Family on Their Knees Heart Turned to Ice novel Chapter 789

Since Bella still needed to leverage Debbie's connections, she couldn't afford to push too aggressively for the money.

While Bella spiraled into a panic, Lillian closed her trading app with a satisfied smirk and returned to her own work.

A moment later, her phone chimed. It was a message from Marcus Parker.

*[The millions Bella owes to the sharks? The first installment of principal and interest is due today. If she doesn't cough up a million-dollar down payment, the interest doubles. We're talking tens of millions.]*

Lillian skimmed the text and didn't bother replying. There was no need; Marcus knew she'd read it.

She let out a cold, sharp laugh and deleted the message.

Loan sharks truly lived up to their vicious reputation. In such a short time, the interest had snowballed into something monstrous.

But Bella wasn't an idiot. She had known the crippling rates upfront and still eagerly signed her name on the dotted line.

If the Mercer Group failed to rebound, that debt was going to crush Bella alive.

Unless, of course, Sebastian stepped in to save her.

But Lillian knew Sebastian better than anyone. Back when she was just a devoted housewife raising their son, the moment he decided she no longer offered him any tangible value, he coldly calculated the odds and threw her right into a prison cell.

If Bella lost her strategic value, or if Sebastian found someone else with better leverage, why would he ever lift a finger to save her? It was genuinely pathetic that Bella still hadn't grasped her actual standing in his ruthless world.

Borrowing that much dirty money... the woman had completely lost her mind!

But as Lillian pondered this, a sudden realization halted her train of thought.

Exactly—Bella wasn't entirely brainless. Why would she take on such a suicidal amount of high-interest debt?

Where did she get that kind of misplaced confidence?

Lillian tapped her perfectly manicured fingernails against her desk, her mind racing.

Having pieced together the delightful impending trainwreck, Lillian chuckled softly and returned to her tasks. The next two weeks flew by in a blur of intense productivity; she had an empire to build.

Meanwhile, a shell-shocked Bella stumbled out of the Mercer Group headquarters. She was so thoroughly devastated that she forgot her car was parked in the underground garage.

Before she could even process her surroundings, a massive black van aggressively swerved to the curb, slamming its brakes right in front of her.

"Miss Ward. It's been a while. I know you're a busy woman, but surely you haven't forgotten what day it is?"

The side door slid open, revealing a heavily tattooed, bald man wearing a thick gold chain around his neck.

She recognized him instantly.

"Mark... what... what are you doing here?" she stammered, all the blood draining from her face.

"Miss Ward," he smiled, flashing a row of predatory teeth. "It's time to pay up."