"Since you don't wanna know—" Edmund let go of Larissa, straightened up, and took care of his clothes. "Then I'll answer the call outside."Larissa was afraid that he would see the desperate need in her eyes, so she forcibly looked away from Edmund. "Do whatever you want," she said indifferently."Tsk." Edmund confidently left the room.After that, one of the black-suited men entered the room and stared emotionlessly at Larissa. He warned her. "Don't even think of escaping!"Although the guy looked dangerous and fierce, he did not have the same sort of oppressive feel that Edmund had.Larissa raised her bound legs and asked, "Tell me how the hell I'm supposed to escape?"The man huffed and looked away. He ignored her after that.Larissa talked to him though. "How much is Edmund paying you for this? I'll give you double—for both you and your 'friends.' Could you please let me go?"The man glared at her and shouted, "Shut up!"Larissa ignored that though. "I mean it." She contin

Edmund seemed to be convinced by Larissa. His stunned expression turned dark pretty quickly. The sound of knocking sounded at this time. The man in the black suit entered the room.He was still stone-faced. He did not look at Larissa at all for fear that Edmund might notice something. "Mr. Rogers, it's time. We have to go," he said in a low voice to Edmund.Edmund nodded. "Okay." He pulled Larissa up from the bed.Because her ankles were tied by the ropes, Larissa nearly slammed against the wall when her feet touched the floor. Edmund helped steady her and frowned at the ropes on her ankles.Previously, he only wanted to stop Larissa from escaping, so he got the guys to tie layers of ropes around her legs. He did not think it would cause trouble now for him. After some hesitation, he called the man in a black suit to come over. "Free her legs." Then, he warned Larissa. "If you dare to try something, Wendy—""Chill. I won't escape." Larissa mocked him. "I'm more trustworthy compare

While the thugs were all focused on Edmund, Larissa turned and ran.When the thugs saw that Larissa was running inside the motel, they did not chase after her, probably thinking that she was already their prize anyway. They laughed harder at Edmund instead. "Lookie here! Even your woman left you alone to run off by herself!""You're a sack of shit, dude!""Hahahaha!"…Larissa ran as fast as she could to the room Edmund had locked her in. She smacked her hand repeatedly on the door and shouted, "Come out quickly! Edmund's getting beaten up!"The black-suited men ran out from their rooms, and the leader was the one Larissa had made a deal with. He must have informed the others at this point, because he asked very plainly, "Shouldn't you be escaping if Rogers is getting beaten up? Why are you still here looking for us?""Didn't I tell you that I have to follow him to the airport?" Larissa waved her hand. "Enough talk. Hurry and go save him! If he can't leave, my friend won't be ab

The moment Edmund left, Larissa asked a black-suited man for his phone. Her phone had been taken and thrown away by Edmund.She only remembered three phone numbers—her own, Wendy's, and Aster's.It was useless to call the first two numbers. Now, she could only put her hope on Aster. Lewis should be with him right now.Because she was worried that Edmund would come back quickly, she dialed the number and gave the phone back quickly."Look for Lewis Logan," Larissa quietly instructed the man, who did as he was told.The airport was really noisy. The flight announcements kept coming one after another.Larissa listened hard but she could not hear what the other person said on the phone.The man looked down and told her. "Lewis answered.""Tell him to go get Wendy Simmons." Larissa stared right ahead and did not make any eye contact with the man. "You should know where Wendy's being kept at, right?"Edmund should have called off the men watching Wendy. But if she escaped later, it

Larissa and Edmund waited in the hall. Edmund still held her, pretending to be in love with her. Larissa knew that she could not escape his grip, so she did not bother trying.After some time had passed, Edmund finally got the picture from his guys. He showed Larissa his phone. "Here. Take a damn good look at it."In the picture, Wendy was still unconscious, and she was being held by a male colleague. The colleague was staring blankly at the camera, clearly confused by what was happening. Larissa had met this male colleague before. His relationship with Wendy was not bad, and he was trustworthy.Larissa sighed in relief.Edmund pulled his phone away and asked, "Can we leave now?" To wait for this photo, he had rebooked his flight ticket.There were not many flights from Westonia to Bartham. This flight's destination was Covenford, which was incredibly far away from Bartham. After landing, they had to make a connecting flight back to Bartham.Larissa's attitude was better than b

The number of the sender was a Caldorian one. Larissa had a name, but she was not sure if it was really him. She shakily texted, "Who are you?"The response was quick. "Kevan Rogers." As she expected.Larissa did not have the energy to wonder how he was here, but she only felt a sense of safety now. It was like she did not have to be afraid of anything when he was here.After she had taken care of her appearance in the mirror, Larissa only carefully walked out of the female washroom. There was no one outside. She could not see Kevan or Edmund.She was confused when someone grabbed her wrist and pulled her into a cool hug. The familiar smell surrounded Larissa, and she teared up almost immediately. All the fear disappeared and she turned to hug Kevan tightly around his waist.Kevan held her just as tightly, and he kept patting her back with one hand. His low and gentle voice sounded above her head. "It's alright. It's alright now."All the tension in Larissa's brain snapped, and s

"Whew." Larissa sighed in relief. "That's good, then.""Why?" Kevan raised an eyebrow."Actually, before we came to the airport, I made a deal with Edmund's guys. As long as they let go of me, I would pay them double the money," Larissa explained."So, you planned everything already?" Kevan suddenly did not feel so successful anymore. In fact, he felt a little discouraged. Even if he did not appear, she seemed to be able to protect herself.Larissa figured out Kevan's thoughts from his frown and instantly dull eyes, so she immediately smiled and hugged his arm."Well, not everything!" she said. "To be honest, I had no confidence at all in whether or not I could escape. If it weren't for the elderly lady you found to help you, I might still be dealing with Edmund."Kevan's face looked a little better, and he even smiled.Larissa suddenly found that this weird man was rather easy to understand. Honestly, why did she think that he was cold and hard to get close to?"Speaking of wh

It took some time to drive back into the city center from the airport. In the middle of it, Lewis met up with a subordinate and told him to tow Larissa's car away from the motel.When they reached Maple Hotel, it was already 3 am. There were no hotel guests in the lobby, only uniformed hotel staff waiting for guests to show up.The doorman was about to help guide them kindly when Larissa waved him off and explained their reasons for coming. "I'm looking for your hotel's Administrative Manager, Wendy."The smile on the doorman's face froze up as he backed away alertly. He anxiously called for the lobby manager to come.As "oldies" of the hotel industry, Larissa naturally had met the lobby manager quite a few times. The manager recognized Larissa and asked her, "What brings you here?""I'm looking for Wendy," Larissa replied.The lobby manager was aware of Larissa's friendship with Wendy, so he helped Larissa get a room card from the front desk. "Just head up. I don't know if Wendy

Larissa quickly showered and got back into her clothes. She lay down in a corner of the bed and dared not to take up too much space.She did not turn off the light. She woke up every half an hour to observe Wendy's condition. Thankfully, other than the fact that Wendy was still unconscious, she was fine.Larissa slept very badly that night. After who knew how long, she suddenly heard a noise beside her. It was very light like the person was purposely trying not to wake her up.Larissa did not sleep very deeply, so she opened her eyes immediately. Wendy, who had been lying down, was now half sitting up. She had peeled back a part of the sheets and had one leg down the bed.They stared at each other for a few seconds before Wendy said, "Did I wake you?" Her voice was dry and hoarse, maybe from the lack of water, though it was hard to tell."No." Larissa brushed her hair away from her forehead as she got up too. "How are you feeling?" She asked with concern, "Do you feel bad? What do

It was impossible to get the police to let go of Edmund. But in such a situation, Larissa could not directly reject Wendy. She could only pretend. "I can't decide on this. We'll have to see how the police deal with this. He did kidnap you after all."Wendy's shoulders slumped with disappointment. After a long while, she asked Larissa, "Then can you take me to see him? I have something … I want to ask him still."Larissa did not want to let Wendy meet Edmund. If the man leaked anything … she did not know how to continue this nice lie she had going for now. "I'll ask, I guess." She fudged it over. All she needed to tell Wendy later was "no."…Before they finished breakfast, Kevan came over to knock on the door. He had changed his clothes and he looked perfect."Why are you up so early?" Larissa was very surprised."Jet lag. I couldn't sleep." Kevan did not enter the room. He only handed over the paper bag he had to Larissa. "Clean clothes."Larissa held the paper bag in her arms