremy, who seemed to be in thought, did not answer Madeline’s question, but instead responded with a question of his own. “Linnie, what kind of relationship do you think Carter and Shirley have?”

Madeline pondered for a few seconds and said, “Honestly, I think Carter has romantic feelings towards Shirley.

“You’re saying that Carter has feelings for Shirley?”

“Yes.” Madeline nodded. “That’s what I think.”

“I think so too. Carter doesn’t merely think of Shirley as a pawn,” Jeremy agreed, then his handsome eyebrows furrowed slightly. “I have an idea who is likely to be behind this. This kind of trick could kill two birds with one stone, and there’s only one person who would benefit most from this.”

As Jeremy analyzed the situation, his deep eyes flickered with foresight.

Madeline looked into those eyes and seemed to immediately have some idea what he meant.

‘It seemed that only one person could benefit from this.

‘However, would that person truly be bold enough to do this?’

…

In a damp and dark basement.

Shirley once again woke up from her stupor, feeling a chill all over her body.

Due to her blood loss, her body was lacking in warmth.

Amidst her grogginess, Shirley felt a sudden, dull pain in her stomach.

“Hiss.” She curled up in pain. Through her blurry vision, she saw a woman, who wore a cap and face mask, aggressively kicking her.

“I thought you were dead,” the woman mocked. She then bent down and yanked Shirley’s collar. “Who asked you to get in my way? Let me tell you this. You have yourself to blame for this outcome!” she warned fiercely.

The woman then pushed Shirley away. Prone, Shirley lifted her head with great effort. She tried standing, but felt a fiery pain in her ankles.

Even now, Shirley, feeling neither afraid nor panic, calmly posed her question instead.

“Who… the hell are you? You said I got in your way, but can you at least tell me how I got in your way?”

As Shirley’s voice fell, the woman suddenly yanked Shirley’s collar again in rage and lifted her hand, slapping Shirley’s face twice, without even saying a word.

“Shirley, don’t think that you can get away with this because you now have a bit of talent and looks. He didn’t belong to you before, and he won’t ever belong to you!”

As the woman spoke, she suddenly got up and took a fruit knife from the table at the side.

While Shirley felt dizzy and dazed, she could still clearly see the woman walking over to her, the fruit knife in hand.