I Married My Ex's Billionaire Father-Chapter 339: Psychological Warfare

The attachment was a video file.

He pressed play, dread coiling in his gut.

The footage was shaky, filmed in the same dim, concrete room as the video Levi had received. Lily was still there, still crying. But the man in the balaclava was gone.

The thing that made this voice different was that it had clear audio playing over it.

The sound of a woman pleading.

Ken immediately recognized the voice when he heard it. He stiffened in shock and was immediately transported back over thirty years ago when he had learned of Maeve’s disappearance.

"Please don’t hurt my baby, Ophelia."

Ken listened as Mave’s voice cried, begging not for her own life but for the life of her baby.

Their baby.

"What is this?" Bella whispered, peering over his shoulder to get a better look.

"Ophelia is playing psychological warfare," Ken said, his voice hollow. "The sound is from years ago. She wants to break me down so that I can be a blubbering mess who will be of no help to Lyse."

He deleted the email, his mind racing. "She must have gotten it when she tortured Maeve."

"That’s sick, why did she keep it all this while?" Bella asked, horrified.

"Because she wants to enjoy listening to her enemies grovel. I imagine this has given her a lot of joy in the years."

Ken felt sick thinking about Ophelia listening to this audio and relishing Maeve’s pain.

Ophelia was a sadistic person who no doubt enjoyed the misery of people. The fact that she had kept that audio for so long told him everything he already knew about her character. He had never actually realized how bad it really was.

"What are you going to do?" Bella asked.

"I’m going to find her," Ken said, his jaw set. "Before she does something even more stupid."

If she thought that he would crumble then her plan had backfired. He was enraged, and he would protect Maeve’s daughter even if it was the last thing he did.

He started walking towards a line of waiting taxis.

"Wait, I’m coming with you." Bella said, following him.

"Bella, no, this is not your fight." Ken protested.

"The hell it isn’t. Lyse is my goddaughter. I’m not letting you go alone."

Ken looked at the determined look on her face and knew there was no point in arguing.

"Fine," he said, opening the taxi door for her. "But you do exactly as I say."

****

In the penthouse, the young guard’s attention was elsewhere for just a second.

A second was all Lyse needed.

She didn’t slam him. She was smarter than that, there was no way she was going to win against a professional. She grabbed a heavy cast-iron skillet from the hanging rack over the island. As she passed him on her way back to the living room, she stumbled, a convincing cry of alarm. As he reached out to steady her, she brought the skillet up and around in a swift, practiced arc. It connected with the side of his head with a dull, sickening thud.

He crumpled to the floor without a sound.

The older guard spun around, but Lyse was already moving. She didn’t hesitate. She drove her elbow hard into his solar plexus, using the momentum from her pivot. He grunted, the air leaving his lungs in a whoosh, and he doubled over. She brought the skillet down again, this time on the back of his neck. He collapsed beside his partner.

Her heart hammered against her ribs, a frantic drumbeat of adrenaline and fear. She stared at the two unconscious men, a wave of shock at her own actions washing over her. But there was no time for that.

"I am so so sorry, Levi will give you a nice raise." She whispered apologetically to their unconscious bodies.

She pulled the keycard from the older guard’s pocket, her fingers shaking so badly she could barely get it into the lock. The beep of the door releasing was the sweetest sound she’d ever heard.

She didn’t look back. She ran, turning away from the main entrance and using ther servant’s exit.

****

The old textile factory loomed against the grey sky, a skeletal giant of rust and broken windows. Levi stood in the shadow of a derelict warehouse across the street, a map of the building’s underground levels glowing on the tablet in his hand.

"The main entrance is a no-go. Heavily reinforced," Rex’s voice said through the discreet earpiece Levi wore. "We have no eyes on the generator room due to its position in the building, No other signs of human life on the other levels."

"And Ophelia?" Levi asked.

"She’s disappeared like a ghost."

Levi’s jaw tightened. She wasn’t a ghost. She was a spider, waiting at the center of her web for prey to come to her.

"There’s a service elevator shaft that runs adjacent to the generator room. It’s been decommissioned for decades. Maintenance access is through a sewer grate three blocks north. It’s a long shot, Levi. And a tight squeeze."

"I’ll take it," Levi said, his mind already calculating the route, the risks.

He was about to give the order when Rex’s voice crackled again, strained. "Sir... we have another problem. The penthouse. We’ve lost contact with the team inside. Their comms are dead."

A jolt, cold and sharp, shot through Levi. "Try their phones."

"Going straight to voicemail. All of them."

"Panic alarm?"

"Silent. No signal."

Lyse.

A red haze began to creep at the edges of his vision. He had left her. He had put her in a cage and assumed she would stay there but he should have known better.

Her wilfulness was one of the traits he admire most about her but right now he just wanted to grab her and shake her.

Did she not realise how much danger she could be in? Did she not realise that she had just run into the arms of the enemy?

He squeezed his eyes shut, forcing the rage down, compartmentalizing. Ophelia wanted him to make a mistake. To run back to the penthouse, to abandon the girl, to lose focus. This was just another piece in her sick game.

"Seal the building," he commanded, his voice dangerously calm. "I don’t care what you have to do. Tear the doors down. Find her."

He started moving, striding towards the rendezvous point for the service shaft.

"Levi, what are you doing?" Rex’s voice was urgent. "You can’t go in there now. Not blind."

"I’m not blind," Levi said, his gaze fixed on the factory. "I know exactly where I’m going. And I know what’s waiting for me."

It was best to do this now.

If he was able to bring Lily out, safe. Lyse would come back.

Then he could scold her for making him age ten years from fear.