Filed to story: Watch Out! She's a Mastermind Heiress (Isabella Patton) Book PDF Free
In the hotel room, the other students crowded around Bennie for news.
“Did she agree to keep supporting us?” one asked. “Betsey said if she stops the support, people will criticize her.”
“Yeah, hurry and tell us!”
The students were growing impatient.
They had been shocked when they first heard that the funding would stop. Even though their families had people who could work, they had grown lazy relying on the support. When they found out the money would be cut off, fear filled them. Their families had been scrambling for solutions when Betsey’s letter arrived, and without a second thought, they sent the students on a train to confront their benefactor.
Bennie glanced at the group and said, “I spoke with Miss Patton, but she’s not going to continue supporting us. There’s nothing I can do. If we keep pushing, she’ll have us arrested. You don’t want to end up in jail.”
The students’ faces fell into despair, and they broke down in tears.
Bennie looked away, feeling no regret. He was selfish by nature, which was why he had lost his sponsorship in the first place. Even though they had all grown up together, his own life mattered more. As long as he could secure the support and get ahead, their fate didn’t concern him.
Bennie went to bed to get some rest.
Everyone was deeply upset. One of the girls video-called her family to explain what had happened, only to be yelled at.
Aile, tall and slender, was filled with despair. Her family depended on the support money, and without it, she knew she’d face a beating when she got back home. The girl’s resentment toward their benefactor grew. She had given them a decent life, only to now cast them into misery. This wasn’t charity; it was cruelty.
In her anger, she furiously sent a private message to the benefactor on Twitter, venting her frustration: “You’re heartless! You promised I could finish college peacefully, and now you’ve stopped giving us money. Do you want us to die? You’re a monster, a bastard! Go to hell!”
She vented all her rage at Isabella, ignoring the fact that without her financial support, they wouldn’t have had the opportunity to attend school in the first place. To her shock, Isabella responded almost instantly—with just a question mark.
Caught off guard, the girl hurriedly typed, “Why did you stop helping us? Aren’t you supposed to be an angel? How can an angel watch us starve? If you don’t continue supporting us, I’ll expose you and make sure everyone knows.”
Betsey had drilled these words into her, instructing her to use this threat if Isabella didn’t continue the support. Isabella replied, “I never said I’d stop helping. But right now, my funds are limited, so I can only support one of you. Didn’t Bennie explain?”
The girl’s eyes widened in shock. Now she understood why Bennie hadn’t seemed upset—he had been planning to keep this opportunity for himself. She wasn’t going to let that happen. She was the one who needed it the most.
Bennie, lost in thoughts of his future lavish life, was humming to himself when the door flew open. Startled, he yelled at the girl standing there, “What’s your problem, you little brat?”
Emani Walsh slammed the door behind her, eyes blazing. “Bennie, you’re unbelievable! We came here together, and now you’re trying to take the support for yourself.”
Bennie was shocked—how did she find out? Still, he wasn’t too concerned. He was the oldest, after all.
“Emani, stay out of this! There’s only one spot, and obviously, it’s going to be mine.”
“That’s nonsense! My family’s the poorest! I deserve that spot,” Emani shouted, charging at him.
Bennie fell backward, enraged. He slapped her hard, and Emani cried out, sinking her teeth into his arm until blood started to flow. Bennie screamed in pain.
The commotion caught the attention of the others, who began knocking on the door. “What’s going on in there?”
Being older, Bennie quickly came up with a plan. “Calm down,” he said. “If everyone hears about this spot, do you really think you’ll get it?”
Emani wasn’t foolish and chose to stay quiet.
Bennie called out to the students waiting outside, “I just knocked into the table. Go to bed—we’ve got to head back tomorrow morning.”
“If we lose the support, my dad is going to lose it!”
“Yeah, Bennie, there’s no way we can go back.”
Bennie responded, “Then stick around and wait for the police to pick you up tomorrow. Do you even realize what this is? This is extortion! Betsey tricked us. She did something bad, our benefactor found out, and now she’s using us to frame our benefactor.”
That was exactly what Isabella had explained to Bennie. The commotion outside quickly settled down.
Emani shot Bennie a sharp look. “That spot belongs to me.”
“Alright, relax. I can’t hand over the spot, but I’ll give you half of the money I receive each month. Deal?” Bennie said.
Emani paused to consider. Half was better than nothing, and Bennie wasn’t going to give up that spot so easily. She eventually nodded in agreement.
The night was pitch black with not a single star in the sky.
The next day, Andrew sat behind the wheel of his sleek Rolls-Royce, driving Isabella to work.
“Those students you supported, Betsey guided them to you, didn’t she? As for the rumors spreading online, that’s Jada’s doing—she hired paid trolls. Now, all eyes are on you, waiting to see how you’ll handle it,” Andrew said in a low voice.
Isabella hadn’t uncovered Jada’s involvement, yet Andrew had found out about it so swiftly. “I gave them a chance. Only one of them can keep the sponsorship going.”
Andrew’s eyes glimmered with admiration as he glanced at Isabella, a slight smile tugging at the corners of his lips. “That’s exactly like you.”
Though Isabella had heard countless compliments before, something about Andrew’s praise always made her smile.
As they pulled up to Isabella’s company, Andrew shot her a soft glance and said, “Don’t overwork yourself today, alright? Oh, and you didn’t go racing yesterday, did you?”
“No, I promised you I wouldn’t, and I always keep my promises,” Isabella declared with unwavering conviction. She was someone who never went back on her promises, and that simple truth seemed to ease the tension in Andrew’s chest.
Isabella went upstairs to her office and had barely settled into her chair when her phone rang.
“Isabella!” Waylon’s boisterous voice erupted through the phone, prompting her to instinctively pull it away from her ear. “What’s got you so hyped up, Waylon?”
“Listen up, you won’t believe this! Those HB Club folks are completely shameless. They knew we were short on manpower, yet they still went out of their way to injure several of our team members! They deliberately rammed into our cars during training, and a few of our people almost died!”
Isabella’s blood boiled at the news. “That’s outrageous! Didn’t you call the police?”
“Reporting them to the authorities won’t do a thing. They just throw money around to get someone else to take the blame because they don’t value human life. And now we don’t have enough people for the competition,” Waylon sighed heavily, his voice dropping to a softer tone. “I really don’t want to ask you to step in, but this is about our honor.”
“I’ll think about it,” Isabella rubbed her temples. Just moments ago, she had promised Andrew she wouldn’t race, and now, here she was faced with this dilemma. A wave of anxiety washed over her. Should she talk it over with Andrew? He was always so reasonable—surely he would understand her predicament. Just then, her phone chimed with a new message.
She opened it and saw Andrew had sent her a news article. It detailed a harrowing incident from over a decade ago when a male racer plummeted off a cliff during a race, vanishing without a trace.
Andrew wrote, “This is my good friend, Zahir Patel. He was an incredible racer, among the top three in the country. But even he had an accident during an international competition.”
Isabella felt a sharp pang in her heart as she sensed Andrew’s pain through the screen. No wonder he was adamantly opposed to her racing; a tragedy so close to him must have left scars that ran deep.
The words she had wanted to say got caught in her throat.
Isabella was distracted from work by her predicament all morning. During her lunch break, her assistant burst through the door. “Miss Patton, there’s a situation!”
“What is it?”
“That boy from yesterday… he died!” her assistant replied.
Isabella’s eyes widened in shock, and without a moment’s hesitation, she hurried after her assistant toward the hospital.
As they neared Bennie’s room, Isabella caught a glimpse of a patient in another room and froze, her breath hitching in disbelief. She couldn’t help but step inside.
“Who are you?” a nurse blocked her path.
“Is this Hamlin Wagner?”
“Are you a friend of Mr. Wagner?” The nurse eyed Isabella up and down, her sharp gaze taking in the elegant, pricey ensemble that spoke of wealth and clearly marked her as someone out of the ordinary. “Mr. Wagner is in a coma and can’t receive visitors.”
“I want to see him.”
Isabella stepped closer to the man. His face had been etched in her memory. During her first racing competition, she had found herself pursued by someone with nefarious intentions, nearly veering off the track. Out of nowhere, Hamlin had appeared and rescued her from disaster. Despite the years that separated them, a friendship had blossomed, but he still had no clue who she truly was.
“Mr. Wagner is truly a tragic figure. He poured his heart and soul into building a club, only to be betrayed by a slick conman. After marrying his daughter, that scoundrel made off with everything Mr. Wagner had, and in a fit of rage and despair, his daughter took her own life,” the nurse said with a heavy sigh.
Isabella’s eyes went wide with disbelief. “Are you talking about the YM Club?”
“Yes, young lady. Are you familiar with the racing world?”
Isabella found it nearly impossible to collect herself for what felt like an eternity.