Ch. 1551..1560
Mistaking a Magnate for a Male Escort Chapter 1551
You Know It
After mulling over her words, “Zachary” supposed she was right. Now that the identity battle is still ongoing, so there are many variables. Moreover, she is exposed under the light while my side is shrouded in the dark. There is no reason for her to poison me at this point.
Else she will be digging a hole for herself if we are in a situation like this.
So the only possibility left is that person had bribed the doctors and faked the report. Or has the person bribed one of the staff and faked the sample?
I know I’m not poisoned. So the problem lies in the report.
“Don’t tell me you weren’t aware that you have been poisoned?”
Charlotte thought of a question and narrowed her eyes at him.
“Did your body show any unusual signs the past few days? Could there be any symptoms you might have missed? Maybe you were poisoned before you even returned.”
“Zachary’s” body stiffened at her consecutive speculations. His eyes were wide as a saucer with hints of disbelief and dread.
He suddenly realized that person could do that, but he pushed that thought away.
No. No way. It can’t be.
“From my understanding, if one had no obvious symptom from poisoning, that could only mean it was a slow-acting poison. Slow-acting poison requires more than one or two doses. The victim needs to be dosed over a long period-”
Zachary shot to his feet and strode to the restroom quickly before Charlotte could finish.
A smirk curled on Charlotte’s lips as she watched his back.
“Ms. Linberg, why did you say so?” Morgan asked by her ear. “There are slow-acting poisons that take effect slowly and do not require long-term doses. Like the one, Mr. Zachary had-”
“If I don’t put it that way, how do I scare him?” Charlotte countered. “Look at him now. He was so frightened that he must have gone and questioned the person behind him.”
“Right. I have managed to set up mini spy cameras at the lounge.” Morgan covered her mouth with her hand and whispered, “If he contacts that person, we’ll get a clue. And with that, we’ll be able to determine that person’s whereabouts.”
“Excellent work.” Charlotte picked up the teacup and took long, slow sips of her tea.
Bruce and Raina exchanged a glance. The two had mixed feelings about Charlotte. Raina had opened her mouth a few times intending to say something to Charlotte but shut it in the end.
On the other hand, Bruce had remained silent since the beginning.
After a while, “Zachary” came out from the lounge with a hostile expression. His eyes were burning with rage.
He tightened his hold on his phone uneasily.
“The call can’t get through?” Charlotte pointed out after just a glimpse of his side profile. “That person has begun to reject your calls?”
“Zachary” was stunned at Charlotte’s accurate assessment. But he didn’t take the bait and merely stayed silent.
At that moment, awareness passed between them.
“Zachary” was certain that Charlotte knew the truth about him and the presence of a mastermind behind him. But they had to continue with the act.
“This person is truly amazing.” Charlotte sighed, “I had thought it was stupid of that person to have you come back and impersonate your brother-”
“Zachary” was baffled by Charlotte’s right-on-target remark. “You-”
“But then I realized the ingenious plot that person had schemed. One trap after another, so closely linked. That person had calculated every step to the tiniest accuracy.”
Charlotte briefly sipped on her tea before she continued, “The night before my wedding, that person had you sneak into Northridge and set fire. Then, that person added fuel to the fire by spreading all kinds of rumors when the Nacht Group was in chaos.
“There were rumors about how I was back for revenge under my brother’s instruction. How I intentionally hurt Zachary for the assets of the Nacht family and there is also a rumor about my children aren’t his.
“Everything builds up to the big reveal today.”
Mistaking a Magnate for a Male Escort Chapter 1552
A Game Of Chess
“He already knew that you wouldn’t be able to hide your identity for much longer. In fact, he wasn’t afraid that I would expose who you are because what he really needed was for the whole world to know that you were Zachary. After that, he began to plan the poisoning and the matter involving the kids so that he had enough evidence to reach his goal.
“That’s why he poisoned you and planned this entire thing. It was to get your DNA through the blood test so that he could also prove my crimes. That’s how he intended to force me to return all my shares and assets and also how he got you to divorce me under Zachary’s name. After that, he chased me out of the Nacht residence.
“Sadly, you won’t be lasting as a pawn for any longer since the poison is getting to you. Of course, before anything happens to you, he’ll get you to marry his daughter as Zachary. Once your wedding is officiated, you’ll finally die. Naturally, as your lawfully wedded wife, she’ll inherit all of the Nacht Group’s inheritance. What an amazing plan!”
As she spoke, Charlotte couldn’t resist the urge to clap her hands and say, “I can’t even help but clap for him! Wouldn’t you say so, Chris?”
Chris’ expression quickly changed, and he began to look around in panic.
Meanwhile, the bodyguards stood in the corner with solemn expressions and didn’t even glance in their direction, not wanting to be roped into anything.
Raina and Bruce were taken aback but managed to calm down quickly. It was as if they had already guessed it.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Chris was evidently in denial, but his gaze had begun to betray his panic.
Did he really poison me?
If he did, then all of Charlotte’s other speculations are probably correct too.
This also means that person has been treating me as a pawn this whole time. In order to win the game, he was willing to poison me and is probably going to burn the bridges after that.
Chris was starting to freak out the more he thought about it. However, at the same time, he was thinking about what that person had said before hanging up.
“Don’t worry. I’ve already prepared everything. We’re winning for sure, but you also have to be resolute. Don’t believe anything that Charlotte says.”
After all, Charlotte was his enemy, so everything she said could be mere lies trying to sow discord between them.
I shouldn’t believe her. Absolutely not.
“Chris, I’ve always thought you were just too frivolous. You don’t seem like a bad person, but I never imagined you would actually get plastic surgery to look like your brother and actually try to get him into trouble.”
Charlotte continued, “You’ve really disappointed me.”
“Shut up!” Chris suddenly bellowed angrily. He turned to glare at her coldly. “Just shut up and wait for the results. Quit barking.”
At that moment, he was overwhelmed with rage. If it weren’t for him being Zachary right now, he would have already explained to her what “getting someone into trouble” was.
To him, Zachary was the one who got him into trouble when the former killed his mom.
“Okay!” Charlotte shrugged and looked at her watch. “Your brother will be back soon. By then, you won’t be able to put on an act anymore even if you tried.”
“Hmph!” Chris scoffed coldly. That’s if he can come back.
After that, the two of them kept quiet and continued waiting.
Chris looked calm on the surface, but his mind was all over the place. He couldn’t help but think about what Charlotte had said, wondering if that person had actually poisoned him and was trying to kill him.
No wonder I’ve been feeling unwell lately. I should have known that something is up.
Meanwhile, Charlotte sipped her tea languidly and gave Chris a sidelong glance. She could tell how panicked he was and that he was clearly trying to stay calm. As she sipped her tea, she smirked in triumph.
The minutes slowly ticked by, and three hours passed.
There was only an hour left until the DNA results came out.
Mistaking a Magnate for a Male Escort Chapter 1553
A Plan Within A Plan
Lupine still hadn’t called, so there was no way of knowing anything from their side.
Feeling anxious, Morgan quickly called them, but nobody was picking up.
Even Charlotte was starting to get worried, her brows furrowing.
The more nervous she felt, the calmer Chris seemed, and he mocked, “You should be thinking about how to beg me. If not, I will kick you and your kids out of the Nacht residence.”
“Shut up!” Charlotte gave him the death stare.
“Being adaptable is a good thing,” Chris said with a cold chuckle. “Just accept your fate.”
Charlotte couldn’t be bothered to continue talking and picked up her teacup again. Despite it being tea of high quality, she couldn’t taste anything.
Frowning, she continued to stare at her watch as she counted the passing seconds. However, Lupine still hadn’t replied by then.
Chris was waiting for his victory to be announced too.
He wasn’t all that confident since he was still paranoid that he had been poisoned. Still, he knew that he had to calm himself down first. Only after winning this round would he get the right to make the decision.
The more time ticked by, the more nervous everyone felt. Even Raina, Bruce, and Morgan were starting to look anxious.
It was the hardest hour that all of them had ever experienced.
All of them wanted the minutes to tick by faster so that they could hear the results as soon as possible, but they also didn’t want to hear an answer they dreaded.
They remained stewing in their nerves and uneasiness until 2:55 p.m.
There were only five minutes left until the results came out.
Charlotte occasionally glanced up at the tightly shut door. Although Spencer and Johaan weren’t here yet, she knew they would arrive soon.
However, Lupine hadn’t updated her yet. She was unable to sit still and was about to call Lupine when her phone started to ring.
It was a call from Lupine.
Morgan called out excitedly, “It’s Lupine! They must have found Mr. Nacht.”
Chris’ expression began to sour, and he glanced at Charlotte’s phone nervously. Could it be true?
Charlotte picked up the call in front of him. “Hey, Lupine. What’s up?”
Chris continued to stare at her phone unblinkingly. It was as if he was trying to hear what was being said.
“Really? That’s amazing!” Charlotte exclaimed in joy. “Quick, bring him over! I’ll get Raina and Bruce from my side to meet you guys!”
After that, she hung up and looked at Raina and Bruce urgently. “Lupine found Zachary! He’s at the foot of the mountain. Quick, go and get them.”
“Really?”
Both Raina and Bruce were overjoyed, especially the former. She seemed completely overwhelmed as she said, “That’s great news! I’ll get an ambulance on the way immediately. Mr. Nacht is probably still not in a good condition. We’ll rush over first.”
Having said that, Bruce and Raina rushed off.
Chris started to panic at his near-victory being snatched away from him. He immediately placed a call to that person, but no one picked up.
“Stop calling. He’s not going to show himself right now,” Charlotte scoffed coldly. “Ever since you told him that we were looking for Zachary and he failed at stopping us, he knew that he’s dead meat. There’s no way he would show up now.”
“You—” Chris stared at Charlotte in shock. “So you purposely revealed all that information to me to draw him out of hiding?”
“Obviously,” Charlotte said and raised her eyebrow. “Soon enough, my brother will take over the Gold family. Jesse wouldn’t be able to deny it even if he wanted to.”
“You—” Chris was panicking now. How did Charlotte know the name of the person behind the scenes? Jesse is really done for this time.
With that in mind, Chris knew he was in deep trouble.
Mistaking a Magnate for a Male Escort Chapter 1554
A Plan Within A Plan 2
Charlotte narrowed her eyes and stared at Chris coldly before checking the time again.
It was already 2:59 p.m. There was only a minute left until three o’clock.
The president’s office had great soundproofing, but Charlotte felt like she could still hear footsteps slowly approaching.
The results were almost out. They were almost here!
“Chris.” Charlotte stepped closer to him and lowered her voice. “If you tell the truth now and apologize to your brother, maybe we can think about letting you go.”
“I—”
Chris couldn’t even finish his sentence as he sweated profusely and fidgeted with his hands nervously. Obviously, he was stuck between a rock and a hard place.
“I know Jesse was behind everything. From what I know of you, there’s no way you would have been able to come up with all of this on your own.”
Charlotte continued to advise him kindly, “Think about it. Why else would Jesse be helping you? He obviously just wants to snatch away the Nacht family’s money, right? The moment he has real control over you, you’ll be nothing more than a puppet to him. Either way, you’re not going to get anything good out of it.”
“I never wanted to get anything out of it.”
Chris finally spoke up. With a dark expression, he spat out, “I just hate him for killing my mother. She was his family too.”
“He didn’t kill your mother. Your grandfather did,” Charlotte said coldly. “He was the one who fired the gun, not Zachary. Besides, your mother did her own fair share of horrible things. It was an act of mercy to kill her when he did.”
“Shut up!” Chris bellowed.
The bodyguards finally reacted and looked over in shock.
The two of them had been whispering prior to this, so the bodyguards hadn’t had the chance to actually hear anything. However, Chris’ sudden shouting had just drawn all of their attention toward him.
Chris stared at Charlotte with gritted teeth, his eyes practically glowing with hatred. He looked as if he wanted to wring her neck.
Zara may have done a lot of bad things, but to him, she was still a good mother.
Not only had she taken care of him and taught him everything he knew, but she also planned out his entire life for him and was practically living just for him.
That was why he drew the line at anyone insulting his mother.
“That’s still a fact even if I didn’t mention it.” Charlotte continued mocking him, “How have the three days of treatment been for you? It hurt, right? The pain I went through was a thousand, no, a million times worse! Your mother kidnapped me so that she could take over the role as the Nacht Group’s CEO. She also threatened Zachary and poisoned me so that I would get sent away by Henry. Even then, your mother still wasn’t satisfied and told Sharon to go to T Nation to kill me. I got tortured by her, and Mrs. Berry got killed because of me. All of this wasn’t enough for her, though, was it? She even tried to kidnap my kids. Are you telling me that someone as toxic and evil as your mother didn’t deserve to die?”
“Shut up. Shut up! Shut the f*ck up!”
Chris couldn’t take it any longer and leaped up before reaching out to strangle Charlotte. “Don’t you dare talk about her that way! Don’t you f*cking dare put her name in your mouth!”
“Mr. Nacht, please calm down.”
The bodyguards were about to come over to pull him away when the office door opened. Spencer and Johann both stood in surprise when they saw what was happening.
“W—”
“Zachary” was currently kneeling on the sofa like a hungry wolf with his hands wringing Charlotte’s neck, looking incredibly sinister.
Charlotte was holding onto his hands, screaming, “Chris! I know you pretended to be Zachary to get revenge for your mother, but she died rightfully! She should have been killed a long time ago. I wish I fired even more shots at her.”
“You—”
“Zachary” was bright red with anger and was about to speak when his phone suddenly rang.
He instinctively looked at the caller ID and walked off to the lounge to take the call.
Mistaking a Magnate for a Male Escort Chapter 1555
Winning
Immediately, Charlotte panicked at the sight of his phone call and rushed over as she screamed, “You’re a bstard! You’re a piece of sht who doesn’t deserve anything you got. All you could do was pretend to be your brother because you knew how f*cking useless you were. Don’t even think about getting away with any of this. Your brother is coming back soon, and when he does, you’re dead meat.”
As she yelled, she clawed at him and tried to snatch his phone from his hands.
“Shut up, b*tch! Shut up!” Chris said as he shoved her away, trying to take the call.
The two of them kept shoving and pulling as Charlotte urgently tried to snatch the phone away. Despite her best efforts, Chris still heard everything the other person was saying.
“Don’t fall for it! They still haven’t found him!”
Instantly, Chris came to his senses as if a bucket of cold water had been dumped over his head. Charlotte was doing it on purpose! She put on this whole act of having found Zachary to make me lose my cool and blow my cover.
Chris immediately hung up and turned to look at Charlotte. “Wifey, what’s wrong? Are you insane? Why are you calling me Chris?”
“Stop pretending!” Charlotte yelled furiously. “You’re not Zachary. You’re Chris! You underwent plastic surgery to look like him, and you were the one who set fire to Southridge. Not only did you try to kill Zachary, but you’re also impersonating him!”
“She’s gone insane!” Chris said, completely disregarding everything she was saying. He turned to instruct the guards, “Take her away.”
“Yes, sir,” the bodyguards said and pulled her away.
“Let go of me! Let me go!”
Charlotte struggled furiously while Morgan approached to push the bodyguards away.
“Stop pretending!” Kallum said as he jabbed a finger at Charlotte accusingly. “The DNA results are out. Those three kids don’t belong to Mr. Nacht at all. The rumors were true! You schemed against Mr. Nacht and used your three bastard children to infiltrate our family. How dare you?”
“What? They aren’t mine?” Chris said, exaggerating his shock. Following that, he strutted over and said, “Show me the report!”
“Here you go, Mr. Nacht.”
Kallum immediately passed him the doctor’s DNA report.
Chris glanced at it and yelled, “Charlotte, what is the meaning of this?”
“What exactly do you want me to say?” Charlotte rebuked, completely unruffled. She turned to ask the doctor instead, “May I ask what the results indicate?”
“The DNA report shows that the kids are not Mr. Nacht’s,” the doctor replied carefully.
“Did you hear that, Charlotte?” Chris roared angrily. “How much longer are you going to lie to everybody?”
“They aren’t his kids, but they are biologically related, no?” Charlotte asked. “There has to be at least more than ten percent of similarities in there.”
“About that…” the doctor hesitated, mildly confused. “We’ll have to run more tests to find that out.”
“There will be no need for that,” Spencer said calmly. “Since they’ve already been proven not to be his kids, what else do we have to prove?”’
“Spencer…”
Having said that, Johann just sighed and walked away without another word.
“Mr. Sterk?”
“Charlotte!” Spencer cut her off and said coldly, “Since the cat has already been let out of the bag, there’s no need to say anything else. Mr. Williams will be coming very soon. Please sign the equity transfer contract and return everything that Mr. Zachary has given you.”
Chris finally relaxed after hearing that. I’ve won! I’ve finally won.
“All of these are from my husband. Why should I return any of it?” Charlotte said angrily. “If you want me to return these so badly, then we can bring it to court.”
“How shameless can you be?” Kallum hissed.
“Since you refuse to comply, then we’ll call the police and expose everything you’ve done to the public,” Spencer said with a cold glare. “I hope you know that your kids will be affected the most if that happens.”
Mistaking a Magnate for a Male Escort Chapter 1556
Signing
Those words managed to extinguish Charlotte’s anger almost completely.
After all, her kids were her soft spot; her Achilles’ heel. No matter what happened to her or everyone else, she couldn’t let her kids get involved.
Suddenly, someone knocked on the door loudly.
Rodney and his team entered promptly.
They clearly already knew what they were there for and placed the document on the table wordlessly before standing aside.
They were on Charlotte’s side, but the DNA results were hard facts that no one could deny. At this point, they had to do their jobs.
Almost everyone in the house was now on Chris’ side, apart from Morgan and the two female bodyguards from the Lindberg family who were on Charlotte’s side. Despite that, they seemed especially helpless.
After all, the Nacht family had the upper hand now.
“Charlotte, you better sign it right now. If you do, we can guarantee your safe departure from here. If not, we’ll be forced to—”
“If you don’t stop barking, I’m going to kick you out,” Spencer finally cracked and cut Kallum off.
“Spencer, why are you still on her side even now?” Kallum said, annoyed.
“Leave,” Spencer said simply, slamming his cane against the floor.
Some bodyguards rushed over to escort Kallum out of the room.
“Okay, okay! I’ll keep my mouth shut. I won’t say anything else. I’ll just watch, okay?” Kallum panicked and quickly made a gesture as if he was zipping up his mouth.
Chris glanced at the guards, who promptly stepped aside.
“I suggest you just sign the document,” Spencer advised and pointed at the document. “Once you do that, everything will come to an end. We won’t take any legal action, and we’ll keep this matter from the public. However, we will be looking into the fire at the Nacht Residence as well as Zachary’s disappearance. We’ll inform the police of everything you did as well.”
“Is this even a fair deal?” Charlotte scoffed. “These stocks and assets are incredibly valuable. Why should I let go of them for my so-called ‘reputation’?”
“You may not care about your reputation, but what about your kids?” Spencer asked. “Don’t you care about them and their future? If news of this got out, how are they going to show their face in public? There will be eyes following them everywhere they go.”
“Exactly!” Kallum butted in.
“They may not be mine, but after calling me Daddy for so many years, I wouldn’t want that to happen to them,” Chris said. “I don’t care about what happened in the past anymore. Now, all I want is for you to return all of your assets. That’s already kind enough, isn’t it? What are you worrying about?”
“Yes, how kind of you,” Charlotte said, glaring at him coldly. “I hope you know that when I expose you for who you truly are, I won’t be this forgiving.”
“You’re insane,” Chris replied, avoiding her stare in guilt.
“Spencer, you remember what Zachary told you before he disappeared, right?” Charlotte was still trying her best to convince Spencer, “Please believe me. He’s Chris, not Zachary. He got plastic surgery to look like Zachary, and he came back for revenge-”
“Shut up!”
In his urgency, Chris slapped Charlotte across the face.
The slap was so loud that it rendered the room silent for a few seconds.
Even Chris himself was taken aback, and he stared at his hand in shock. His gaze momentarily softened in guilt, but he soon regained composure.
“How dare you!”
Morgan rushed over and berated Chris, but she got held back by the bodyguards.
Charlotte’s face was still stuck looking to the side from Chris’ slap. Despite the fiery pain on her cheek, she was calmer than ever, except for her tightly clenched fists.
Spencer frowned and looked at Charlotte with conflicting emotions.
“Charlotte, I didn’t want to pursue the matter of you lying to me after all the years that we’ve been together, but I now see that I’ve been a fool trying to be nice to you. How could you make up such lies?”
Chris continued to yell at Charlotte, “Sign and leave! If not, I’ll spread all of your disgusting actions to the public.”
Mistaking a Magnate for a Male Escort Chapter 1557
The Real Professional
Those words don’t sound like anything that Zachary would ever say.
Spencer stared at him, and his frown deepened.
“Just sign, Ms. Lindberg,” Rodney said quietly. “It’ll be better for everyone.”
Without another word, Charlotte simply picked up the pen and signed her name onto the documents.
Chris’ eyes lit up at the sight of the thick sheaf of papers.
Even Kallum was clearly excited.
“Good,” Spencer said in a low voice at the sight of Charlotte’s signatures. “You can leave now. I will settle things with the board of directors.”
Charlotte remained silent and glared at Chris before turning to leave.
Immediately, Morgan and the other two bodyguards followed closely behind her.
The bodyguards opened up a path for them to walk through while everybody else simply stared at them.
Lucy continued watching Charlotte with the intention to go and talk to her, but in the end, she simply remained rooted to her spot.
Everyone in the president’s office watched as Charlotte left, but none of them dared to come up and talk to her.
Some executives even cursed, “She was let off too easily.”
Meanwhile, Charlotte, Morgan, and the others walked into the elevator.
It was about to close when Johann suddenly emerged from the crowd and said softly, “Take care of the kids, Charlotte! I know we’ll meet again.”
Charlotte nodded quietly.
After walking out of the elevator, she got into the car.
Morgan finally exploded, “What the hell was up with all those people? They’re so shameless! All they do is trim their sails to the wind.”
“Hasn’t Lupine replied?” one of the bodyguards asked carefully. “Have they found Mr. Nacht?”
“It’s impossible to find him this quickly,” Morgan said in disappointment. “While waiting for the results, I was in contact with Lupine the whole time. They’ve been putting their all into looking for him, but nothing’s coming up.”
“Then what was the phone call from before?”
“I purposely asked Lupine to make the call,” Morgan replied. “We wanted to get to that imposter and make him think we already found Mr. Nacht so that he would panic and hopefully expose himself.”
“I see!”
The two bodyguards nodded in surprise.
“We would have succeeded too if it weren’t for the mastermind calling him at the last minute,” Morgan said angrily. “Ms. Lindberg was doing so well! That imposter was no match for her, but that mastermind truly does have a few tricks up his sleeve.”
“You’re right.”
“Morgan!” Charlotte said urgently, suddenly remembering something. “Go to Garden Villa and pick up the kids right now.”
“All right,” Morgan said, instantly starting the car.
“Call Gordon and ask him to arrange for people to greet us there,” Charlotte continued.
“Understood.” One of the bodyguards immediately made the call.
“Drive faster, Morgan.”
Charlotte had a bad feeling that that evil man would do something to her kids. If they managed to get their hands on her kids, she wouldn’t have anything left.
With her soft spot in their hands, all she could do was accept her fate.
“Ms. Lindberg, I can’t get through to Gordon,” one of the bodyguards said anxiously. “What do we do?”
“Call Lupine and tell her to return first.”
Charlotte was really beginning to panic now. She was finally aware that she may have underestimated the mastermind.
Before that, she had assumed that she was doing well and that everything was going her way, but only now did she realize that everything had been in Jesse’s control the whole time.
For every step that she made, he was always one step ahead of her. He had managed to predict everything she would do and even used Chris as a pawn for his plan, making her assume that he was merely on the same level as Chris.
Now, she finally realized that he was using Chris’ incompetence to hide his actual capability.
Even now, he had complete control over every single detail. If he got his hands on the kids, there was nothing they could do even if Zachary returned.
Mistaking a Magnate for a Male Escort Chapter 1558
Underestimated
Charlotte grew more anxious the more she thought about it and kept urging Morgan, “Drive faster!”
“This is the fastest I can go, Ms. Lindberg,” Morgan said, almost in tears from nerves herself. “This is a public road, and there are a lot of other cars and pedestrians here. If I go any faster, we’ll get into trouble.”
“Tell the other family members to go to Garden Villa and pick up the kids,” Charlotte said, beginning to think of other solutions. “Tell everyone to be there. Now.”
“Okay!”
“Ms. Lindberg, are you saying that that monster is going to do something to the kids?” Morgan said, panicking. “Mr. Spencer’s people would protect them, right? Even in the worst-case scenario, they should be able to hold out until we get there!”
“Spencer’s men won’t be able to last that long.”
Charlotte picked up her phone and tried to call Robbie but to no avail.
This only made her more anxious. “Sh*t. They’ve probably been lying in wait for a long time. I can’t believe they acted right after I signed that contract.”
“It can’t be,” Morgan hurriedly said. “Didn’t you say that Mr. Lindberg’s guys would protect them in hiding? Nothing will happen to them.”
“They were supposed to, but after what happened today, I’m afraid all of Danrique’s guys are helping to look for Zachary.”
Charlotte was kicking herself inwardly, and she hated herself for taking so long to think of something so important.
She thought revealing to Chris that they were looking for Zachary would result in the mastermind conducting a search for him too.
Now, however, she realized that that person had only sent a portion of his people to go after Zachary just to throw her off. The real threat was probably already lying in wait at Garden Villa, just waiting to get their claws on her children.
“Sh*t!” Morgan said and stepped on the gas pedal harder. “All we can do right now is pray.”
Charlotte picked up her phone and called Gordon, but he wasn’t picking up, possibly looking for Zachary in a place without cell reception.
“Ms. Lindberg, we can’t get through to Lupine either,” one of her bodyguards reported urgently.
At that moment, Charlotte was gritting her teeth in anger. She couldn’t believe how smart that person was. He had probably intended to lead the others to an area without reception so that he could ambush them.
All of this was practically too perfect of a plan.
The more stupid Chris acted, the more she underestimated Jesse.
That was precisely why she had miscalculated everything.
Beep…
Suddenly, Charlotte’s phone rang. She picked it up only to see Spencer’s name.
Immediately, she answered, “Spencer?”
“What’s going on? Did your subordinates come to pick up your kids?” Spencer asked urgently.
“What? Someone already picked up the kids?” Charlotte asked urgently. “When? Who was it? Were Cain and Kyle not watching them?”
“The two of them and a couple of other subordinates got taken away in a long SUV.”
Spencer’s voice was low, but he sounded extremely urgent nonetheless. “Believe me. Whether or not they’re Zachary’s kids, I don’t want anything to happen to them. Besides, you know I’m on your side.”
“I know,” Charlotte cut him off and tried her best to control her emotions. “Listen to me, Spencer. I’ll settle this on my own, but you have to follow our original plan. Don’t change anything because of this.”
“Are the kids really okay?”
“I’ll do my best to save them. Besides, Danrique’s kids are there too. There’s no way he would let anything happen to them.”
“Okay,” Spencer said, breathing a sigh of relief. “Johann and I are still here at the company. Protect yourself and the kids.”
“Got it.”
After hanging up, Charlotte thought about it for a second before calling Nancy.
She only picked up after a while. In a soft voice, she answered, “Hello?”
“Nancy, if anything happens to my kids, I’m going to drag the entire Gold family to hell with me.”
Mistaking a Magnate for a Male Escort Chapter 1559
I Owe You One
“What are you telling me all this for? It’s not like I’m involved,” Nancy said coldly, almost hanging up.
“You can choose whether you want to be the hero or the villain right now,” Charlotte said urgently. “Just tell me your father’s phone number and identification number. That will save six kids. Both the Nacht family and the Lindberg family will owe you one!”
Nancy fell silent for a few seconds and murmured, “Crazy.” before hanging up.
“Hello? Hey!”
Charlotte called out a few times urgently, gritting her teeth in anger. She thought she had lost all hope when she suddenly received a text.
Immediately, she opened it to see Jesse’s phone number and identification number.
Charlotte immediately copied the numbers and pasted them into the software that Robbie had invented to find his location.
At that moment, the car was already driving into the Garden Villa’s gates.
The bodyguards from Northridge had also rushed over.
Spencer’s bodyguards also emerged, and the three convoys met in the middle of the junction before they went to report to Charlotte urgently.
“Ms. Lindberg, some people from Mr. Zachary’s side suddenly showed up to fetch the kids. Cain and Kyle were about to go with them when they realized that something was wrong, but before they could do anything, those people had brought away the entire convoy.”
“Why didn’t you stop them in time?” Charlotte asked in frustration.
“By the time we realized it, the convoy had already driven away, and we immediately called Mr. Spencer-”
“Okay,” Charlotte cut them off. She knew these were just a bunch of old, retired bodyguards who only had to protect Spencer most of the time. It was only natural that they weren’t the most alert or skilled, and she knew she couldn’t ask so much of them.
As for Cain and Kyle, they had been dragged away too.
Whoever had kidnapped them probably held the kids’ safety over their heads, rendering them unable to resist.
Nevertheless, it was useless to think about all of this now.
“Ms. Lindberg, after a thorough search, we think they’ve gone toward the northwest,” the Northridge group reported.
“Go after them, quick,” Charlotte commanded.
“Yes, Ms. Lindberg.”
“You guys will stay here and inform me of any updates,” Charlotte told Spencer’s bodyguards before rushing away.
All they knew was that the group of kidnappers was headed northwest, but none of them was sure exactly where they had gone.
Charlotte made them split up to hasten the search while she used Robbie’s software to find Jesse.
However, because Charlotte wasn’t a professional, she wasn’t familiar enough with the software to use it properly.
Suddenly, Johann called. “Charlotte, do you happen to know who kidnapped the kids? If you have their information, I can find them through satellite tracking.”
“Thank you, Johann!”
Charlotte immediately sent the phone number and identification number to him.
“I’ll get started right now. Wait for me, all right?”
“Thank you so much!” Charlotte said, incredibly grateful.
Time was of the essence, so Charlotte brought her own team to look for her kids all over the place while waiting for Johann’s tracking to work.
All she wanted right now was to find her kids.
Suddenly, Raina and Bruce called and asked what happened.
In order to confuse Chris, Charlotte hadn’t told Raina and Bruce that it was a ruse. They had fallen for it and actually went to look for Zachary, but after finding out that it was an act, they heard from the Lindberg bodyguards that the kids had been kidnapped.
With that, the two of them immediately split up to begin searching.
Raina brought the men back to the hospital to look for Ellie while Bruce gathered more people to help Charlotte so they could find the other five kids.
Soon enough, Raina sent over some good news. It turned out that Ellie was at the hospital and was completely safe.
Mistaking a Magnate for a Male Escort Chapter 1560
Rescue
Gordon had always been steady and trustworthy. He left behind several trusted men to stay put at the hospital to protect Ellie while he left with his other subordinates to look for Zachary.
Previously, someone tried to sneak into the hospital to abduct Ellie. However, they did not manage to do it successfully.
Now, she was finally in safe hands under the protection of those men.
With that, Charlotte could heave a sigh of relief. She urged Raina to help her take good care of Ellie.
In a sincere tone, Raina answered, “Rest assured, Ms. Lindberg. Ellie is Mr. Nacht and your child. I will protect her with my life!”
Charlotte was moved by Raina’s response.
She was worried that Bruce and Raina would believe in those lies and misunderstand her. Nonetheless, they chose to trust and stand by her even when she did not give them any form of explanation.
“Bruce thinks the same too,” Raina added. “And the Elite Eighteen as well. We’ve always kept Mr. Nacht’s words in mind and are determined to protect you and the kids no matter what!”
“Thank you.”
In truth, Charlotte was a little guilty of not divulging the truth to Raina, Bruce, and the rest when she found out that Chris was an imposter. She had done that as she wanted to garner their most authentic reactions to coordinate with her act.
Even till the later part of the plan, she did not tell any of them. Yet, they still chose to believe her like how they always did.
Disappointment engulfed her when her fellow comrades who stood by her had turned their back on her and chose to keep their distance at a critical time like when she left Divine Corporation.
Only till now did she realize that she was never alone.
“Go ahead with your work. I’ll be here at the hospital.”
“All right.”
After concluding the call, Charlotte led the others and resumed the search. Nonetheless, they were searching everywhere blindly as they had too few clues. That method was not particularly effective, and hence they could only pin all their hopes on Johann.
Because this was a critical matter involving classified information, Johann had to personally do the work alone since it was not an option for them to enlist the help of other experts.
Johann had been an expert in technology since young. He had participated in many developments of the technological products of the Divine Corporation, and hence he was very familiar with tracking software. It was a pity that their rival seemed to have high-security settings for their communication devices.
Besides, he was no longer as fit as in the past due to his old age. Coupled with how he was not feeling well that day, it was not an easy feat to brace himself through and brainstorm for ideas.
Time ticked by, and Charlotte was only getting more and more anxious. She had ordered her subordinate to retrieve the surveillance camera footage but could only lay their hands on the one outside Garden Villa.
As for the footage for other parts of the roads, they could only wait for the police to provide them.
She had contacted the police, but the latter required them to provide case information, then file for an investigation before they could check the surveillance cameras and look for the culprit.
Those processes only made the situation even more complicated.
Just as things were becoming stagnant and there was no breakthrough point, a call from Johann suddenly rang. On the phone, he said agitatedly, “Robbie has sent a clue. I’ve managed to find them…”
“That’s great news!”
Despite receiving that piece of clue, Charlotte did not hurry over with her subordinates. Instead, she dismissed everyone else and only took Morgan and Bruce along with her.
“Just the three of us, Ms. Lindberg? Will we be able to save them?” Morgan seemed uneasy.
“It’ll be too obvious if too many people are there,” Charlotte said as she frowned. “Now that the kids are in their hands, it’ll be bad if they harm them.”
“Got it.” Morgan nodded. “I’ll save them even if it’s at the expense of my life.”
“No need to do that. Your task is to drive the car, take the kids, and leave with you,” Charlotte instructed. “You have to remember that no matter what happens, put the kids’ safety as the priority.”
“Ms. Lindberg…”
“This is an order,” Charlotte snapped.
“Yes.” Morgan did not dare to comment any further and immediately got into the car.
“Bruce…” Charlotte turned to look at him. “You’re the most skilled person here, and that’s why you’re the only one I can bring with me. But I’m afraid it’s going to be very dangerous…”
“Ms. Lindberg, you don’t need to worry.” Bruce understood her meaning well. “Mr. Nacht gave me my life. As a member of the Nacht family, I’m not afraid of death!”
“Thank you.” Even though Charlotte was overwhelmed with mixed emotions on the inside, she did not say anything more. “Let’s get in the car.”
“Sure.”