Seeing her rage, N couldn’t help butugh with glee, pushing her further.


    “Yes, I’ve always known I had to fend for myself.


    That’s why I killed your mother.


    You had no clue, did you, Lucinda? I can still recall the look of struggle on her face, her disbelief evident as she stared at me.


    She must never have imagined I would do it.


    The memory is quite delightful.


    ”


    As Lucinda mulled over N’s taunts, pain surged through her heart, nearly driving her to madness.


    Her eyes glinted with lethal intent, her grip tightening around N’s throat.


    N’splexion grew paler as her breaths became more shallow.


    She was close to death, yet she made no attempt to resist.


    Even if she tried, she stood no chance against Lucinda’s fury.


    Just as Lucinda was about to cross the point of no return, Violeta’s voice interrupted.


    “Lucinda, you’ve been in there for nine minutes.


    Everything okay? In one minute, Sonny and I areing in!”


    Violeta, worried by their prolonged silence, had called out to Lucinda through a loudspeaker at the door.


    At the brink of losing herself, Lucinda snapped back to her senses upon hearing the voice.


    She had arrived with Sonny’s men.


    If they entered to find N murdered by her hands, with Danilo’s men as witnesses, not even Nathan could shield her.


    Her entire life could be derailed by N’s murder.


    Was this N’s intent all along? Was she deliberately provoking her?


    If they weren’t going to die together, then N was determined to meet her end by Lucinda’s hand.


    Lucinda quickly came to a decision and abruptly released her grip, stepping back.


    Once able to breathe smoothly again, N copsed to the floor, her coughing relentless and her face a ghostly shade of pale.


    Lucinda, regaining herposure, looked down at N with disdain.


    “Strangling you would only sully my hands.


    It’s better to let thew deal with a creature Like you.


    ”


    Despite her coughing fit, N managed to lift her head, her gaze filled with bitter resentment towards Lucinda.


    As the final minute ticked away, Sonny led the charge, bursting in with a squadron of soldiers.


    Violeta, alongside Graham, Danilo, and his bodyguards, all made their way into the vi.


    The sight of the metal cage dominating the vi’s central open space caught everyone off guard, Danilo excluded.


    They were taken aback, wondering if only a madman would transform a vi into such a prison.


    However, the attention of everyone quickly shifted from the cage to Lucinda and N.


    Lucinda appeared unscathed, maintaining her cool and haughty demeanor.


    In stark contrast, N, seated on the floor, was in a state of despondency, her incessant coughing and the scratches on her neck suggesting she had endured rough treatment in thest ten minutes.


    Danilo broke the silence with a question.


    “What happened to N? Were you trying to strangle her, Ms.


    Simmons?”


    Lucinda replied with unwavering calmness, “She’s too frail.


    If my intent was to end her life, she wouldn’t be sitting here after ten minutes, would she? Mr.


    Brewer, please don’t use me unjustly.


    ”


    Danilo found himself at a loss for words, given N’s obvious survival.


    Violeta and Sonny, however, were more concerned about Lucinda’s well~being.


    “Lucinda, are you alright? What led to you being confined in the cage with N?” Sonny inquired.


    It didn’t take long for Violeta to notice the oil spilled on the cage’s floor.


    “Lucinda, can you exin what transpired here?”


    Lucinda smiled as she exined, “Just a moment ago, N knocked over the oil can and was about to light a lighter.


    She seemed ready to end it all with me in the ze, but I managed to stop her just in time.


    ”This content ? N?v/elDr(a)m/a.Org.


    She gestured towards the lighter, a short distance from the cage.