What Separates Me and You

Chapter 241 Seven Years

After Mrs. Larson and Mrs. White returned home, they busied themselves with preparing dinner and decided it was time to wake Josephine up. Knocking on her bedroom door repeatedly, they waited for a response, but there was only silence on the other side.

Exchanging a concerned glance, they reached a consensus and turned the doorknob, gently pushing open the door to Josephine's room.

Their faces instantly paled. They went to search around the mansion for Josephine, including the bathrooms and storeroom, but she was nowhere to be seen.

Mrs. Larson uttered, "What do we do? Madam seems to be missing!"

"Don't worry. Maybe she's just strolling outside and waiting for the rain to stop."

Mrs. Larson replied unhappily, "Did you forget what Mr. Alvarez told us? He asked us to follow her wherever she went. What do we tell him now?"

Mrs. White's face turned paler. She tried to calm down. "Hey, she's an adult now. She couldn't have gotten lost, could she?"

"Let's wait and see. Maybe she'll be back in a while. If not..."

Mrs. Larson cut her off, "No ifs or buts. Let's call Mr. Alvarez."

Mrs. White stopped her by pressing down her hand. "Are you mad? If he knows we didn't follow Madam around and that it's why she hasn't returned home yet, we'll be fired in no time. After hesitating for a bit, Mrs. Larson agreed with her and didn't try to ring Lewis anymore.

They both grabbed an umbrella each and decided to search for her again.

Following the path outside the mansion, their search lasted for more than two hours, but it

was to no avail.

They returned to the mansion feeling really anxious. Even Mrs. White began to feel scared.

"I think we should call Mr. Alvarez." It was almost ten at night already, after all.

Mrs. Larson shot her a look. "We should have done that earlier on!"

As she spoke, she reached for her phone and called Lewis. But the screen showed that he was on another call.

She didn't give up and tried to call a few more times, but his line remained busy.

After a while, Mrs. Larson gave up. Exhausted, she sat on the couch. "We'll call him later."

They had no other choice now. They couldn't reach Lewis, nor could they find Josephine.

Perhaps, this would be where their careers end.

At the same time, Lewis received a call from an unknown number. But the voice from the other end of the call was Sierra.

Sierra was bawling on the phone. "Save me, Lewis! I'm being kidnapped! They want you to come and save me!"

"Where are you?" Lewis furrowed his brows.

Sierra said while sobbing, "I don't know, I don't know where I am. It's so dark here. I can't see anything. Save me! I don't want to die!"

Right after she was done talking, a stranger spoke through the phone, "Lewis Alvarez, if you want to save your lover, bring over five million dollars in cash five hours from now. If you don't, we'll kill her." Lewis still had the phone in his hand. With a serious tone, he said, "Don't do anything to her. Give me the address, and I'll come over now!"

Hearing that, Sierra was really touched. She sobbed and said, "I know you do love me, Lewis."

But the man suddenly said, "No, I've changed my mind. Five million is too cheap for you to get your lover back. I want twenty million. Send the money to this bank account right now, and bring your five million cash."

Lewis' frown deepened. His tone turned colder as he spoke, "You better not push it."

The stranger laughed on the other end of the line. "So what if I do? Don't you want your lover to be alive? You'll have to follow what we say. We won't hold back if you don't come."

"She's quite gorgeous, isn't she? I wonder how it would feel to have some fun with her?

"It must feel great since she's able to stay with you for such a long time. After I'm satisfied, her body parts might also be worth a lot of money.

"A pair of corneas, a heart..."

Although Sierra was blindfolded, she could feel someone touching her body. She trembled even more violently after hearing those words.

Tears streamed down her face and dampened her black blindfold.

"Save me, Lewis... Seven years. I've been with you for almost seven years already ..."

Sierra's voice was choked with tears as she sobbed uncontrollably, making it difficult for her to speak clearly. Her words carried a profound sense of sorrow and hopelessness. She only realized that almost seven years had passed after doing some math.

She had been doing whatever she wanted all these years by Lewis' side. Time passed by in a blink of an eye; she even thought that it was just yesterday when she got together with Lewis.

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The moment Lewis heard "seven years,” a flash of complicated emotions appeared in his eyes. He only spoke after a long while. "Okay, I'll do what you want. Don't touch her."

The man snickered loudly. "I knew you wouldn't be able to give up this beauty. But make sure to come alone, Mr. Alvarez.

"If we find out that you're bringing another person, we can't guarantee that you will see your lover in one piece."

Sierra's heart sank

Although she couldn't see, she still turned toward the direction of the phone, as if her hopeless eyes could be seen through the black blindfold.

Lewis was silent.

The silence was so loud that even the thunder from the surroundings couldn't hide it. The atmosphere became painfully quiet.

"Mr. Alvarez, we're not as patient as you think."

"Alright, I'm coming" Lewis' voice could be heard from the phone but with no emotions. It was soon overwhelmed by the sound of thunder.

But Sierra still heard it.

Her tensed body gradually relaxed as she started weeping with her leaning against the chair.

"Alright, okay. As expected of Mr. Alvarez-your feelings for her are real after all. We'll be waiting for your good news then."

When he finished that sentence, he hung up

The man tore away the blindfold on Sierra's eyes. Sierra's eyes dilated the moment she saw

who that man was.

Back at the Styx Mansion, Mrs. Larson and Mrs. White had made countless calls, but their screen still showed that Lewis was on another call.

The two were a bundle of nerves as they watched the clock strike eleven.

If Josephine still had not come back at this hour, could she... still make it back home?

They didn't know. Even Josephine herself didn't know.

She was still soaked from head to toe, locked up in this dark and cold place. She dared not go further in as it was too dark inside.

She had never seen this place before. She didn't know such a place existed throughout the years she stayed at the Alvarez Manor. Standing before the metal door, she raised her head and looked outside. The rain was bucketing down and splattered onto her face. Her hair was wet from the rain, sticking to either side of her cheeks. She could only hold herself together after seeing some light out there.

She was scared of thunder and darkness.

Now that both her fears were here, her determination slowly faded as time passed.

Josephine's hands were red with coldness, but she still held tightly onto the metal bars on the door like a peacock in a cage, looking at the world outside. Right then, the light before her eyes was blocked.

Josephine slowly lifted her head and found Nancy standing out there, looking down at her.

Her grip on the bars tightened. Staring at Nancy's ice-cold face, her eyes were screaming in confusion and sadness.

She didn't know what she had done so wrong to be locked up by Nancy here.