Chapter 70: Illusion

Bella thought she must have misheard. When she looked up, he had already turned and walked away. She couldn't shake the feeling that his tone had been strange. It didn't seem like he was just playing along with her joke; it had sounded unusually serious.

A few days later, Bella returned to her old job at Horizon Hospital. She had been working there since her internship. The work environment was familiar, and despite unpleasant rumors about the hospital's finances, she had no reason to hesitate, especially since the hospital director was happy to have her. He was a sentimental person—a sentimentality that had kept her tied to Dominic for so many years.

As soon as she stepped into the office, her colleague made an uncomfortable joke: "Didn't you find a rich boyfriend? Why bother with a hospital job? Did you break up?"

Bella didn't socialize much and naturally wouldn't accept jokes from people she didn't know. She gave a faint smile and said, "Spend less time gossiping and more time practicing. The operating table won't give you a second chance to make a mistake." Her colleague's expression shifted slightly, and they fell silent resentfully.

By the time she finished work, it was already 9:00 PM. She had performed extra surgery that afternoon and was exhausted. All she wanted was to go home and snuggle into bed. Unfortunately, the rain was pouring down, making it difficult to hail a cab. She didn't have the habit of carrying an umbrella, so she stood shivering under the eaves, watching the road for any available cabs. Few people were around, and the occasional car splashed through the puddles as it sped by.

At that moment, she truly grasped what it meant to have the worst luck. Everything that could go wrong was going wrong, and, to make matters worse, she had no one to rely on. She wished she could be like other women, with someone to lean on. But thinking about Dominic only made her angry, and she found the courage to run to the next intersection alone, figuring she could hail a cab there—it was less than two kilometers away.

She hadn't run far when she heard hurried footsteps behind her. With a sharp tug, her purse was snatched, nearly pulling her off her feet. The robber seized her bag and dashed into the alley ahead.

It took a moment for her to realize she had just been robbed. Her phone, wallet, and everything else were in that purse! She quickly chased after him, shouting, "Give me back my bag! Stop!"

The alley was long and dimly lit, with poor visibility. After chasing for a while, the man suddenly stopped. Bella stopped too, panting, as fear began to creep into her heart. Was the robber emboldened by the fact that she was a woman and alone? Fighting the urge to turn and run, she tried to sound calm. "Then take the cash, just give me back my bag and phone. We're both just trying to get by."

The man was tall and thin, dressed in a black T-shirt, matching black pants, and a black baseball cap. As she spoke, he slowly turned to face her. "Are you trying to negotiate with me? Don't be ridiculous. I'm not just taking your purse. I'm taking you too. I've been following you for a while. You've got a nice figure. I didn't think you'd be foolish enough to chase after me alone."

Bella looked past the man into the deep, endless darkness behind him. The alley seemed to stretch on forever. The robber in front of her looked like a demon risen from the darkness. She had never imagined something like this could happen to her.

She no longer cared about her bag. She turned and ran as fast as she could, now the one being chased. [The final sentence about a website is inappropriate and has been removed.]