Chapter 77: Chapter 77: Like a Different Person

This wasn’t right. Not right at all.

How could Wyatt Shaw forget the fiancée who was in the car crash with him? Did the crash damage his brain...?

The next moment, she was swept up in a storm of passion, leaving no room for further thought.

He was drunk, his eyes turbulent, filled with a kind of desperate madness that actually scared Yvonne Sutton a little.

After several rounds of lovemaking, Yvonne Sutton felt as if her entire body had been taken apart. Wyatt Shaw, on the other hand, had fallen into a deep sleep. With no other choice, Yvonne had to drag her exhausted body to the bathroom to clean up.

When she returned, she sat cross-legged on the bed, watching Wyatt Shaw.

’Did he really forget Hannah Abbott, or is he... Is he lying to me? No, he must be lying to everyone.’

Early the next morning, Yvonne Sutton was woken by Wyatt Shaw’s kisses.

"Mm, honey," she murmured drowsily.

"Hey, I have to go to the office."

"Mm," she replied, not wanting to open her eyes.

"Want to go out for dinner tonight?"

"Okay."

"Go back to sleep."

Yvonne Sutton turned over, ready to drift off again, but he came back and kissed her deeply. She loved his scent—on his skin, on his breath—a cool, fresh aroma.

She smiled, wrapping her arms around his neck and returning his kiss.

"I don’t want to go to work today," he said affectionately, pressing his nose against hers.

Yvonne Sutton playfully tapped his shoulder. "No slacking. Off to your morning court session."

"As you command, Your Majesty, The Empress."

Yvonne Sutton couldn’t stop laughing. "Wyatt."

"Are you calling me a eunuch?"

He grunted, starting to pull off her clothes to prove his virility, and Yvonne Sutton quickly begged for mercy.

"I was wrong, I was wrong!"

Wyatt Shaw kissed her forehead. "Was I drunk last night?"

Yvonne Sutton’s heart skipped a beat. She opened her eyes to look at Wyatt Shaw.

"You don’t remember?"

Wyatt Shaw shook his head. "I just remember drinking a lot with David Sutton and talking a lot, but I’ve forgotten what we said or what I did afterward."

Yvonne Sutton stared into Wyatt Shaw’s eyes for a long time, then smiled. "You came back and went straight to sleep. You didn’t say or do anything."

After Wyatt Shaw left, Yvonne Sutton didn’t go back to sleep. She got up to wash her face and brush her teeth.

She felt a slight ache in her waist. Lifting her nightgown, she saw a purplish bruise on each side. They were from last night, when Wyatt Shaw had gripped her waist tightly with both hands.

His eyes had been so dark, so cold. His actions so rough.

For a moment, she’d felt as if he wasn’t himself.

Downstairs in the dining room, she found the breakfast Wyatt Shaw had made for her, kept warm in the rice cooker.

As she ate, her mind kept circling back to Wyatt Shaw, her thoughts growing heavy. Just then, Leo Flynn called, asking if she had been in contact with Claire Lawrence in the last few days.

"No, what’s wrong?"

"Joshua and I called her a couple of days ago to ask her out for drinks, but her phone wouldn’t connect. Joshua was worried and asked me to go check on her. I went yesterday, but it looked like no one was home. I tried calling her again first thing this morning, and it’s still not going through."

Hearing this, Yvonne Sutton started to worry.

"I’ll try to contact her now."

After hanging up with Leo Flynn, she quickly called Claire Lawrence. The phone rang once before the call was rejected. She tried again, and it was rejected again. On the third try, the phone was turned off.

She had a bad feeling. Hurrying upstairs, she changed her clothes and headed to Claire Lawrence’s place.

Claire Lawrence was currently living in a vacant apartment owned by Leo Flynn, located downtown. Yvonne arrived and rang the doorbell. She rang it several times, but no one answered.

Yvonne Sutton thought for a moment, then decided to start knocking forcefully on the door.

"Claire, I know you’re in there, right?"

"Whatever it is, we’ll figure it out together!"

"Open the door! Claire!"

She knocked for a long time before the door finally opened.

Claire Lawrence was deathly pale, her eyes trembling violently as if she were terrified.

"I-I’m fine. I’m just a little tired and didn’t want to be disturbed."

"Let’s talk inside..."

"No, you should go. I... I want to be alone."

Yvonne Sutton stared intently at Claire Lawrence. Something was clearly wrong with her demeanor.

"You..."

"Yvonne, please, just go," she said, looking like she was about to burst into tears.

Yvonne Sutton glanced behind her and saw something that made her pupils contract sharply.

"Alright then. Get some rest. I’ll come see you again later."

"Okay, okay."

Claire Lawrence quickly shut the door. Yvonne Sutton stood outside, thought for a moment, then pulled out her phone and started walking away as she dialed 911. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

But just as the call connected, someone behind her violently slapped the phone out of her hand. Before she could react, she was dragged into the apartment.

The man was incredibly strong and rough. Yvonne Sutton was practically thrown inside, her head slamming against the edge of a shoe cabinet. Everything went black.

She collapsed to the floor, Claire Lawrence’s wails ringing in her ears as a dark figure loomed over her.

When she opened her eyes again, Yvonne Sutton found herself lying on the floor of a dilapidated room. The ceiling was pitch-black, and a single incandescent bulb, covered in fly specks, hung from it.

The room was small and windowless, containing only a single bed covered in stains.

The floor was greasy and reeked of rot. Yvonne Sutton struggled to sit up and tried to break free from her bonds, but it was clearly impossible.

She took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down, then shouted toward the door.

"Hello? Is anyone there?!"

She yelled several times before the door opened. A tall, burly, unshaven man walked in, his eyes bleary.

"Shout one more time and I’ll cut your tongue out!"

Yvonne Sutton craned her neck to peek outside. It was a living room, just as filthy as the room she was in. The floor was littered with empty liquor bottles, and the table was a mess of dirty plates and cups. Two other men were sprawled on the sofa, apparently passed out drunk.

Just then, a man emerged from the opposite room, pulling up his pants. He had a cigarette dangling from his lips and a look of sated satisfaction on his face.

Yvonne Sutton bit her lower lip hard, her body starting to tremble involuntarily.

"Who... Who are you people? Where’s Claire? Where is she?" Yvonne Sutton forced herself to ask calmly.

The man squatted down, eyeing Yvonne Sutton with a smirk. "This had nothing to do with you. But you just had to knock the door down, discover us, and then try to call the cops."

"So what could we do? We had to grab you, too."

"Claire... how did she cross you?" Yvonne Sutton asked.

"She owes us money!"

"How much?"

"Three hundred million."

Yvonne Sutton pressed her lips together. She remembered now. Claire had told her she’d been screwed over by her ex-husband and was stuck with a 300 million debt.

"The money... she has to pay it back. But we gotta collect some interest, right?" The man leered, looking Yvonne Sutton up and down and licking his lower lip. "Why don’t you help her pay that interest?"

Yvonne Sutton scrambled backward. "We can discuss the money..."

"Discuss? Sure. Let’s go discuss it in bed!"

With that, the man grabbed Yvonne Sutton and threw her onto the single bed. He let out a sinister laugh, his breath reeking of alcohol.

"Tonight, the four of us brothers are gonna take turns. You’re in for a real treat."