A Night To Remember novel (Diane and Norman)

Chapter 36 How Shameless

"Maria, if you don't call that wretched girl of yours over, I'm going to incinerate you all to death. I don't plan on continuing to live anyway, so I'll take you to the grave with me."

The police stood by the side as Elizabeth raved and ranted; they didn't dare to move too close and provoke her. After all, if those embers from the lighter landed on the ground, the entire place would immediately go up in flames.

Once she had squeezed herself to the very front of the crowd, Diane soon realized that Elizabeth wasn't the only one there-Stella was standing there too. Despite her belly, which was large and heavy from her impending due date, the woman had come as well. Instead of standing on Elizabeth's side, Stella stood with the police outside the apartment. Diane was unsure whether Stella was afraid of getting involved as well, but the woman was standing on a patch of ground which hadn't been drenched in gasoline.

"Mom, Dad..." Diane immediately poked her head inside the apartment and called her parents.

Maria, George, and even the deathly terrified Emilia had been blocked by Elizabeth; they couldn't come outside.

Upon hearing Diane's voice, Maria's head finally poked out of the bedroom. "We're in here. Quick, hurry up and get this crazy woman away."

As Maria urged Diane, Elizabeth whirled around at the sound and glared at Diane. "You're finally here, you little wh*re. You'd better pay for my son," she cursed as she promptly stood up, her lighter held aloft. She evidently knew about Norman's arrest, and she was now here to look for a scapegoat.

"Your son is at the police station. It's no use looking for me," Diane replied.

Elizabeth's face twisted itself, and she glared hatefully at Diane. “Don't give me that garbage. If it wasn't for you, would he be at the station now? You weren't satisfied with just cheating on him; you even had to get him arrested with that loverboy of yours. I'm telling you, Diane-if you don't get my son released, I will burn you to death. I will..."

Elizabeth got more emotional as she went on, and she immediately thrust the lit lighter in her hand at Diane.

Diane hadn't been splashed with gasoline, but she still reflexively backed away, not letting Elizabeth's lighter get in contact with her.

"I'm telling you again that I didn't cheat on your son; he was the one who cheated on me first. Your daughter-in-law is standing right there. Look at her stomach-Norman and I have only been divorced for a few days, but her belly is already this swollen. Do you need me to say anything more about this? Norman was arrested because he kidnapped me for ransom. This is a case for the police, and I didn't send him to jail because I have some amazing powers on my side."

Diane hadn't wanted to bring those things up with Elizabeth now that they were staring right at danger itself, but she had no other choice; Elizabeth was being unreasonable right at her parents' door. The people who were watching this ongoing show were their neighbors-if Diane failed to explain everything clearly, how could her parents walk around with their heads held high in the future?

Nonetheless, it was obvious that she hadn't said the right thing, because she ended up provoking Elizabeth even more.

The moment she said that, one of the policemen by the side grabbed her with a solemn expression. "Don't incite her now; just agree with her and follow along with what she says regardless of what it is. Let's get her out of here first since it's rather dangerous right now."

Diane nodded. Right at that moment, Elizabeth roared once again. "This is slander. Slander, I say! Why would he kidnap you? You're the one who wants to hurt and cause irreversible harm to him so that you can run off with your beau. How can you be so cruel, Diane? You're a poisonous woman!" Elizabeth shrieked, her voice so high-pitched that it was a little painful on the ears.

Since she had taken the policeman's advice, Diane didn't retort this time. Instead, she said, "You shouldn't keep making a fuss here either; I'll promise to help you. I'll find a way to get Norman released, so come with me. We'll go to the police station together now and get them to release him."

Diane wanted to draw Elizabeth away from this gasoline-drenched place, for it would guarantee her family's safety at the very least. Much to her surprise, this old village woman was horrendously sharp. As though she had already seen through Diane's motives, Elizabeth glared at her and snorted.

"Nice try. You think that I don't know what you're planning. You're thinking that if you get me away from here, all of you would be safe. By then, would you even give my son a hand? Bah, naive fool!" Elizabeth spat on the floor. When Diane saw how finicky the old woman was, she couldn't help feeling irate. She peered at the three terrified people inside the apartment, and then she mustered up her courage to step toward Elizabeth. "In that case, what do you want to do? You refuse to come with me, so what am I supposed to do now?" she asked, maintaining her patience.

"Get Norman released from the station. You're a capable person, aren't you? Call the police station and get them to let him go. Provide us a handsome sum of money and give us your written word that you will never cause trouble for us again."

Even at a time like this, Elizabeth still thought of milking money out of her; right now, Diane couldn't even be bothered to lambast the Adlers anymore.

It was also precisely because Elizabeth brought up the topic of money that inspiration streaked through Diane's mind. After giving it some thought, she gathered herself and spoke again. "You want money as well? That's perfect. Norman recently took 50 million from us. Did he not tell you that?"

The bystanders all gasped in shock the moment she dropped that number.

Elizabeth went rigid before her eyes widened. It wasn't until a while later that she suddenly gave a shout and asked, "What?"

Stella, who had been standing at a safe spot all this while, also fixed her stare on Diane's face. "Don't make things up, Diane. When did Norman take that 50 million from you?"

"He did that when he kidnapped me yesterday." As Diane spoke, she stepped closer toward Elizabeth. "He has a foreign bank account, and the ransom has already been banked in there; I was only rescued after the money had been transferred. When Norman was arrested later on, that account..."

Diane suddenly stopped and turned to look at Stella. "You should know about it, right? After all, you two are very close; he wouldn't keep this a secret from you. By the way, he even told me that he's going to bring you overseas with him to live a good life once he gets the money. It's been a while since then. You've probably checked his bank statements already, haven't you? Christopher told me that since the money was transferred to an account overseas, it won't be easy to recover it. Norman may have been arrested, but the process to recover the money is overly complicated. Christopher is worried that the money will be transferred away before it can be taken back, and that will end up causing more problems. It's fortunate that you're here though, Stella. Tell me, what happened to that money?" Diane eyed Stella all this while; Elizabeth also stared at Stella right then with widened eyes, and everyone else was looking at her as well.

Stella paled as she blurted, "What nonsense are you saying? I have no idea about the money you're talking about. You said that Norman kidnapped you and asked you for money. Is that true?" Stella's response made Diane freeze.

Norman had been arrested that very night. She had been sure that Stella and Elizabeth weren't aware that the sum of money hadn't been banked into Norman's account yet, so she had deliberately phrased her words that way to draw their attention to the money. However, Diane never expected this. Judging from Elizabeth and Stella's reactions, neither of them seemed to actually know anything about this. Did Norman's talks about going abroad only included himself?

This was far too shameless of him.

Diane cursed Norman mentally, but her mind whirred quickly. As she looked at Stella's fearful yet angry expression, an idea suddenly came to her.