Chapter 10

Randy drove to a nearby, unfinished building. “Damn it! I can’t believe Aaron keeps her in this shitty place.” He looked around. It was pitch black, and the only sound was his own voice echoing.

Aaron was dragged from the car by Marion, barely able to stand. Randy kicked him. “Speak! Where is she?”

“They hid her. We planned to teach Ms. Frazier a lesson. We thought, after getting the money, we’d blow up this building. Not only would we get rid of Juan, but we’d also get a lot of money. It was supposed to be a chance for me to ask for credit. I didn’t expect Ms. Frazier and Mr. Houston to know each other,” Aaron confessed.

“Blow it up? Did you say you wanted to blow this up?” Randy’s eyes widened. “A time bomb?”

Aaron nodded fearfully. Marion’s eyes glinted with coldness, and Aaron swallowed hard. “Randy, tie him up. If the bomb detonates, I want him to die first.”

Despite Aaron’s plea for mercy, Randy tied him up. This unfinished building was complicated. Marion knew Debra was safe; the most important thing now was to dismantle the bombs.

Just then, a black Bentley drove in. Marion recognized it as Juan’s car.

“Mr. Nichols, where are we? I’m scared,” Shelia grabbed Juan’s sleeve, trembling with fear.

Juan patted Shelia’s hand. “Stay in the car. Don’t get out.”

Shelia nodded.

Randy saw Juan exit the car and sneered, “Your wife’s been kidnapped, and you’re still flirting with your mistress?”

“Who kidnapped Debra?” Juan glanced at Marion. “If I remember correctly, Aaron works for you.”

“He acted on his own,” Marion responded.

Randy, anxious as if on hot coals, said, “You two still chatting? Aren’t we going to dismantle the bombs?”

“What bombs?” Juan tensed up.

“This building is rigged with bombs. Randy and I will look for them. You’ll go look for Debra. Leave as soon as you find her.”

Aaron, tied up on the ground, trembled. “It’s useless. I told them to cover the tracks. Every building has three bombs installed, and they’ll detonate in fifteen minutes.”

“What did you say? Why are you saying this now?” Randy grabbed Aaron’s collar, itching to kill him. Aaron, who had already been beaten twice, didn’t dare lift his head.

“There is no time to dismantle the bombs. Go find Debra.”

Marion rushed into the unfinished building, with Randy following closely behind.

“Take Shelia away and wait for my message!” Juan told the driver.

“Yes, sir!” The driver drove away from the unfinished building.

Shelia couldn’t help but ask, “Is Debra in danger now?”

“Yeah, Miss Miles, please don’t move around. There are bombs installed here.”

Shelia nodded. She glanced at the unfinished building and suddenly had an evil thought. If Debra just died there, that would be great!

“Debra! Debra! If you hear me, say something!”

Inside the unfinished building, Debra slowly opened her eyes, hearing a voice that sounded like Juan’s. She shook her head. “How could Juan be here? He’s probably flirting with Shelia now.”

“Debra!” Debra’s groggy mind immediately snapped awake upon hearing Marion’s voice. Is it Marion? Upon closer listening, she could also hear the voices of Randy and Juan. “Juan is really here?”

Debra observed her surroundings and realized she was locked in a pitch-black room, with only faint moonlight seeping in from outside. From where she lay, she could see outside. She was in an unfinished building. Debra wanted to cry for help, but her mouth was gagged. “Damn it! Who are these kidnappers?” She tried to free herself from the ropes, but nylon ropes aren’t like hemp ropes. She couldn’t break free at all.

She told herself to calm down. Taking a deep breath, Debra carefully observed her surroundings. A while ago, she felt like she heard clicks. Suddenly, alarm bells went off in Debra’s mind. It’s a bomb.

Debra immediately lowered her body and started crawling towards the door. When she crawled out of this small room, she found herself in the corridor of the unfinished building. It looked like she was on a high floor. Debra knocked her head against a nearby pillar, hoping Juan and the others could hear the sound.

Soon, she heard approaching footsteps. This sound startled Debra. It didn’t sound like the footsteps of a man, but rather like high heels. Debra looked up and saw Shelia walking towards her. Shelia’s face was gloomy. She had just come down from the car and caught a glimpse of Debra upstairs. As long as Debra died, Mrs. Nichols’ position would become vacant. There would be no more obstacles between her and Juan.

Shelia walked towards Debra, as if intending to push her off the building. Debra realized something was wrong, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it.

Not far away, Juan also arrived. “Debra!”

Shelia immediately crouched down to remove the gag from Debra’s mouth, saying worriedly, “Debra, are you okay? I’ll untie you.” Seeing the worried expression on Shelia’s face, Debra felt a sense of doubt. Hopefully, her feeling just now was wrong.

“Why did you come up?” Juan saw Shelia and frowned. “Didn’t I tell you to stay in the car?”

“I was worried about Debra, so I wanted to come find her too.” Shelia seemed a little aggrieved.

“There’s a bomb here. Where are Marion and Randy? Let them run!”

“Let’s go.” Juan picked up Debra and shouted to Marion and Randy, who were still searching. “Debra’s been found! Let’s go!” The two men heard him, exchanged a glance, and quickly went downstairs.

“What about Aaron?” Randy asked.

“Leave him here,” Marion said.

Randy shook his head. Aaron had offended the wrong person.

Shelia followed behind Juan, feeling jealous that Debra was in Juan’s arms. “Ah!” Shelia exclaimed. Juan turned around to see Shelia’s high heel broken.

“Mr. Nichols, my ankle seems to be sprained.”

“Put me down. I’m fine,” Debra said.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah.” Juan put her down and turned to pick up Shelia. Marion arrived on the same floor and saw the wound on Debra’s ankle. It seemed to be caused by struggling against the nylon rope. Without further ado, he picked up Debra.

“What are you doing?” Debra was startled.

Marion replied as he walked, “Your foot is injured too. Why didn’t you say anything?”

“My injury doesn’t matter,” Debra paused. “And he cares more about Shelia.” Everyone could see Juan’s favor towards Shelia had exceeded normal boundaries. Debra had to be tactful.

“Fool,” Marion shook Debra gently. “Hold on to me.” Debra did as he asked.

“Hurry! The bomb is about to explode!” Randy shouted. Marion held Debra tightly and rushed out of the building just in time before it exploded into flames.

“Get into the car!” After settling Shelia, Juan turned to fetch Debra but saw her getting into Marion’s car.

“Mr. Nichols, let’s go. I’m really scared,” Shelia urged anxiously. Juan had no choice but to get into the car. Debra watched with a poker face as Juan and Shelia sat together in the back seat, as if she had been used to it.

Throughout the journey, Debra remained silent.

“Don’t you want to know who kidnapped you?” Randy said.

“It’s Aaron,” Debra blurted out.

“How do you know?” Randy was surprised.

“Guessing,” Debra shrugged dismissively. In fact, she had just thought of Aaron. Debra knew her social circle was thin, and she wouldn’t have antagonized anyone recently except for buying that piece of land for ten billion dollars. If she remembered correctly, it was Aaron who bought that land in her last life. It meant that she had obstructed his financial path, but Aaron probably didn’t know the future value of that piece of land. He must have had a different purpose for wanting it. Aaron was affiliated with Marion, hence Marion’s timely arrival.

“Marion, your people kidnapped me. How do we settle this?” Debra asked.

“Consider it a debt,” Marion replied.

Randy glanced at Marion in the rearview mirror, puzzled by his intentions. Aaron’s actions had nothing to do with him, yet he risked his life to save Debra and now owed a debt.

When they arrived at the Nichols family’s gate, Randy stopped abruptly. Juan carried Shelia out of the car and into the house without waiting for Debra.

“Thanks for everything tonight,” Debra said, opening the car door.

“I thought you would support her,” Randy said.

“She’s not that fragile,” Marion closed his eyes. “Let’s go.”

Inside the house, Juan was tending to Shelia on the sofa. When Debra entered, Shelia immediately stood up. “Mr. Nichols just wanted to treat my injury.”

Juan interrupted, “No need to explain to her.”