Chapter 335: The Setup

Ellis sighed as questions bombarded her. "I should have listened to you."

“The Brooks family just completely fell apart, and living alone wasn’t safe.”

“Damn! Did Victoria send someone to hit you again?” Maya originally thought Ellis might be sick, seeing no signs of illness or injury.

“My injury is in my head!” Ellis touched the back of her skull, feeling hopeless. “I have a concussion.”

Before Maya arrived, Ellis couldn’t get rid of Easton, which infuriated her. If I hadn’t been bedridden, I would have hit someone!

Maya felt deep sympathy for her unlucky friend. “You’re definitely having a rough year.”

“Easton’s like a bad omen; nothing good happens around him.”

“Were you rescued by Easton’s people?”

“It was his guys who saved me.” Ellis hadn’t seen her rescuers; instead, Easton told her the police would need her statement to charge the kidnappers and Victoria.

“Always in trouble,” Maya set down her bag and took a seat.

“It’s more than trouble; my wallet’s going to suffer too.” Ellis looked around, recalling her last hospital bill of over 72,500 dollars, and said sarcastically, “Great, my savings will be wiped out, turning me into a real pauper.”

Maya quickly grasped Ellis’s point and immediately asked, “Did the doctor suggest you stay in the hospital? How much does this room cost per day?”

“A couple of days.” Ellis surveyed the room, estimating the cost. “Probably in the four figures per day.”

“Transfer to another hospital?” Maya suggested.

“Maybe just switch rooms?” Ellis felt her body couldn’t handle the ordeal of transferring hospitals and thought a cheaper room might be better.

“I’ll talk to the medical staff; you just rest.” After that, Maya stepped out to the nurse’s station to inquire about the process of changing rooms.

When the nurse found out who the patient was, she checked the information and said, “Ms. Harper’s husband has already paid a deposit of about 14,500 dollars, which is enough to cover her stay until discharge.”

Hearing this, Maya relayed the information back to Ellis.

Ellis wasn’t focused on Easton having paid the fees but on him calling himself her husband everywhere.

“That deadbeat really has no shame!” And she wasn’t even spending her own money. Maya advised Ellis not to change rooms to avoid worsening her condition.

Chapter 335: The Setup (Continued)

Ellis hadn’t found a job yet, and daily expenses were unavoidable. With the pressure of poverty looming, she heeded Maya’s advice.

Ugh! Maya poked Ellis’s shoulder. “Victoria was Easton’s first love. With his first love going so far this time, did he say how he plans to handle her, or is he avoiding the issue?”

“He didn’t say.” Ellis couldn’t predict how Easton would deal with Victoria.

But she wasn’t important to Easton, not as much as Victoria was to him.

Would he really let Victoria go to prison? She doubted it. He was also a sick man!

Last year, he was willing to pay a million for Victoria’s ransom but wouldn’t spend a dime to save her. Now, he pretended to care—whom was he fooling? She wasn’t buying it.

After receiving a photo of Ellis being transported, Victoria was ecstatic, eagerly anticipating Ellis’s miserable state and the transfer of a million dollars to her safe account at a Swiss bank.

Unexpectedly, a day passed, and the two men she had bribed hadn’t delivered Ellis. Worried about complications, she called them every half hour to an hour, aside from her sleeping time, to ensure everything was on track.

Another day went by, and on the phone, they told her, “Ms. Victoria, we’ve entered Varnesh. Could you send your exact address, or shall we meet somewhere else?”

Considering she was a fugitive, Victoria didn’t hesitate to send her address.

Unbeknownst to her, what awaited wasn’t Ellis’s delivery but the police coming to arrest her.

The two men she kept in touch with hadn’t actually gone to Varnesh but were well-guarded in a Stonebridge detention center, monitored around the clock by police who had them slowly coax Victoria, coordinating with colleagues heading to Varnesh.

So, when Victoria received their last call saying, “Ms. Victoria, we’re here, come outside,” she stepped out excitedly.

But she hadn’t taken two steps when a blurred figure swiftly approached her.

The next moment, she was pinned to the ground, her hands grasped tightly with cold metal cuffs being snapped on.

“Victoria, we’re detectives from the Stonebridge Police Department, formally informing you that you’re under arrest for kidnapping. The evidence is conclusive!”

The people in front of her weren’t in uniform, but the badges they presented clearly displayed their police status, the department they belonged to, and with her hands in cuffs, Victoria’s excitement turned to fury as she screamed, “I’m innocent!”