The car had gone a few miles when Olivia nced at Steven and smiled.
“Nice acting, Dr. Lewis,” she teased.
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Steven swallowed hard and gave an awkward smile. Then he seemed to remember something and asked in a low voice, “So… the poison?”
He meant the same poison Gina and Donald had.
“Ten minutes before it kicks in.” Olivia kept one hand on the wheel, her smile fading. The car sped down the mountain road. “I’ll give you the antidote when we get to the station.”
“Turn right at that next junction, then go straight,” Steven said quickly.
He hated Olivia, but he wasn’t about to gamble with his life. After seeing what happened to Gina and Donald, he knew how terrible the poison was.
Still, Steven didn’t think he’d lost. He nned to get the antidote first, and then make Olivia pay for her arrogance.
At that moment, Magnolia Vige Chief Paul Lowell was still sipping coffee, clueless that his name was blowing up online.
He had gotten the job through connections, spent his days drinking coffee and ying with his birds, and never looked at news or live streams.
Over in srough, where Magnolia Town belonged, Mayor Richard Stone was losing his mind. The incident had gotten so big that he couldn’t ignore it, especially after he got an order from the Hirica government to send officers to rescue the trapped women.
“Richard, you have to step in,” Helen Fraley said, mming her phone on the table with a video ying on it. She was furious. “If a young girl dares to walk into that hellhole alone, what are you waiting for?”
Helen was the woman Olivia had met that afternoon. Back then, she had worried Olivia was being tricked into going, but now it seemed everything was part of Olivia’s n.
After watching Olivia’s live stream, Helen admired her even more. She didn’t care that she was in the middle of a mission–she rushed to find Richard and demand that he help Olivia.
She knew it was useless to go to the Magnolia Town police. They were already in bed with the criminals, living off dirty money.
“With something this big happening in your district, aren’t you afraid of losing your job?” Helen
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crossed her arms and sat down on the couch, fuming. “Send your men now. Saving liveses
first!”
Cold sweat ran down Richard’s forehead as he tried to think of a way out.
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to help Olivia, but the criminals in Magnolia Town had connections, and the locals were too united. Outsiders could hardly break in.
On top of that, Richard himself had some dealings with the town, and he was terrified of being exposed.
“Richard, I think I finally get it,” Helen said, staring at him coldly. “I know why the investigation on Magnolia Town has gone nowhere for all these years. Sure, the town’s culture ys a part, but your inaction as mayor is a bigger reason.”
“Ms. Fraley, that’s going too far,” Richard replied, sounding polite but clearly brushing her off. “Things aren’t like you think. We should go and hear what the townsfolk have <i>to </i>say. What if there’s been some kind of misunderstanding?”
“Misunderstanding?” Helen gave a sharpugh, going straight for the point. “Those machines in the video, the doctors talking to them, and those girls–those are hard facts. And you’re talking about a misunderstanding? Where’s your conscience, Richard?”
Then she added, “Or did they pay you off too?”
“Of course not,” Richard denied right away, but sweat was already forming on his forehead.
His worst fear hade true.
Other problems were easy to handle–he could just throw a few nobodies under the bus, have them apologize, take the me, and be done with it.
But now Olivia’s live stream had exposed Magnolia Town’s crimes to the whole country.
Richard still couldn’t figure out how she’d even managed to broadcast it.
Helen was a psychologist, and she caught all his little tells–his darting eyes, the way he gripped the edge of his coat, how he wouldn’t meet her gaze,
All signs of guilt.
‘Richard, let’s go to the scene first. Let’s see it for ourselves.” She stopped pressing him to send officers and took a different approach.
She knew ces like this often ran on cozy deals between officials and criminals. Breaking them all in one go was nearly impossible.
Richard might not be clean, but for now, he was still useful. If they waited any longer, Helen feared
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that Olivia might be in danger.
Richard thought fast. He had no other choice, so he agreed.
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On the way to Magnolia Town with Helen, he kept stalling, hoping Steven would hurry up and get Olivia onto an operating table.
In his mind, once they harvested her eggs, her body would be ruined. Girls that age were all the same–they’d never want to let the world know what they’d been through. Even without the emotional and physical trauma, society’s judgment alone could crush them.
So he was certain Olivia wouldn’t dare make a big scene.
Richard already had a n: shut her up first. Once she stayed quiet, he could handle the rest.
Not long after they hit the road, Richard’s phone started blowing up. The caller ID showed it was his boss, Stanley Saunders.
Stanley spoke calmly but with a warning in his voice. “Richard, I suggest you stop wasting your time. This girl was personally picked by Mr. Dalton to be trained. Think carefully about your
future.
“If you hurt her, I promise you won’t make it to retirement.”
“Of course, Mr. Saunders. I’ll follow your advice,” Richard said, pretending to agree.
The Mr. Dalton Stanley mentioned was his own mentor, Anthony Dalton. Since Anthony had been retired for years, Richard wasn’t scared of him. Besides, the real masterminds were the Evans family, and he figured he had nothing to worry about.
As if reading his thoughts, Stanley added, “I know what you’re thinking. Let me tell you the truth— the Evans family can’t protect you. You really think we don’t know what you’ve been up to all these years?”
“The Evans family is going down sooner orter. Think it over.” With that, Stanley hung up.
Ever since Olivia’s livestream was aired on TV, even retired officials who never watched anything online had seen it and started calling Stanley.
Anthony, his seventy–something mentor, had even rushed over on his little electric scooter in the middle of the night to give him onest warning.
“If you can’t save Olivia, kiss your job goodbye,” Anthony had said.
These old officials might be retired, but every one of them was still sharp and powerful. Stanley could only hope Olivia was safe.
After the call, Richard felt a jolt in his head. He opened his mouth but didn’t know what to say.
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Not when he’d seen the livestream, not even when Helen had shown up, had he felt this panicked.
Even when he sawizens tagging him like crazy, he thought he could handle it.
But after that phone call, Richard was truly scared.
He thought, ‘So this girl had Mr. Dalton behind her? Just what kind of people had the folks in Magnolia Town messed with?‘
srough’s government office wasn’t far from Magnolia Town. Before long, Helen and Richard arrived.
The town was lit up bright, mes flickering everywhere, sirens ring. Everyone was out–young and old–searching for Olivia.
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