Chapter 64: Chapter 64: A Woman Who Takes Risk (III)
Claudia POV
"Y-y-you—!" Jane got up from the chair and pointed at me. Her face was red, either because of shame or anger... or maybe both. "How could you be so shameless?!"
"Shameless?" I tilted my head slightly. "I just want to know if Ray would approve what you’re doing, since he’s your boss."
"I’ll kill you if you dare to tell him about this!" Jane raised her voice at me, which was rare because most of the time she’d just give me a cold sneer or simply ignore my existence as long as I didn’t try to leave the penthouse.
Unfortunately, today was her unlucky day, because I really wanted to leave.
"Well, I really don’t want to do that, really. I’m not someone who likes to fight," I sighed. "But of course, I need an incentive to silence myself."
"W-what do you want? Money? Then I can give it to you," Jane offered immediately. "J-just don’t tell this to him!"
Jane’s reaction was much better than I expected. Perhaps she was afraid that Ray would be disgusted with her, since he was a clean freak.
If he knew about this, then he’d surely reprimand her, or his opinion of her would be severely damaged.
However, I had no intention of doing that. I did not care about their strange relationship. But I still had to use this opportunity. "I don’t need money. Don’t you remember that he has given me his card? It has no limit after all."
"Then stop taunting me and say what you want!"
"Hmm, you see. I really want to leave the penthouse today, and Ray is too busy to accompany me, so..." I smiled at her and said, "Why don’t you disable the CCTV around the door and let me out? I’m sure you can contact the building management for that, right? Don’t worry, I won’t leave for long. I’ll return at noon."
Jane’s jaw visibly dropped right in front of my eyes. She stared at me as if she had seen a ghost for a good while before asking, "Do you know what would happen if you don’t obey him? Mr. Gatlin will be furious!"
"That wouldn’t be a problem as long as we’re working together, no? We can make sure that he won’t know about it."
"That’s impossible! I will never betray him!" Jane stated. "And if you want to blackmail me over this, then so be it! Go on and tell him. At best I’d get reprimanded or get scoffed at. But betraying him means that I’ll get fired!"
Jane’s answer caught me off guard, because I thought that blackmailing her would be enough to get my freedom for a few hours.
But she was so devoted to Ray that she didn’t even want to betray him even for something so menial.
"Also, do you think I can’t blackmail you back? I can always tell Mr. Gatlin that you are trying to force me so you could escape. Let’s see what he will do after getting that information, huh?"
She sneered back at me, and I lost my smile immediately.
"You are such an idiot, Claudia," Jane mocked. "Just so you know, as long as I am here, you are not going to walk past that door!"
Jane snorted as she walked away from the dining table and headed to her usual table near the window, opening her laptop and starting to work again.
I watched her for a while, and desperation tightened in my chest, leaving me breathless. The anxiety I had tried to bury resurfaced at the thought of never seeing my daughter again.
No, I have to go and see Aurora now. And if she doesn’t want to help me... then I can help myself.
That line of thought finally crossed my mind as I returned to my room to take a shower.
I wore a long-sleeved dark cardigan and jeans for extra comfort and movement, just in case I had to move fast.
After I was done preparing myself in the bedroom, I went out and checked on Jane, whose eyes were still glued to her laptop.
Then, I walked to the small storage room to retrieve what I needed to escape: a clean rag and a bottle of chloroform.
I soaked the rag with chloroform strong enough that it would make anyone dizzy just by inhaling it, and then walked behind Jane, who was still working on a report, with the rag hidden behind my back.
"What are you working on, Jane?" I asked calmly.
"It’s called none-of-your-business," she replied curtly. "And get the hell away from me, you unemployed bitch."
"... Are you sure that you don’t want to help me? This is the last time I’m asking you, you know..." I asked, waiting for her to check her phone first. "I won’t bother you anymore as long as you’re willing to help me this time."
Jane unlocked her phone after she heard a notification while answering my request, "Your blackmail has no use against me, so fuck off, can you?"
"That’s too bad, because I—" I lifted my hand, and in a swift motion, used my left hand to wrap around her forehead and pushed her head onto my chest while covering her nose with the choloroform-soaked rag in my right hand. "—really have to leave. No. Matter. What."
"Mmffh! Mmmphh!" Jane panicked as she tried to break free from my clutch. But I pushed the rag deeper under her nose, making sure that she would inhale a lot without causing her brain damage. After all, as a General Practitioner, I knew a few things about this devious method.
Her struggle became weaker and weaker as time passed. I counted for at least thirty seconds until Jane finally stopped struggling and lost consciousness entirely.
I finally let her go as she lay motionless on the chair.
I caught the phone right before she dropped it, and thankfully it hadn’t been locked yet.
Before going on with my plan, I checked on her first, making sure that she was still breathing and had simply lost consciousness for a while before checking her phone.
"Sorry, Jane. But I have to meet with my daughter. So I’ll use your help, whether you like it or not."
