I let out a shaky breath. “P-please let me go. You won’t gain anything by killing me. My Ace will kill you. Y-you don’t know him.” I licked my lips. “But if you let me go, I’ll give you more money than Arthur offered you. Please.”

As if my words didn’t even reach his ears, he got out his phone from his pocket. “Before you die, the boss wants to give you his greetings.”

I stared at the phone in his hand.

Gulping again, I shook my head, turned around, and pushed the guards away. But as soon as I started to run, I was pulled back harshly by my hair.

I whimpered at the pain that shot through my scalp.

“Fucking suka! Don’t test my patience! Don’t make me make your death painful. So just do as I say!” Shoving the phone to my ear, he hissed, “Talk!”

Tears streamed down my face, my hands trembled as I held the phone against my ear. “H-hello.”

“Ah, Emerald, my dear.” His mocking voice came through the phone. Even hearing his voice, rage and hatred boiled through my veins. “Didn’t I tell you to stay out of my way? You clearly didn’t take my warning to your head. Now see what you’ve done. You followed me and got trapped. I thought I would get rid of you slowly after I was done with your boyfriend, but see, I had to change my plans again for your stubbornness. Now I have to kill you first.”

“You knew I was following you,” I stated, hatred laced my tone.

A malicious chuckle. “Of course, I knew. You think I didn’t notice you? My vision hasn’t gotten get that old yet. I saw you behind me, but I still let you come and listen to our conversation.”

“Then why didn’t you catch me earlier?” I spit out. The grip on my hair tightened, making me gasp in pain.

“To make you suffer. I wanted you to feel the fear of me and suffer a little before you died, Emerald dear,” he replied. “And I thought to do you a favor and let you know everything before you leave all of us forever. At least I could do that for my beloved nephew’s Rosebud. I knew you couldn’t escape because I already told my men to wait for you at the exit of that floor. You did notice me doing something on my phone, didn’t you?”

I remembered. He was messaging someone while talking to Ivanov. So he was giving instructions to his men?

“You’re not getting anything out of it, Arthur! You won’t be able to harm Ace. I won’t let you touch a single strand of his hair!” I screamed through the phone, trying to fight off that man.