My Boss Is Secretly A Softie - Chapter 75

Chapter 75: Kidnapped
[TW: Mentions of assault.]

A sharp spark tingling through her nerves awakened Elara. She opened her eyes but could see nothing except the color black. It was safe to say that she had been blindfolded.

It took her a few minutes to fully regain consciousness, and as soon as she did, she cooled off her panicked mind. Only then could she mutter a rational thought. Oddly enough, despite having been bashed in, her head wasn’t all that painful.

The first thing she pondered was motive. Considering all she did in high school, this was highly possible, but it was negated by the fact that she had not only made peace with most of them—or at least compensated enough to be pardoned—but also that she hadn’t once been targeted pre-amnesia. That was odd.

Which led to another possibility. This was a person who had been constantly watching and knew a lot about her. It was far more plausible, considering they somehow knew about her journey home—something only her friends knew about and her parents had told no one about.

There was also the chance she had just fallen victim to a random kidnapping, though she doubted it. It was too clean to be a random act. This was planned, orchestrated with absolute carefulness, not something that was perpetrated randomly.

Then what was it really? A crime of—what even was this?

So many ideas came up within her mind, but none of them truly landed. They all seemed either too far-fetched or unconvincing, so she decided to wait. The best thing would be to silently observe the situation with the remainder of her senses that hadn’t been culled.

She waited for quite a while until a pair of boots finally graced her presence. Until then, she had been too occupied guessing who and why—not where—but from the echoes that came with the clanking of the boots, it seemed she was in a hollow-like place…?

She felt a presence eclipse her, and after waiting for minutes only for nothing to happen, she mustered up courage.

“Hello…?”

There was no reply, but she remained calm.

“Do you need me to give you numbers? I’m not exactly rich… that rich, but my people can at least manage to gather any amount you want…?”

There was still no reply. Suddenly, chills enveloped her. It couldn’t be… Was this not about money?!

She tensed up. She had already guessed it probably wasn’t about money but had desperately hoped it was. If this was a crime of passion—whether hate, lust, or whatever—then this was really bad!

“Please consider!” she persuaded. “I could give you as much money as you want, even—”

“A hundred billion?” The person chuckled, leaving Elara dumbfounded. It was… a woman?!

Wait, then could she…

“What are you thinking?” Her voice came again. It was as smooth as silk and as enchanting as a siren’s. Only a few people were blessed with such a voice that made it seem like warm honey coated every word they spoke and one of them just happened to be her kidnapper, the irony.

“You haven’t replied.” She chuckled.

Elara was stumped. Even for her and her family, a hundred billion was just too much—unless they sought help from her friends. But even then… it was still too much!

“A hundred billion is a bit…”

The lady sneered. “What? Terrence can’t even do something that easy for you? The fact that he still hasn’t found you is pathetic enough! Well…”

She huffed. “He had always been pathetic.”

Elara wasn’t sure if she heard right, but after listening for a while, she understood. She had fallen into some stupid romance plotline!

What the heck?! First was amnesia, now kidnapping?! What are the chances of falling into such situations twice?! But unlike fiction, where the female lead was sure to be rescued unless for tragic reasons, this was reality, and her fate couldn’t be more obscured than ever.

“Ma…. Please reconsider. I swear I’m only 16! How could I be dating him?” She spat bitterly.

What about loyalty? Well, at this stage, she’d even deny herself, let alone the asshole that got her in this situation.

“Fifteen,” the lady replied calmly, pulling a chair to sit beside Elara. Due to the blindfold, to Elara, it felt like she had suddenly pulled out the chair from a pocket dimension.

“That’s how many guards he stationed to watch you. Every. Single. Day.”

Elara gulped. Damn, the obsession. Must have been because of the accident… But how useless were those guards? Did he purchase them at a discount or something?

“… I’m like a little sister to him?”

Elara wasn’t sure, but she felt the lady give her a blinding smile, followed by a complementary slap that made her see stars. She teared up. What the fuck was this wuwuwuwu…

Maybe because her kidnapper was a woman, she had unintentionally loosened up, but that slap sobered her right up.

Her cheeks were clenched harshly, and she was thrown backward with force, scraping them on the floor hard enough to cause a bruise. She stifled a groan. It hurt so much…

Miss. Ma’am. Mrs., have mercy, I’m your fellow gender T~T.

Elara felt very sad. Why did she become the victim here? She was so cute and harmless. Why was she being tortured this much?

As the lady approached her with vigor, she sat up sharply, clenching her teeth.

“Please reconsider whatever you’re about to do! We really have cut off all contact after my condition! I realized that I, in fact, do not like blondes or people older than me… But he’s the obsessive freak, following me everywhere!”

The lady paused, chuckled sardonically, and then slammed her against the wall with a hard kick to the stomach.

Elara hurled, her face as pale as snow. It hurt… it hurt so damn much. She clenched her handcuffed hands, digging her nails into her palm in a bid to suppress the pain. This lady really was out for blood… fuck!

She tiredly slumped against the wall, taking long and sharp breaths in a bid to cool off her steaming insides. What the hell even was this?!

“You…” This time, her voice held more seriousness. “What do you even want?!”

The lady giggled menacingly before grabbing her by the hair. She pulled her locks backward with such force that Elara wanted to head-butt her to escape. However, she was smart enough to know the consequences and desisted.

“Elara Chisom Sinclair, 29 years old, now turned 16 due to amnesia, living a fulfilling life surrounded by friends and family who love her, along with an insanely rich boyfriend whose love borders obsession… What are you? Some romance flick female lead? What’s next, you can hack, fight, and cook the best meals ever?”

Elara’s mouth was sealed shut. What was she supposed to say? She even got amnesia and had now been kidnapped because of her ‘CEO lover.’ It doesn’t get more cliché than that.

“Miss, what do you want?” she asked wearily, uninterested in her ‘villain’ moment.

She was finally let go of, but before she could sigh in relief, she was picked up once more, thrown onto her chair, and kicked. The chair skidded backwards and her back and head slammed against the hard wall. The injury on her head, which had been dull since her awakening, hit her like a truck, and Elara swore that for a moment, she saw Tinkerbell spraying pixie dust on her.

“Nothing much,” she sighed. “I just wanna hurt his beloved the way he hurt mine. I can’t do so emotionally, but I can at least do so physically.”

“Huh?”

Not bothering with her for a second more, the lady turned and walked out. A sense of crisis arose within Elara.

Ignoring the pain, she urgently reached out. “Miss, please wait! I can—”

The door was shut tight.

Despite her blocked vision, and perhaps due to the suffocating presence of the new arrival, Elara was made very much aware that the show had finally begun, and she had become an unwilling participant.

***

“Her tracker has been jammed. It’s still there, but we can’t get any signal. Additionally, we’ve searched throughout the entire community and every possible place a person could be hidden without detection and found nothing. Whoever did this was very thorough, sir…”

Terrence was silent. He hung his head down with an unknown expression, contemplating wildly, and after much thought, whispered,

“And Ariel? My… sister?”

The caller took a brief excuse, and after a few seconds, returned.

“Nothing, sir. She has been recorded to be with Mr. Astridge throughout the duration of—”

“Are they still alone?” he muttered so quietly that his words eluded the caller.

“Pardon, sir?”

“Are they still alone?” he asked again, his palms tightly clenched together.

“Yes, sir!”

“Very well then.” The male stood up, his blonde hair falling over his face, shadowing his expression.

He carefully placed his chair to the side before patting down the creases on his clothes.

His voice was hushed but clear, cool like the calm before a terrible storm, and something in his tone made it seem like the devil in him was talking rather than his mortal form.

The command was brief, with a hidden elaborateness within.

“Surround them.”

The caller gulped.

“Yes, sir!”