Dumped My Cheating Ex. Now I'm Sleeping Next to a Billionaire CEO novel Chapter 1513

Emmy held her breath as her fingers swiftly tapped to open the image. The moment the details became clear, she gasped in horror. In the photo, Laney's jacket was torn to shreds and covered in dark, dried blood. Heavy, crude iron shackles were locked around her wrists and ankles. The cuffs were connected to a thick, long iron chain, with the other end bolted to an iron ring in the corner of the wall. Curled up like a tamed animal in the dimly lit corner of a filthy stone cell, Laney looked utterly broken. Even through the screen, Emmy could feel the suffocating despair and humiliation.

She gritted her teeth hard. According to the rules of this intelligence network, once the employer verified the target through a photo, they had to wire a deposit to the informant. Only when the money cleared would the exact GPS coordinates be sent over. Without a second thought, Emmy wired twenty million dollars as a deposit, as per their fifty million dollar bounty agreement.

However, three full minutes passed without any response. Just as she was about to use her hacking skills to force a trace on the informant's IP address, a new message finally popped up.

[The situation has changed. If you want the coordinates, add more money. One hundred million.]

Emmy frowned deeply. The informant had clearly sensed her desperation and was raising the price on the spot. But she didn't even blink. That was Laney, Andrew's only flesh and blood, and a girl her mother now loved like her own. By extension, Laney was basically Emmy's own sister. She would gladly pay a hundred million, or even a billion, to buy her sister's life back.

Her fingers flew across the screen, swiftly splitting the massive transfer. In less than ten minutes, the money was cleanly laundered through over a dozen hidden offshore accounts and deposited right into the informant's pocket. The moment the funds cleared, the other side sent over a satellite GPS coordinate, accompanied by a single warning. [Good luck.]

Emmy immediately imported the coordinates into a military grade map. When the little red dot magnified and finally settled on a corner of the African continent, her pupils shrank sharply. "Nelia?!"

The other end of the line was silent for several seconds. When Andrew finally spoke, his voice was resolute. "Yes. But throwing money around in a place like that is useless, and we absolutely cannot send a massive armed force to brute force a rescue. If we do, they will execute Laney immediately. Someone has to go in, negotiate, and bribe the local kingpins to smooth things over. I am leaving right now to go to Nelia personally."

Just as Andrew finished speaking, Teresa's voice echoed through the phone. "No! You can't go!"

Emmy could hear her mother sobbing. "You're a researcher who's never even held a gun. How are you supposed to save someone from a living hell like that? If you go, not only will you fail to save Laney, but you'll end up throwing your own life away too!"