I donât know what happened. I had just arrived at Yorksland and was immediately stuck in this situation, despite not having done anything yet. Still in a daze, I could only hear some muffled voices but was not able to make out what they were saying.
Besides feeling afraid, I was sad that I was so helpless. I didnât even manage to find Christopher. Rumor had it that Yorksland was a mess. Did I encounter human traffickers, or maybe organ traffickers?
I got more scared the more I thought about it. When I finally woke up, I saw that I was in an abandoned warehouse. A group of men was playing cards together when one of them noticed that I was awake. He then tossed a bottle of water and a piece of bread at me.
I took the food and studied them as I ate. âWho are you guys. Why did you kidnap me?â
âFor the money, of course. Youâre the famous new school artist, after all. Tsk, tsk. Youâre an artsy young woman too,â someone said and laughed. âLuck is on our side. We were at a loss originally. But now that we have you, it seems like thereâs an eighty percent chance that weâll succeed.â
I was confused about the situation when he mentioned money. Unsure of how to react, I said, âYou kidnapped me for money, but weâre in Yorksland now. I donât seem to recall that Iâm famous in Yorksland. Who are you going to ask for money here? Are you telling me that you want my family to come all the way from Avenport to send you money? Or do you want them to send you the money online? These options arenât realistic at all.â
âHehe. I heard that youâre Lyle Smithâs ex-wife. He still hasnât gotten over you, you know? I wonder how much youâre worth,â a man said with narrowed eyes as he scrutinized me.
âLyle?â I was even more confused now. âYou must have been mistaken. He has nothing to do with me now. If youâre going to threaten Lyle, shouldnât you be looking for the woman he loves? Do you really think heâd give his money because of me? Back then when I was kidnapped, the kidnappers demanded one billion but he didnât give them a single cent. He just left me to rot there.â
âWhat?â Not many people knew about this incident anyway. Upon hearing my words, the kidnappers started to panic. One of the men kicked me and scolded, âYou should just die if youâre not worth anything, then.â
I felt a shiver down my spine in an instant. This really was an unexpected disaster. I havenât even done anything in Yorksland but was met with something like this all because of Lyle. Is he the bane of my life?
The man who threw the bottle of water at me snatched it back right then. He threw it on the ground, and water spilled everywhere. It was such a pity as I was actually feeling thirsty and had only gotten to take a sip of it.
âDonât worry, boss. Itâs rumored that Lyleâs woman cheated on him. Now, he regrets it and has been pestering his ex-wife. He must have a thing for her again.â
I sighed and curled up in the corner. I didnât dare to say anything else, afraid that those men would do something to me if they were to find out that I was of no use to them.
As if there werenât enough miseries in my life, this was the most serious one yet. If I were to meet Lyle, I wanted so much to give him a slap across his face and then kick him on his shins. Why did I have to come across so many unfortunate events?
I didnât know how much time had passed, but I was hungry and thirsty. It was unbearable. So I shouted at the people playing cards, âCan you please give me some food and water? Even if Iâm a hostage, you canât possibly leave me here to starve to death before you meet Lyle, right?â
âWhatâs with the noise? Shut up or weâll sell you off.â
Right then, the man, who seemed to be the boss, received a phone call. He walked over to me and gave me a cup of water and a piece of bread. I instantly gobbled down the bread and drank the water. However, I started to feel dizzy a moment later.
I lost consciousness a while later. They had added drugs into the water. I thought that I would still see the kidnappers when I open my eyes again, but I saw Lyle instead. I was shocked to see him. He really is in Yorksland.
âLyle?â My eyes widened, and I continued to stare at him. What on earth is happening?
Then, I realized that he and I werenât the only ones in the dark room. There were a bunch of other people whom I didnât know. Lyle was standing in the middle of the room, and everything else was just like when I was kidnapped back then. The only difference was that Crystal wasnât with me now.