I Married the President

Their master-apprentice relationship was beside the point. This watch was one she had specifically asked The Great Demon King Quincy to have modified, its functions as powerful as the one she wore on her own wrist. She lent it to Theo Rhodes for one simple reason: she wanted to find Teacher Hartwell, and fast.

The longer this dragged on, the more danger Teacher Hartwell would be in. She didn’t want to see anything happen to the people around her.

Five hundred thousand was no issue for Theo Rhodes. He transferred it to her in an instant.

Of course, Claire Sinclair wasn’t going to pocket the money. She would hand it all over to The Great Demon King Quincy, lest someone use it against her by questioning the source of her income.

For the next two days, Claire Sinclair and Theo Rhodes engaged in a back-and-forth flame war on Weibo.

They fell into a set pattern. Theo Rhodes would start the insults, and Claire Sinclair would shut him down with logic. Then, netizens would pile on Theo Rhodes. He would retaliate by insulting Claire Sinclair again, and she would simply continue posting inspirational platitudes...

On the third day, the flame war suddenly stopped.

Using "drunk driving" as a pretext, Theo Rhodes drove his luxury car into the Woodforest Community, then went off the grid around 10:30 that night.

The last thing he sent back to Claire Sinclair was a strange audio recording—

"Eight million! His car is worth eight million!"

"Then what are we waiting for? Let’s get him downstairs, quick! The boss will definitely like this rich mark!"

"Let’s move quick, before he wakes up..."

The recording ended there.

From their conversation, Claire Sinclair could draw one conclusion: the secret of Woodforest Community was buried below—meaning, underground.

Unfortunately, there was no follow-up from Theo Rhodes after he sent the recording. As worried as she was, all Claire could do was endure it and patiently wait for him to send more intel.

After work, Claire Sinclair didn’t go straight home, deciding to stop by the supermarket to buy groceries first.

The supermarket was quite crowded, making it difficult for Claire Sinclair to navigate with her shopping cart. After more than half an hour, she had finally gathered everything she needed and was ready to check out.

As she passed a promotional area, a crowd of middle-aged women blocked her path.

Unable to push her cart through, Claire Sinclair had no choice but to take another aisle.

The moment she changed direction, a few of the women suddenly surged forward, scattering the plainclothes bodyguards who were following her.

By the time they pushed their way through, Claire Sinclair was nowhere to be seen.

The bodyguards froze, realizing something was wrong. They hurriedly split up to find her.

A few minutes later, the bodyguards regrouped. All of their faces were grim, and a palpable sense of unease settled over them.

Landon Winston had no choice but to pull out his phone and try to call Claire Sinclair, only to find her phone was turned off.

This was very bad...

Claire Sinclair was missing, too.

Adrian Quincy checked the supermarket’s surveillance footage over and over again but couldn’t find the slightest trace. It was as if she had vanished into thin air.

At first, he managed to remain calm. But as time passed and his subordinates failed to bring back any useful information, his composure began to crumble, and he grew agitated and anxious.

’His wife, pregnant with his child, had vanished right under his nose, without a trace.’

’He blamed himself, but more than anything, he was just worried.’

’Claire... his Claire... where in the world could she be?’

-

A blinding flash of light jolted Claire Sinclair awake. She instinctively lifted a hand to shield her eyes but found she had no strength. Her body felt limp, just like it would after waking from a month-long hospital stay.

Once her eyes adjusted to the brightness, she lowered her hand and cautiously opened them.

Her eyes focused, and she found herself in a spacious bedroom. Eight lamps blazed from the white ceiling, and the walls were pure white, too. No wonder the light was so intense.