Lionel drove to Sandra''s house.


    He found her curled up on the sofa, clutching a pillow in terror. The moment the doorbell rang, she scrambled to her feet and threw the door open.


    "Lionel!" Her eyes and nose were red from crying, but her expression softened the instant she saw him. "Won''t Hannah be upset that you came over thiste?"


    "Don''t worry about her. Tell me what happened."


    He walked in as if he owned the ce and sat on the sofa.


    The moment Sandra closed the door, a triumphant smirk flickered across her lips before she quicklyposed her face back into a mask of distress.


    "This morning," she began, "a man called me. He said that when Zack first hired them, it was only to scare me a little. But right after Zack left, Hannah approached them. She gave them money... and told them to rape me."


    As she spoke, a single tear rolled down her cheek andnded on the pillow in her arms. She took a shaky breath and wiped it away.


    "I didn''t want to believe him at first. I mean, no matter how much Hannah dislikes me, I never thought she''d do something so horrible. But... but..."


    She paused, her delicate brows knitting together in a look of terrified confusion.


    "Lionel, do you think... do you think because she was raped, she''s holding a grudge? And since she doesn''t know who was behind her own kidnapping, she decided to take it out on me?"


    Her voice broke, and she buried her face in the pillow, her body wracked with sobs. "I don''t know what I ever did to her," she choked out. "Why would she do this to me? I wasn''t the one who had her kidnapped. Why is she punishing me?"


    Sandra still had her own doubts about Hannan''s kidnapping. Lionel had told her it was a servant who worked for Hannah''s mother but why would a servant do something like that? She must have been following someone''s orders.


    But whose? Could it have been Mrs. Mary Rosenberg?


    Lionel listened to her entire story in silence, his expression grim. After a long pause, he finally asked, "Are you sure that''s what the man said? Where is he now?"


    "He called me from a blocked number and hung up right after. When I tried to call back, the number was disconnected."


    Sandra pulled up the call log and handed him her phone.


    Lionel took a picture and sent it to Owen, telling him to investigate the caller''s identity.


    Seeing how quickly he acted, Sandra knew that Hannah still held some space in his heart. But it didn''t matter. She had already taken care of everything. The man she''d hired was probably already at the border He would wait for the situation to cool down, then cross over whenever it was safe. If Lionel sent someone after him, he could easily slip into another country where even Lionel''s reach was limited.


    "You should get some rest. Let me know if anything else happens."


    Lionel stood up, ready to leave. When he''d stormed out of the bedroom earlier, he had deliberately walked slowly down the stairs and driven off at a crawl, half expecting Hannah toe after him. She never did.


    And now, after all this time, not a single call or text.


    Had the womanpletely lost her mind?


    Seeing him about to leave, Sandra panicked and rushed toward him.


    "Ah!"