Filed to story: My Husband Regrets Divorcing Me (Audrey & Cornell)
She suddenly buried her head against his chest again, not wanting him to see the silly expression on her face.
Cornell only put Audrey down when they were already in front of the car. He opened the passenger seat door, picked her up again, and let her sit. When he reached out to fasten the seat belt for her, her sweet fragrance penetrated his nostrils.
Suddenly, Cornell reached out, held her chin, and kissed her gently.
It was indeed sweet and fragrant.
The kiss lasted for a few minutes.
But it seemed that Cornell couldn’t be satisfied. He leaned over and continued kissing her.
When their lips finally parted, they were both out of breath.
Audrey’s face was red as cherries. She didn’t dare to look into his eyes.
Cornell was about to say something when his phone suddenly rang.
He quickly pressed the answer button, and Cecilia’s heart-wrenching cry came from the other end of the line.
“Cornell, I was kidnapped!”
On the video call, three burly figures appeared, their faces shrouded in hoods.
Cecilia was kneeling on the ground, and her face was shoved toward the phone by one of the men. Her face, neck, and body were covered in blood. Moreover, her lips were cracked, and her eyes were so swollen she could hardly keep them open. She looked utterly defeated.
In a hoarse and feeble voice, Cecilia sobbed.
“Cornell… Help me…
Please… Remember that time I saved you? Help me now…”
Bringing up old scores was the most effective way to change one’s mind. Sure enough, Cornell’s expression shifted in an instant.
Smack! One of the hooded men slapped Cecilia across the face and snarled, “Enough of your nonsense.”
It was clear Cecilia had been suffering for a while. The slap forced a mouthful of blood out of her, making her look even more miserable.
Cornell’s expression flipped like a switch. With his eyes turned as cold as a glacier, he bellowed, “How dare you!”
The hooded man chuckled as if he had heard a joke. His laughter was distorted by a voice changer, which made it sound even more unsettling.
“This woman says you’re her husband and that you’re loaded. Is that right?”
An unsettling silence fell over both parties.
Audrey impulsively grabbed Cornell’s arm. She was not quite sure what she was thinking, but something deep down told her he should not admit it.
Cornell’s face turned grim, and he focused on the screen. Seeing his hesitation, the hooded leader delivered a brutal kick to Cecilia’s stomach.
Blood splattered from Cecilia’s mouth, and her face went ghostly white.
“Bitch, how dare you lie to me! You’re dead meat!”
The hooded man lifted his foot, ready to strike Cecilia again. But at that critical moment, Cornell finally spoke.
“She’s telling the truth.”
Audrey felt like she had been slapped. She quietly loosened her grip on Cornell’s arm, but he did not seem to notice. His attention was completely on the phone.
Upon hearing Cornell’s admission, the hooded man stopped what he was doing and grinned.
“In that case, prepare ten million dollars in cash and bring it to the ferry bridge. Or else…”
He grabbed a dagger and carefully nicked Cecilia’s wrist, enough for blood to start trickling down.
She would not die on the spot, but her time was running out.
“It’s a race against the clock now,” the hooded guy sneered and, without waiting for Cornell’s response, ended the video call.
Silence enveloped the car.
Cornell turned to Audrey with a serious expression.
“Audrey, I need to…”
Maybe it was because Cornell had been so kind to Audrey recently that he thought she could understand him if he left now. However, Audrey cut him off flatly.
“Don’t go.”
It was not that Audrey was heartless. It was that she thought it would be better to send a professional to handle this dire situation.
Moreover, her intuition told her there was more than meets the eye.
“We can call the police and have them sort this out,” Audrey reasoned.
Cornell frowned and shot down the idea immediately.
“We can’t involve the police. Cecilia’s safety is at stake.”
Those outlaws had no conscience. Cornell assumed he could not gamble with Cecilia’s life. Besides, he would pay off his debt, as long as Cecilia arrived in Swynborough safely.
Seeing Cornell still siding with Cecilia, a bitter taste filled Audrey’s mouth.
“Cornell, have you considered that this whole thing might be staged?”
Audrey voiced her suspicions.
Cornell’s expression turned even grimmer, and he asked, “What are you getting at?”
Audrey laid out her observations.
“In the video, Cecilia’s shoes were spotless. If she was beaten up and held in some rundown warehouse, how could her shoes be so clean?”
Unlike Cornell, she had paid close attention to the details and noticed something was amiss.
The amount of blood Cecilia spat out seemed off.
“And why would a kidnapper care whether the guy paying the ransom was her husband or not?”
There could be only one answer to these questions. Cecilia was orchestrating the whole thing.
Cecilia was aware that she was listening, thus using those words as a way to provoke her.
The pieces of the puzzle were falling into place. For some reason, Audrey could not shake the feeling that the kidnapping was Cecilia’s ploy.
The more she thought about it, the more she felt something was amiss.
As her worries for Cornell were mounting, she pressed on, “The timing is odd, don’t you think? You finally decide to let Cecilia leave the country today, and then she gets kidnapped? It sounds like a ploy to make you change your mind.”
“Enough, Audrey!” Cornell cut her off, seemingly exasperated.
“Are you suggesting that Cecilia would risk her own life just to convince me to let her stay?”
Cornell’s defense left Audrey momentarily speechless.
But he was not done yet, and he continued, “Sure, Cecilia has made mistakes. But risking her life in a scheme under the disguise of kidnapping is far-fetched.”
Audrey tried to reason with him again.
“Cornell, your judgment is clouded right now. Think about what I’ve said.”
“I said enough!” Cornell raised his voice and emphasized each word, “Audrey, stop being so cynical. It’s bad for the baby.”
Cornell’s accusation cut Audrey deep. So, in his eyes, she was some sort of villain who was eager to get rid of Cecilia.
Well, if he already thought she was wicked, maybe it was time she learned from Cecilia and played the villain for real.
“Listen, Cornell, I’m telling you, you’re not going to save Cecilia all by yourself,” Audrey firmly said, giving no room for a discussion.
But her plea merely fell on Cornell’s deaf ear, and he coldly responded, “Get out of the car. I’ll have Matteo come pick you up.”
His dismissive tone felt like a punch to her gut, and a sharp pain radiated from her abdomen.
Audrey clutched her abdomen and cried, “Cornell, my stomach…”
Before she could complete her sentence, Cornell had already lifted her from the seat, leaving her suspended in mid-air for a moment.
Feeling him hold her eased the pain a little, but her heart was still heavy.
“My stomach hurts,” she uttered in a quivering voice.