Chapter 208
Chapter 208
"Little girl, I'm here to save you." His innocent face almost fooled me into thinking that he had not just abducted me.
I said scornfully, "I do not trust you."
The snowy land stretched toward the horizon and beyond, and the reflection from the sunlight was blinding. A few cats were sunbathing in the garden while Robert was smiling at me.
He noticed that I was on high alert, so he explained, "This is my profession. If they want you, I have no choice but to get you here, but I can save you when they're not around!"
I focused on the key point. "They're not around?"
He grinned. "At least not in the backyard."
After giving me his fleece jacket, he only wore a few layers of thin clothing. At this moment, I noticed that he had been wearing a pair of in-ear monitors all along, similar to the ones that artists would wear at concerts. The monitors were in rose-red with glitters all around them, which oddly increased his allure.
I followed up with concern. "Where's my friend?"
"She seems to have a mild concussion. She has just fainted again. They plan to send her to the hospital later." The details in his description were suspicious.
I frowned. "And how did you know?"
He admitted, "I eavesdropped."
Oh, well…
The chilly winds roamed the land. After some consideration, I grabbed his fleece leather jacket and threw it down from my window. He was agile and quickly ran over to catch the jacket.
He put it on and whispered, "Do you want to leave with me? It'd be easier for us to escape after we meet your friend at the hospital."
He looked fearless and unbothered by the dangerous situation around us, so I could not help but ask in confusion, "Why help me?"
"Because we're both good-looking people."
I could not think of a comeback to that.
At that moment, someone opened the door to my room. The Caucasian man who spoke fluently entered the room, and he quickly headed to the windows when he saw me standing there. My heart jumped in my throat, and I followed his gaze out of the windows.
Bertie was nowhere to be seen. How slick!
After checking the grounds, he glanced at the royal gown on me and praised me, "You're a beautiful woman."
I stayed silent.
He frowned. "Why don't you speak?"
"What's the reason behind abducting us?" I went straight to the point.
"Don't you get it?" He smacked me hard on the cheek with his rough palm. "Shawn Xenos and Rudy Adams worked together to commit crimes in my territory. No matter the cost, I must deal a heavy blow to them this time!"
His targets are indeed Shawn and Rudy! Judging by his expression, he does not want to end this amicably.
I said honestly, "I don't know a thing about it."
"You—" He was taken aback but smiled at me the next second. "How interesting."
I refused to talk further, and he reminded me, "Rudy's girl is in a coma. We don't have medical equipment here, so I'll have someone bring her to the hospital for treatment. As for you, you will stay here."
He will have someone bring May to the hospital, but what about him? Is he really going to ambush Shawn and Rudy?
I dared not ask him and watched as he closed the door.
Once he was gone, I went to the windows and opened them, only to find Bertie bending over and playing with the cats.
I chuckled. "You're a daredevil."
He looked up. "Do you want to leave with me?"
I asked warily, "How can I trust you?"
I knew the best way forward was to leave this villa and contact Shawn to avoid burdening him, but I did not want to land myself in a worse situation by blindly trusting strangers.
Knowing it was hard to gain my trust, he placed his gun on the snow-covered ground as a gesture of peace. "I'll pass my gun to you. If I try anything funny, you can always shoot me!"
Since he offered such a generous concession, I agreed to leave with him. "Okay, but we will only leave in a short while."
I had to wait until May left for the hospital to plot my escape. If the abductors found out I was gone, they might not send her to get treatment. By then, she would be in greater danger.
Bertie listened to me. "Okay. I'll wait for you here."
He played with the cats without worrying that he might be caught. After a while, the maid entered my room and walked toward the windows. I stopped her and asked, "How's my friend? Is she being sent to
the hospital?"
"Yes, they are about to leave."
Her fluency in Ruslian was limited, so I nonchalantly asked her questions for more clues, "How far is this place from the city?"
She replied haltingly in Ruslian, "Here… It is very far. About forty to fifty miles. Maybe farther because I have not left this villa since birth!"
All of a sudden, I understood the reason behind her admiration. She admired me as an outsider, while she remained imprisoned in this villa for her whole life.
Puzzled, I asked, "Why don't you leave?"
"It is my duty to guard the villa," she said with conviction and faith. Talking her into leaving would be unfathomable and a waste of time.
Hence, instead of doing her a favor, I tried to prod for information because she could have heard many stories after all these years of serving in the villa. "Do you know Bertie?"
She nodded joyfully. "Yes!"
"Who is he?" I pressed on.
As a gullible character, she blurted out everything she knew. "We call him Sir Saunders. He is not old, but he is very merciless. He's a kind person too…"
"Olga, the boss is looking for you," someone called from the outside. As such, she quickly stopped herself and left.
I walked to the windows and was surprised to see Bertie still playing with the cats. His actions reminded me of his colleagues' remarks.
"Bertie, are you trying to be a nice guy again?"
"I won't stop you if you want to stay and protect them."
If those were words from his colleagues, I guessed he might not be an evil character and was only driven by greed. He abducted me for the pay but saved me because of conscience.
With that in mind, I neared the window and announced, "I shall trust you for now."
Still playing with the cats, he raised a brow in astonishment. "Why the sudden statement?"
I shook my head at him. "We will leave soon."
"Okay. It's about time anyway." He also took off his earphones.
Now, I had a problem. I was on the second floor; since I could not climb down from the windows nor leave from the front entrance, how should I escape?
I stared squarely at him. "How should I get down?"
After he ignored me, I called him again, only to be ignored twice. My expression sank as I scolded him, "Can't you hear me?"
Sitting by the bed, I soon walked back to the window, where I saw him wearing his monitors again. I tried to ask him again, but he looked rather surprised. "Is that a concern?"
"Shouldn't it be?" I retorted.
His arms opened, and he flashed a wide smile at me. "Jump into my arms!"
I tried to keep my temper at bay. "I am being serious here."
"How else are you going to leave? Are you climbing down?"
Speechless, I realized that I was no match for him. Please check at N/ôvel(D)rama.Org.
He assured me gently, "Don't worry. I have never failed. I guarantee that I can catch you."
After some hesitation, I came to a decision. "Okay. Catch me, then."
"Alright, but don't try to take advantage of me."