Chapter 162:

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“You can slap me again, Celia, as long as it makes you happy. i don’t want to owe you anything!” She was Leon’s fiancée five years ago, but now Ashley was the fiancée. She’s nothing to him anymore!

“You…” Celia withdrew her raised hand, “I won’t hit you again, you owed my brother this slap!”

“All right! Then I don’t owe it anymore, do I?” Susan ignored the palm print on her face and went upstairs with a slight smile.

Celia looked blank for some time, then turned and walked around the corner. She saw Leon leaning against the wall with one hand, his shoulders shaking. Fearing he was crying, she dared not walk past him. She stood behind him with reddened eyes, “Leon, let her go! A simple girl like Ashley suits you better. Susan is too complicated.”

Leon said nothing. Sherry had been paying close attention to Susan; she was worried about her. When she saw her return with a handprint on her face, but still smiling. Seeing her smile like that, Sherry remembered the day she had seen the intimate photos of William and Lucille at the MH Residence.

That day, she too had smiled like Susan.

“Susan, what happened to your face?” Sherry took her hand sympathetically.

“It’s nothing!” Susan shook her head.

At that moment, Sierra was standing by the elevator, giving Sherry and Susan a look. Her eyes had a complexity to them, especially when she gave Susan a glance. Sherry looked at her without expressing any emotion. She seemed fine. She had recovered well and Payne seemed fine to her as well.

Sherry thought. She should be happy now. This was her mother. A woman who made her unable to reach a verdict. She was with Cohen, then Clark and now she was with Payne. Sherry curved her lips into a bitter smile, “Susan, let me take you for a walk.”

Susan looked up, thinking she had wanted to stay until the end of the banquet with a good face, but she hadn’t expected this to happen. It wasn’t good for her self-esteem to stay there any longer either.

“All right, let’s get out!”

“Wait!” Sierra said suddenly.

“What’s wrong, Mrs. Jones?” Sierra ignored Sherry and walked over to Susan. “What are you going to do?” Sherry snapped.

Sierra’s gaze turned cold, “No matter who you are, stay away from Leon in the future. I won’t let anyone hurt Ashley, even if it’s you, Sherry, let alone Susan!”.

Susan was a little surprised. The hostility in Sierra’s eyes made her unconsciously recoil, “Mrs. Jones, how do you know my name? Besides, you must have misunderstood, I have nothing to do with Leon!”

“Susan, you don’t need to explain yourself to him.” Sherry shook her head, “Come on!”

“Hah!” Sierra scoffed coldly.

Sherry paused and looked at her, “What are you laughing at?”

“Sherry, don’t tell me you want a woman your age to be your stepmother.”

“That has nothing to do with you!” Sherry was very angry.

“You think if you meet Cohen you’ll have someone to support you? You’ll never get to be the oldest daughter!” said Sierra mockingly and then glanced at Susan, “And you! Don’t think he’s going to like you – that will never happen! She’s not a loving person, Not with anyone!”

Sherry and Susan realized that the ‘he’ Sierra was referring to was Cohen, both gave Sierra a shocked look at the same time.

Sierra continued to sneer, “Stop trying to be a thieving witch and trying to seduce my son-in-law again. You’d better forget about it.”

“You really are despicable!” Sherry replied, “Susan, come on!”

William, worried about Sherry and Susan, stepped out of the elevator and saw them looking up at Sierra with daggers in their eyes. He stared blankly for a moment and then hurried toward them.

“What happened?” Sierra scoffed, shot a glare at the William speak and turned to leave.

At that moment someone rushed in from outside and said to Sierra, “Mrs. Jones, Miss Jones has been kidnapped!”

“What!” Sierra exclaimed, “How could she have been kidnapped?”.

“Whoever kidnapped her is very strange and doesn’t want money. The demand is for her to cancel her engagement to Mr. Hickman… Otherwise…”

“If not what?” the man trembled with fear, “They will kill her!”

…

Ashley was kidnapped. The engagement banquet turned into a mess after losing the bride. Leon was shocked and felt even guiltier. Susan was also shocked and everyone became very worried. Payne’s whole face went paper white. He pointed to his subordinates and shouted at them, “Useless bastards! Is this how you protect her? You’re good for nothing.”

“Payne, we should think this through.” Said Sierra, who stood beside him trembling with fear.

Shut the fuck up!” Payne cursed her in front of so many people and they all shut up. He realized he got so violent that he cursed but didn’t apologize, his face hardened as he ordered his own, “Go get her!”

Sierra’s face went deathly pale after the insult and she shrank to the side.

Leon’s parents were also anxious, “How can this be? We’ve finally found such a great daughter-in-law.”

They had been looking forward to hugging their grandson for so many years, but…. They had finally found such a daughter-in-law with such difficulty but now this was happening. Last time, Susan had disappeared right after the engagement banquet, this time?

Since Sierra had tried to say something, Sherry’s expressions did not bode well. William had also noticed that she looked bad. He looked at Sierra and Sherry again, he felt their faces were somewhat similar.

Just then Leon’s phone rang. He had been standing, somber, after picking up the call his face became even more subdued. He walked to the corner and said a few words into the phone. Then he returned with a complicated expression on his face. Relatives and friends of the two families were talking about what had happened.

“How could she have been kidnapped?”

“Yes, how terrible!”

“True, true!”

“Leon, who could it be? Shall we call the police?” said Celia to Leon.

Then she realized that something was wrong with him, he looked a little strange. Leon didn’t answer. He walked over to Susan in front of everyone, grabbed her hand and got down on his knees. Susan looked at him dumbfounded as he said, “Susan, let’s get married! The person I love has always been you.”

There was an uproar.

“What the hell are you doing Leon?” Payne was furious.

Sherry and William were also dumbfounded, however, the most shocked was Susan. Her face was flushed, not from humiliation but from shock. She stammered, “Leon…. Leon, get up quickly!”

“Marry me!” repeated Leon, with a strange expression.

Susan shook her head, “Leon, think of a way to save Ashley instead of joking. Everyone’s watching.”

Liam and William exchanged glances, and Liam whispered, “How did this happen? This is overly dramatic.”

Leon’s parents were also dumbfounded. Leon’s reaction to Ashley’s kidnapping was unexpected, after the initial shock wore off people started gossiping again.

“How could this happen?”

“Leon, you asshole! What do you think of my daughter?” Payne walked over and kicked Leon in the shoulder.

Leon fell but got up, silently hanging on, still on one knee. He repeated, “Susan, marry me!”

Susan was even more stunned, giving a silent look to Sherry and William for help.

“What’s going on?” William realized something was wrong, “Leon, you should be saving Ashley right now, what are you doing?”

Sierra chose this moment to suddenly shout, “I know who it is! Payne, I know who kidnapped Ashley…”

She leaned closer and whispered a few words in Payne’s ear. Payne’s eyes turned sharp, he narrowed his eyes and gave Sherry a cold smile.

Sherry returned his gaze. Before she could react, he had already approached her. Before anyone could say anything, he had grabbed her hand and pulled her close. Suddenly, a gun he had pulled from somewhere, touched Sherry’s head. He grimaced coldly and then shouted, “Cohen, your daughter is in my hands. Give me back my daughter and I will release yours.”

Sherry gasped in pain as she was dragged away, struggling to free herself with the barrel of the gun pointed at her head. She glanced at Sierra, but there was no trace of guilt in Sierra’s eyes. Sherry couldn’t believe it, Sierra let Payne hold a gun to her head? The panic that had originally filled her was replaced by grief at this moment. Her mother, this woman was her mother!

“Shit!” William was caught even more off guard by this scene. As panic flashed in his eyes, he recovered his wits, “Mr. Jones, say what you have to say, but let her go!”

Sherry felt extremely bitter at that moment, suddenly wanting to cry but the tears wouldn’t come. Sierra was her mother! Her mother! Her gaze turned to William and seeing the panic in his eyes she suddenly smiled at him. She thought it was great to have William! At least he cared about her!

Seeing her smile like that, William’s heart contracted, “Sherry, don’t be afraid, I’m here!”.

She knew he was there. She knew, so she wasn’t afraid.

“Tell Cohen to let my daughter go!” Payne pulled Sherry with him as he started to leave.

“Wait!” William’s voice lowered; at the same time, it turned cold.

William’s cold expressions, his calm, arrogant features and dignified posture made everyone look at him dumbfounded, “Mr. Jones, Sherry is my wife. You will lose my respect if you take her away like that.”

“William.” The anger on Payne’s face turned to surprise in an instant.

It wasn’t that he didn’t understand William’s background or his business skills. He knew all that and that was why William had been his first choice for a son-in-law. William had an aura of a noble king, which Leon obviously lacked.

“This is between Cohen and me! Don’t worry, as long as my daughter is fine, Sherry will stay fine too!”

“So, you insist on taking her?” William’s deep voice was full of indifference, his eyes narrowed.

He gave a sharp glance at Payne, then at Sierra. They all went blank. Leon had not expected this at all. Susan tugged anxiously at him, “Leon, get up. Tell me, is someone threatening you?”.

Leon didn’t answer her question, he just said, “Mr. Jones, let Sherry go! I promise you I will save Ashley.”

“Don’t you dare! Don’t you dare think about my daughter again! You bastard!” Payne roared, “My daughter must have been blind with love to have considered you! You heartless bastard!”

Leon said nothing, just silently accepted Payne’s verbal abuse. And William… his face was no longer as polite as it had been at first.

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