Chapter 363

Chapter 363 Taken Hostage

“I heard that the Presgraves have been trying to repay your mother’s noble sacrifice all these years. I’m

sure Old Madam Presgrave sorely regrets threatening the mayor back then; if she hadn’t done that, your

mother would have been spared. The young master’s life is worth more than gold, but that doesn’t mean

your mother deserved to have hers taken away. Sadly, this world will never be fair; the rich simply buy

their way out of death, and common folk like your mother would simply have to surrender to fate.”

Anastasia wanted to make Riley shut up and get him to stop talking about all these. She didn’t want to

hear about them at all.

However, Riley was a twisted man who thought his gloriously wicked deeds demanded an audience, and

Anastasia made for an excellent listener. More to the point, the sadistic side of him would never allow

him to let slip the chance to torture someone. The sight of Anastasia’s obvious anguish and discomfort

filled him with satisfaction that he thought he had long forgotten.

“If I were your mother, I would hate that I’d given birth to an ingrate and a traitorous daughter like you.

You could have had any man you wished, but you chose to love Young Master Elliot, who lived only

because your mother died so gruesomely!”

Stop it! Shut up! Anastasia wanted to scream at him. She knew what Riley was trying to do; he wanted

her to hate the Presgraves.

“Boss, we’re running out of time. Let’s send her on her merry way,” one of Riley’s subordinates piped up

from somewhere.

“I’m sorry, Miss Tillman, but I suppose you share your mother’s ill fortune and will have to die by my

hands. Don’t worry, though. You’ll be reunited with her soon!” Riley chuckled.

Fear and rage coursed through Anastasia like a potent cocktail as she realized that he was planning to

kill her, though she didn’t know why. What good will my death do for him? Is this his way of getting back

at the Presgraves and challenging them? Or does this have something to do with my relationship with

Elliot? Does he want to take my life so that he can break Elliot’s heart and destroy him emotionally?

While this was happening, half a dozen vehicles manned by bodyguards were speeding over to the

location, driving through the muddy and mountainous terrain as they appeared like ghouls.

Riley’s henchman who was stationed outside the abandoned house as a lookout couldn’t respond in

time, and he quickly cried out, “Boss!” However, when the leading car drove forward and made to knock

him down, he quickly dodged and leaped into the drain that ran along the side of the house. In the next

second, a loud bang filled the air as the car rammed into the front door of the house, causing the entire

wall to cave and topple down.

The man in the driver’s seat was immediately greeted by a scene that made his blood boil.

Anastasia was curled up on the ground with a sack pulled over her head and her wrists bound.

At the sight of the car and the fallen wall, Riley jumped in shock. He knew that Elliot had sent people to

keep tabs on him, but he didn’t think they would arrive so soon. With lightning speed, he grabbed hold of

Anastasia and hauled her up from the ground, pressing a blade to her neck as he sneered. “My darling

nephew, have you come for a visit?” he said.

“Let her go,” Elliot thundered with the rage of a hellish creature, his gaze obsidian and mutinous.

“Tsk, tsk. Do you truly love the girl so much? You’ve gone soft, Elliot. I didn’t think the Presgraves were

capable of producing a romantic like you. There goes our family honor,” Riley mocked insouciantly.

Without warning, he ran the blade along the alabaster skin of Anastasia’s neck, drawing a thin line of

blood.

“Let her go, Riley!” Elliot yelled, his voice quivering with rage and panic.

Riley found that this situation was turning out very much in his favor. He scoffed and said, “I’ll let her go,

but on the condition that you immediately transfer fifty percent of the shares in Presgrave Corporation to

me. Otherwise, if I’m going down, then I’m taking her with me.”

Just then, he pulled the sack off Anastasia’s head to reveal her pale and anguished expression. There

was a rag stuffed in her mouth to muffle her cries, but her eyes glistened with tears as she stared at the

man in front of her—the man who would do anything to save her.

“Fine. I’ll give you whatever you want, but let her go first,” Elliot announced firmly with a nod of his head.

“Have a copy of the agreement sent to me, and I want it to be legally enforceable,” Riley demanded,

seizing this chance to take the portion of the company that was rightfully his.

Meanwhile, Anastasia was not afraid of death, even now. She hated her mother’s killer with a passion,

and she wanted him to pay for Amelia’s death in blood. Not only that, she didn’t want Elliot to give up half

the ownership of Presgrave Corporation to this devil just to save her.

As such, she stared at him unrelentingly and shook her head ever so slightly, indicating for him to refuse

the bargain.

“I’ll let her go only after I’ve seen the agreement,” replied Riley. With his henchmen surrounding him and

Anastasia, there was no way for any of the bodyguards to advance to save the hostage. Worse still was

that Riley had a blade pressed against Anastasia’s neck, and any movement on her part could mean her

certain death by his hand.