"Hah." Annabelle Linton scoffed. "You think you’re in any position to bargain with me?"

"This is a mutually beneficial arrangement."

Annabelle Linton’s lips curled into a smirk. "Just a recording, with no witnesses or physical evidence? If I release this, there will definitely be an investigation into who’s speaking. If they can’t find you by then, won’t I be incriminating myself?"

Charles King’s pupils constricted violently as he stumbled back a few steps. "You... What are you going to do to me?!"

Annabelle Linton gave a chilling smile. "You think I’d spare someone who plotted against me and wanted me dead?"

"You said you’d spare me!"

"I did say that. And that’s why I don’t plan on dealing with you myself." Annabelle Linton looked at the bodyguards. "Hand these two over to Miss King."

Word was that the two of them had teamed up to double-cross Carla King, and she was still furious, searching for them everywhere.

"Yes."

The color drained from Charles King’s face. If Carla King got her hands on them, she would tear them limb from limb. "No! Miss Linton, please, spare us this once! We’ll do whatever you say from now on!"

Annabelle Linton waved her hand in irritation, and the bodyguards dragged Charles King and Wendy King out of the room.

"Miss Linton, give us another chance! Please, give us another chance!"

Annabelle Linton ignored them.

With the two of them gone, things were finally quiet.

Her gaze returned to Faye Sheffield.

"Wake her up," she ordered coldly.

"Yes."

At the command, a bodyguard dumped a full basin of water on Faye Sheffield, shocking her awake.

"Awake now?"

The icy voice reached her ears. When she saw who stood before her, Faye Sheffield’s dazed eyes instantly turned venomous. "Kill me or torture me, do as you please. Don’t expect me to beg for mercy!"

"Oh, really?" Annabelle Linton’s lips curled into a cold smirk. "Right now, you’re nothing more than a dog in my eyes. One word from me, and you’ll be a corpse. You think I’m waiting for you to beg? Who the hell do you think you are?"

"Pah!" Faye Sheffield spat. "You bitch! And you really think you’re so high and mighty? In Leona Grant’s eyes, aren’t you just a dog, too?"

SLAP! Annabelle Linton struck her across the face. "So what if I am? Keep talking, if you’ve got the guts."

"Hah! You bitch, you whore, you homewrecking fox."

SLAP! SLAP! Two more slaps landed on her face. "Continue."

Faye Sheffield wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth and sneered. "Annabelle Linton, all you can do is slap me around. If you’ve got the guts, then kill me! You’re just afraid of my father, aren’t you? That’s why you don’t dare to do anything more! You hypocrite!"

’Such pointless defiance. How ridiculous.’

Annabelle Linton’s lips quirked up. "Tsk, tsk. You know, I actually feel sorry for you."

Annabelle Linton rose and sat on the sofa, crossing her legs elegantly. She looked down on Faye like a queen. "Even now, you’re still pinning your hopes on that cheating father of yours. Such touching fatherly love. I have dirt on your dad. What do you think the chances are that he’ll come to save you?"

Faye Sheffield froze.

"And then there’s your laughable friendship. You’re putting up this hopeless resistance, ready to die before you surrender. You feel so righteous, don’t you? Ready to go down in a blaze of glory, preserving one last shred of dignity? But what has any of it gotten you? Hmm? 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

"Did you manage to kill me? Anything? You valued that friendship more than life itself. You thought that because she put on a show—crying, begging, kneeling—that she genuinely cared for you? Well, what about now? Where is that dear friend of yours? Has she come to save you?"

Faye wasn’t a complete fool. The words hit home mainly because she had made so many calls over the past few days, and none of them had connected.

In that moment, Faye Sheffield finally seemed to understand the meaning of "every man for himself."

As memories of the past flashed through her mind, a clear flicker of resentment appeared in her eyes.

Annabelle Linton was very pleased with this reaction. Her lips curled. "She was just using you, and you were so eager to play your part, rushing to be her cannon fodder. Now you’re about to lose your life over it. Tsk, tsk. How pathetic."