The Real Heiress Is Coming Back (Hannah Carter) novel Chapter 137

Chapter 137

Chapter 137

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When Hannah woke up, her head felt like it was about to explode, and her body was screaming in pain.

She tried to sit up, only to realize her hands and feet were tied. She was lying on a pile of straw, surrounded by old mud- brick walls that looked ancient.

Sunlight streamed through a window with a wire mesh. The wooden door was shut tight, and there were marks where someone had tried to pry it open.

To her left was a woodpile, covered in cobwebs.

To her right was a so-called “bed” made of straw that had been pressed flat. A grimy, blackened blanket was tossed in one corner, with two nasty-looking metal plates beside it.

Someone had definitely crashed here for a while.

Hannah figured she was stuck in some old country shed. She struggled to sit up, her mind felt foggy, like it was filled with glue. Her body was burning up, and she was pretty sure she had a fever.

She remembered last night and wondered what happened to Ethan and Vincent. Then she recalled seeing a stranger’s face right before she blacked out.

Her head was pounding so hard she couldn’t even think straight. She couldn’t tell if she’d walked right into a trap from the moment she got that email, or if the killer had gotten there first.

She had to get out of here first.

Her hands were tied tightly behind her back, but thankfully, all those hours she’d spent binge-watching kidnapping dramas had paid off, she’d thought the way they tied knots was pretty cool and had even picked up a few knot-tying tricks.

Her grandma used to give her the side-eye and joke that she must be planning something shady.

Well, now those random skills were finally useful.

But today, she was totally out of it, and it took her ages to get her hands free. She was just about to start working on the ropes around her ankles when she suddenly heard a commotion outside.

There were voices, more than one, and they were heading straight for her.

Hannah immediately stopped what she was doing.

“My Lady, she’s inside,” came a gruff male voice.

“Get the door open,” a woman commanded.

“That voice… why did it sound so familiar?’ Hannah was sure she’d heard it somewhere before.

Next, the lock clicked open.

Hannah instantly lay back down, gripping the loose rope behind her back, faking unconsciousness.

She was burning up and feeling like crap, no way she could go head-to-head with them right now,

With a loud bang, the wooden door was roughly shoved open, slamming against the wall and sending up a cloud of dust.

Lauren wrinkled her nose in disgust, covering it with one hand and fanning the dust away with the other. After a moment, she stepped inside in her high heels.

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Chapter 137

“Why isn’t she moving? Is she dead?” Lauren glanced at Hannah lying on the floor and asked the man beside her.

The man had a nasty scar running from his nose to his left cheek, making him look seriously creepy.

“She’s still breathing, not dead. I checked this morning,” the scarred man grunted, then barked at his lackey, “Bring a basin of water and wake her up.”

Hannah, still faking unconsciousness, thought, … Seriously?’

She was already running a fever, and now, in the dead of winter, a splash of cold water would only make things worse.

Left with no other choice, she forced her eyes open, pretending to have just woken up.

“Waking up right on cue.” Lauren sneered.

Hannah forced herself to sit up, feigning panic, her voice rough and shaky. “Why did you kidnap me? What do you want from me?”

She kept the rope clutched tightly behind her back, discreetly scoping out the scene outside, all the while staying alert for any chance to escape.

Aside from Lauren and the scarred man, there were three more men outside, judging by their looks and shabby clothes, they were your typical street thugs.

Breaking out now was out of the question. She’d have to play it smart and wait for her chance.

“Oh, scared now? Weren’t you all high and mighty when you caused a scene at my ‘place? What happened to that attitude?” Lauren sneered, standing over Hannah.

Hannah’s hair was a mess, with bits of straw tangled in it, her face and clothes smeared with dirt, and that panicked look made her seem like a total wreck.

‘Seriously? Looking like this, she actually got Tristan to fall for her?’ Lauren couldn’t believe it, jealousy flaring up.

‘And the Scott family actually spoils her? For real?’ Lauren rolled her eyes internally.

‘She really thinks she can beat me looking like that?’ Lauren snorted to herself.

Deep down, Lauren was eaten up with jealousy. They were both daughters, but she’d been raised to be the perfect, well- mannered girl, born with all the advantages, given the best education, always sweet and obedient.

Yet somehow, Hannah was the pretty one, the one Tristan actually noticed, the one who aced her classes while Lauren struggled.

Even the top international schools were lining up to offer her a spot. And after the Scott family dragged her out of some mountain village, she still got all the love and attention at home.

But Lauren? As the so-called princess of the Baker family, she was just Gemma’s favorite target, her brother’s sidekick, and her dad barely even remembered she existed…

“Shouldn’t I at least put on a show for you, so you can feel good about your kidnapping?” Hannah said coolly, the panic on her face fading away.

Lauren felt like she was swinging at nothing. “Go ahead, keep acting tough! Let’s see how long you last. Out here in the middle of nowhere, even if Tristan wants to find you, it’ll take months, maybe even years!”

‘Middle of nowhere… That caught Hannah’s attention.

She remembered a map she’d seen before, there was a patch of wilderness east of the reservoir in Linxire.

MON, DET GE

Chapter 137

Now she had a rough idea of where she was, and she answered with a nonchalant tone.

“Oh. So let me guess, this is where you kept Yvette and her mom locked up back then?”

Lauren frowned, thinking, ‘So she really is after Yvette and her mom!

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Lauren shot back, refusing to admit anything.

“Let me take a wild guess,” Hannah said, her eyes narrowing.

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“First, you pretended to help Yvette’s mom get medical treatment, sent them overseas as a cover story, and cut them off from everyone they knew. Then, you secretly dragged them back here and kept them locked up in this dump for a while.

“You figured they’d just behave, but they managed to slip away. Too bad for them, they didn’t get far before your guys hunted them down again.

“Not knowing if they’d called the cops, you decided to go all the way and drowned them in the reservoir. That way, even if the police started poking around, you could just play innocent and say they escaped and accidentally drowned.

“Did I nail it?”

On the outside, Hannah kept her gaze steady on Lauren, but inside, she was falling apart, sweat slicked her forehead and back, her mouth was parched, and her headache was so bad her vision blurred. Still, she refused to let it show.

Lauren looked genuinely stunned.

Wait, Yvette and her mom are dead?!’ Lauren’s mind reeled.

When did that happen?’ She was completely thrown off.

‘How come I didn’t know about this?’ Lauren felt blindsided.

Gemma had told her that Yvette and her mom managed to escape, but the guy who helped them got caught, and she wanted Lauren to come check it out for herself.

Lauren turned to the scarred man, about to ask what was up, but his face was dark with anger as he locked his eyes on Hannah, he looked like he was ready to kill.

‘Is she really telling the truth? Is this all real?’ Lauren’s heart pounded as she watched him, realizing he looked ready to silence Hannah for good.

Lauren clenched her fists.

Seeing Lauren stay silent, Hannah threw in with a cold sneer, “No wonder Gemma is so cocky about everything. She’s not the one who killed Yvette and her mom, it was you.”