Chapter 266: Chapter 266: Reasons

Brenda’s voice trembled slightly at the end of her sentence. The confident smile on her face froze as she scanned the small stage and found... nothing.

Jay was gone.

Brenda’s heart pounded wildly as she shouted, "Search him! Don’t let him leave!"

Her bodyguards sprang into action, shoving through the crowd and racing toward the corridors.

"Impossible," Brenda muttered, her voice shaky. "He couldn’t have gone far... his legs were too weak..."

However, even after the bodyguards checked every possible nook and corner... they found nothing...

Brenda felt her mind spinning, and for a moment, she wanted to go back in time and hold Jay to prevent him from disappearing.

Her despair magnified when she saw doubts flickering on the faces of the audience.

The chaos continued, and guests started to stand to leave one by one. Brenda, having lost all her strength, collapsed on the stage.

Suddenly, she remembered about her daughter; a new, profound strength surged in her body.

"My daughter! I still have a virgin daughter. I plan to auction her for 2000 kilos of rice! Ophelia! Ophelia, get your ass here..."

But what she responded to was empty silence.

’No! No! Don’t tell me.’

As if possessed by a ghost, Brenda frantically started to search for her daughter. Her hysterical voice echoed in the hall, scaring off the remaining buyers.

After 3 hours of searching, Brenda watched the empty hall in despair.

Just now, she had thought that she was on the top of the world. Success was so close to her... but suddenly an invisible pair of hands seemed to have pushed her into a dark abyss.

"Where are Ophelia and Jay... where are they?" Brenda murmured.

.........................................

14 hours before.

Ophelia was staring at the ceiling of her room blankly. After hearing the truth from her brother, she was about to free him when... Brenda appeared, and on a whim, she changed the locks and even stationed a few bodyguards inside Jay’s room.

Now... escaping seemed practically impossible.

Clang!

The window in her room suddenly shattered, and the shards of glass flew across the room like millions of stars in the midnight sky.

"Ahhh!" Ophelia instinctively stepped back, her hand covering her stomach in fear.

With a pounding heart, she stared at the stone wrapped with paper thrown in her room.

Wariness appeared in her eyes, and for a moment, she didn’t dare go near it.

However, even after 5 minutes, nothing happened; she cautiously inched toward it and picked it up.

Opening the paper with careful steps, she found a few sentences written on it.

"If you want to save your brother and leave the house, meet me behind your house."

Consequently, Ophelia resorted to the unconventional approach of climbing out of her room through the window with a cloth rope.

Her heart was pounding when she reached the backyard.

Surprise flickered on her face when she saw Ember.

Other than Ember... hardly anyone cared about Jay.

However, she was indeed taken aback when she saw the pink-haired woman she had met before.

"You..." Her eyes widened in disbelief and anger, but Ember cut her off.

"Help us, and we will set you free."

Ophelia swallowed back the insults before asking, "What type of help?"

"Get us the keys that are binding your brother," Ember stated, her teeth gritted as she muttered the word "keys."

Ophelia showed a helpless smile.

In fact, getting out of Jay wasn’t a problem... the main problem was chains. It was one of the items gifted to Brenda by Payton.

She knew that normal chains could be opened easily, and maybe some of the insiders might help Jay open it up.

Hence, even before Payton met Jay, she had gifted the chains that needed a special key to open them and had a tracker installed in them.

What was worse... the chains would become tighter if the owner didn’t press the release button every two hours.

It was invented for zombies, but some used it on humans.

When Brenda got the gift, she was hesitant, but then Jay tried to break off the familial ties, and the last shred of defense vanished.

Now... the chains were binding Jay, and without a key, it might take them many hours to make another one.

Originally, Ivy had planned to kidnap their brother-in-law before the auction, but the chains became the biggest anomaly, forcing them to alter the plan.

"It’s not easy," Ophelia whispered, but before she could finish, a hand shot out and slapped her fiercely.

"Don’t you fucking think that I don’t know what you have done!" Ember roared; her answer made Ophelia’s blood turn cold. More than the dull ache on her cheeks, she felt her heart ache.

"I... I was forced too..." Ophelia’s voice came out small and helpless.

"See you, bitch. I am not interested in your reasons. Tell me whether you can help or not!" Ember asked impatiently.

"I... I can try..." Ophelia gulped, looking scared.

"Alright. But if you fail, I will kill Jay’s buyer and let your good mother sell you." Ember gave an ugly smile to Ophelia.

Tears pooled in Ophelia’s eyes, and finally, she sobbed, "Ember, you have changed!"

Ember was taken aback by Ophelia’s response, but soon anger appeared on her face. "After how you were behaving with me and betraying my Jay, do you want me to stay the same?"

"But I am doing this because of my own reasons!" Ophelia placed her hand on her cheeks and sobbed.

"What the fuck? Have you lost your mind?" Ember almost wanted to roar. What kind of reason can force Ophelia to betray her brother?

"I have not! I just want to know my baby’s father’s whereabouts!" Ophelia shot back, making Ember freeze, and all color drained from her face.

"Your... your... what?" Ember trembled as if she couldn’t believe her ears.

Ophelia sobbed and shouted back, "My boyfriend and the father of my child! He has been missing for two months! And only Mother knows his location!"