“Sorry, the number you’re calling cannot be reached at the moment. Please try again later…” Both Jolly and Leroy’s phones had been unreachable for a long while now.
After making another couple of attempts, Rachel gave up and decided to check the villa’s surveillance cameras.
At that, Gloria and Victor offered to go with her, but Justin stopped them. “You two stay here. You still need to attend to the guests, after all. I’ll go.”
With that, he chased after Rachel.
“Me too!” Hernandez turned to follow after Justin as he spoke, but Gloria reacted quickly and grabbed him. “Forget about that. The two of us alone can’t manage everything here. We’ll need your help.”
“With what?”
“You’ve gotten familiar with the girls from my orchestra, haven’t you? You’ll have to help me send them to the hotel later. They’re all flying back tonight.”
Gloria held a tight grip on Hernandez and dragged him along with her, leaving him no choice but to watch Justin and Rachel leave far away. Meanwhile, Rachel and Justin made their way to the security room.
Many had come to attend the wedding, and to avoid any accidents, they hired an extra team of security. Also, the surveillance cameras within the villa had been retested, so in theory, no cameras should be malfunctioning.
“Here.” Rachel pointed toward where Jolly appeared on the screen. At that, Justin ordered the guard to switch the camera. “This was an hour ago,” he said with a frown.
“It’s about the same time as Hernandez mentioned earlier. She should have been at the washroom an hour ago.”
The footage had indeed shown Jolly entering the villa. However, there were no cameras inside. Following that, they sped up the footage by ten- folds until an hour later, when there was still no sign of her.
“How is this possible?!”
“Play it again,” Justin ordered the guard. This time, they sped up the footage by five- folds, and as they watched, Justin suddenly raised his hand. “Stop.”
In the middle of the screen were two men carrying a massive box out of the villa, heading toward the west gate.
“Do you suppose that’s…” A thought hit Rachel instantly as her countenance turned awful. Justin reacted even quicker. “Find out who these two are.”
With that, the guards got digging. Meanwhile, half an hour had passed since Jolly was chucked into the van, which had arrived near Carter Residence.
“Is it really in your room?”
“What will I get from lying to you? It’s in the safe in my room. I’m sure you know how expensive that dress is. I have to keep it safe, don’t I?”
“You have guards stationed at the gate of your house. How are we supposed to go in?”
“You can just let me go in and get it.”
“As if we’re going to let you do that. What do you take us for? Fools?” One of the kidnappers glared at Jolly. “Do you think we’d let you go in and call the cops?”
Jolly frowned in response. “Well, what do you suppose then?”
“Tell them you’ve sent me to get something. Later on, call and tell them you’ve asked me to open the safe in your room.”
“I never let just about anyone into my room.”
The next second, a sharp blade was pressed against Jolly’s neck, leading her to change her words in two shakes. “Well, it’s mainly because my room is a mess. If you guys don’t mind, go ahead… go ahead…”
Only then did the kidnapper put the blade away.
“Stay here and keep an eye on her. We’ll keep in touch.” With that, he handed the blade to the other kidnapper and got out of the van.
Through the window, Jolly could see the kidnapper walking toward her house, and the sentry came out of the guard house to talk to him. Moments later, a ringtone resounded through the van.
“Miss Jolly, have you asked someone to take something from home?”
Right when Jolly was about to speak, the staying kidnapper patted her face with the blade a couple of times, which served as a warning. Having no other option, she bit the bullet and admitted, “Yes, just let him in.”
“Alright, Miss Jolly.”
“Go on in.”
Following the sentry’s voice coming from the other end of the line, Jolly was forced to watch the kidnapper enter her house.
Jolly couldn’t run away even if she wanted to when her hands and legs had been tied together. Thus, she actively approached the staying kidnapper. “I know who sent you guys. Let me go, and I’ll give you double the price she paid you.”
“Save it. You rich people are the most scheming. Do you think I don’t know you’ll call the cops as soon as I free you?”
“Don’t you know that you’ll be sentenced to jail time for kidnapping? What will you do when this comes to light?”
“Why do you talk so much?”
The staying kidnapper was not a man of negotiation. Thus, he ripped a piece of duct tape, planning to seal Jolly’s lips shut again.
“Hey, hey, don’t. What if your accomplice calls when he can’t find the safe?”
“Behave and keep your mouth shut!”
Jolly scrutinized the staying kidnapper. He was wearing a black face mask, so she couldn’t make out any distinct facial features apart from his eyes.
After looking for a while, she discovered a burn. scar on his right temple, and she made a mental note of it. Meanwhile, the kidnapper, who entered the Carter Residence, had successfully arrived at Jolly’s bedroom.
While leading him inside, the nanny asked, “What does Miss Jolly want you to grab? Just tell me, and I’ll find it for you. Don’t rummage through her things.”
“I don’t know what it is either. She just told me to get it from the safe. Speaking of which, where is it?”
“The safe?” The nanny was somewhat stumped. “How would I know?’
“I’ll look for it myself, then. You can leave now.” Not giving the nanny a chance to speak, he locked the door from inside and began rummaging through the room. Snubbed, the nanny frowned. Does Miss Jolly have a safe in her room? How come I’ve never heard of it?
Back inside the van, Jolly felt so stuffy that she was suffocating.
“Hey, I need to use the bathroom.”
“Don’t try anything.”
“I really need to use the bathroom!”
The kidnapper glanced at her upon hearing that. “There’s no bathroom around here. Hold it in.”
“There’s a mall nearby. Take me there!”
“You think you’re still a rich young lady?” The kidnapper got pissed off. “Who do you take me for? Your driver or your servant?! Don’t even think about it. Do it here if you have the balls.”
While looking exasperated, she managed to grab the handle with her hand still behind her back.
She wasn’t sure how long she had been waiting, but as soon as she saw someone passing by, she pushed the door open at once and fell behind.
“Help me!”
Startled, the middle-aged man stared at Jolly for a long time but still couldn’t respond to what was happening.
Jolly’s arms and legs had been tied up, and it was evidently a kidnapping. Moreover, an adult male’s arms reached out from the van very quickly and violently dragged her back inside.
“Help!” Jolly shouted toward the middle-aged man. “Call the cops!”
It was evident the man didn’t want to involve himself in trouble as he fled at once. Just before Jolly was dragged into the van, a car pulled over on the opposite side of the road and out came a few men who looked like bodyguards.
“There!” One of them shouted as they pointed to Jolly.
“Put her down!”
