Quennel, a man who rarely resorted to physical violence, finally snapped. He raised his hand and struck her across the face with all his might.


    The force of the blow sent Sandra''s head whipping to the side, and the metallic taste of blood filled her mouth.


    Yet, seeing Quennel''s unbridled fury, Sandra seemed to forget the pain. She bared her blood-stained teeth and let out a loud, mockingugh.


    "What, did I hit a nerve? You''re nothing but a dark, twisted man with filthy thoughts about your own sister-inw. You even had the gall to make me drug her!"


    Seeing his secrets exposed in the furious, teeth-grinding re he shot her, Sandra felt a surge of manic delight and continued to scream at the top of her lungs. "Hannah''s tragedy is all your fault! If you hadn''t told me to drug her back then, none of this would have happened! All the pain and suffering Hannah has endured is because of you, yet here you are, kidnapping me with a self-righteous air, all under the noble guise of avenging her!"


    The men guarding Sandra heard themotion and rushed over. Seeing Quennel''s enraged, bloodshot eyes, they hurried in to escort him out.


    "Mr. Rosenberg, you don''t need to dirty your hands with someone like her. We can handle it. Please, don''t let her provoke you!"


    "Sandra''s just running her mouth now. Pay no attention to what she says. Don''t fall into her trap."


    They were genuinely amazed by Sandra. Even after being kidnapped and beaten ck and blue, with not an inch of her body left unscathed, her defiant spirit remained unbroken.


    She just kept provoking him, again and again. It was as if she had a death wish.


    They couldn''t understand it. After all


    she''d done and all the nasty things she''d said, why hadn''t Queust killed her already?


    After all, the Woods family clearly didn''t care whether she lived or died; they hadn''t even bothered to look for her.


    And as for Lionel, it was obvious he no longer loved her.


    If Sandra were to be killed, to disappear from the face of the earth, no one would


    care.


    So why, they wondered, did he keep her alive, giving her the chance to argue with him like this?


    But if Mr. Rosenberg had his reasons, it wasn''t their ce to question them. They could only follow his orders.


    Quennel stood outside, unable to see into the room through the closed door, but he could hear the


    koka


    sharp crack of a whip and Sandra''s pained screams He didnt However,


    hear a single plea for mercy.


    Her will was truly unbreakable, and dangerously arrogant. He had almost let her get under his skin.


    "Mr. Rosenberg, should we send


    another message to Lionel today? It


    feels like he''s very close to f


    close to finding


    us: he does, are we to stop him?


    Or should we just let him take her?"


    One of his men approached, blood dripping from his hand, and posed the question.


    Without a moment''s hesitation, Quennel replied, "Keep leaking information. Let Lionel know. When he gets here, let him take her."