Carlos' words sent a shiver down Portia's spine. Engulfed by fear, she struggled to break free from the bodyguards, and screamed in a hysterical voice, "Mr. Huo, what do you want from me? Let go of me!"
With his eyes shut, Carlos asked casually, "Miss Gu, that's exactly what I should be asking you. What did you want with my wife, huh? What were you thinking, trying to drug my wife and her friend?" With those words, he opened his eyes and shot a sharp glance at the trembling Portia. "You had the guts to lay a finger on my wife! How dare you?!" he shouted between gnashed teeth.
"No, I didn't... I didn't..." Frightened by his icy-cold stare and the dangerous aura, Portia could hardly find her voice. She kept stammering, "I didn't..."
Carlos sneered and ordered to the bodyguards, "Deal with her. Enjoy yourselves."
Knowing that Portia was the daughter of the Gu family, Valerie didn't want her grandson to act rashly just for Debbie's sake. So she tried to persuade him, "Carlos, she's a girl. Don't do this..."
Clutching at her last straw of survival, Portia looked towards Valerie with her teary eyes and pleaded desperately, "Mrs. Valerie Huo, please help me..."
Carlos smirked at his grandmother. "She...is a girl? Then what about my wife and her friend? Aren't they girls too? Grandma, since you have enough mercy to spend on an irrelevant person, why don't you give a little thought to my wife, your own granddaughter-in-law?" he snapped, sounding sarcastic.
Shocked by his strong retort, Valerie took a quick step backwards.
Shifting his gaze back to Portia, he ordered angrily, "Take her out. Now!"
"Yes, Mr. Huo!" the three bodyguards answered together.
In an instant, they forcibly dragged Portia towards the door. Knowing that Carlos was not joking, she struggled to turn her head around and shouted in a panic-stricken voice, "Megan! It was Megan who told me that Debbie would be attending the tea party!"
Caught off guard, Megan's heart skipped a beat.
She had been keeping silent this whole time, afraid that Carlos' white hot rage would be directed towards her. As her name was pointed out, everyone's attention shifted to her.
Meeting Carlos' cold eyes, she shuddered and said in a shaky voice, "Uncle Carlos, no...I had nothing to do with this. I'm not even familiar with Portia. We've only met a few times. How is it even possible for me to collude with her to harm Aunt Debbie?"
Portia broke free from the bodyguards. She madly rushed back to the living room, and pointed at Megan, who was standing close to Valerie for her safety. "It was her! She told me that you were not in Y City that day, and that Debbie would attend the tea party with her friend!" she said to Carlos.
That day, Portia had seen the message which Megan had sent in the WeChat group and instantly had come up with the plan to drug Debbie.
In a fluster, Megan quickly pulled out her phone and walked over to Carlos. She explained, "I just casually sent a message in a WeChat group, saying that Aunt Debbie would be attending the tea party. I didn't personally talk to her, nor did I mean any harm. Uncle Carlos, you can check my chat log."
She nervously tapped the chat log, found her message from that day and showed it to Carlos. Indeed, Megan had only written a few words. It said, "I heard that Mrs. Huo was also invited to the tea party!"
Carlos moved his sharp eyes away from the phone and rested them on Portia once again. "So, your target was Debbie from the beginning, correct?"
Portia repeatedly shook her head, unable to find the words to defend herself. The only thing she could do now was deny everything. Otherwise she would end up being dead by morning.
"Looks like you won't tell me the truth till you see the depths of hell."
He gestured to the bodyguards. Seeing them stride towards her, Portia abruptly collapsed onto the floor as her legs gave out. She said in a low whisper, "I'll say it..." Despair was written all over her face. She decided to spill everything, hoping that Carlos wouldn't punish her by giving her to those bodyguards. She knew what would happen if he did that. She was still a virgin...
The bodyguards stopped. Everybody in the room waited for her confession.
At that moment, the doorbell rang again and a person slowly walked into the living room. Since she was at the point of collapsing, Portia didn't notice the person who had come in and continued to confess in a trembling voice, "I did it. I wanted to drug Debbie, but... those stupid men got them confused with each other and drugged Kasie instead. Kasie came to the party with Debbie's invitation card and they mistook her for Debbie. That was why Kasie was the one who was drugged and carried to the hotel room in the end..."
Lewis had had a major part to play in Portia's plan. At a previous party, Portia had heard from someone that Lewis had been coveting Carlos' wife for too long. He had been desiring for her and even had gone so far as to climb onto Debbie's bed. But he had failed, and had even gotten beaten up black and blue by Carlos.
And therefore, she decided to include Lewis in her plan. She asked someone to call Lewis and inform him that there was a chance for him to have sex with Debbie. As expected, Lewis, who had lost his job and had been idly hanging around the streets, immediately agreed and hurried to the hotel.
But there was a precondition—he had to take a video of them having sex. At the time, Lewis' mind was completely preoccupied by the fantasy of having sex with Debbie, so he agreed without hesitation.
When he walked into the hotel room, the lights were off and he was so excited that he didn't take a closer look at the woman's face. He simply believed that it was Debbie. So, after turning on the video camera, he took off his clothes and jumped onto her.
That was when Debbie barged into the room.
Only then had he noticed that the woman under him was not Debbie, but Kasie...
Lewis was then badly beaten up by Debbie, and Kasie was taken to the hospital.
As he was being taken away by the police, he made a phone call to pull some strings. Finally, he was exempted from the case and the police couldn't arrest him.
But soon after the incident, Lewis knew that things were very serious this time. He felt more and more uneasy as he thought back to what he had done. So in no time, he bought a ticket and flew to France.
Tragically for him, he had hardly settled down for a good sleep when Carlos' men found his whereabouts and brought him back to Y City.
And now, he was at the manor, awaiting Carlos' judgement.
"Portia, I'm so disappointed in you." Hayden's upset voice boomed across the living room. He was shocked to hear his sister's confession.
Earlier, when Portia had been forcibly taken away from school by some men, Hayden had received the message. His gut feeling had told him that it must have been Carlos' order.
He had someone look into it and found that they were indeed Carlos' men. So, he had hurried to the manor without any delay.
The security guard at the gate had asked for Emmett's instructions before letting him in. When he had stepped into the living room, he heard everything.
With tear stains on her disheveled face, Portia quickly ran over to her brother and grabbed onto him as if he was a lifesaver. "Hayden, I know my mistakes now. Please save me..."
Although Portia had crossed the line this time, Hayden couldn't bear to see his sister suffer. Inhaling deeply, he looked at Carlos and begged, "Mr. Huo, this is all our fault. I have failed to guide my sister well. I'll make her apologize to Debbie. And I'll send her away from Y City, so that she will never stir up any troube for you again. Mr. Huo, please let her go this time."
Hayden had never acted so humbly in front of Carlos. Even when his company was put into deep crisis because of his love for Debbie, he never begged Carlos for mercy. But now, because of his sister's rash behavior, he had no choice but to eat the humble pie. He had to swallow his pride and ask for Carlos' mercy.
However, Carlos didn't buy it. Hayden's words carried no weight to him. How could he easily let Portia off the hook after she had attempted to drug his wife? He looked at the stunned lawyers and asked, "Kidnapping, attempted **** and intentional injury. What will the sentences be for all these crimes?"
He spoke in such a way that made their crimes sound immensely severe.
One of the lawyers cleared his throat and replied, "Mr. Huo, according to the law, whoever commits the crime of kidnapping shall be sentenced to more than ten years or even life imprisonment, and shall also be fined or be sentenced to confiscation of property. Taking or exposing women's nude pictures without consent constitutes a crime of invasion of privacy and insulting of women. And wounding another person with intent, causing serious injuries, shall result in three to ten years of imprisonment."