Chapter 112: It's Actually You
"That's why I went to find your mother right away," Ian said.
Tristan hacked into the hotel's surveillance system again and quickly found footage of Harriet.
"My mom wasn't lying. Harriet did leave the hotel."
"After Harriet left the hotel, she didn't go home or back to the clinic. So where could she have gone?"
"I'm already having people check where Harriet's phone signal last disappeared."
"Good. Let's hope nothing bad happened to Harriet."
At that moment, in a rundown wooden cabin in the suburbs.
Harriet woke up groggily to find her hands and feet tied, with tape over her mouth.
Her head hurt badly. She could feel that she'd been drugged with a large dose of sedatives.
There was no one around.
Harriet tried to break free from the ropes on her hands, but they were tied too tight—she couldn't get loose at all.
Harriet looked around and spotted her medical kit thrown on the ground not far away.
She quickly shuffled over and tried to open the kit, but there was no way she could.
She searched around again, and her eyes lit up when she saw a piece of broken glass.
Harriet shuffled over, picked up the glass shard, and slowly sawed at the rope.
The glass cut into the skin on her hands. She gritted through the pain and finally managed to cut through the rope.
Just as Harriet was about to untie the rope on her feet, she suddenly heard the sound of a car outside.
Startled, Harriet quickly pulled out a small fruit knife from the hidden compartment at the bottom of her medical kit, shuffled back to her original position, and put her hands behind her back, pretending to still be tied up.
A man named Jace Bell soon came in, carrying a bag.
"You're awake?" Jace walked up to Harriet and ripped off the tape from her mouth. "Now that you're up, eat something. You've been asleep for almost a day and night. If you starve to death, I won't be able to explain it."
"You're that taxi driver?" Harriet asked urgently. "Why did you kidnap me? Who do you need to explain to?"
Yesterday when she left the hotel, she hailed a taxi on the street to go home. But shortly after getting in the cab, she smelled sedatives.
Before she could react, she passed out.
"That's none of your business. Just eat."
Jace took out a piece of bread and held it to her mouth.
Harriet didn't dare resist. After eating a little less than half, she said, "I'm full."
Jace put the tape back on and left with his things.
When Harriet heard no more sounds outside, she used the knife to cut the rope on her feet, grabbed her medical kit, and quietly headed out.
She saw Jace leaning against the taxi eating a boxed meal.
Harriet looked around. There was only one door to leave through, and Jace was blocking it.
Harriet found a stick and hid by the side of the door. Taking a deep breath, she knocked hard on the wooden wall.
The sound startled Jace outside. He immediately put down his meal and walked in.
Harriet focused intently, waiting. As soon as he came in, she raised the stick and struck him hard on the back of the neck!
Jace was knocked out cold on the ground.
Harriet breathed a sigh of relief and quickly searched his body, finding her turned-off phone as expected.
She turned it on and immediately called the police.
The call connected. Just as Harriet was about to speak, someone suddenly covered her nose and mouth from behind with a wet towel.
Harriet struggled violently, but the drug she inhaled quickly took effect. Her vision went black, and she lost consciousness.
At that moment, Ryder immediately reported.
"Mr. Lancaster, Mrs. Lancaster's phone is on!"
Tristan, in the back seat, suddenly opened his eyes. "Track the location!"
"Yes!" Ryder quickly found it. "Got it!"
"Let's go!"
The driver quickly started the engine and headed toward the destination.
Tristan took out his phone and called Harriet, but the line was busy.
"Check who she's calling."
"Okay." Ryder quickly found out. "Mrs. Lancaster is calling the police!"
"Can you monitor the call?"
"It'll take time."
Tristan immediately made a call. Within minutes, the person called back saying Harriet had indeed called the police, but never said anything.
Tristan had a bad feeling. "Drive faster!"
The driver drove to the location at top speed. They saw an unconscious man lying on the ground, with Harriet's phone and medical kit dropped nearby.
Tristan picked up the phone and ordered, "Search the area!"
"Yes!"
Several bodyguards immediately spread out to look for her.
When Harriet woke up, a bright light overhead made it hard to open her eyes.
She squinted, and after finally adjusting to the light, she found herself tied to a chair, unable to move.
Not far away, a man wearing a mask named Beau Parker sat on a stool, watching her with a calm, composed look.
Harriet's heart jumped. "Who are you? Are you working with that other guy?"
Beau let out a cold laugh. "I'm not as stupid as him."
The familiar voice made Harriet's scalp tingle. "It's you!"
This man was the wanted criminal who had attempted to rape her in Luminara City, beaten her until her spleen ruptured, and then escaped!
"Looks like I really left an impression on you." Beau removed his mask, revealing a sinister face. "Harriet, you made me suffer so much. But finally, you've fallen into my hands."
Harriet trembled all over. "You've been hiding in Emberfall this whole time?"
"Didn't expect that, did you? The most dangerous place is the safest place. Not only did I come back to Emberfall, I've been secretly following you, waiting for the chance to catch you."
"Don't do anything crazy." Harriet tried to stay calm. "If you let me go now, I can help plead your case. Don't make another mistake!"
"Still trying to lecture me when you're about to die?" Beau smiled and stood up, picking up a syringe from an old table and filling it with liquid.
Harriet panicked. "What are you doing!"
"Originally, I planned to rape you first, then kill you. That's why I went through all this trouble to bring you here." Beau walked toward her with the syringe. "But now, I've changed my mind. You're too smart. If I untie you, you'll definitely try to escape. So I've decided to kill you first, then rape you!"
"Don't do this!" Harriet couldn't stop shaking. "Before, you were just manipulated, and I didn't die, so your sentence wouldn't be that heavy! But if you kill me now, that's a death sentence. There'll be no turning back!"
Beau hesitated.
Seeing his reaction, Harriet continued, "I heard your parents died when you were young, and your grandmother raised you. Now she's all alone in the countryside. If you commit a capital crime and get executed, how sad will she be!"
Tristan had never given up looking for this man and had investigated Beau's background thoroughly.
Harriet had learned about Beau's family situation from Ryder.
"I believe you were just confused for a moment and got manipulated into hurting me. Making mistakes isn't scary—what's scary is making mistake after mistake and leaving yourself no way out."
Beau seemed to struggle internally, but soon spoke angrily, "What way out do I have left? I'd rather die than live like them! Do you know how miserable that old man and my friend who Tristan caught are? They had their limbs cut off and were thrown in the slums, living a life worse than death!"
"I can't escape anyway. Rather than end up like that, I'd rather kill you for revenge, then get sentenced to death. I'd rather be executed than fall into Tristan's hands! He's too terrifying. He's not human—he's a devil!"
"As long as you let me go, I absolutely won't let you end up like that!" Harriet promised. "Trust me, your situation isn't as bad as you think. I won't let you become like them."
"How can you guarantee that?" Beau sneered. "I heard today is Tristan's wedding day with another woman. He's marrying someone else—will he still listen to you?"
"He will!" Harriet said with certainty. "He'll listen to me. Trust me, I can definitely save you. You'll serve a few years in prison, and when you get out, you can still live a good life!"
"I don't believe you!" Beau seemed to have made up his mind. "Rather than trust a woman, I'll trust myself. At least with you buried with me, it'll be worth it!"
With that, Beau pulled open Harriet's collar and raised the syringe to inject it into her neck.
"No!"
Harriet closed her eyes in despair and breakdown!