Chapter 188: I’ll Talk! I’ll Tell You Everything

Chapter 188: Chapter 188: I’ll Talk! I’ll Tell You Everything

"I’m not familiar with her! I don’t know her at all!"

"Who put you up to this? Tell me the truth!"

"I really can’t say! If I talk, she won’t spare me!"

Seeing her obstinacy, Theodore Caldwell’s eyes went crimson with rage. He snarled, "And you think the Hawthorne Family will spare you?"

Elara Langley scoffed, her face dripping with scorn. "She’s nothing but a little canary Jared Hawthorne keeps around. If he loses her, he loses her. A man with President Hawthorne’s status would never make a big deal over some woman."

Rich men were never short of beautiful women. Once the novelty wore off, who would give a second thought to a plaything?

’She’d already done a thorough background check on the Grayson Family. Just an ordinary middle-class family, no power, no influence. Completely insignificant.’

Theodore Caldwell looked at her, utterly frustrated by her stupidity.

"If she were as ordinary as you claim, why would your benefactor go to so much trouble to hire you to go after her?"

Theodore Caldwell’s words were a fine needle, unexpectedly popping the bubble of wishful thinking in Elara Langley’s heart. The scorn on her face froze. A flicker of panic, almost imperceptible, crossed her eyes, but she still craned her neck, trying to appear defiant.

"So what? As long as they can’t trace it back to me, I have nothing to be afraid of!"

"And you think a man with Jared Hawthorne’s reach won’t be able to trace this back to you?" Theodore Caldwell was shaking with rage. He raised his hand as if to slap her, but ultimately clenched his fist and slammed it down on the armrest. The dull thud seemed to make the very air tremble. "Don’t you get it? I had barely subdued the target when Rex Lambert’s men showed up at my door! We’re talking about The Black Hell King of Veridia! A ruthless figure in the underworld whose word is law. And Jared Hawthorne’s relationship with him is anything but ordinary."

Elara Langley’s face went deathly pale. Her nails dug into her palms so hard they drew blood. She knew the name Rex Lambert all too well—a man with blood on his hands, who killed without batting an eye. Never in her wildest dreams did she imagine Jared Hawthorne could be associated with someone like that.

Her heart tightened, her voice trembling involuntarily. "Cousin, you... you didn’t say anything you shouldn’t have, did you?"

"I didn’t, but you can’t hide the truth forever. Sooner or later, they’ll trace it to you!" Theodore Caldwell’s forehead veins bulged with anxiety. He urged in a low voice, "The only way out now is for you to name the person behind this. Don’t be a fool and let them use you as a pawn, only to end up as the scapegoat!"

A violent tremor ran through Elara Langley. She gritted her teeth. "I can’t say! She promised me she would help The Langley Group get through this crisis. I can’t just stand by and watch the Langley Family go bankrupt!"

"Stupid! You’re hopelessly stupid!" Theodore Caldwell looked at her unwavering defiance with a mix of fury and frustration, hissing, "Which is more important, The Langley Group going bankrupt, or your life? You choose!"

"Cousin, don’t scare yourself." A last shred of wishful thinking remained in Elara Langley’s eyes. She muttered weakly, "Maybe... maybe they won’t be able to trace it to me at all..."

"And if they do trace it to you, can you bear the consequences?"

"Even if they do, I’ll deny it to my dying breath."

’A desperate hope glinted in Elara Langley’s eyes. As long as she kept her mouth shut and refused to talk, they wouldn’t have any hard evidence. Then, no matter how powerful Jared Hawthorne was, there was nothing he could do to her.’

"If you want to die, go die alone! Don’t drag me down with you!"

Just then, Leon Quillan strode in. He glanced coolly at the two and asked in a deep voice, "Well? Is she willing to talk?"

"N-no..." Theodore Caldwell’s expression instantly shifted to one of fawning terror. He scurried forward, desperate to distance himself. "Lord Quillan, this was all her stupid idea. It has not a damn thing to do with me."

"What did you say?" Elara Langley’s head snapped up. She stared at Theodore Caldwell in disbelief, her mind going blank. It felt as if the blood in her veins had frozen solid; she couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

Leon Quillan slowly raised a hand. "Show Miss Langley some proper hospitality."

As soon as he finished speaking, two burly bodyguards immediately came forward. They grabbed Elara Langley’s arms, one on each side, and began dragging her toward the backyard without another word.

From deep in the backyard, a chorus of frenzied, ear-splitting barks erupted, loud enough to shatter eardrums.

In an iron cage were two wolfhounds that had been starved for two full days. Their fur was taut, their eyes vicious and bloodthirsty. Sensing someone approaching, they grew even more agitated, barking madly and lunging against the cage, their fangs glinting coldly in the dim light.

Elara Langley was thrown hard onto the cold, empty ground. The moment she saw the two ferocious wolfhounds, her face drained of all color, and she began to tremble violently and uncontrollably.

When she was a child, she had been chased and viciously mauled by a stray dog. A chunk of flesh was torn from her calf, blood gushing out, the pain heart-wrenching. If a family servant hadn’t arrived in time, she would have been killed by the dog.

Once bitten, twice shy. Ever since then, she’d had a bone-deep terror of dogs.

Scared out of her wits, Elara Langley scrambled away on all fours, but with every inch she gained, a bodyguard mercilessly dragged her back toward the cage. The moment a bodyguard yanked open the cage door, the two starving wolfhounds shot out like arrows from a bow. Elara Langley’s tightly wound mental defenses shattered completely.

"What are you doing?! Let me go! Help me!" Tears and snot streamed down her face as she shrieked and wailed, her reason completely consumed by terror.

But her cries for help didn’t stir the slightest ripple in the empty backyard. Instead, they only further agitated the wolfhounds. They stared intently at their prey, their bodies low, growling, ready to pounce and kill at any moment.

On a single command, she would be torn apart and devoured by these two vicious beasts.

Only then did it finally dawn on Elara Langley. Her cousin, Theodore Caldwell, being here was no coincidence. To save his own skin, he had sold her out completely!

And her greatest weakness—her extreme fear of dogs—was a secret known only to her closest family. It was obvious Theodore Caldwell was the one who had revealed it!

"Theodore Caldwell! You heartless, backstabbing bastard! How dare you betray me!"

Her shriek, so sharp it cracked, echoed through the yard. In the next second, a wolfhound’s sharp fangs sank viciously into her arm. A searing pain shot through her entire body as fresh blood spurted out, soaking her sleeve.

She struggled and thrashed wildly, trying to shake off the dog’s bite, but the more she resisted, the tighter it bit down. It shook its head, tearing at her flesh. The combination of physical agony and extreme terror nearly broke her completely.

Theodore Caldwell walked over. His pupils constricted slightly as he took in the gruesome scene.

"Cousin, just confess. Are you really going to throw your life away here for the person who put you up to this?"

"I’ll talk! I’ll tell you everything! Please, just get it off me!"

Elara Langley was utterly broken. She no longer cared about any threats or reservations. As long as she could escape this hell, she would do anything.

"She said she’ll talk! Quick! Stop them!" Theodore Caldwell quickly turned and yelled at the bodyguards.

At his words, a bodyguard let out a sharp whistle. The wolfhound that was attacking her instantly released its grip and obediently retreated into the iron cage. But its bloodthirsty eyes remained fixed on the collapsed Elara Langley, filled with a predator’s covetous gaze.

Theodore Caldwell stepped forward, bent down, and picked up the blood-soaked, trembling Elara Langley. He whispered in her ear.

"Cousin, don’t blame me. I’m just trying to save my own skin. When the time comes, tell them everything you know, honestly. Maybe I can ask them to send you to a hospital. Otherwise, you’re probably going to lose that arm."

On Elara Langley’s mauled arm, the flesh was mangled and torn open. Blood flowed out ceaselessly, dripping from her fingertips to form startling crimson blossoms on the ground. The agony and terror left her without even the strength to speak.