89 A Race Against Time


    Chapter 389 A Race Against Time


    Then came Lily’s voice–shaky, panicked, unmistakably terrified. “James, call the police, L


    “Lily!”


    James’s expression changed instantly.


    The man with her clearly meant harm.


    If he could grow wings and fly straight to her, he would. He wanted nothing more than to shield her<b>, </b><b>to </b>make sure no oneid a finger on her.


    But he couldn’t cross a thousand kilometers in an instant. All he could do was shout through the phone, his voice raw with urgency. “Don’t touch her! I-”


    The call cut out.


    He redialed immediately, over and over. No answer.


    They’d either taken her phone–or already destroyed it.


    The nextmercial flight wasn’t for another two hours. He couldn’t wait that long.


    He called Ashton without hesitation, ordered him to handle everything, and arranged to take a private jet.


    The watch he’d given Lily wasn’t just jewelry. It had a miniature camera and a highly sensitive GPS tracker built into it.


    He’d installed it for her safety–and she knew.


    But now, he worried. What if they noticed and threw it away? What if she’d taken it off after the divorce?


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    Still, even with those possibilities looming, he pulled up thest known location from the tracker.


    Even with a private jet, it would take him about three hours to get there.


    The police would have to act first. They’d be her fastest shot at survival.


    He wasted no time. He contacted the local police, shared the location from the tracker, and exined the


    urgency.


    While speaking with them, he learned that the nearest station was still nearly thirty minutes from the hotel where Lily had stayed.


    He also tried calling the hotel.


    His first call got through. But the moment he identified himself, the line went dead.


    After that, the front desk never answered again.


    Something had happened at the hotel. If he could have gotten through to staff, they might have saved her


    faster.


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    Chapter <b>389 </b>A Race Against Time


    But the front desk refused to pick up.


    He even had people look up the hotel’s owner and tried calling them directly–but it waste, and <b>no </b><b>one </b>answered.


    All he could do now was pray the police reached her in time.


    But thirty minutes… was enough for a nightmare to unfold.


    In thirty minutes, a vibrant, living person could be destroyed.


    Please, let it not be toote…


    The basement light wasn’t bright.


    But after being trapped in pitch ck inside a sack<b>, </b>even this dim light stung Lily’s eyes.


    She flinched at the sudden re. As her vision adjusted, she saw two tall,nky men with rough, dark skin -both around thirty or forty years old.


    It was obvious. The traffickers had sold her to them.


    And this ce… had to be a basement.


    Being sold into a remote mountain vige was already a near–hopeless situation. Now locked in a basement, her chances of escape were even worse.


    But as long as she could still breathe, she couldn’t give up.


    If she surrendered, she’d be defiled, discarded, broken beyond repair. Her baby would die.


    Ben and Jerry stared, stunned, after pulling the sack off her.


    The traffickers had told them this was their best catch yet–beautiful, fertile, worth the price. They’d offered a “friend discount” at eighty thousand yuan.


    Ben and Jerry had balked. Theirst “purchase“-a woman they’d ended up beating to death–had only cost forty thousand.


    Still, the traffickers insisted this one was special–gorgeous face, perfect body, strong childbearing potential.


    Reluctantly, they’d bargained it down to seventy–five thousand and made the deal,


    They figured the traffickers were exaggerating. Thest one had been described as “pretty,” and she’d been… well, technically a woman/


    They’d expected this one to be/maybe slightly better–more curves, perhaps.


    But they hadn’t exaggerated/ If anything, they’d undersold it.


    The woman before them wasn’t just beautiful–she was otherworldly. Neither of them had <b>ever </b><b>seen </b><b>a </b>face


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    Chapter 389 A Race Against Time


    like hers. Not in person. Not even on TV.


    Just looking at her made their knees go weak.


    They couldn’t begin to imagine what it would feel like to have her in bed.


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