She put her luggage down and looked around. Fortunately, she did not have anything valuable with her.
She sorted out her belongings a little and sighed as she saw the kettle. She decided to go outside to
buy some mineral water for herself.
When she passed by the front desk, the hotel owner was lying on the chair while playing with her cell
phone. She burst into laughter now and then.
Stella glanced at her once and quickly looked away. There was a supermarket across the street, but
the environment around Midtown didn’t look too safe.
Stella came out from the store after buying some mineral water and vaguely saw a familiar car
speeding by. She paused and pretended not to see it. Then, she walked in another direction.
Ben sat inside the car and saw Stella emerging from the hotel earlier. He was a little worried and urged
Weston,” Mr. Ford, this is not a safe place, and the environment is appalling. Should we go and pick
Ms. Steele up?”
Weston rubbed his brow and looked at Stella walking away determinedly. He said in a low voice, “She’s
the one who wants to go to such places. Leave her be.”
He figured it was probably better to let her suffer a little bit. She would know when to come back once
she had suffered enough.
After that, the car drove away. Stella was relieved and did not want to go back to that place. She
slowed down and walked on the street leisurely, thinking about what to do next. Then, she heard an old
lady’s cry for help coming from a distance.
“Help! Help!”
She frowned and walked over to the voice. “What happened?”
She saw a gray-haired old lady dressed in thin clothes in an alley, lying in a corner next to a garbage
can with an overwhelming stench and messy hair. There was some blood stain on her face too. She
was helpless and asking for help.
When she saw her, she choked out a sob. “Nice young lady, help me. I fell, and I can’t stand up…”
Stella did not think much and hurried forward. “Where’s your family? I’ll contact them for you.”
“Thank you. Thank you, young lady…”
When Stella bent down to help the old lady, someone suddenly struck her from behind. A hard pain hit
her.
Stella realized something was wrong. Before she could
shout for help, she had lost her strength and gone weak uncontrollably.
She tried to open her eyes and struggled to see who had hit her. However, her eyelids grew heavy.
Finally, her world went black, and she passed out.
A few gangsters in the quiet alley carried a woman into a van and quickly left. The car was going in a
different direction from the luxury Cullinan . They were like two points of light destined to go in opposite
directions and never intersect.
Stella did not know how long she had blacked out for. All she saw was nothing but darkness. There
was still a dull pain in the back of her head. She was unsure if the impact had damaged her nerves.
The sound of ringing would not stop in her head.
The surrounding movement sounded far at times and near at times; it would be silent in a second and
chaotic in the next. She shook her head and tried to clear up her mind slightly. She remained in the
same posture as when she fainted and barely had any strength. After a little while, she opened her
eyes.
She looked down and found herself restrained to a rocking chair. Her limbs were tied to the chair, so
she could not move.
When she moved just a little, the rocking chair started
moving at once. When it shook, it made a creaking sound.
The room was already small and dim. Any slightest movement or noise was easily amplified and
reverberated in the room.
It seemed that the kidnapper had deliberately kept her tied up so that when she woke up, they would
know immediately.
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