A gunshot pierced the air at about the same time her voice rang out.
I watched everything indifferently, not worried for Nathaniel for even a second.
The scene playing in my mind was that of John pinned on the ground, his hand broken mercilessly.
Well, it turns out that karma is real, and this is his retribution. No, this isn’t enough. He should also experience all the pain he has ever put us through! He’s getting off far too lightly with just a bullet!
Alas, God just had to favor him. Thanks to the gun’s recoil and the blind man’s impaired sense of direction, the bullet went wide.
Even in the face of death, Nathaniel remained proud and dignified. His bushy eyebrows creased deeply, proving that he indeed braced himself for death at that very moment.
Harrumphing, Freja sneered, “Hmph! I didn’t expect you to be so lucky.”
She got to her feet and sauntered over to him. Her subordinates then loosened their hold on Nathaniel, upon which the man straightened up from the ground.
As Nathaniel kneeled on the ground, infinite ruthlessness brewed in his ebony eyes. In a threatening tone, he warned, “If you kill me, I can guarantee you that none of the Schmidt family will be able to live past tonight!”
Hearing that, Freja wore an expression of mockery. “Oh? It looks like you’ve made arrangements beforehand. Let me guess. You’re referring to my beloved mother and grandmother, yes? That’s just perfect. I find them a hindrance in the first place, but there hasn’t been any valid reason to eliminate them. I’ve got to thank you now instead.”
It seemed that the family who owned the top pharmaceutical company in K City wasn’t all that peaceful internally.
This time, Nathaniel had made a mistake. Not only did he fail to blackmail Freja, but he actually did her a favor.
“In that case, I’ll allow you to live for a while longer.” Freja abruptly changed her mind, gesturing to her subordinate to bring me over.
The man keeping watch over me promptly picked me up from the chair and tossed me to the ground across from Nathaniel. Then, he whipped out his gun and aimed it right at me.
Our gazes locked, and I shot him a vicious glare before averting my gaze stubbornly.
Freja stood between us and circled me with much interest. As she did so, she remarked, “Killing you isn’t half as fun as having you watch the woman you love die right in front of your eyes. Is that not so?”
“Don’t you dare!” Nathaniel flew into such a rage that the three burly men behind him almost couldn’t maintain their hold on him. As though having been provoked, Freja took the gun from her subordinate. Crouching, she placed the barrel of the gun against my heart. “Remember this, Nathaniel. There is a price to pay if you steal something that belongs to someone else.”
While speaking, she flicked the safety off. It was also at that instant that Nathaniel went off and broke free from the few burly men in the blink of an eye.
At the same time, the roar of engines split the air around them, and it felt as though the ground had even started shaking.
In the next second, a helicopter streaked over in the sky. Bullets sprayed the ground, instantly killing Freja’s men.
Amidst the chaos, a few quick-witted men quickly moved forward and protected Freja as they beat a hasty retreat.
While taking off, they attempted a counterattack on the helicopter with their guns. Unfortunately, they lacked firepower, and that rendered them sitting ducks.
Driven to the side of the car, Freja’s men dragged her along as they made their escape. “Ms. Schmidt, there are still plenty of opportunities in the future! The most important thing now is to stay alive!”
Meanwhile, Nathaniel had regained his freedom at long last. However, the burning of the gunshot wound at his shoulder had him gritting his teeth with a hand propped against the ground for a while before he finally struggled to his feet to head over and protect me.
Nevertheless, Freja wasn’t willing to let us off just like that. Before she got into the getaway car, she snatched the rifle from her subordinate’s hands and shot Nathaniel in the left leg. The man’s knees went weak, and he fell to the ground on his knees.
I cackled maniacally, not the least bit bothered about the bullets that were hitting increasingly nearer to me. All I knew was that he had finally had a taste of Joseph’s injury.
Freja wanted to shoot Nathaniel another time, but the bullets from the helicopter were already peppering their car. Having no other recourse, they could only scramble into the car and take off like a bat out of hell.
As soon as they had left, the helicopter stopped spraying bullets and slowly hovered over me.
Subsequently, the helicopter door opened, and a ladder was thrown out. Several men in military fatigues swiftly climbed down and surrounded me in a tight circle. One of the men with heavy camouflage face paint stepped forward and untied the ropes binding me.
The moment I glimpsed his eyes, I recognized him as Anthony.
Stark distress and anguish surged within me at once, and my nose stung. The dam broke, and tears streamed down my face. In a voice that was only audible to us both, I poured out my grief to him. “Rose is gone. Anthony, they mistook her for me and killed her. She died because of me. How am I going to face Nick?”
As Anthony calmly unknotted the rope on me, his massive and warm hands covered mine. His gaze was firm and resolute. “Stay strong, Letty. Hang in there for a while longer. We’ll avenge her. Trust me. Trust your man, okay? I beg you.”
I really wanted to hug him and cry my heart out, then be selfish for once and have him bring me to a place where there’s no pain or sorrow, hiding there cowardly.
Nonetheless, I knew that it wasn’t practical. The dead can no longer come back to life, so the living has to live vicariously for their sake. Only when we’ve personally put an end to the source of evil will they have peace in the afterlife.
Holding back my tears, I gritted out a single word from between clenched teeth—”Okay.”
Anthony cast me a forbearing look before he stepped back and slipped into the ranks of the military personnel, keeping his head lowered.
After the military personnel communicated among themselves and ascertained that it was safe, Benson, who had been taking the lead at the front, walked in and inquired after me. “Are you okay, Ms. Stanhope?”
I lifted my hands and wiped my tears, forcing a smile onto my face. “I’m fine, thanks to all of you.”
“Well, it’s thanks to…” Benson trailed off mid-utterance and glanced in Anthony’s direction before he immediately changed his tune, declaring, “It’s thanks to Lady Luck smiling on you, Ms. Stanhope. We didn’t do much. However, I hope you don’t mind playing along when I speak to Nathaniel later.”
I nodded without a single word of protest. They then helped me up and led me over to Nathaniel to check on him.
When we reached him, the soldier keeping guard over him was treating the gunshot wound on his leg.
Benson proceeded to explain in an exceedingly official tone, “Freja Schmidt heads the top drug trafficking ring in the country, and we have been keeping a close eye on her for a very long time, but we couldn’t arrest her due to lack of evidence. I’m sorry for dragging the two of you into this mess. Are you okay, sir?”
His tone was sincere, and it really seemed as though he had no idea about Nathaniel’s identity.
That wasn’t surprising since Nathaniel had been hiding his tracks very well. Almost no one knew that the man who was feared abroad was living freely within the country.
Gritting his teeth, Nathaniel shook his head slowly. “I’m fine.”
“I’m glad to hear that. We’ll arrange for two people to keep both of you safe, so you don’t have to worry that she’ll come back for revenge,” Benson added.
In response, Nathaniel rejected him outright. “No, that’s fine. I like having my freedom and loathe someone following me around. I’ll look for bodyguards myself.”
If someone like him were to get involved with the police, it would be no different from being monitored at all times. As such, he naturally didn’t want that.
Benson was merely offering out of courtesy in the first place, so he didn’t insist. “All right, then. I’ll send you both to the hospital.”
After that, no one said anything more.
As I sat in the helicopter, I didn’t dare look in Anthony’s direction at all, afraid that Nathaniel would suspect something.
Even so, I felt ever so secure, knowing that he was right there with me.
The shot to Nathaniel’s leg was just a flesh wound, but he still got treated in the hospital for half a month.
During that period, the man in the suit who had been following him around kept guard over me. Even when I went to bed, someone kept watch outside the bedroom.
Almost every night, I saw Rose and that little boy dying as soon as I closed my eyes. It pushed me to the brink of insanity.
The weather was exceptionally good that day. The sun shone brightly, chasing the cold away. I sat in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows, basking in the sun. Out of the blue, Nathaniel appeared at the bedroom door.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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