Chapter 73 Wait for Me
Daisy froze completely.
The knife was extremely sharp. Just having it pressed against her neck made even breathing painful.
Her heart pounded as her mind raced.
The USB drive?
In an instant, Daisy's breath caught in her throat, her eyes widening suddenly.
The USB drive.
Her throat moved up and down, and it took a long time before she could speak. "Marcus? You're Marcus!"
Marcus didn't answer. He just pushed the knife forward a bit more, pressing a shallow bloody mark into her neck.
"Cut the crap. Where's the USB drive?"
Daisy took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down.
"Wasn't that USB drive taken by your uncle? Why are you asking me for it!"
Marcus stared at her, his gaze as sharp as the knife in his hand,hard to say which was sharper.
"That one was fake."
"Fake?"
"The real one was switched." Marcus said word by word, "At the time, you were the only one who had a chance to switch it."
Daisy felt completely wronged.
The situation had been so urgent then. All she could think was either, Please don't let me get dragged into this mess," or "I'm so unlucky to run into these people.
In short, she was only thinking about saving her own skin. Who cared about any USB drive?
Not only was it not in her hands, but even if it had been, she would have thrown that thing into a sewer ditch long ago.
"How would I have had time to switch it? Use your brain and think carefully. It all happened so suddenly,you shoved the USB drive at me, then we got in the car, then your uncle intercepted us. There wasn't much time at all. Where would I have found an identical USB drive to switch it?"
Her heart pounded against her chest. Under extreme tension, even saying these two sentences made her slightly breathless.
Marcus pushed the knife forward another fraction. Blood flowed down her neck, warm and sticky.
"I was unconscious for part of the journey. How do I know you didn't stop the car in the middle and buy an identical one?"
Daisy tried desperately to pull back, wishing she could push herself into the wall. Seeing him being so unreasonable, anger flared up inside her too.
"I'm telling you one more time,I didn't take that USB drive! Believe it or not, if you don't believe me, just kill me with one slash. Consider it my bad luck for saving an ungrateful wolf!"
In the darkness, Marcus's eyes seemed to flicker. He turned his face away slightly and said, "The one who saved me was Shawn, not you."
Daisy just wanted to roll her eyes.
Then Marcus continued, "I'll be straight with you,what's on that USB drive is worth at least ten billion. The entire Bennett family is looking for it. Don't get any ideas."
"I'm being nice about this. If you fall into my uncle's hands..."
His voice trailed off. The rest didn't need to be said.
Ten billion.
Such a huge sum was enough for countless people to risk their lives, to bet their entire family's lives on it.
If she had lost ten billion for nothing, of course she wouldn't let go of even the slightest clue either.
But the problem was, this whole thing had nothing to do with her in the first place. So much time had passed,she couldn't even remember what that USB drive looked like now.
What did she do to deserve this?
Daisy took a deep breath, barely suppressing the waves of dizziness in her head. When she spoke again, her voice was much steadier.
"I swear to you, I swear on my whole family.I really didn't switch that USB drive, and I don't know anything about real or fake ones."
"If you're sure that what your uncle took was fake, then maybe, from the very beginning, what you got was already fake."
"Maybe you've all been fooled. Think about it carefully."
Marcus stared at her. The knife was still at her neck, but much looser than before.
Sensing his attitude softening, and remembering the tone he used when mentioning Shawn, Daisy thought for a moment and said, "Shawn looked for you all day, crying her eyes out. Did you know that?"
Marcus's hand trembled slightly.
Daisy continued, "She rushed to the lab to find me today, crying so hard, saying you were missing, saying she was so scared, scared something happened to you, scared you'd die out there."
"She went everywhere looking for you, running around alone without even bringing bodyguards. Do you know how dangerous that is? If your uncle's people could target me, they can naturally target her too!"
"That's exactly why I..." He shouted out, but didn't finish the sentence. Instead, he glared fiercely at Daisy.
"She's your friend. I think you probably don't want to see anything happen to her either."
With that, the knife left her neck.
Daisy's legs immediately went weak. She gasped for air and touched her neck,her fingertips were covered in blood.
But fortunately, they were all just surface wounds.
Marcus stood there, gripping the knife tighter, and said hoarsely, "Is she... is she okay now?"
Daisy said bitterly, "You just left without a word. What do you think?"
Marcus was silent for a moment, then hesitated before saying, "Tell her for me that I'll be fine. Once I finish dealing with this matter..."
"I'll agree to it."
With that, he ignored Daisy, turned and left, quickly disappearing at the end of the hallway.
Daisy stood there, still trembling all over.
Not just from fear, but also from anger.
What did she do to deserve getting dragged into this kind of mess?
She leaned against the wall for a while before slowly walking into the apartment building.
--
The moment she opened her front door, Daisy froze completely.
The living room had been turned completely upside down.
The sofa had been slashed open, with foam stuffing scattered everywhere. Cabinets were knocked over, drawers pulled out, books from the bookshelf and papers from the desk all scattered on the floor.
The bedroom, kitchen, bathroom.Nothing was spared.
Every place that could be searched had been thoroughly ransacked. It was so messy there wasn't even a place to step.
Daisy stood in the doorway, looking at the complete disaster, almost fainting.
She took a deep breath, forced herself to calm down, and walked in to check everything.
Nothing valuable was missing.
But every place that could possibly hide something had been searched.
Those people were looking for the USB drive.
She quickly took out her phone to call Shawn, but it was turned off.
However, she noticed a text message Shawn had sent over ten minutes ago.
[Don't go home. The Bennetts are targeting you. Find a safe place to hide quickly, preferably go to Vincent's. Whether he kicks you out or mocks you, you need to stay under his protection. It's a matter of life and death, remember this.]
Daisy looked at this text message, standing in the living room that looked like a disaster zone, her mind in complete chaos.
She hesitated, then still dialed Vincent's number.
It was laughable really,she had personally blocked this number before, but not long after, she had no choice but to unblock it.
"Hello?"
He answered quickly.
Only then did Daisy realize her hands were shaking, and when she spoke, her voice carried a hint of tears.
"Vincent... save me..."
The voice on the other end was stern. "What happened? Tell me slowly."
Daisy breathed deeply and briefly explained everything. From Marcus suddenly appearing, to her home being ransacked, to Shawn's text message,she told him everything.
She tried her best to make her voice sound calm, but by the end, she still couldn't help trembling.
Vincent was silent. Maybe it wasn't silent for long, but to Daisy, every breath seemed infinitely stretched out.
"Lock your door, close the curtains, and wait for me."
He said.