Revenge Against My Ex-husband
Chapter 109 Escape

The robbers took Irene to a house. After locking the doors, they began planning on how to demand the ransom. One of the kidnappers decided to make a call to the White family. Britney was rather straightforward; she told them that someone was preparing the ransom, so they would need to wait for a while.

The kidnappers did not believe her and warned her not to try to rescue the hostage through the police. They threatened Britney, saying that if she even tried anything funny, they would kill Irene right there and then. Britney promised not to call the police. The eyes of Joanne who had been by the side listening lit up at once.

After hanging up, several kidnappers sat together and began a discussion. One of them brought up the fact that the White family was pretty well known. Wasn't 100 million in cash too little? The leader of the gang felt a little regretful for not asking for more.

It was common for kidnappers to go back on their word. Irene's heart sank when she heard their discussion. At that point, Irene was no longer as afraid as before. She carefully observed the situation. She was brought into the room by the kidnappers with her eyes blindfolded, hence she did not know where they had taken her.

Now that they were indoors, the black cloth on her eyes had been removed. She could see clearly that the place she was in was an apartment. After they pushed her into the room, they gathered in the living room to talk.

There was a window in the room where Irene was locked up. There were iron grills on the windows, thus there was no way to escape at all. Typically, bathroom windows would not have iron grills. Therefore, Irene asked the kidnappers if she could use the bathroom. The kidnappers did not refuse her request.

When Irene entered the bathroom, it was as she suspected the windows did not have any grills on them. She stood on the toilet and looked out. She counted and realized she was on the third floor. If she jumped down now, she would be injured for sure.

However, there was a condenser unit right outside the bathroom window; below that was a canopy coming out of the second floor. If she climbed out of the window to step on the condenser unit and jumped down to the canopy, it would be much safer.

However, it was also very dangerous to do so. A single slip would cause her to fall and injure herself. However, she did not have the time to think too much then. If the White family did not agree to the conditions of the kidnappers, the kidnappers might harm her. She had to take the risk.

Irene returned to the room quietly and continued to wait. Another two hours passed in a flash. The kidnappers called the White family again. The White family said that they had prepared the money and agreed on a location to meet for the transaction.

The kidnappers sent two people to get the ransom, but they didn't plan on taking Irene with them. Irene knew that the kidnappers were going to go back on their word. Soon after two of the kidnappers had headed out, Irene asked to go to the bathroom again. The kidnappers were in good spirits, so they allowed it.

Irene entered the bathroom and locked the door. Immediately, she put her plan into action. She thought that it would be relatively easy, but she was wrong. It took her a lot of effort just to climb out of the window and stand onto the condenser. Looking down, she felt dizzy, hence she subconsciously squatted down.

She had been 'in the bathroom' for quite some time at this point. One of the kidnappers knocked on the door, impatient. Flustered by it, Irene closed her eyes as she jumped onto the canopy. She landed right on it but unfortunately, the canopy was quite old. It could not withstand her weight so it broke and Irene fell right through it.

Luckily, there was a base at the bottom. She landed with most of the weight hitting her ankles. As soon as her feet touched the ground, she felt a pang of pain shoot up her ankles. But Irene had no time to care She ran away, struggling. Meanwhile, the kidnappers upstairs forcefully kicked the bathroom door down.

To the kidnappers' surprise, the bathroom was empty. "Boss, she has escaped!" The leader immediately panicked when he heard that. "Why are you guys still standing there? Hurry up and get her!"

The kidnappers cursed and ran downstairs. Irene's feet hurt so much. She knew that at her current speed, she wasn't going to be able to outrun the kidnappers. Sometimes, the most dangerous place was the safest place, hence they would least expect her to be there. With that in mind, she turned around and, instead of running away, she hid downstairs inside the bushes.

The kidnappers only stopped at where Irene had been hiding for a while. After all, they weren't familiar with the area. When they reached downstairs, they headed outwards. After some distance, they received a call from the two kidnappers who had gone to take the ransom.

"Boss, we have been tricked. There is no ransom at all. They chose to call the police. We have been surrounded. Hurry up and escape!"

The leader could tell that things were going south, therefore immediately he gathered the rest of his men and made a run for it.

Joanne happily went to visit Lydia in the hospital. Lydia was doing much better and was talking to one of her servants. She was delighted to see Joanne too. "Joanne, you don't have to come to see me every day."

"I don't have anything to do anyway." Joanne sat down by the bed. Jordan had just returned to the room from his smoke. When he saw Lydia and Joanne happily chatting away, he lowered down his head, his eyes gleaming with complicated emotion.

Joanne left the ward and saw Jordan standing in the corridor and leaning against the wall in a daze. She reached out and nudged him. "Why didn't you go in, since you're here?"

Jordan came to his senses and said, "Joanne, I have something to ask you."

"Is it about Aunt Lydia? Don't worry. She's comparatively stable now..."

"No, it's about you and me." Jordan stared at her pretty face. "Joanne, do you really want to marry me?"

Joanne glanced at Jordan in surprise. She was confused as to why he would ask her this. Jordan continued to ask, "Even if I don't love you, do you still want to marry me?"

Joanne nodded. "Jordan, I want to marry you. Even if you don't love me, I still want to marry you!"

"You'd better think it through. I won't show you any love for the rest of your life. If we get married, we won't be a real couple. I will spend my days outside drinking and looking for other girls. You can have your own fun too, of course. Neither of us will control the other. Even so, are you willing to do it?"

"I am!" Joanne replied firmly.

"Okay then Joanna, let's get engaged. If you can hold on for three years after the engagement, I will marry you!" With that, he pushed the door open and went into the ward.

Joanne pinched her wrist in disbelief. It hurt. She wasn't dreaming! Her brain was seething with happiness. She ran out of the hospital without a single care about how she looked.

By the time Nathan received the news about Irene's kidnapping, it was already a few hours later. He rushed to White Mansion and roared, "Grandma, why didn't you inform me that something so serious happened?"

"I was afraid that you would be worried, so..." Britney didn't dare to look at Nathan. "It's all my fault. I thought the kidnappers just wanted money so I paid them the ransom. I didn't expect them to not keep their word."

"The kidnappers have absconded now, and Irene is nowhere to be found." Nathan was so anxious that he was jumping up and down. "You should have told me when it happened. Now, what do we do?" While speaking, the men who had gone to deliver the cash came back. "We got to the agreed location, but the police were there. It's likely that the kidnappers didn't show up because they saw the police." "Why would the police appear there? I didn't call them, though." Britney was surprised.

"I don't know," replied the man. "When I drove there, I saw policemen everywhere."

"Who on earth informed the police?" Britney looked around at the people in the room and realized that Joanne was not there. "Where is Miss White?"

"Miss White has gone to the hospital to visit Mrs. Reed!" a servant answered. Britney's face darkened. She was about to lose her temper when the phone rang. The police called, saying that they had found Irene and were on their way to the hospital.

Britney and Nathan set off to the hospital immediately. Irene sprained her ankle and there were some bruises on her body. But overall, she was doing quite well.

Seeing that Irene was fine, Britney breathed a sigh of relief; Nathan's anxiety vanished at the sight of Irene.

Nathan's heart never stopped racing while listening to Irene's description of how she escaped. To jump down from such a high place and escape with a sprained ankle, she was considered very lucky to have managed to leave there alive in such a situation. Fortunately, the kidnappers didn't get to catch her, or else who knew what could have happened.

Britney was feeling extremely grateful towards Irene. Her attitude was completely different from before. She held Irene's hand and told her to take good care of herself and not to worry about anything else. After Britney left the hospital, she returned home. Joanne had been waiting anxiously in the living room for a long time. When she saw Britney, she came over and said, "Grandma, I have something to tell you!" However, Britney was not as kind as she usually was. Instead, she ordered coldly, "Come with me."

Joanne followed Britney into the study. After the door was closed, Britney slapped Joanne hard across the face. "You stupid girl, did you call the police?"

"Grandma! I..." Joanne covered her face and the joy in her heart was immediately overturned. She really wanted to deny the allegation, but Britney's stern gaze made her shudder in fear. She lowered her head mutely.

Britney continued to stare at Joanne coldly. "You'd better tell me the truth. If I replace out..."

"Grandma, I had her best interests at heart. It's better if the police can come and rescue her. What if the kidnappers harmed her?"

"How dare you say that? Why would you call the police so brazenly when the kidnappers had threatened to kill her if they saw the police? You clearly wanted to kill Irene!"

Britney was positively shocked by Joanne's ruthlessness. She had watched Joanne grow up. She was gentle, obedient, and good with her words. All in all, she was very likable. She had been following Britney everywhere since she was a wee little girl. Who would have expected that everything Britney had seen of Joanne thus far had been fake?

"I didn't expect you to be so vicious. You can't even tell right from wrong. You've really disappointed me!"

"Grandma, I was just frustrated. Irene has been the cause of Nathan's problems. You couldn't bear to do anything, so I..." Joanne didn't give in. "Perhaps Irene had an ulterior motive. If you're too soft-hearted, she'll be able to marry Nathan!"

"Even now, you're still lying to me, huh? Do you think I've gone senile just because I'm old?" Britney looked at Joanne with disappointment.

"How can you be so shameless and say you're doing this for Nathan? You're doing it for that brat from the Reed family, aren't you? Do you think that Jordan will marry you just because Irene is dead? If it were that simple, then every rich person in the world would commit murder to achieve their goals. Why do we even need police and judges?"

"Grandma, I was wrong!" Joanne suddenly knelt on the ground. "I made a mistake today. I did that because I wasn't thinking straight. Please forgive me!"

"Fortunately, Irene was lucky enough to escape this disaster. Otherwise..." Britney was certainly greatly traumatized.

However, Joanne was her own granddaughter, after all. She left it at that and ordered Joanne to reflect on her actions. "Go back and think about your actions, Joanne. You're selfish, vicious, and cruel. It'll bring no good to your future."