Love beyond the mask ( Whitney )

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"Sammy..." Whitney's voice was choked, barely a whisper.

"Sammy?" Tiana's eyes widened. "What are you talking about, Whitney? What happened to Sammy? Did he...?"

Just then, Whitney's phone buzzed with an anonymous text: [Come alone, I'm giving you a chance.]

She opened it, read the message, and then it self-destructed.

Her gaze turned icy, her body's warmth fading as she forced calmness. "It's nothing. I just need to step out for a bit, grab some meds."

"I'll come with you! I'm worried. You were delirious with fever just now."

"No need, Tiana. Just wait for me in the office."

Whitney went back, grabbed a pocket knife and a voice recorder from her drawer, and tucked them into her bag before heading downstairs alone. Behind the company's building, next to the dumpster, there was a taxi waiting. The driver got out, confirmed Whitney's identity, and invited her in. Whitney took a deep breath of the cold air. Florence was taking extreme precautions for this meeting.

Her mind was filled with thoughts of Sammy. Was Florence finally going to admit to kidnapping him?

Her gaze was fixed straight ahead...

The driver opened the door to the café.

The place was deserted.

Following the driver upstairs, Whitney entered a private room far from any windows.

Florence was there, casually dabbing at her mouth with a napkin and coughing lightly. Seeing Whitney's pale face, she smiled slowly. "Sister, I thought you'd be too scared to face me." "The kidnapper of my son, the accomplice to your mother shooting your own father. Why wouldn't I come to see you? After all, I'm not the one who will be facing retribution." Whitney stood at the doorway, her words clear and sharp.

Florence's face darkened, and her smile vanished.

Her eyes swept over the bag in Whitney's hand and she coldly ordered her bodyguard, "Search her."

The bodyguard approached, locking the door behind him, and advanced towards Whitney.

Whitney's expression darkened as she backed up to a chair, grabbing the teapot on the table.

Florence's voice was playful, "Whitney, I'd advise you to cooperate. Otherwise, I won't say a word about what you want to know! And you can leave now."

She stood up lazily, a smile playing on her lips.

Whitney clenched her jaw, setting the teapot down and tossing her bag into the chair.

The bodyguard came over and searched her thoroughly.

After finding nothing on her person, the bodyguard pulled out a pocket knife and a voice recorder from her purse.

"Ms. Sheldon!" The bodyguard turned, handing the items to Florence. "She came prepared."

Florence looked sinisterly at the voice recorder. "Destroy it."

The voice recorder was crushed in the bodyguard's hand.

Florence's gaze returned to Whitney's frosty face, her eyebrows raised as she sat down. "Sister, you don't have to treat me like a fool. Now, let's sit down and have a calm chat." Whitney took a seat, her eyes sharp as daggers. "When will you hand over Sammy?"

Florence leisurely squinted. "Always in such a rush. Let's talk about Ludwik, shall we?"

"No need. I'm letting him go. The money lost in a cesspit, I've long stopped caring about. You can have him if you like, as long as you can stomach it." Whitney's voice was indifferent. Her words not only demeaned Ludwik but mocked Florence as well.

Florence could hear the scorn in her voice, the insinuation that even pregnant, she couldn't win Ludwik's heart.

Her smile twisted. "You're letting him

go? What right do you have? You're already divorced! Do you think Ludwik truly loves you? If he did, how come he got me pregnant? I'm not ashamed to tell you- Every time we're together, even though he moans your name, he's always so happy! He can't resist the youth, beauty, and purity of my body. I don't see myself as a loser because I succeeded in bearing his child!"

Florence's mockery was like needles, painfully piercing Whitney's heart.

He never touched Elaine, yet now he can't resist Florence.

Tiana had warned her, suggesting Florence's pregnancy was suspicious, perhaps not Ludwik's child.

But hearing it from Florence's lips confirmed the harsh truth.

They've been together, and Florence's pregnancy wasn't surprising.

Whitney had felt indifferent since seeing the news, but Florence's smiling face now felt like a brutal assault.

She clenched her fists, mocking Florence, "Oh, you're such a success, happy to be a stand-in. I've never seen such filth proudly displayed. After all, only someone who confuses their face for their backside can boast about their squalor." "You...!" Florence's face reddened, her laughter cold.

"Whitney, what about you? Do you

feel like a failure? You keep hoping Ludwik will turn around, take you and the kids seriously, right? But what happened? You told him his mother's Teukemia was my doing, so what! Knowing I'm pregnant, he couldn't bear to trouble me. He let me go! Jason treasures the Lippert family's grandchild in my womb, not caring for your sons! His father doesn't like them, why would he care? Your sons, truly pitiful, both abandoned..."

Whitney's breathing grew heavy, she grabbed a cup beside her and splashed its contents into Florence's face!

The cold water streamed down Florence's delicate face.

"Ms. Sheldon!" Myra stepped closer, glaring at Whitney, ready to explode.

Whitney stood up, swiftly moving across the table, grabbing Florence by the collar, her words biting, "So, you're pregnant, huh? Better watch your words, sweetheart. Wouldn't want anything to happen to that little bundle you're carrying, now would we?" Whitney's laugh was hollow, tinged with a dark humor. "Oh, darling, if I were to miscarry, you'd be the last person finding joy in it."

Florence's slender fingers gently caressed her belly, her eyes twinkling with an enigmatic glint as she offered a smirk that wasn't quite a smile.

Whitney failed to decipher the hidden meanings in her gaze.

Frustration seeping through, Whitney grabbed Florence by the collar with a cold, piercing look. "Keep babbling about your pregnancy. Want me to call Ludwik over, see if he enjoys hearing how you've been stirring the pot?"

Florence's expression faltered

momentarily her gaze flitting across

Whitney's dark pupils, a sneer

forming,Oh, I've struck a nerve, haven't? Just playing it cool, are we? Ludwik treasures me now, a baby won't change the debts

between us. Saving your son is your own battle, got it?"

A chilling river seemed to flow through Whitney's heart, freezing her blood, her breath.

"You're admitting it then? You kidnapped Sammy?"

Florence's smile widened, her hands clasping together on the table, her eyes gleaming coldly, "Yes, darling, I kidnapped your son!"

Her bold admission sent a shiver down Whitney's spine, her hand instinctively moving towards her chest, where a tiny voice recorder was hidden.