Another harsh pnded on Patti''s face, and she felt a tooth loosen. She couldn''t believe McNeil would order his men to hit a woman, and twice in a row. Instantly, she fell silent.


    "Keep talking,” McNeil said coldly. "One more wrong word, and I''ll have them knock out a tooth. We can continue until you have no teeth left."


    Patti trembled. “I... Hawthorne and I have a cooperative rtionship." She finally said it. The words "don''t hit women" seemed to be absent from McNeil''s vocabry. She had never met such a ruthless man. But what she failed to see was the ferocity of a father protecting his daughter.


    McNeil''s lips curved slightly. "Cooperative? In what way?" He snapped his fingers, and someone immediately handed him a piece of paper and a voice recorder.


    Patti didn''t know what he was nning until McNeil instructed her to write and speak at the same time. "Write down the details of your cooperation with Hawthorne -the content, the form, everything. And as you write, read it out loud."


    Now, Patti was truly panicking. She couldn''t write it, and she couldn''t say it. McNeil had been so brutal; she had no idea what his ultimate goal was. If she revealed her n with Hawthorne and James found out, he wouldn''t spare her either.


    "McNeil... no, Mr. Langford, please let me go. I''m pregnant. If you keep doing this, I''ll die.” She started to cry, but McNeil remained unmoved.


    "So the child is Hawthorne''s?"


    Patti decided to take onest risk, her eyes filled with tears. "Yes. Please, I''m begging you, spare me. I promise I''ll stop fighting with Gwh. I''ll take the child and live somewhere else."


    "But you just said you had a cooperative rtionship with Hawthorne. So which story is the truth?" Patti was too flustered, her lies riddled with holes. "Since the child is Hawthorne''s, and he''s my son-inw, that seed cannot be allowed to live."


    McNeil needed only to give a look, and Patti understood his intention. "No! You can''t! You can''t force me to have an abortion!" She wailed. Without this child, she would be worthless to both Hawthorne and James. "I''ll tell you the truth! It''s not Hawthorne''s! It''s another man''s!" In front of McNeil, all her little schemes were transparent.


    "Whose?" he pressed.


    Seeing his bodyguards move as if to grab her, she blurted it all out. "James! It''s James''s! James wanted me to get pregnant with his child to seduce Hawthorne and take over his assets, but Hawthorne found out! He asked me to turn against James, and I agreed! That''s my cooperation with Hawthorne!”


    Her makeup was a mess of tears. McNeil was clearly not a man to be trifled with; if she didn''t confess, she felt she might die there today. "Fine. Write it yourself."


    Under McNeil''s coercive gaze, Patti picked up the pen and wrote down everything she had just said. The confession was recorded on audio and video. When it was all done, she expected him to give her more trouble, but instead, he stood up. "Send her back."


    Patti''s eyes widened in shock, the pen dropping from her hand. Two bodyguards came forward and led her away, her face so swollen she could barely open her eyes. When Patt returned to the vi she shared with Hawthorne, she practically crawled back to her bedroom. The bottom of her pants was wet; she had wet herself in fear. She immediately grabbed her phone to call Hawthorne.


    Hawthorne had just gotten home from the office. Seeing her name on the screen, he thought for a moment before answering. "Hawthorne-


    Patti started crying the m


    picked up. Hawthorne held the phone to his ear saying nothing, waiting until she had cried her fill before asking tly, "What is it?"


    he


    “I... I was taken and threatened. They made me write down our entire n." Hawthorne''s expression darkened. Who would be so bold in broad daylight? "Who did it? James?" While James had been scheming against him for years, Hawthorne would have dealt with him long ago if it weren''t for James''s powerful father-inw.


    Patti was sobbing so hard she could barely breathe. "No, not James. I gave him the sh drive, and he left


    I thought the car that came for me


    was the ride-share you called.


    was


    a BMW 7-series, but it wasn''tyours."


    She was nearly Seeing that his n hadn''t beenpromised, Hawthorne''s patience began to wear thin. "Where are you now?"


    Patti''s ability to form a coherent sentence had crashed. "I''m home. They sent me home."


    Hawthorne nced up at the second floor. He thought he had seen Gwh on the balcony, but she had quickly ducked back inside when his car pulled up. "We''ll talkter. You should rest."


    But Patti wouldn''t let it go, her voice choked with tears. “You know this person! It''s Gwh''s father! McNeil! It was McNeil! He had his men beat my face until it was swollen!"


    Hawthorne couldn''t help but let out a soft, humorless chuckle, which he quickly stifled. “You''re pregnant. Doing drugs isn''t good for the baby."