On a deste road on the outskirts of Shoneport, a ck sedan sped against the wind. Inside the car, a man dressed in ck with a long scar on bhis /bbelt check was driving nervously while keeping a wary eye on hispanion in the passenger seat

    Seeing hispanion try calling again, but there was still no answer on the other end. His face grew grim, and his voice was icy. “How is it? Still can’t get through?” he asked.

    Thepanion on the passenger seat shook his head, somewhat agitated, and pounded the car door with a heavy thud. “Can’t get through, damn it! he cursed.

    In the back seat, a fierce–looking, heavily tattooed man sat next to a slender, pale–faced girl whose small frame leaned against the seat.

    The girl slumped in the seat, eyes tightly shut as if “unconscious,” lookingpletely harmless. Probably being confident in the effectiveness of their drug, they didn’t bother to tie her up or search her body after knocking Briar out. They simply left her lying in the seat.

    The tattooed man casually nced at Briar, then turned his attention to the two guys up front. Hearing the passenger’s frustration, he started to get

    anxious.

    “What’s going on? Wasn’t the guy still reachable two hours ago?” he asked.

    Thepanion in the passenger seat was even more anxious than the other two. “Damn it, this guy’s shady. Once we’re done with this job, we’ll leave Shoneport immediately. I have a bad feeling about this. He better not rat us out,” he said.

    Hearing his words, the other two immediately started cursing, and the air in the car grew even more tense.

    “Damn it, I told you that guy looked like a total wimp, unreliable at all. I knew he couldn’t be trusted. Now look at us, we might be busting our asses for nothing,” one of them grumbled.

    “Seriously, how did we end up agreeing to this so muddle–headedly? That punk better hope we don’t run into him. Otherwisei, /iI swear I’ll mess him up s badly that he won’t know what hit him,” the other snapped.

    “Yeah, he dares to screw us over, does he? Just wait till we get our hands on him,” the other chimed in.

    “But what now? We can’t just toss her out on the side of the road, can we?”

    “No way. She’s already seen our faces. If we just let her go, the cops will be on us in no time. I don’t want to spend my days being chased around by the police; it’s way too frustrating.”

    “So what? Do we just kill her?”

    “Killing isn’t what we do, man. We’re in this for cash, not to kill…”

    “What else can we do then? She’s seen us; there’s no way we can let her live.”

    “Then screw it, let’s just get rid of her to save the trouble in the future.b” /b

    “Who dares?” Suddenly, a girl’s sweet voice rang out,through the tense, cramped air inside the car.

    The three men turned their heads around in unisonb, /beyes wide with terrorb, /blooking at Briar, who was supposed to be knocked out in the back seat but was now slowly sitting up.

    Thepanion in the passenger seat, shocked, asked in a shaky voice, “You… How are you awake?”

    “With that subpar knockout drug, do you really think you can take me down?” Briar tilted her neck and stretched her arms, smiling as she spoke. “You’ve got some nerve, daring to kidnap me! Do you even know who I am?”

    The tattooed guy was the fastest to react. He swore and lunged straight at Briar. “Damn it, Tiger, pull overi! /iTie this chick up before she bruns /bbaway/bb!/b”

    These guys were ustomed to work that risked their lives. Regardless of what happened to the hirer, ensuring the hostany’s safety remained fait their professional code.

    Although it was the first time they had encountered a hostage waking up halfway and turning around to threaten them, they couldn’t just ignore it

    Moreover, this girl looked so calm. The tattooed guy suddenly had a bad feeling about all this.

    With a screech, Tiger pulled the car over. He and thepanion in the passenger seat jumped out, one from each side, teaming up with the tattooed guy to pin Briar down.

    ‘How could three big grown men fail to handle one little girl?‘ they thought. However, reality proved them wrong. They were no match for herb, /bno matter how big and tough they were.

    Briar had let them take her without a fight just to find out who was behind the kidnapping, but now, that wasn’t necessary anymore.

    It looked like their hirer had already run off; Ashton must have made his move.

    Since these few guys were no longer of any use, there was no way Briar was going to go easy on them.

    As soon as the back door opened, Briarshed out with a swift kick, sending the tattooed guy flying out of the car. In the same motion, she knocked the scar–faced man down with him.

    The two crashed to the ground in a tangled heap and couldn’t even get up for a long time.

    The eyes of thepanion iin /ithe paeat went bloodshot with fury. “Damn it, iyou /ibitch! You don’t take the easy way, huh? Fine; guess you’re

    courting death…” he cursed.

    Briar turned around coldly and said, “Yeah, you’re the one with a death wish.”

    With a twist of her wrist, a dagger suddenly appeared in her hand. The dagger gleamed, looking brand new, but the tip shone with a chilling light. At a nce, it could tell it had seen blood before.

    As thepanion in the passenger seat lunged at her, Briar’s dagger pressed right up against the artery in his neck. All his anger and bravado vanished in an instant. The chill of the dagger against his skin made him freeze as if someone had hit pause on his whole body.

    Briar’s face was icy. “Get on your knees and don’t even think about moving if you want to live. Otherwise, my knife won’t show any mercy,” she said.

    The tables turned so fast that in just a few seconds, Briar

    calling the shots. Now, their lives were in her hands.

    With her knife pressed against the passenger’s throat, she forced the other two to back off. Her tone was icy and threatening when she said, “You’ve got two choices: tell me who sent you to kidnap me, or else.”

    Even though they were scared, their professional code was carved into their bones. All three shook their heads and refused to tell.

    Briar didn’t press them. “Option two: I’ll kill you all, dump your bodies out in the wild, and I promise–no matter whoes looking for you guys, no one will ever trace your deaths back to me.”

    The three were shaking all over, their shoulders trembling. They wanted to

    runb, /b

    but were too scared.

    “Since you’re all keeping quiet, that means you’ve picked option two. Great! I like option two best. It’s so much more exciting,” Briar said.

    So right there, under the terrified and helpless stares of the three men, Briar lifted her dagger high upi, /iher eyes cold and merciless, and, without hesitation, shed it straight at the throat of thepanion in the passenger seat.

    “Screech!” Suddenly, the screech of brakes rang out behind them, and immediately after, Ashton called out, “Briar…”

    Briar reacted just as fast. She let go of the dagger, her legs went weak, and she was about to fall backward. Ashton rushed over iand /iswept her into his arms. “Briar, are you okay?” he asked.

    Briar looked up at himb, /bputting on her most pitiful face as she whimpered, “Ashton, what fook you to long? I ran seared in death. They wanted to give de

    It was so close…

    the three kidnappers were at a loss for words. Seriously, do you even hear what ! you’ve just said?” the three thought,pletely dumbfounder.

    AD