Chapter 246

Her phone rang twice, but Abigail ignored it. When it finally stopped, she got into Sebastian’s car and said, “It was from Solmere. Of all days, they chose today to call me on purpose, didn’t they?”

“Doing it today is their way of provoking us,” Sebastian said coldly.

Abigail remained silent.

As Gabriel, Stephen, and Bianca left the cemetery, Gabriel finally said, “Christian called earlier, and he just had to do it today. I bet Daniella planned it.”

“Where the hell is he?” Stephen exploded in rage.

“He was lured into a scam compound. Now they’re demanding a ransom of two million dollars from us,” Gabriel said.

Stephen went quiet; his anger vanished in an instant.

Bianca gasped, “A scam compound? You mean those places everyone was talking about, where if you fail to bring in money, they beat you half-to-death and even sell your organs?”

“Yeah,” Gabriel replied, his voice heavy with resignation.

Tears streamed uncontrollably down Bianca’s face as she cried out, “We may not have treated her well, and I understand why she hates us. But Chris has always been good to her, hasn’t he?”

“Had we really treated her so badly all along? Before she framed Abigail, hadn’t we been good enough to her? Yet she still turned us against Abigail and brought the Gibson family to this state!”

“People like her are just born selfish. She claims she spent all the money, but I bet she’s been paving her escape route from the start,” Stephen spat through gritted teeth.

“Looking back, we never should’ve helped her. We should’ve just let her rot in jail. Then, we wouldn’t be her accomplices now,” Gabriel said, sick with regret.

Bianca sobbed, “What should we do? If no one saves Chris, he’ll die there!”

Gabriel snapped, “You think we can just go save someone from a scam compound? Haven’t you read the news?”

“We can’t even take care of ourselves. How are we supposed to save him?” Stephen said sharply. “And don’t count on Abigail. Christian and Daniella burned Grandpa alive. She’d probably be glad to see him die in that scam compound.”

“At this point, it’s out of our hands. No one can save him.”

They were still living in a rented house. Once the case was settled, the whole family would be headed to prison. They had no means to get the ransom money to bail Christian out.

Besides, they were fully aware of all those horrific cases out there. Even if they paid, there was a 99% chance they wouldn’t get him back.

The scam compounds that had been busted before were all lying low. No one knew which new compound Christian had ended up in. Gabriel said quietly, letting out a long sigh, “There’s nothing we can do.”

Of course, he didn’t want Christian to suffer like this. No matter how badly he’d screwed up, Gabriel would’ve tried to drag him home, give him a proper beating, and help him get his life together.

However, being in the compound meant it was almost impossible for Christian to return home.

After the funeral, Gabriel and the others were taken back to detention. During that time, Abigail received several calls from the scammer, but she didn’t answer a single one.

Meanwhile, when the police asked Abigail about Christian, she simply told them he might be in a scam compound in Solmere.

Just when Abigail was certain Gabriel and the others were headed to prison, several Gibson Group shareholders unexpectedly banded together to hire them a defense attorney.

At the company’s morning meeting, the shareholders specifically called Abigail in and asked her to inform Warren, another shareholder, that a shareholder meeting would be held that afternoon. That afternoon, Warren and Sebastian arrived at Gibson Group together.

As soon as Warren walked into Abigail’s office, he said to her, “Eli has been making frequent trips to the detention center lately. I suspect he’s trying to persuade Gabriel and the others to retain control of their shares.”

Abigail rubbed her aching temples, clearly frustrated by the contracts. “I never said I wanted their shares,” she snapped.

Warren sat on the sofa and explained, “But the current shareholders are worried that if the two of us accumulate too many shares, we’ll gain a controlling stake in the group and force them all out.”

The battle over shares inside the group was intense. Abigail had never been involved in corporate politics before. She had no idea each shareholder carried their own agenda.

Warren had only entered the picture because Wyatt had pulled him in. And despite everything he’d done to help stabilize Gibson Group, none of the original shareholders were grateful; if anything, they believed he and Abigail were colluding to take over the company.

Which, to be fair, wasn’t entirely wrong.

“Why would I even bother?” Abigail said irritably.

“You never know what those old men are scheming,” Sebastian said, his gaze icy. “To them, you and Warren will always be outsiders.”

Warren chimed in, “Even a dying giant still has value. Once Gibson Group weathers the scandal, there will always be companies eyeing to acquire them. As long as things aren’t completely hopeless and there’s even a sliver of profit, opportunistic buyers will be ready to make a move.”