Chapter 2361
“Excuse me, I’m having some trouble with my ankle. Could you please call an ambulance for me?”
The woman, startled out of her wits, finally snapped back to reality under Ivy’s insistent urging.
“Oh, sure, darn it, what rotten luck. Just went out for a bite to eat and now this happens.”
After she made the call for an ambulance, she hurried away from the scene as fast as she could.
The restaurant manager, hearing the commotion, asked a female staff to make sure the coast was clear before rushing in.
“What’s the situation? They’ve been gone way too long; why aren’t they back yet?”
Nolan was getting worried.
The relationship between Ivy and Mara was murky at best, and Nolan thought he had picked up on some serious bad blood between them.
But he hadn’t expected Mara to actually call out for Ivy, which he found rather odd.
“Something’s gone down near the restrooms. I’m going to check it out.”
Balfour saw a few people rushing in that direction and couldn’t sit still any longer.
Nolan called out from behind, “I’m coming too.
“Ms. Lewis, can you hear us? Ms. Lewis, if you can hear me, blink your eyes, please.”
The restaurant manager knelt beside Mara, calling her name repeatedly. They were unsure where exactly she had hit her head and didn’t dare move her carelessly.
Ivy was panicked, with a dread she couldn’t quite name.
She had only meant to shake off Mara’s hand, in no way could that have caused her to fall so hard.
But could Mara really have staged such a fall, just to pin it on her?
What Ivy didn’t realize at the time was that some people truly have no limits.
Balfour burst through the crowd, initially thinking Ivy might have taken another spill.
But to his surprise, it was Mara lying there, seemingly unconscious.
“Balfour, listen to me, I got into an argument with Mara and I don’t know how, but she just fell, I swear I didn’t mean it,” Ivy tried to explain
Balfour barely heard what Ivy was saying. His mind raced with thoughts of Mara’s sister.
1/2
08:13
Back in his high school days, an accident had happened; he and Mara’s sister, Victoria Lewis, had been kidnapped by a gang of desperadoes.
He could never have imagined that a simple delay in their driver’s arrival could result in such a mishap, dragging Victoria into that dimly lit room with him.
Initially, Balfour had been calm. Having trained in self-defense skills since he was a child, he was confident in his ability to protect himself.
But the presence of Victoria meant he had to tread carefully.
Yet the brutality of their captors was far beyond anything he had envisioned.
At first, both he and Victoria were bound hand and foot, blindfolded, and even their mouths were sealed with tape.
He was scared but managed to keep his cool, unlike Victoria, who was shivering against him.
There was nothing Balfour could do to comfort her.
All he could manage was to nudge her gently with his elbow, letting her know he was right beside her.
They were in the back of a van, and Balfour could feel the road was rough and uneven.
2/2
08-13
