Chapter 519 Matthew Is Dead
“I’ll say it one last time. I’ll kill you if you don’t let Matthew go!” Veronica said that in Chinese loud and clear to send the message across to Antheena. As expected, Antheena was unnerved when she heard that. “What are you trying to do, Veronica?”
Veronica’s red lips curved up into a smirk, and she whispered to Xavier, “It’s your choice if you want to die, but I don’t want Matthew to be hurt.”
Afterward, she looked at Antheena, who wasn’t far and ordered loudly, “Xavier has Matthew hidden somewhere. I’ll give you 30 minutes, Antheena. If you can’t give Matthew back, then be prepared to collect his dead body!”
As they were both women, Veronica could feel how deeply Antheena loved Xavier. So, Antheena would never allow Xavier to die on her watch.
Xavier was taken aback by Veronica’s tactics. He did not expect her to become so bright and calculative in just half a year that he had not seen her. However, she only had Matthew in her heart. There was no place for him there.
“Move!” she instructed as she grabbed his shoulders, pressed the cold muzzle against the back of his head, and took him with her. Thomas and the other bodyguards stood around, prepared to take action if anything went wrong.
Antheena stood opposite them, fuming as she watched Veronica taking Xavier away. She could only order her subordinates, “Go. I want everyone looking for Matthew.”
“Yes, Young Mistress.” They answered, got in the car, and drove off to look for him.
On the other side, Veronica got Xavier into the car. When Thomas opened the car door for Xavier to get in, Xavier looked meaningfully at the northwest corner of the square.
As he expected, that small action caught Veronica’s attention, and she looked over thoughtfully with furrowed brows.
When she looked in that direction, she was just in time to catch Xavier, who was entering the car, using his right hand to click on something on his left wrist.
“Wait!” she yelled as she grabbed his left wrist and pushed up the sleeve to see his digital watch in a countdown.
She shuddered as her heart leaped to her throat. The watch was counting down from six minutes.
No, it was now 5 minutes 54 seconds!
“Xavier!” She snarled through gritted teeth as her other hand holding the gun trembled.
Nevertheless, he only gave her a malicious sneer. “Kill me. I’m happy enough to know that he’ll be with me in hell.”
“You f*cking snake,” Veronica cursed and swung the gun’s handle at the back of his head with great force.
With just one hit, Xavier was out like a light and fell to the ground unconscious.
“Thomas, search the area! Matthew is around there,” she said and sprinted toward the northwest corner while setting up the timer on her phone.
Thomas, who was beside them, knew what had transpired and immediately understood the situation. “Tie him up.” He pointed at Xavier and ordered his subordinates, then added, “You lot guard him, and the rest join the search.”
By this time, Antheena had already ordered her people to leave and look for Matthew. As everyone left, she sat alone in the car and stared at the vehicle that held Xavier captive.
Veronica bolted across the square with all her might.
The port’s cool wind whizzed past her ear and blew on her face, but her heart sank to her stomach, and she only felt the bone-chilling cold.
Matthew, you can’t die. You can’t die! She chanted in her mind while shouting, “Matthew! Matthew!”
Her intuition was telling her that he was nearby.
So she ran to the northwest corner and saw many containers lined up. She whizzed between them in the narrow pathway and kept yelling for Matthew desperately, “Where are you, Matthew? Answer me if you hear me!”
She kept screaming his name, and eventually, her voice even showed that she was close to losing her mind.
The strong-willed Veronica had never been so anxious about a person up until now.
She switched on the torchlight function on her phone and looked around in a frenzy with the beam of light as her guide. She kept glancing at the phone’s timer as the countdown continued.
Around her were Thomas’ men, who were also calling out Matthew’s name.
They had been searching for a few minutes but still could not locate him. Veronica was at her wit’s ends despite expending a large amount of energy running around trying to find him.
She was stunned as she saw the last row of containers after looking for so long to no avail.
She stumbled dazedly. “How could this be?”
She trembled like a leaf and phoned Thomas immediately, but she was so nervous that she clicked on the wrong number.
She didn’t waste time as she hung up the phone, looked for Thomas’ number again, and dialed. He picked up in seconds. “Miss Murphy?”
“Wake Xavier up. Ask… Ask him where Matthew is. Quick. Go now!”
“Okay. Alright. I’m going now.” He didn’t dare delay and went immediately.
She leaned weakly against the railing on the square’s edge as her heart hammered in her chest. Behind her was the port while the sounds of the waves crashing and the cries of seagulls echoed in her ears.
She regretted knocking out Xavier just now. She was confident Matthew would be here, but now she had missed the golden opportunity to save him.
If she had interrogated Xavier more, maybe he would reveal Matthew’s whereabouts.
Veronica wholly regretted her rash actions as she sunk into self-deprecation.
Yet, she knew all too well that Xavier would rather die than tell her where he hid Matthew.
She was chilled to the bone as devastation overwhelmed her till she could feel her hair stand on end.
It was unclear if the sea was too cold or for a different reason, but she couldn’t stop her body from shaking like a leaf.
If Matthew died today, she would never forgive herself as long as she lived.
The containers on the square’s corner were all piled up, blocking the light. Veronica slumped on the floor in the dark and looked at the watch’s timer. She only had 58 seconds left.
She tightened her grip on her phone and watched with wide eyes as the seconds ticked by. That feeling of knowing that the person you love the most is going to die and you were helpless tormented her to no end.
A tear dropped from the corner of her eyes. She couldn’t tell if it was the harsh wind blowing against her face or her utter desolate state.
She slowly closed her eyes, leaned against the railing behind her, and took a few deep breaths before snapping them open.
At this very moment, she glimpsed something out of the corner of her eye. It was a tower crane set up on the sea. As the tower crane was very far and tall, she had missed it earlier while looking through the containers.
She frowned deeply as she quickly rose to her feet and stared at the tower crane. She had a suspicion that Matthew was there, but it was so far. Would she stand a chance?
As she gazed at the timer on her phone for a final time, she saw the screen light up and display the time. It was at 5 minutes 13 seconds.
