Another man reached over and yanked down the neckline of her gown, exposing the raw rope burns across her collarbones and shoulders.
She tried to turn away, to hide what little dignity she had left, but her restraints held her firm. Humiliation burned through her veins like acid, searing through her last fragnts of pride.
"Let’s see if your loving family wants you back," the man muttered, scrolling through her contacts before dialling a number and switching the phone to the loudspeaker.
The ringing sounded loud and hollow in the silent warehouse. They dialed Shen Xuan’s number, which was imdiately answered and hope-filled Yueyao’s eyes, but suddenly, it plumted.
"Hello?" ca Bai Zhi’s delicate, saccharine voice.
Yueyao’s chest heaved with a desperate sob even though she had lost all hope, "Please... please help ..." she croaked out, her voice breaking like a shattered glass.
But the n pressed her head down, forcing her to kneel on the cold cent.
She didn’t have anyone else to call apart from him, he was the only person he hoped would rescue her.
"We have Lin Yueyao," one of them said calmly. "Pay twenty million yuan by tomorrow morning, or we will send you her corpse."
There was a pause. Then Bai Zhi’s light laugh trickled through the speaker, airy and amused.
"Oh? You are calling for this?" she said as if hearing about a minor inconvenience, "Shen Xiao has been busy the entire night, and he is just resting right now. Call back later."
"Miss Bai....."
Click.
The line went dead.
Yueyao’s shoulders shook violently as silent sobs tore through her chest.
Tears and snot stread down her face, mixing with the blood caked around her lips. She had no strength left to wipe them away.
"Doesn’t she have a kid?"
"Let’s try the kid," the man said flatly, scrolling to another contact and finding Shen Xuan’s number.
No. Please, no.
The phone rang only once before her son’s small sleepy voice ca through.
"Hello...?"
Yueyao’s eyes flooded instantly, her heart leaping with fragile hope, "Xuan’er... Xuan’er... it’s Mommy... baby, please... help Mommy... please... tell Daddy... tell him Mommy is in trouble..."
There was silence. She waited, every cell in her body praying that he would cry, scream, beg them to let her go.
Instead, Shen Xuan let out a soft sigh, almost bored.
"Mommy... you’re so annoying. Always out there acting miserable, can’t you understand Daddy can’t fall for your sches?"
Her heartbeat stopped for a second.
"I don’t care where you are," his childish voice continued, calm and indifferent, "if so, just die out there so Daddy can marry Aunt Bai already. Don’t call again."
Click.
The line went dead, leaving only the echo of his words ringing in her skull.
Sothing inside Yueyao cracked open. A sound tore out of her throat, a broken wail that was half sob, half scream. Tears poured down her face in thick streams as her body shook uncontrollably.
One of the n kicked her in the ribs, sending her sprawling onto her side with a choked cry.
"Shut up," he snapped. "No one’s coming for you."
They forced her back up to her knees, her arms twisting painfully behind her back.
Her vision blurred from agony, humiliation, and despair. Another man yanked her hair back, forcing her to look into the flickering bulb overhead as he snapped more photos.
"Your son doesn’t even want you," he mocked, his voice filled with scorn. "You are worth nothing to them. Nothing."
The words sank into her bones, freezing her blood. Her mind was blank except for one thought echoing again and again:
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