CEO Ex-Husband, Don't Bother Me-Chapter 157 - 138: Joy Is Your Daughter (Part 2)

Desperately, she reached for her phone, but one of the men grabbed a towel and covered her and Joy’s mouths. Her vision went black, and she passed out. ’From the man’s tone, it sounds like they kidnapped me and Joy because of Julian Donovan. Could this be one of his enemies from the underworld?’

When Naomi Shaw woke up again, the same three men were still there, but they had switched to a different car. By now, the sky was completely dark. The road was unlit and bumpy, suggesting they had left the city and were heading toward the remote suburbs. The panic in her heart grew more and more severe.

Joy lay slumped beside her. Naomi quickly pulled her into her arms, tears of anguish falling. "Joy? Joy? Wake up!"

Joy slowly opened her big, dark eyes. The moment she saw her mother, she let out a WAAAH and started crying. "Mommy..."

Joy was usually a quiet child who never cried or made a fuss. Crying like this meant she must be terrified.

A man beside them roared viciously, "Shut up!"

Naomi’s heart ached as she held Joy protectively in her arms. She mustered her courage and demanded in a harsh voice, "Who are you people? What do you want?"

"Don’t worry, we’re not going to kill you. We just want to use you to threaten Julian Donovan, to make him give up on acquiring the Donovan Group!"

One of them leaned in close and said this, his eyes lingering maliciously on her chest. "But if he’s stubborn and refuses, well, we can’t say what might happen next!"

She shrank back in disgust, avoiding the man’s leering face. ’So it’s because of the recent acquisition.’ Forcing her voice to sound less panicked, she feigned indifference and said to the men, "If you want to threaten him, why don’t you kidnap the person most important to him? I’m just his ex-wife!"

"But we heard this ex-wife is very popular. Julian Donovan is completely wrapped around your little finger. Who else would we kidnap?"

One of the men sneered, seeing right through her attempt to mislead them. Hearing his words, she furrowed her brow slightly. ’It seems whoever sent them knows my relationship with Julian Donovan very well.’

’I thought I would’ve been scared senseless in a situation like this, given my personality,’ she thought, ’but my mind is surprisingly clear.’ After being yelled at by the man, Joy hadn’t cried again. She just buried her face in her mother’s chest, her arms wrapped tightly around her neck.

Since the man had said as much, Naomi Shaw didn’t argue further. If they already knew, they certainly wouldn’t let her go. At this point, all she could do was pray that her years of devotion to Buddha would allow her and Joy to escape this disaster unharmed.

Outside was endless darkness. She huddled there, holding Joy tightly, trying to keep herself calm. ’Since this is about the acquisition, could Sean Donovan have sent these men? My gut tells me he wouldn’t do this. Sean Donovan is a proud man. He would rather be acquired than resort to such a low-class tactic as kidnapping me and Joy to force Julian Donovan to back down.’

’Then who could these people be?’

The car finally stopped in front of an abandoned factory. Holding Joy, she was pushed out of the car by two of the men. She tried to get a look at her surroundings, but it was pitch-black, and she could see nothing but the path at her feet.

The two men shoved her and Joy into the factory. It was filled with old machinery, filthy and chaotic, and looked like it had been abandoned for a long time. One of the men took out a rope and tied her hands and feet, then bound her to a nearby pillar. The rope was so tight and rough that it hurt enough to make her want to cry.

After tying her up, the man grabbed another rope and moved to tie up Joy. Naomi immediately pleaded with him, "Sir, please don’t tie up my daughter, okay? She’s just a little girl. You’ll break her skin if you tie her like that!"

"No way! What if she runs off?"

The man spoke gruffly and reached for Joy, who shrank behind her mother in fear. Naomi used her body to shield Joy, begging through her tears, "Sir, I’m begging you. My daughter has autism. She doesn’t understand anything. As long as I’m here, she won’t run. Besides, it’s pitch-dark. Where could she possibly run to!"

It was the only thing she could say about Joy at this point. The ropes burned her own hands and feet; how much worse would it be for a child with such delicate skin? Joy had never experienced any kind of physical suffering in her life. The thought of her little girl being treated so roughly made Naomi’s heart tremble with pain.

Her words made the man pause. He glanced at Joy, who was cowering behind her and trembling with fear, then burst out laughing. "Autism? That’s the nice way to put it. The blunt way is to call her a retard!"

"Forget it, let’s not tie her up. She’s just a little retard. It’s not like she can pull any tricks. Come on, let’s go eat in the car. After all this trouble tonight, I’m starving!"

The other man shot a contemptuous look at Naomi Shaw and Joy, then muttered and cursed as he headed out of the factory. The man who was about to tie up Joy also tossed the rope aside and followed him out.

Hearing them talk about Joy like that, Naomi’s heart twisted in sharp pain. She wanted to scream at them that her daughter was not a retard, but she held back. The consequence of such an outburst would be Joy suffering the same physical pain she was.

As the heavy factory door closed with a CREAK, Naomi Shaw finally let out a long sigh of relief. But in the next second, a rat went WHOOSH, scurrying past them. She screamed in terror. Joy, hiding behind her, was even more frightened, trembling as she tried to burrow into her mother’s arms, her small hands gripping her neck tightly.

With her hands and feet bound, she couldn’t hold Joy. All she could do was kiss her little face through her own pained tears. "Don’t be afraid, Joy. Mommy’s here!"

Joy lifted her small, panicked face from her mother’s embrace, her eyes shimmering with tears. Naomi forcefully held back the tears that were about to fall. She knew she couldn’t appear weak in front of Joy right now, or Joy would only become more afraid.

So, she sniffled hard, forcing her tears back. Then she painstakingly straightened her legs and managed a faint smile for Joy. "Joy, come on. Come sit on Mommy’s lap. Let’s wait for Daddy to come save us!"

She didn’t know why Julian Donovan was the first person she thought of, or why the word "Daddy" had come so naturally to her lips. She had never once tried to instill in Joy the idea of who her father was.