"I choose Shannon."

"Alright, then the rest of you can go. You stay."

Mia had already guessed this would be the outcome, but her heart still ached fiercely.

Everyone else was saved. She was left here all alone, with no idea what awaited her.

’In reality, Shannon’s little act was completely unnecessary. Adrian wouldn’t have picked me even if she hadn’t gotten shot on purpose.’

’Why bother...’

’To gamble with your own life like that... people like her are both terrifying and pathetic.’

"Mia... I’m not leaving. I want to stay with you."

Mia let out a long breath, calming herself.

"Shayla, don’t be ridiculous. Adrian won’t just abandon me..."

As she spoke, Adrian Preston turned and left, carrying Shannon Preston in his arms without so much as a single glance in her direction.

Her words now carried no weight at all.

She swallowed hard, along with a wave of endless bitterness.

"If one of us can get out, that’s what matters. Don’t be stupid, hurry up and go."

"But you... How can I leave you here alone...?"

"It’s fine. It’s not my first time in a situation like this. As long as they don’t kill me, I’ll find a way to stay alive."

"Ma’am, if you don’t leave now, you’ll really be coming with us. And I won’t be refunding that ransom, either."

"Go! Now!"

Mia gave Shayla Quinn a hard shove. She staggered back, her eyes brimming with tears.

"I’ll go get Adrian to save you! Mia, you have to hold on."

Only then did Shayla Quinn leave in tears.

The roll-up door clanged shut again. It was as if Mia had been locked away in Hell, while a radiant paradise lay just outside.

Her body began to tremble helplessly. Just then, King patted her on the shoulder. "Don’t be afraid, Mrs. Preston. President Preston will still come for you. You just need to leave with us, escort us for a little while, and once he brings the hundred million to ransom you, I’ll let you go."

Mia said nothing.

’A hundred million...’

’He even raised the price.’

’King really overestimates my worth. There’s no way Adrian will come. He’s already made his choice.’

But she didn’t say it out loud. If she said it now, it would be a death sentence.

’I have to find a way to live. Only by living is there a chance.’

With her as a hostage, the police outside wouldn’t dare to act recklessly.

They demanded cars, and several vehicles drove all the way to an abandoned pier.

The police were racking their brains trying to come up with a plan. They managed to intercept two of the cars, but they contained only kidnappers—no hostage, no jewels.

The hostage and the jewels were both in the car King was in.

The people in those other cars were expendable, just decoys meant to buy time.

The group arrived at the pier without any major incidents. A cargo ship was already there waiting for them.

This was the pier closest to international waters. A journey of just over three hours would get them into the open sea.

The moment Mia saw the cargo ship, a few blurry memories began to sharpen into focus.

Her body went stiff, her feet refusing to move.

"Get a move on."

The person behind her shoved her impatiently.

Mia’s face was ashen. Her breath caught in her throat. Overwhelming fear made her turn and run on pure instinct.

But a gunshot struck the ground right beside her foot.

A bullet hole appeared in the concrete, wisps of white smoke curling up from it.

If that bullet had hit her, she would have been splattered with blood on the spot.

"If you run again, I’m afraid you won’t be going back in one piece."

Mia froze, forcing herself to calm down. No matter how terrified she was, she had to overcome it.

She had no choice but to turn around and climb laboriously onto the ship.

She was locked in a cabin, unable to see the light of day.

She had no way to communicate with the outside world. They would be the ones to contact Adrian Preston. She no longer held out any hope. Any fantasy she entertained was just another form of slow, agonizing torture for herself.

Just then, she heard the sound of the door opening from outside.

She immediately tensed up, staring nervously at the doorway.

A man came in. It was the bald man she had bitten.

Her heart sank. She had a feeling the bald man wasn’t here to reminisce about old times.

He stared at her sullenly, his eyes glinting with a venomous light that made her heart tremble.

"What do you want?"

She backed away step by step. They hadn’t given her anything to eat or drink, so she had very little strength.

On top of that, she had been consumed by fear ever since boarding the ship. Her legs were weak, leaving her with no way to fight back.

The bald man sneered, "Weren’t you so feisty before? I’d like to see just how feisty you can be."

"Don’t you dare try anything. If you do, Adrian Preston won’t let you get away with it."

"So what if I ’do’ you? What can you do about it? Even if you get rescued, are you really going to tell Adrian Preston that I had you? Would you dare? It’s not like it’s your first time, anyway. I’ll just have a little fun, no big deal. If you don’t tell, and I don’t tell, who’s going to know?"

"You..."

Mia’s lips trembled with rage.

The bald man watched her, rubbing his hands together in excitement. A lewd smile spread across his face as he slowly closed in on her.

"You... You stay away."

"What, scared now? Weren’t you so feisty when you were protecting your best friend? I love a spicy little pepper like you. Come on, let me get a good taste. I promise I’ll make you feel like you’re in heaven."

"Let me go! Let me go..."

She struggled with all her might, but to little effect.

The man’s foul, sweaty body odor assaulted her nostrils, making her sick to her stomach.

He impatiently tore at her clothes, trying to kiss her lips, but she kept dodging him.

Just when the man thought she was too weak to resist, Mia found her chance. Gripping the object in her hand tightly, she aimed for his neck and stabbed down hard.

The man’s body stiffened. He staggered backward, his eyes wide with disbelief as he stared at her.

Mia was too scared to breathe, her body shaking uncontrollably.

The bald man pulled a rusty nail from the back of his neck.

It was about a finger’s length, probably a discarded piece of hardware that had been lying inconspicuously on the floor.

His men hadn’t searched every corner. They never expected that Mia would find it and hold it tightly in her palm as a tool for self-defense.

It had left a bloody hole in the back of his neck. Luckily for him, the nail was thin and hard to get a good grip on. Otherwise, if it had gone all the way in, he might not have survived.

"Fuck!"

The bald man cursed, throwing the nail heavily onto the floor, where it landed with a sharp CLANG.

Mia used every ounce of her strength to scream.

"Help! Is anyone there? Help me! I’m Mrs. Preston! Adrian Preston is coming to rescue me with the ransom! Let me out! Don’t touch me!"

"Fuck! Go on and scream! Scream your lungs out, no one’s coming to save you."

The bald man kicked her hard.

This kick was even more vicious than the last one.

She fell to the ground and couldn’t get up for a long moment.

The bald man straddled her, trying to force himself on her again, but Mia was a fighter. She held onto her pants with a death grip.

"Damn it! So you want to do this the hard way!"

The bald man slapped her twice, once on each side of her face. The blows left her dizzy and dazed, blood trickling from her mouth and nose.

’This pain...’

’I’ve been through this before.’

’That group of men had tried to violate me, and I fought back with everything I had, wishing I could bite a chunk of flesh off them.’

’They decided I was too feisty to be tamed, so they beat me viciously.’

She had always believed in equality between men and women, that women shouldn’t be the weaker party.

But it was only at times like these that she truly understood the innate physical disparity between men and women.

This time, no one was coming to save her.

Not even Adrian Preston, the man she revered like a god, could possibly save her now.