Although she had anticipated Lionel''s response, hearing it herself still felt like a punch to the gut.


    Hannah stared at the contact name on the screen, her heart feeling as if it were being torn apart over and over. The pain was so sharp that tears welled in her eyes, but she forced herself to ask, "Can youe save me?"


    The voice on the other end remained t. "Hannah, I told you yesterday to wait for me."


    Hannah gritted her teeth.


    She had waited. But she had been thrown out of the house by her own mother-in-w, forced to wait under the eaves in a storm.


    What little dignity she had left was trampled into the mud. How could she have kept waiting?


    "Stop ying these games. I don''t have time for this."


    Before she could say another word, Lionel hung up.


    The derelict house fell into a dead silence once more.


    "Ha... hahaha..." Hannahughed softly, a self-deprecating sound as her heart bled.


    She looked up at the kidnappers, her vision blurred by tears. "Did you hear that? He''s noting to save me. You won''t get any money, and you won''t get his life."


    Her body went limp, and she slumped backward, her neck tilted back as she stared at the mold-stained ceiling. In a corner, a moth was hopelessly stuck in a spiderweb, struggling desperately but unable to escape.


    "Is it money you want? I have some on my phone. You can have it all," she said weakly. "If you''re after Lionel''s life, then I''m afraid you''ll be disappointed. He won''te for me, and you won''t get to see him."


    The five kidnappers looked at her with a mix of expressions: confusion, disbelief, pity, and sympathy.


    "Aren''t you his wife? He won''t even do anything when his own wife is kidnapped?" thenky man asked, bewildered.


    "He doesn''t love me. If you killed me, he''d probably be thrilled. It would give him a perfect excuse to get a new wife."


    As she spoke, tears streamed down her cheeks, one after another, an unstoppable flow.


    Why am I crying? What is there to cry about? I already knew he didn''t love me, that he wouldn''t save me. Since I already knew, why does it still hurt so much?


    The only sound in the room was her quiet, choked sobs.


    The bald man took his phone and stepped outside, seemingly discussing something with the person on the other end. He returned after a long while.


    "Let''s take the money for now. We''ll wait a few more days. If he really doesn''t show, we''ll figure something else out, he said, picking up Hannah''s phone. He checked her mabile wallet and frowned, then looked at her bank alerts, his frown deepening.


    "Hey, are you fucking with me? Aren''t you Mrs. Hannah Rosenberg? Why do you only have a few thousand dors in your ount? Are you ying me?"


    The bald man handed the phone to someone else to handle the transfer, muttering curses under his breath.


    "He doesn''t even care about my life. Why would he give me money? That''s all my savings from work."


    Her only bit of luck was that the money from selling her jewelry had been in the form of a cheek, which she didn''t have on her Otherwise, that would have been gone too.


    Hearing this, the bald man fell silent, suddenly feeling as if he''d done something wrong.


    "It''s done."


    The bald man nodded, annoyed.


    "Throw her in that dog cage over there. I don''t believe it. She''s the wife of a tycoon for god''s sake How could he really not give a damn t she''s been kidnapped?"


    "Yes, sir!"


    Thenky man untied the ropes on Hannah''s hands and feet, then twisted her arms behind her back and shoved her toward a rusty iron cage in the corner.