Chapter 268 - Abandoning Beauty

Scarlet was still dazed, not processing what was happening and still shell shocked from the sight of someone getting shot and bleeding out in front of her. None of what Leah said or did was registered in her brain even when Alex was getting slapped by Leah. Her eyes were dull and her behaviour unusually calm as if her soul wasn't present.

Both Leah and Alex noticed this about Scarlet after a while and Alex growled when Leah asked Scarlet if she was mute.

"I was talking to you, answer me you s.l.u.t!"

The hotel heiress raised her hand to strike Scarlet but Alex was faster. The model swung her bound legs towards Leah's face when she came closer. Alex's heels made contact with Leah's chin and there was a sickening cracking sound as Leah was flung backwards from the force.

Unlike them, Leah wasn't the type to practise martial arts or work out. That one kick from a well-trained model sent her unconscious and Alex checked on Scarlet. Her sister was still dazed but the only person watching over them was now unconscious. Alex didn't waste time, she quickly tried to free herself from the wire-ties.

Bringing them to a presidential suite was a terrible miscalculation on Anastasia's part. Alex was extremely familiar with the things they had and her eyes fell on the weapon of her choice.

It might be difficult to stand with her hands bound behind her and her ankles tied together but Alex didn't give up. She wriggled like a worm, abandoning all her beauty, grace and dignity. The distance between freedom and her was only a few hops away from the bed. The wine glass by the counter could be grabbed with her teeth and Alex knew that the bathroom floor was made of hard tiles. She could break it there and lock herself inside to work on getting out of her restraints.

After ten long minutes, the wire-tie behind her hands were finally broken. Alex had never been happier and quickly checked the device on her anklet. It was still working so Alex quickly cut the wire-tie on her ankle and ran towards Scarlet on the bed to cut the wire-ties.

"Scarlet, nod if you can understand me."

There was no response from Scarlet and Alex inhaled. For now, it would be better for Scarlet to not do anything. Her sister wasn't in a good mental state and if triggered, Scarlet might completely lose it, becoming a danger to her escape mission.

The model quickly searched Leah for possessions and found a phone. The phone was locked with a passcode and Alex cussed until she noticed that there was also fingerprint access. She bound Leah with some shredded pillowcase fabric and stuffed her mouth with a face towel provided by the hotel before borrowing the unconscious heiress' finger to unlock the phone.

For convenience's sake, Alex reset the password on the phone to something she could remember and dragged Leah into the wardrobe to shut her there. For safety precaution, Alex tied the door handles together and checked on the main door using the peephole.

There were guards in front of the door who didn't look interested in anything that was happening inside. Alex swallowed hesitantly as she touched the lock on the door nervously. Since there was no way of escaping from here, it would be safer to lock the door and block it off completely to buy time for them. Alex spent a nerve-wracking minute locking the door and latching it slowly before she pulled over a heavy couch to block it entirely.

Once she secured the area, Alex went back to the bedroom and started working on contacting someone to let them know where they were. According to the room directory card near the service phone, Alex knew that they were in Princess Crown Hotel in New Jersey. The only number she could remember by heart without her mobile phone happened to be Claire's simply because they've been working together for years and Alex often didn't have her phone with her on shoots so she had to borrow other people's phones to call her manager.

The call didn't connect immediately but when it did, Alex shivered. She had never heard Claire so cold or dangerous before. She had obviously called at a wrong timing and even if she was afraid of the head maid, there was nobody else she could reach.

"C-Claire? It's me, Alex!"

In the car, Claire was surprised and Edward raised a brow when the head maid grabbed his wrist with an urgent look in her eyes. She mouthed to him to trace that call and Edward immediately got the hint, grabbing his phone to coordinate with Elfie.

"Alex, where are you? How did you get the phone?" Claire asked then forgot all about it. That wasn't important.

"Nevermind about that, are you and Scarlet injured?"

Alex dismissed the injuries they had. "Minor ones, not life-threatening but we cannot escape. I figured out that we're currently in the presidential suite of Princess Crown Hotel in New Jersey. This is Leah Yuan's phone I'm calling from. Scarlet... Scarlet is... unharmed bu..."

Hearing that Alex talk about Scarlet, Edward froze. He tuned out to what Elfie was asking about and waited for Claire to confirm the details.

"What's wrong with Scarlet?"

Alex looked over to her doll-like sister and lowered her voice. "She's gone back to the way we first found her after the Liu's kept her under house arrest and sold her off to us for a blank cheque. Just like a doll without expression. She doesn't even move from where she was and didn't react when Leah tried to hit her earlier."

Edward felt his heart stop and the phone fell from his hands. That was a sign of emotional numbing. Scarlet's PTSD must have caused her huge mental damage that she no longer wishes to deal with the world. She was currently in the most vulnerable state, not caring if she was hurt or dying.

Edward grabbed the phone from Claire and the head maid didn't stop him. Instead, she bent over to pick up Edward's phone that had fallen to continue communicating with Elfie. They were a few hours too late but ever since Alex's emergency signal flared, the Interpol started moving.

It would only be a matter of time before everything was wrapped up. However, the one thing that Claire was afraid of wasn't the safety of the girls but their mental well-being. Scarlet, in particular, was in quite a worrying state given Edward's reaction.