Chapter 280 Both Kidnapped

A few men stood at the end of the alleyway, approaching the two women.

“Which one of them is Meryl?” one of them called out.

“How should I know?”

Hearing this, Meryl immediately pointed at Lydia. “It’s her!”

Lydia’s expression darkened, her face filled with disbelief. “Nonsense! I’m not Meryl! Don’t listen to her. She is!”

As the men approached her step by step, Lydia inwardly cursed, realizing the situation was about to take a turn for the worse.

She thought, “What a bunch of idiots. How could they have mistaken me for her?”

“I’m not Meryl!” Lydia shouted.

Before she could finish her words, she was struck from behind and knocked out instantly.

Relief washed over Meryl, but her joy was short-lived when she heard, “Bring her too; what if we got the wrong person? There’s got to be a right one out of two, right?”

Before Meryl could even consider running, darkness enveloped her vision. She was hooded and bundled into a vehicle.

The bumps and jostles of the journey ended when the hood was removed. Meryl found herself in a dilapidated factory, surrounded by the remnants of abandonment.

It was a place all too familiar to her; three years ago, Dalton had found Lydia here.

Sitting beside Meryl, Lydia was fully awake now. Tied up and bound, she cursed loudly, “What a bunch of idiots! How could you have tied me up, too? Bring Rocky here! He made a mistake!”

“I’m not Meryl! She is!”

Her voice echoed through the factory’s abandoned halls.

Nearby, a few men were playing cards. Annoyed by her noise, one of them slapped her across the face.

“Shut up! If I lose money later, you’ll be the one paying for it!”

Lydia was left confused.

She thought, “Rocky has raised a bunch of good-for-nothings, eating up resources without contributing. They have even mistaken me for Meryl?”

“Bring Rocky here! I want to see him!”

“Rocky, huh?”

The thug let out a cold laugh. “Who is Rocky? He owes our boss a fortune and has to grovel before us, not even good enough to be our shoe shine boy.”

These words left Lydia in shock, her eyes wide as she stared at the man in front of her. “You… you’re not Rocky’s men?”

“Of course not!”

The leader, with a visible scar and a cobra tattoo on his exposed arm, exuded an air of menace.

Lydia’s fear grew.

She thought, “What is going on? No wonder they have mistaken me for Meryl; they aren’t Rocky’s men at all!”

“Who exactly are you?”

The man passed a phone over to Lydia.

“Is this your phone? Unlock it and call your man. Tell him to prepare at least 20 million dollars in cash. We want cold, hard cash.”

Lydia understood now; she had been kidnapped.

She had been sold by Rocky, or rather, Rocky owed these people money. Learning of her identity, they were looking to make a substantial score.

Lydia was truly panicking now because she had never been kidnapped by the real deal.

To think that she had only wanted Meryl to suffer a little, and in the process, she had ended up in the middle of it, too.

Remembering the slap she had received and the unknown dangers that awaited her, Lydia wasted no time grabbing the phone to call Dalton.

Meryl watched the scene unfold with a cold, calculating eye.

Meryl thought to herself, “Looks like Lydia has really messed up this time. Now she’s in over her head and can’t handle it herself. These goons aren’t even Rocky’s people, which makes the situation totally out of control. But at least Lydia’s in more of a panic than I am right now.”

It was already darkening, even though it was only five o’clock. Winter nights came early, and the shadows seemed to deepen by the minute.