“I’ve told you that nothing you do will work. Today is the day you go to hell, but if you really want to know anything, you can check with Hades once you breathe your last breath.”
After he said that, he approached Tessa again and gave her a hard shove. She couldn’t fight back. Still, she widened her eyes at that man as though she wanted to remember his face.
This cliff was with slopes, and she collided with everything that came her way after she fell off. In addition, the sky was dark, and she was blanketed by the darkness after her very violent descent. Finally, all that was left were the sounds of muffled grunts, but soon, even that sound died out.
To the kidnapper, he had no doubts that Tessa would be turned into a vegetable even if she didn’t die from this fall, and he considered this their mission accomplished.
“Let’s go,” he said, turned around and left. Unbeknownst to him, although Tessa was undoubtedly injured, she still fought to live. While she was rolling down, she still tried her best to grab the things around her. She was also very fortunate because there were a lot of trees growing around the area where she tumbled.
In order to survive, she gritted her teeth as she endured the pain assailing her and tried to roll in a different direction. Finally, after several attempts, she managed to hook her legs to a branch that was as thick as her arm to stop herself from rolling further.
Nevertheless, she didn’t relax and frantically looked around. Under the moonlight, she saw where she had stopped, and it was a perilous spot.
Of all times, the branch that she had used to hook her legs around started to crack, and her face turned stark white. If the branch broke, she would continue to roll down, and she had no idea what was waiting for her beneath this cliff. There was a high chance she would die if she plummeted from such heights.
Thus, she didn’t dare to relax and kept scanning the area repeatedly, hoping to find a spot to support her weight.
At the same time, she kept mumbling to encourage herself, “I’ve promised Nicholas that we’ll grow old together. And there’s also Gordon. He’s still a baby and needs me the most right now. So, don’t be afraid, Tessa, You can survive this.”
While she murmured under her breath, she carefully wriggled and grabbed onto a thick branch, but before she could even feel slightly elated, the branch that she was holding onto could no longer carry her weight and broke off with a loud crack.
She was caught off guard and could only yelp in shock before she started tumbling. downward once more, and her eyes were filled with despair as she gaped helplessly at the trees that were getting farther and farther away from her. Am I going to die here today? No, I can’t die! Nicholas will find me as long as I keep holding on!
Once again, her survival instincts took over, and thanks to Lady Luck, before she could figure out a way to grab onto a branch, she fell right into a bush that stopped her from tumbling and even succeeded in carrying her entire weight.
She heaved a sigh of relief at the abrupt stop. Nonetheless, she immediately started to check out her situation when she realized, to her horror, that her circumstances now were far more dangerous than before. She became stock-still due to terror and didn’t dare to move a muscle. Alas, it was also difficult for her not to move as every inch of her body was screaming in agony, even breathing hurt. Since it was so dark, she couldn’t see anything, but she could feel warm liquid flowing down her forehead, coupled with the thick scent of iron in the air.
She knew that it was her own blood she was smelling, and the blood trickled down her cheekbones, but she didn’t even have the energy left to lift her hand and wipe it off.
Tessa had no idea how long had passed, but every single second was torture. She was cold, and the bush was prickly as it stabbed into her wounds, aggravating her injuries further. Eventually, she started to feel dizzy, perhaps from the excessive blood loss, and her vision started to blur. Gradually, her eyelids felt like lead as they kept falling over her eyes.
“Don’t sleep… Don’t sleep…” she chanted softly and bit deeply into her lower lip in an attempt to stay awake with pain. Unfortunately, it wasn’t helpful since that pain was nothing compared to the wounds that she had suffered on her way down.
Still, she kept trying because she was afraid. that she would never wake up again if she fell asleep now. Alas, she couldn’t stop the physiological reaction of her body despite her extreme reluctance to pass out. Soon, she utterly lost consciousness, and hopelessness engulfed her heart right before her eyes slid shut.
Under the moonlight, the woman appeared like a broken doll lying quietly among the bushes. There was blood around her, and the rise and fall of her chest from her breathing were getting weaker.
Meanwhile, Nicholas contacted the police and finally found where Tessa was. They hastily went to the foot of the mountain to search for her and happened to bump into the kidnappers who were just descending the mountain.
