The phone soon rang again. "Satisfied with the proof? If you listen to me, I'll take good care of your father. Otherwise, I'll torture him every day, until he dies!"
"Okay, I promise!" Sophia made up her mind almost instantaneously.
"Good!"
"Wait, one more thing..." Sophia added hastily.
"Yes..."
"In order to ensure my father's safety, you must send me a video of him at least once a week! I need to see him alive."
"How greedy you are!"
"If you can't do that, then we don't have an agreement. I need confirmation every week that he is still alive." The voice on the other end went silent.
After a while, the voice responded. "Every month."
"Deal!" Sophia sighed in relief.
But after the phone call, she noticed that the video she had seen before had disappeared. There seemed to be a virus in her phone that erased the video and the phone number.
With inexplicable disappointment, Sophia stared at the the well-decorated balcony desperately. Her mind raced with thoughts.
She tried to think why anyone would take her father hostage to threaten her marriage.
'Which matters, my marriage or my family?' she tried to reconcile her thoughts.
Sophia sat on the bed, deep in thought, until it was dark outside. When she came out of her reverie, she reached out for her phone. She wanted to call Colin again, but her phone was off.
Soon after, there was a knock on the door. Sophia hadn't switched on the lights, so it was very dark. The knock made her jump in fright.
"Who is it?" She asked, afraid.
"Hello, my lady. I'm your new maid. Dinner's ready. Please come downstairs and have dinner." Sophia breathed a sigh of relief when she heard the voice.
Touching her flat belly, she thought, she should have dinner to replenish her strength for her baby.
After opening the door, Sophia found a girl who looked almost the same age as her dressed in a sports suit standing outside. Although not so pretty, she was still beautiful in her own way.
"Madam." Justina addressed her respectfully. After nodding to her, Sophia went downstairs.
There were two other maids downstairs, unpacking boxes. Noticing her, they stopped what they were doing and addressed her. "Good evening, Madam!"
Even though she had been addressed like this numerous times, she still wasn't used to it. "Good evening!" She smiled to them.
Seeing Sophia so kind, the maids breathed a sigh of relief.
"Nice to meet you, Madam. I'm Justina, this is Eudora, and this is Bess. Mr. Li asked us to look after you. We are with Mr. Xie, the housekeeper. He is busy tending to something and hasn't come back yet." Justina gave a tepid wet towel to Sophia at the dining table to wipe her hands.
Sophia nodded slightly. "You might be the same age as me. You don't need to call me Madam, just call me Sophia."
Once she told Colin that the child wasn't his, she wouldn't be living there anymore. Her title as Mrs. Li or Madam would be a distant memory.
They looked at one another in bewilderment, because they had never met such a kind employer. Filling Sophia's bowl with soup, Justina stepped back. "Madam, as we are all from the housekeeper company, we can't break protocol."
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