Chapter 576: Home Invasion

After seeing the nanny out, Cindy Hughes turned and went upstairs to her room.

The moment the door shut, it was as if all the strength had drained from her body. Her legs went weak, and she collapsed onto the floor.

A few days ago, Hayden Jennings had brought home several women and secretly locked them in the villa’s basement.

Cindy Hughes was horrified when she found out. She wanted to call the police on the spot!

But what Cindy Hughes hadn’t expected was that her nightmare was far from over.

Before Cindy Hughes could even recover from her shock, Hayden Jennings grabbed her by the throat like a psychopath and brutally dragged her into the basement.

Hayden Jennings grabbed Cindy Hughes’s chin, forcing her to look at the women in the basement—hollow shells of people, like walking corpses, with their teeth and fingernails pulled out. He then whispered in her ear, telling her where they came from.

It was then that Cindy Hughes learned the truth: Hayden Jennings had been conducting human experiments with a medical team!

And all the women in the basement were his test subjects!

Upon learning the truth, Cindy Hughes felt as if her heart had been plunged into an icy abyss. She realized it once again: Hayden Jennings was a psychopath! He had a full-blown antisocial personality!

What he was doing now would drag everyone down to hell with him!

Just as Cindy Hughes was plotting how to escape and call the police, Hayden Jennings grabbed her wrist. Ignoring her struggles, he forced a knife into her hand and made her slit the throat of a dying woman.

Cindy Hughes screamed, breaking down completely. She struggled with all her might, but she was too thin and weak. The difference in their strength was immense; she was powerless against Hayden Jennings.

Warm blood sprayed across Cindy Hughes’s face. A life had just been taken by her own hand.

Seeing Cindy Hughes break down, wailing and screaming, Hayden Jennings actually smiled. Like a demon that had crawled up from hell, he whispered in her ear—he told her that now she had blood on her hands, that she was an accomplice.

—And if she exposed any of this, she would go down with him.

Just as Hayden Jennings had predicted, once Cindy Hughes calmed down, she forced herself to carry on. She carefully instructed the villa’s nanny to watch over the women, bringing them food and water.

And now, Tanya Archer’s death was a blaring alarm bell in Cindy’s mind. ’Hayden’s research might be close to succeeding...’

At this thought, a wave of despair washed over Cindy Hughes.

She remained collapsed on the floor, as motionless as a statue.

Seconds ticked by. Just as her body had gone completely numb, several gunshots suddenly rang out in the distance, cracking through the air like thunder!

******

"What was that noise?!" Grace Sutton jumped at the sudden, loud sound, dropping the soup bowl in her hands onto the table.

The others at the dining table looked at one another, seeing the same shock and confusion in each other’s eyes.

While everyone was still stunned, several more shots rang out in quick succession. The sound was piercing, sharp and jarring in the quiet of the night.

Nina Summers’s eyes widened as she stammered, "...It sounds... it sounds like gunshots!"

’And they sound so close! Almost like they’re coming from our own backyard!’

Melody Summers immediately pulled out her phone and brought up the feed from the backyard security cameras. The image made her gasp.

Shrouded by the darkness, four or five figures were standing on the glass roof of the sunroom in their backyard!

Some of them held guns, firing down at the glass beneath their feet, while another was smashing it with a hammer, clearly trying to break in.

Seeing this, Melody Summers shot to her feet. "There are intruders on the sunroom roof!" she told her grandma, Miss Lowell, Grace Sutton, and Nina Summers. "They’re trying to break in!"

Grace Sutton’s face went pale. Fumbling for her phone with trembling hands, she stammered, "Wh-what do we do...? The police! Right, the police, I have to call the police..."

"There’s no time!" Melody’s face was a mask of urgency. "They’re already breaking through the glass. The sunroom’s reinforced glass won’t hold for much longer. They’ll be inside any second!"

Melody pushed open the dining room door. "Let’s go! We have to hide in the basement!"

Everyone in the dining room scrambled to their feet and followed Melody, running for the basement.

Just as they rushed into the basement, Grandma suddenly remembered that Winnie and Colin were still working overtime. "We have to tell Winnie and Colin not to come home!" she said anxiously.

If they came back now, they would run right into the intruders. It was far too dangerous!

Grace Sutton quickly took out her phone, her trembling hands fumbling with the screen. Her voice shook with anxiety. "Right, right... They can’t come back now... I’ll call them... and tell them to stay away..."

Beside her, Melody also took out her phone and started dialing the police emergency number.

Just then, the sounds of gunshots and hammering erupted from outside again, followed by the faint tinkle of shattering glass.

The sound made Nina’s face drain of color. "...I think the glass broke!" she said, panicked. "Are they... are they coming in?!"

Grandma and Miss Lowell’s faces were grim. The villa wasn’t that big. If the intruders got in, it wouldn’t take them long to find the basement. They couldn’t hide here for long.

Grace Sutton grew more and more anxious listening to the phone ring on her end. Beads of sweat dripped from her forehead. "What’s going on? Why aren’t Colin and Winnie picking up..."

On top of that, Melody couldn’t get through to Officer Tristan Tanner or Officer Sean Pierce. Even the emergency dispatch line was unanswered.

’This makes no sense.’

Hearing the automated message—"The number you have dialed is temporarily unavailable"—Melody’s brow furrowed. A terrible suspicion began to form in her mind.

She looked up at her panicked, uncertain family and said in a low voice, "The police aren’t answering. I think something major is happening outside..."

Maybe it was what Saul Archer had warned them about, or maybe it was the "rebel army" mentioned in the group chat. Melody wasn’t sure who exactly was behind it, but she knew her family wasn’t the only one in trouble tonight. There had to be widespread chaos outside.

In other words, the police weren’t coming. Not anytime soon.

’We can’t just wait in the basement. Right now, we have to save ourselves.’

Melody took a deep breath. "You all stay here," she said. "Don’t go out, no matter what. I’m going to check on the situation."

Her grandma and Miss Lowell immediately grabbed her hands, crying out in unison, "No!"

"You can’t go out!"

In a situation like this, going out to face a group of armed intruders was practically suicide! It was too dangerous!

Tears welled up in her grandma’s eyes from sheer anxiety. She gripped Melody’s hand, refusing to let go. "Even if someone has to buy time or lead them away, it should be me! I’m an old woman; I’ve lived a full life. I’m not afraid of dying. But if something happens to you, how do you expect your mother and me to go on?"