For a moment, Sandra thought her eyes were ying tricks on her as she stared at the man she hadn''t seen in so long.


    But as Lionel stood right in front of her, she knew it wasn''t a hallucination. Lionel had reallye to save her.


    So much had happened recently, and after hearing what Quennel had said, Sandra had started to doubt whether Lionel would evere for her.


    To thwart Quennel''s scheme, she had pretended to havepletely given up on Lionel, hoping to mislead Quennel and make him change his ns.


    But it turned out her act had no effect on him whatsoever.


    "I''m getting you out of here now." Lionel was wondering how to open the cell door when he saw the keys hanging right beside it.


    Seeing the keyring, Lionel''s brow furrowed slightly.


    They were ced so obviously, it felt like a trap.


    "Have the keys always been hanging here?" Lionel asked skeptically as he took them from the wall.


    "Yes, they hang them there every time after they lock the door," Sandra said, her voice filled with excitement. "Lionel, please, hurry! The guardse by at noon and in the evening. If they find you, it''s all over."


    Lionel nced at the clock on the wall. It was already eleven.


    He really did need to move faster. If the guards showed up, it would be difficult to handle.


    After all, he hade alone, and he had no idea what kind of weapons the guards might have.


    Ignoring the possibility that opening the door might trigger an rm, Lionel unlocked it with the key. When he stepped inside, he saw that Sandra''s ankles were shackled with iron chains.


    Just as he was wondering what to do, Sandra seemed to read his mind and eximed excitedly.


    "Lionel, the key to the shackles is on that ring, too!"


    "How strange," Lionel muttered as he went back to the keyring.


    He tried one key after another.


    The key to the main door and the key to the shackles being on the


    same ring, hanging right there


    in sight, was just bizarre, too convenient.


    It was as if someone was deliberately baiting him to take her away, making it as


    easy as possible.


    But there was no time to overthink it


    now. Whoever had leaked the


    location clearly wanted him to-


    rescue her. As for what would


    happen after that, he hadn''t had a


    chance to consider.


    Once the shackles were off, Lionel grabbed her hand to run, but after just two steps, Sandra copsed to the floor.


    "They''ve been torturing me this whole time. My body hurts so much, Lionel. Can you carry me out? I really can''t walk."


    Only then did Lionel notice that Sandra was covered in blood and wounds.


    He hesitated for a moment, his brow tight, before sweeping her up into his arms and striding quickly out of the room.


    After everything that had happened, Lionel knew that if he ever wanted to oncile with Hangan and go back to how things were, he had to keep his distance from Sandra.


    But in this situation, keeping his distance was impossible.


    First, he had to get her out of there.


    Once they were safe, he would have Sandra exin everything to Hannah. That would clear up everything.


    With that thought, Lionel picked up his pace, carrying her out of the derelict building and to his car.


    On the drive back, Sandra fainted in the car.