Mr. CEO, You Look Strangely Familiar

Tears streamed down Chloe Marshall’s face as she hugged her daughter. ”My sweet daughter, Mommy has never, ever regretted having you. You’re the precious child of your daddy’s and my love. Now listen, don’t scream or run around. Wherever Mommy goes, you stay right with me.”

Just as she finished speaking, the door was pushed open.

Four women stepped inside.

”Madam, please bring the princess and come with us,” an older woman said coldly, her voice devoid of any warmth.

She stood up and forced a smile. ”Lead the way.”

Then, she looked down at Dorothy. ”Stay with Mommy.”

Hand in hand, they followed the four women out the door.

The soldiers at the door didn’t lower their gazes. But after seeing her face and that of the little princess, several of them couldn’t bear to look any longer.

They bypassed the execution area at the end of the corridor.

Ordinary criminals were shot or given a lethal injection, but she was to suffer one of the most ancient forms of death.

The method involved binding the limbs, then covering the face with layer after layer of oiled paper until the victim completely suffocated.

She and Dorothy walked into a house.

They went upstairs and stopped before a door.

”Come in.”

The door was then locked securely from the inside. The two older women said to Chloe Marshall, ”Madam, lie down.”

The two younger women led Dorothy to another bed, separated from the first by a white sheet.

Chloe Marshall obediently lay down.

The two women began to tie her with ropes, starting with her feet.

Just then, a piercing scream suddenly came from the other side of the white sheet.

The two old women here hurriedly asked, ”What happened?”

”AH! She has a knife! She stabbed my wrist... Quick... get it from her...”

One of the old women went over. A moment later, the loud CRACK of a slap reached Chloe Marshall’s ears.

”You damn brat! You think you’re still a princess?! Daring to hurt someone? I’ll beat you to death!”

Dorothy wailed loudly.

Chloe Marshall silently drew a gun. With a movement that was fast, ruthless, and precise, she shot the old woman tying her legs in the forehead.

The woman’s body collapsed, hitting the floor with a loud THUD. As Chloe Marshall deftly worked to untie her ropes, the other women came over at the sound. She fired two more shots. They died quickly, twitching a few times before going still.

Each shot had hit the exact center of the forehead.

She untied the ropes. Only one young woman was left.

Seeing the other three women were dead, she trembled all over, her face deathly pale with fright.

”Madam, please don’t kill me! I... I was just following orders! I’m... I’m begging you, please don’t kill me. My parents are dead, and I have a little brother at home waiting for me to support him. Madam, please, spare my life...”

As she spoke, she knelt at Chloe Marshall’s feet, banging her head on the floor with loud THUDS.

Chloe Marshall paused, her thoughts immediately turning to Zeke Marshall. She went to untie Dorothy and said in a cold voice, ”Why should I believe you? How do I know you won’t betray me? After all, we’re complete strangers.”

The young woman’s lips trembled in fear. The instinct for survival is powerful.

”I’ll do whatever you ask, I promise. If I go back on my word, you can just put a bullet in me.”

Chloe Marshall said, ”Actually, it makes no difference to me whether I kill you or not. Because whether you help me or not, you’re a dead woman. Your Supreme Leader won’t let you live. You can weigh the options for yourself. If you help Dorothy and me escape, I’ll take you and your brother out of Harrowin with me. The condition is that you must do everything in your power to help me. Otherwise, if I can’t escape, you’ll die too.”

She nodded in terror.

Chloe Marshall said, ”Strip the clothes off that young woman’s body.”

Then she looked at Dorothy. ”My Dorothy is so brave.”

She picked the bloody fruit knife off the floor, wiped it clean, and handed it back to her. ”Hold on to this.”

Dorothy clutched the knife and tucked it back into her sleeve, her small face tight with determination.

She then changed into the dead young woman’s clothes. Fortunately, the female attendants here all wore half-veils.

The two of them worked together to hide the old women’s bodies in a cabinet. After cleaning up the blood, only the corpse of the other young woman remained.

They dressed the corpse in the clothes Chloe had been wearing and made sure to cover its face. After lifting it onto a gurney, Chloe instructed Dorothy to lie perfectly still and play dead, not moving a muscle until Mommy said she could.

Dorothy was very obedient, understanding the gravity of the situation.

She lay on another gurney, her head covered.

And so...

”Madam,” the woman said, ”we need to call the Supreme Leader and report that... the madam and the princess have been taken care of.”

”Fine. But if you try any tricks, I’ll blow your brains out on the spot.”

She shook her head. ”I wouldn’t dare...”

Then she used the landline there to dial Lillian Bancroft’s number.

She put the call on speaker. His voice came through, unusually hoarse. ”Is it done?”

”Yes, Supreme Leader. We’ve taken care of it.”

”Bring the gurneys down from upstairs.”

”Understood.”

The first one they brought down was the dead woman disguised as Chloe Marshall, followed by Dorothy.

They exited the front door of the house.

Outside, a heavy rain had begun to fall, pouring down in sheets. It showed no signs of stopping anytime soon.

Chloe Marshall immediately spotted Lillian Bancroft standing ahead.

He stood alone in the night, a desolate figure.

He held a black umbrella, dressed in his usual black overcoat. From this distance, she couldn’t make out his expression.

She silently squeezed Dorothy’s hand, signaling her not to move.

She pushed the gurney, moving step by step toward where he stood.

Finally, she was standing before him.

Lillian Bancroft stumbled slightly as he reached to lift the cloth from the corpse’s face, but the female attendant hastily stopped him.

”Supreme Leader, you mustn’t look at her face in death. It will bring you bad fortune.”

He took a step back, his voice flat with sorrow. ”Before she... went... did she say anything?”

The female attendant shook her head. ”No, the Madam said nothing. The princess, however, cried before she passed.”

”Is that so?” He sounded as if he was both asking and confirming. ”She’s so young. Of course she would cry. She must have been in terrible distress.”

Then, Lillian Bancroft knelt down, took hold of the dead woman’s exposed hand, and gently caressed it with his fingers.

”I saved your life, and now I’ve taken it back with my own hands. Don’t resent me. You should know... the crueler I am to you, the more I love you...”

After crouching in silence for several minutes, he finally let go, tucking the hand back under the tarp. ”Move her to the ancestral hall,” he ordered. ”And give the notice: cremation at ten o’clock.”

”As you command.” The female attendant began to push the gurney away.

Chloe Marshall followed closely behind her.

No one knew how nervous Chloe Marshall had just been. Her palms were slick with sweat. How could she possibly have registered a single word he’d said?

Perhaps because she was so desperate to get away, her pace was hurried.

”Stop!”

He suddenly shouted from not far behind her.

Chloe Marshall froze, a chill running through her entire body. ’Could it be... he recognized me?’