Picking up the phone with shaking fingers, Gina dialed a number, and her call was soon answered.
“Hello? Frank? It’s me, Gina… I’ve been kidnapped, and they’re demanding three billion dollars… Yes, three billion. Please, can’t you and Helen do something? Take a loan from Ms. Turnbull or something? I’m begging you… they’re going to kill me.”
Gina felt utterly drained after the call.
Never could she have imagined the day would come when she had to beg Frank to save her.
The sheer humiliation left her hanging her head, especially after Frank replied nonchalantly over the phone, “Calm down. It’s just three billion.”
He was certainly in no rush.
If anything, Gina believed that her death was exactly what he wanted—he could do anything he wanted with her daughter at that point, and no one would dare to take Helen’s side.
A venomous look appeared on her face at the thought, and she promptly sat up, flashing a fawning smile at the Talnamese. “Gentlemen, it’s better to look into my son-in-law than myself. He was the one who gave that ruby to my daughter as a gift…”
“What?!” The Talnamese were stunned as Gina offered details about where they got that Ruby.
“Yeah! That’s right!” Cindy smacked herself on the head, exclaiming in delight, “How could I have forgotten? Frank Lawrence gave us that ruby! Just bring him in, and you’ll find where the ruby is!”
“Exactly,” Gina agreed, gulping as she continued, “Let me call him again and lure him here. After that, you can take him down… you can release us after that, right? You already took my two billion dollars anyway. We are absolutely worthless to you anyway.”
“Yes! Yes! Yes!” Cindy nodded enthusiastically.
“Cap?” One of the Talnamese turned toward the shadows.
There stood a burly bald brown-skinned Talnamese, who was clearly the leader of the thirtyish Talnamese hiding in the factory.
“I think the women are right. We should just let them go.”
“No, we have reason to keep them here. Let’s use them as bait and lure in the one who took the ruby.”
“But the longer we stay in Draconia, the riskier it’d be…”
While the Talnamese were busy discussing the issue, their leader Talc raised a hand to stop them.
He spoke coolly, “It’s thanks to our people watching the Draconian black market that we found out our national treasure fell to the hands of scum. But it’s true as you say—the longer we stay here, the riskier it gets…. So, this is what we’re going to do. Tie up those two, as they will serve as bait. Once the man they spoke of shows up, I’ll take him down. The king has decreed that we must recover the crown jewel, even if we die trying!”
“For Talnam!” he roared.
“For Talnam!” his men echoed.
Gina was certainly delighted that the Talnamese accepted her suggestion and became a turncoat right then.
