No Strings Attached

Chapter 355

Leonora felt her heart shatter at the desperate cry for help. Tears streamed down her cheeks at that very moment.

She had barely settled into the car when she dialed a number. "I've got to save Heidi. Help me figure out a way."

In the grand hall of a mansion, a man clad in black sat in a wheelchair, his face twisted with malevolence. "Stick to your own business, don't throw us off balance, and follow my lead."

Leonora's fingers, clenching the phone, turned ghostly white. "You promised me that you wouldn't hurt her. Now she's locked up and being tormented daily. If this goes on, she'll die."

The man's eyes were shadowed, his voice icy. "If it weren't for her fooling around abroad, she'd be Ian’s wife by now. Would we be in this mess? Don't forget your role, Leonora. If you can't secure your position in the Hayes family, you can kiss Heidi goodbye."

Leonora gritted her teeth. "What if Clara is carrying a Hayes heir? Will you still stand by and let her give birth?"

At this, the man's expression darkened further. "Are you certain?"

"Pretty much."

After a brief silence, the man spoke coldly, "Follow my orders, and don't make a move without my say-so."

Hanging up on the dial tone, Leonora's face twisted with resolve. She would save Heidi, and she had no intention of sparing Clara either!

However, as soon as she returned home, Ian blocked her at the front gate. Exhaustion etched his face, but his eyes held an undeniable fierceness. Content from NôvelDr(a)ma.Org.

He handed her a video on his phone, his voice cold. "You knew Clara was Aunt May's daughter. Why did you frame her?"

Leonora cursed inwardly as she watched herself and Eve in the video. She thought she had taken care of the café's surveillance footage. How had Ian found it?

Feigning ignorance, she retorted, "Aunt May's child is Heidi, not that bitch Clara! I just told Eve she wasn't Casey's daughter. When did I say she was May’s daughter?"

Ian's lips twitched at her feigned composure. "If you knew nothing, why were you so calm when you heard this news?"

Leonora blinked, and there was a flicker of panic in her dark eyes. Her fists clenched involuntarily. "I was just shocked... How is Clara May's child?"

"That's a question for you, since it was your trusted carer who threw her into the river."

"That's absurd! May was my best friend. How could I harm her child? I was at home in confinement when May had her accident, and my carer was with me the whole time."

Ian's eyes grew colder as he pulled out a necklace. "Do you recognize this?"

Leonora's panic was evident at the sight of the necklace. "That... I designed that for May's daughter as a token of your commitment to her. How did it end up with you?"

Ian watched her unsuccessfully try to hide her panic, his tone nonchalant. "Aunt May clutched this necklace tightly as she died. I think she wanted to convey a message that surely involves you, am I right?"