Chapter 471: Three-Timing

Chapter 471: Chapter 471: Three-Timing

All because of one careless sigh from Jessica Lockhart, Yvette Chandler—a background character who barely appeared for half a Chapter in the original script—was branded a manipulative supporting character with ulterior motives. Before long, she was written out of the story, becoming a mere catalyst for the protagonists’ relationship.

’What kind of twisted plot is this, turning the rightful wife into the other woman?! It was obviously Guinevere Rhodes who recognized Yvette Chandler. She was terrified that if Yvette kept showing up around Logan Lockhart, he would realize something was wrong and all her previous schemes would be ruined. That’s why she made the first move and hired someone to get rid of Yvette, but they just ended up scaring her into fleeing recklessly. She got into a car accident and died a tragic death.

’But thanks to the author’s biased writing, the whole thing got twisted. She was turned into a scheming woman trying to usurp her place. The story goes that after the heroine discovered her plot and warned her, she staged an incident to play the victim and drive a wedge between the main couple. But she supposedly overacted, ended up reaping what she sowed, and got the heroine misunderstood by the hero instead. After a ton of angsty drama, the misunderstanding was cleared up, the hero felt guilty, and he fell even more in love with the heroine.’

Eloise was speechless. ’What kind of ridiculous plot is this? That’s it, I’m going to be sick!’

Apparently, she wasn’t the only one who felt that way. Arabella Donovan also wore a look of utter bewilderment at this bizarre turn in the relationship.

’The woman was the rightful one, but she was twisted into a pawn for your little romance game. She didn’t just lose her life, she had to take the fall for you, too. There’s no justice in this world! No way. I absolutely cannot let anything happen to her. I will protect this poor, star-crossed couple.’

Eloise let out a small laugh. ’You can do that?’

The Lockhart Company was located in the most prosperous commercial building in the city center. The surrounding property prices were sky-high, far beyond what a regular employee like Yvette Chandler could afford.

She rented a place in an old district on the outskirts of the city. The drive alone took over an hour. Luckily, it wasn’t rush hour, so the traffic wasn’t too bad. Otherwise, they would have been delayed for half the day.

Before they reached their destination, Arabella Donovan had already told the Lockhart siblings about Guinevere Rhodes’s scheme.

"The two of them must have met three or four days ago. Guinevere Rhodes recognized Miss Chandler immediately. With a guilty conscience, she was terrified that her impersonation would be exposed, so she came up with an extreme plan to make Miss Chandler disappear from Mr. Lockhart’s sight for good."

Logan Lockhart’s heart sank when he heard this. Guinevere Rhodes had indeed asked him about Yvette Chandler in a roundabout way three days ago.

At the time, he had found it a bit strange but hadn’t thought much of it. He simply told her that Yvette was just a regular employee in his department.

Now, hearing Arabella Donovan bring it up, he finally realized with a start that it hadn’t been a casual question on a whim. Guinevere Rhodes had clearly recognized her and was indirectly probing to see how well he knew her.

Once she realized their relationship was merely that of a boss and subordinate, she started to plot.

At that thought, a chill ran down Logan Lockhart’s spine. He was the one who had brought this danger upon her!

Jessica Lockhart was calmer. She frowned and asked, "What is she planning to do to that girl?"

"If I’m not mistaken, she’s hired a group of people. She’s planning to use the fact that Miss Chandler is on leave as an opportunity to kidnap her and send her out of the country."

"Out of the country?" Jessica Lockhart’s expression changed slightly, a suspicion dawning on her. "Where is she planning to send Yvette?"

"Who knows? There are only a few bordering countries nearby, and they’re all pretty much lawless territories."

The Lockhart siblings’ expressions darkened. Lawless territories, indeed. Those were the kinds of places you never returned from. For Guinevere Rhodes to throw a helpless woman like that there, she clearly had no intention of letting her come back alive!

Arabella Donovan clearly thought the same. It was just that sometimes, things didn’t go according to plan.

In the original story, Yvette Chandler must have sensed the danger of this one-way trip and fought for her life to escape from those people.

Unexpectedly, in her panicked flight, she got into a car accident and died on the spot.

Thinking of this, Arabella Donovan couldn’t help but sigh again. The Rhodes Family truly lived up to its reputation as a dynasty of psychos. Aside from Mr. Rhodes and a few other relatives, every last one of them was a lawless monster who did nothing but despicable things.

’But to be blunt, Guinevere Rhodes is just a powerless pretty face hiding behind her title as the second young miss of the Rhodes Family. Where would she find criminals to do her bidding? And in the original story, after Yvette Chandler’s car accident, the guys she sent to kidnap her got away completely scot-free. Yvette’s death was ultimately ruled an accident. It just doesn’t make sense unless someone else was pulling the strings. Could it be...’

Eloise suddenly guessed it too. Her eyes flew wide, her own thought appearing at the exact same moment as Arabella Donovan’s frantic cry.

’It’s that psycho backup boyfriend of hers!’

That would explain it. The original novel never mentioned when Guinevere Rhodes got involved with this criminal kingpin. The first time he officially appeared was when someone put a hit out on Guinevere, who was at the height of her popularity at the time.

Because it was his line of work, the kingpin got wind of it first and came to play the hero saving the damsel in distress.

Afterward, their interactions didn’t seem like those of two people meeting for the first time. On the contrary, they were very familiar with each other. The moment they met, they started flirting as if no one else was there, which made it obvious they were old acquaintances.

’So, to sum it up, aside from Vaughn Kensington, who got butterflied out of the picture because of Zora, the heroine currently has one boyfriend and two backups. Isn’t that just straight-up juggling three guys at once?!’

Eloise could only think, ’Whoa!’

’Let’s not even talk about Ian Jennings, her business-partner-boyfriend. Between Logan Lockhart and that psycho, one is a backup who knows she has a boyfriend but is willing to be the other man, while the other helps the heroine keep her *other* backup by putting in the work to clear away obstacles for her. The heroine’s charm is really something else. They say three women can make a drama, but the drama with these three men is just as good. Brilliant, simply brilliant!’

Eloise pursed her lips, wanting to nod in agreement. It was true. It wasn’t uncommon to see people juggling several partners these days, but for all the partners to know about each other and still maintain a stable triangular structure, forming a closed physical loop? That was a first for her!

No wonder Miss Lockhart felt like her brother was possessed just for being in a relationship. Given the dynamic between them all, nothing about it looked normal.

Considering the incident involved illegal acts like kidnapping, Arabella Donovan had called the police before they set out. By the time they arrived, the police were already on the scene.

When the officer in charge saw Arabella Donovan and the others get out of the car, he walked over to brief them on the situation.

"Are you Miss Donovan, the one who called us?"

"Yes, I’m the one who made the report."

"Based on the information you provided, we went to check on Miss Yvette Chandler in Room 302. We found the door wide open, and she was no longer inside. We’ve quickly sealed off the complex and are screening for suspicious individuals, but this may take some time."