Chapter 5
Joseph’s first reaction was to frown. He looked at me like I had lost my mind.
He didn’t even bother speaking to me and instead addressed the bodyguards around him.
“Hold her down!”
With Katherine in his arms, he slowly walked over, his sharp gaze sweeping over my blood-streaked face with pure disgust.
“Samantha, are you done with this act? The nails in the garage were fake; the footage was something I had someone edit. Joyce just called me, saying she went to check her exam results. If you wanted to trick me into coming home, you didn’t need to resort to something this revolting!”
I stared at him, then suddenly burst out laughing.
And then, mid-laugh, I spit a mouthful of bloody saliva right at his face.
“Samantha!”
Joseph staggered back in shock and fury, frantically pulling a handkerchief from his pocket to wipe his face clean.
I shot him a cold, mocking smile. “Joseph, you’re going to regret this. I’ll be waiting for the day you cry.”
The veins on his forehead bulged as he struggled to contain his rage. “Take her home. No one is to let her out without my orders!”
The men obeyed, dragging me away.
I tilted my head back and laughed wildly. “Joseph, you’re an animal! You’ll get what’s coming to you!”
He froze for a moment, as if my deranged state had rattled him.
In all the years we had been married-even the first time I caught him cheating and keeping a mistress- I had never acted like this.
The thought crept in, unsettling him more than he wanted to admit.
Behind him, the wind slammed the operating room door with a bang.
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11:45
A sudden urge told him to go in and take a look.
But before he could move, Katherine let out a sharp cry. “Joe, my stomach hurts… Do you think some- thing’s wrong with the baby?”
The word “baby” was enough to make him panic. He quickly scooped her up and rushed her into the emergency room.
By the time he finally got Katherine to sleep, Reuben came rushing in.
“Mr. Barnes, the school principal has been trying to reach you. When he couldn’t, he called me in- stead…”
He handed over the phone.
Joseph arched a brow, puzzled as to why Joyce’s principal would be calling him, but he still answered.
“Mr. Barnes, congratulations! Joyce scored the highest in New York on the SAT. That’s no small feat!”
“Really?”
A faint smile tugged at his lips, and even his voice carried a note of excitement.
“Of course! 1500 points-every bit of it earned. She should be home by now. Didn’t you see the an- nouncement?”
His smile faltered, hesitation creeping in. “She’s probably with her classmates. She hasn’t come home. yet.”
They exchanged a few more words before he hung up, immediately turning to his secretary. “Find out where Joyce is and bring her to me.”
Reuben left at once.
But a full day and night passed without any news.
The next morning, Joseph’s frown deepened as he stared at the empty house. He snapped at Reuben, “How does a full-grown woman just disappear? Why do you still have no leads?”
Reuben kept his head low, trembling. “Mr. Barnes, we haven’t found her, but we did find footage from right before Ms. Barnes went missing.”
In the video, Joyce was being dragged away by several men in black and forced into Garage 808.
Joseph felt his blood run cold.
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His voice trembled as he asked, “Where… did you find this?”
Reuben’s head sank even lower. “The footage came from the surveillance at Wynners Villa.”
Before he even finished speaking, Joseph staggered back, nearly collapsing to his knees.
Clutching the banister for support, he forced himself upright. “W-where’s Joyce?”
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