After I Stopped Loving Him novel Chapter 1198

York knew that if the elite families of Cabinda united against him, he wouldn't stand a chance of walking away clean.

He had to keep them divided.

Pacing the floor of his hidden villa, York waited anxiously for updates.

An hour ago, his hired guns had called, panicking. They told him the Carters had called the cops, and the Masons had deployed their vast resources to pinpoint their location.

With the authorities and two powerhouse families swarming the area, the thugs had been forced to abandon their hideout, cutting off their ability to communicate freely.

York had ordered them to stay off the radar and, if cornered, cut Barbara loose and run. If his mercenaries were captured, it was only a matter of time before they squealed and dragged him down with them.

He had been praying the elite families wouldn't join forces, but the Carters and Masons had already proven too much for his hired crew to handle.

And he had no idea if the Adams family was about to jump into the fray.

York mentally cursed himself for jinxing it. Not long after, his intelligence network confirmed his worst fear: the Adams family had officially joined the manhunt.

"Release the kidnapping story to the press," York ordered his subordinate. "Let the media create a circus. The chaos will give them a smokescreen to slip through the dragnet."

"That might backfire, boss," Blake warned him.

"The Carters have the press locked down tight. If you leak it, they'll trace the source straight back to us. It'll just put a target on your back."

York scowled. "You're right. I'm letting the stress get to me."

Panic was clouding his judgment, making it impossible to think clearly.

Suddenly, his burner phone rang. It was his pawns.

Because Barbara had been blindfolded the entire time, she wouldn't be able to identify them anyway. Even if the cops found her, she couldn't offer a decent description.

As long as York smuggled them out of Cabinda, they were in the clear.

They might have missed out on the massive ransom, but York had paid them handsomely upfront, so they were still walking away rich.

It was a high-risk job, and they wouldn't have touched it if York hadn't made it worth their while.

York had bottomless pockets. By taking his money, they also secured a favor from him, which was invaluable in their line of work.

"Stay out of sight," York ordered. "Your ride is on the way."

He ended the call.