Betrayed and Dumped: She Rose Stronger Than Ever novel Chapter 404

When Cindy saw the name carved into the tombstone, her whole body froze. It’s Neil. The man who killed her father and uncle. She stared at the bouquet in Brett’s arms, barely able to breathe. He really brought flowers here, for Neil. He never even visited her father’s grave, but he came here to mourn the man who destroyed their family.

Cindy’s teeth pressed together so tightly her jaw ached. She couldn’t understand it at all. Why would her own cousin stand at the grave of their fathers’ murderer, offering him flowers? Why? It didn’t make sense, no matter how she turned it over in her mind.

Neil had been the Duncans’ driver for years. He started with Cindy’s grandfather, then after retirement, drove for her father and uncle. He was with the family more than a decade. They treated him like one of their own, never thinking he could betray them. But nobody saw it coming when Neil, deep in middle age, got hooked on gambling. The debts piled up, deeper every month, until he was drowning with no way out.

Then Neil did the unthinkable.

That night, Cindy’s father and uncle finished a business dinner, a bit tipsy. Neil went to pick them up, just like always. He helped them into the back seat, but this time, while they weren’t looking, he slipped their phones from their jacket pockets. He got behind the wheel, locked the car doors, and drove off in silence.

His plan was simple. Take them up to the mountains, somewhere no one would find them, and hold them for ransom. He’d call Cindy’s grandfather for a huge sum of money, enough to cover every debt. But things didn’t go how Neil wanted. On the way there, her father sobered up a little and noticed something was wrong. The road wasn’t right. He demanded to know where Neil was taking them.

That’s when Neil snapped. The mask he’d worn for years slipped away. He started laughing, wild and desperate, and threatened to kill them both unless they handed over ten million dollars.

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