Sonia ran through a list of possible names and faces in her mind but failed to recall anyone she knew
with the name Lucius Hayes. However, the name sounded rather familiar to her, like she had heard it
somewhere else. That name rings a bell. Where did I hear it?
“That’s right!” Declan looked away with coldness in his eyes and fiddled with his ring. “I’ve been
searching for Lucius for a few years, but he is a hard man to find. In fact, he is so good I couldn’t find a
way to hurt him, so I turned my attention to you.” The man stroked Sonia’s chin with his cold fingers,
sending chills down her spine and filling her eyes with horror.
Feeling utterly dismayed, Sonia acknowledged the distress signal her intuition was sending her. This
man is definitely creeping me out. “Turned your attention to me?” She gulped and asked through her
shivering lips, “Why me?”
“I just told you. It’s because you’re the woman Lucius cares about, and since he is my target, I can only
execute my plan, starting from you. Once I have you, he is going to come and rescue you, and when
he gets here, I’m going to kill him.” Declan revealed his evil plan with an eerie smile.
“A-Are you going to kill him?” Sonia asked with a shaking voice.
“I can only find peace in his death!” Declan admitted his sinister intention to kill. In fact, he was Robert’s
fourth son, as well as his fourth illegitimate son. When Robert was younger, he loved to sleep around,
which was why he had so many illegitimate sons. Although Declan was the fourth son, he still had a
few other younger half-brothers.
While all of Robert’s illegitimate sons wanted to be the Hayes Family’s heir to inherit the huge fortune,
they all fought among each other, yet Robert did nothing to stop that. Thus, their infighting grew more
and more intense, as they all wouldn’t rest until they got rid of each other.
Although Robert initially had more than 10 illegitimate sons, most of them were either dead, maimed, or
exiled in other countries, leaving only Declan and four other of his half-brothers. Just when the five
sons thought the place to be the Hayes Family’s heir would be a fight among them, they were surprised
by Robert, who had no intention of making any of them his heir. Instead, he had been secretly looking
for the son that belonged to his wife because that was the legitimate son of the Hayes Family.
Nevertheless, Robert’s legitimate son, Lucius, was cast away from home with his mother when he was
5 years old. Therefore, his half-brothers had never viewed him as an enemy, only to be stunned by
Robert’s sudden change in his inclination. Since Robert was growing old and ill, he began to miss his
wife and son, so he dispatched his men to search for them, in order to make him his heir.
Because of that, the illegitimate sons were not happy, as they didn’t think Lucius deserved to be the
Haye Family’s heir. After all, he was just Robert’s other son who grew up outside of the Hayes Family,
despite his legitimacy.
Therefore, the five of them decided to set aside their differences and focus on their common goal,
which was to—get rid of Lucius in order to ensure no one stood in their way of inheriting the Hayes
Family’s fortune.
Declan managed to discover Lucius’ whereabouts ahead of his half-brothers, even sending hitmen to
either intimidate or kill him. However, none of his plans proved to work, as Lucius was able to get away
in one piece every time.
Thus, Declan could no longer wait anymore and decided to take him on by himself. Although he
continued to fail his goal, he soon discovered what he deemed to be a turning point when he realized
Lucius was close with a woman. Therefore, he sent someone to do some digging about the woman
with whom he planned to lure Lucius out to kill him.
Sonia had no idea what was on Declan’s mind, only looking at him in horror. “You’re scary.” Deep
down, she wondered whether people like Declan, Tina, and Titus had a heart, as they seemed to
always be filled with bloodlust.
“I’m scary?!” Declan was not mad at the way Sonia described him. Instead, he let out a burst of gleeful
and maniacal laughter. “You’re absolutely right. I’m scary, and I like to strike fear in people’s hearts
because that is how I can show the world how great I am!” He spread his arms open and looked up like
a savior who was going to help the world.
Sonia curled her lips upward speechlessly, wondering how narcissistic Declan was.
“Young Master Declan!” one of the muscular kidnappers called out.
Lucius knitted his eyebrows and turned around. “What’s the matter?”
The man held the phone. “I’ve just sent Lucius a message and told him that we have Sonia captured.”
“Did he reply?” Lucius asked.
“Yes, he did.” The man nodded. “Just two words. ‘You dare?!’.”
As the man showed Declan the phone, he set his eyes on those words and made a nonchalant grunt.
“It looks like he is pissed off. That’s a good thing. Tell him to come to Misty Mountain if he wants to
rescue Sonia.”
“Alright,” the man replied and texted back before he waited for another response from Lucius.
In the meantime, Sonia asked, “Don’t you think you’re getting ahead of yourself? Why would this guy
come over to save me?”
“Oh really?” Declan turned around and looked at the lady. “Did you just say he won’t come and save
you?”
“That’s right. I bet he won’t because I don’t even know who the heck Lucius Hayes is. So, I’m sure he
doesn’t know me either. For that, what you said about me being the woman he cares the most is not
true. Thus, what makes you think he is going to come for me? If I were you, I’d quit wasting my time on
this. Just let me go.” Sonia nervously gazed at Declan, hoping her words could convince the man. After
all, she had no idea who Lucius was and thought that this was Declan’s mistake. Maybe this guy will let
me go once he finds out Lucius and I don’t know each other.
“You don’t know him?” Declan sounded like he had heard a funny joke and laughed out loud.
“What’s so funny?” Sonia’s scalp grew numb when she heard his laughter.
Declan folded his arms and replied, “Oh my gosh! I thought Lucius told you about his actual identity, but
I guess that’s fine. The most important thing is that you know Lucius, who really cares about you. Thus,
I’m pretty sure he is going to come and save your life. Trust your own charm, won’t you?”
Declan then let go of Sonia’s chin and rubbed her face, but Sonia felt as if there was a snake slithering
around her face. Feeling goosebumps all over her body, she backed away to stay out of his reach.
On the other hand, Declan somehow released her from his hand and said, “Alright, just be a good girl
and do as you’re told. Then, I might just let you live after I kill Lucius; but if you don’t cooperate, I’m
going to kill the both of you. After all, he loves you, so I might as well do him a favor and let you both
die together. In fact, he may even thank me for that.” Declan retracted his arm and stepped away from
the van when he was done scaring the poor lady.
Meanwhile, Sonia was shivering uncontrollably with horror filling her eyes. This man is going to kill me!
Skeptical about Declan’s words to spare her life, she didn’t think he would keep his promise because
she had already seen his face. Furthermore, she believed he wouldn’t let her go in one piece, even if
he would let her live.
Oh, man! Is he going to gouge my eyes, cut my tongue or chop my limbs off? He is not going to leave
any loose ends behind. At the thought of that, Sonia’s eyes were filled with despair as her heart froze in
terror. Thinking that would likely be her end, she hopelessly doubted Charles and the rest would make
it there in time to save her.
By the time they find me, I’ll probably be as good as dead. What do I do now?
She was only left with the choice to weep and bite her lip in silence.
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