Filed to story: The Regretful Billionaire: An Unpredicted Reunion
Indeed, Kevin hesitated at the attractive offer. The problem of leaving Clusia after getting the ransom weighed heavily on his mind.
Danika remained calm in the face of his silence. At the same time, she urged Neil to work faster to locate Graham and James.
Two minutes later, Kevin chuckled. ‘Til consider your suggestion.”
“Great. I’ll wait for your reply,” Danika replied. Kevin hung up soon after when she did not insist on staying on the line. Pushing it too far might attract his suspicion. All her efforts would go down the drain if he moved his men elsewhere. After the call, she hurriedly asked Neil, “Have you located them?
“I don’t have the exact location, but I know they’re in a small town further south of Glensbury. This town borders Bardoff City,” he answered.
She had no further questions as she stood up to leave. “Look into that town for any place related to wood.”
Graham gave her a crucial hint when he mentioned the smell of wood in the air. He was trying to reveal to her the details of the location where they were kept. With one sentence, Graham had helped with the search under their current limitations.
Danika rushed to the small town from Bardoff City with her team. It would take them a good forty minutes, meaning they only had twenty minutes to start the search locally before they had to wire the ransom. Money was never an issue for Danika. She was more worried that Kevin would kill off his hostages after receiving the transfer. That was why she refused to wire the money until the very last minute.
Meanwhile, Kevin had left the room where he kept Graham and James at the logging factory. He lit a cigarette in the yard, debating whether to kill his hostages according to plan or keep them alive for Danika’s help in crossing the border. He had no doubt about her capabilities because she was a Zellweger, one of the Ten Elites. The threat hanging over him was mainly from the Zellwegers and the Windsors. If the Zellwegers could take care of the police, crossing the border would be a piece of cake.
One of his men came over and asked, concerned, “Boss, are we releasing those two after we get the money?”
“What do you think?” Kevin shot back.
“We can’t let them go. They look dangerous. If we release them, they’ll be after us in the next second. We’ll be screwed,” the man opined.
Kevin nodded in agreement. However, he knew that Danika wouldn’t take it lying down if they killed Graham and James. He felt a headache creeping up at the thought.
Some serious thinking later, he got an idea. “Let’s not do anything to them. We’ll get Danika Zellweger to help us cross the border. At that time, we will kill them off. We get to leave Clusia and not worry that they’ll take revenge. Isn’t that killing two birds with one stone?’
Danika wouldn’t pull any tricks as long as Graham and James were in captivity. Kevin grinned, confident in his foolproof scheme to secure the ransom and make a clean getaway from Clusia.
Are All Your Memories Back?
Sunlight poured into the hospital room. Eustace opened his eyes and was greeted with the sight of the white ceiling above his head. Briefly dazed, he furrowed his brows in pain when a rush of painful memories flooded in. That was perhaps the reason his heart rate increased, causing the machine at the headboard to beep incessantly.
A nurse immediately rushed in to check on him. Call the doctor,” she told another nurse. She checked Eustace’s vitals while the other went to get the doctor. When the doctor arrived, Eustace was finally feeling like himself. He could recall all the memories from his past, but that overwhelmed him a little. Once the doctor was done with the check-up, he called out to Eustace, “Mr. Quincey?”
Although there didn’t seem to be any issues with Eustace’s physical health, the doctor noticed that Eustace’s mental state seemed off. “Could something else be wrong with him?” the doctor wondered.
“Yeah, I’m fine,’ Eustace answered, voice hoarse. He hadn’t taken any solids or liquids after the surgery.
Since Eustace could speak and articulate, the doctor believed he was doing fine. ‘Transfer him to an ordinary ward and tell the family to bring him food. But remind them not to overfeed him.” The doctor gave out orders and was ready to leave.
“Where’s Dr. Zellweger?’ Eustace asked, stopping the doctor in his tracks. Danika was the first person that Eustace wanted to meet after waking up, but he dreaded the meeting too.
“It’s her day off today. She’s not at the hospital,” the doctor replied and left the room. Soon, Eustace was transferred to an ordinary ward. Paul, who received the news, visited him with some soup.
“Have some soup.” Paul helped him to sit on the bed and fed him. Eustace was unresponsive and rigidly took the soup when fed to him. His response was rather worrying. A few spoonsful later, Paul paused and said, “The doctor said not to feed you too much. I’ll stop at a few spoons.”
“Okay,” Eustace answered, but he still appeared dazed, perhaps from the influx of memories.
Paul was at a loss. ‘ Are all your memories back?’
“Yeah,” Eustace grunted and looked at his friend after a pause. “Thank you for all you’ve done for me.” Although he regained his lost memories, he hadn’t forgotten the time when he was suffering from memory loss. He had nothing but gratitude for his friend.
“Oh well, we’re friends.” Paul grinned. He didn’t regard what he had done as particularly praiseworthy and believed that Eustace would have done the same for him.
Although they clashed a few times because of Danika, those arguments would not affect their friendship. Eustace fell into silence again, and Paul was worried for him. “So, now that your memories are back, are you clear about your feelings for Danika?’ Eustace remained quiet as he struggled to explain his feelings to Paul.
Get Ready to Retreat
When morning came, the news of Graham and James’ abductions was at the center of public attention as the business day started. As Danika expected, the stock price of Zellweger Inc and Windsor Corp took a plunge right as the market opened. The two families had no choice but to release a joint statement to assure the investors about Graham and James’ safety, promising that the incident would not have any material impact on the two companies.
Danika didn’t have to worry about that because she had a team to deal with public relations. She had arrived at the small town and began exploring every nook and cranny that had anything to do with logs.
Ten minutes away from the one-hour deadline, she was sweating profusely and still stuck in the middle of the search. She had also instructed her staff to wire Kevin the money right in time to be safe.
At the logging factory, Kevin stared at his phone, annoyed he hadn’t received the wire notification. ‘Call Danika Zellweger and ask her if she is giving up on you.’ An hour was more than enough for her to gather the money for the ransom.
Danika received another call, which she instantly picked up. “James?”
“Hey, Danika,” James replied but did not bring up the topic of ransom. Kevin was already upset, and James’ nonchalant demeanor of making small talk instead of asking about the money grated on his nerves. His blood boiled at the sight as he kicked James. “Wanna die?’
Kevin picked up the phone from the floor when James fell. “Danika Zellweger, where’s the money? Why haven’t I received it? Are you fooling with me?’
“I thought you gave me an hour. I’m still gathering the money,’ Danika answered, but she secretly asked the people around her to pin the location of the call.
Kevin snickered, “You’re taking me as a fool. Did you really think I have no idea what you’re up to? You’re buying time to search for me.”
Danika said nothing to him. Secretly, she felt a little anxious. If Kevin saw through her plan but didn’t leave his hiding spot, he must be very confident. That left her feeling rather unsettled.
“Let me tell you. You can’t do anything even if you locate us. Do you think you can take my hostages from me?” Kevin smirked, knowing that his lackeys were capable of putting up a good fight.
Danika did not say a word.
“Get ready to collect their bodies if I don’t see that money within three minutes.” With that, he hung up.
Danika took a deep breath to calm herself. “Have we located them?”
“It’s not too accurate, though. They’re somewhere in the southwest.”
Danika nodded and led a team to hurry in that direction. Meanwhile, she informed the person in charge of wiring money about the three-minute deadline. Perhaps Danika was blessed by God on that day, for the team discovered a logging factory soon after.
The factory was in the southwest, and its surroundings were extremely quiet. Someone had obviously cleared the vicinity earlier.
Danika instructed her team to hide well while she started observing the area.
Three minutes later, the money was wired to Kevin. He finally smiled when he saw the notification. ‘Boys, the money’s in. Get ready to retreat.”
Once they received the ransom, their next step was to move toward the borders.
Before that, Kevin made a call to Danika. “Miss Zellweger, I’m delighted with our ‘partnership’ just now. Now, it’s time to start a second partnership. We need to leave via the borders, and you need to make sure that immigration lets us go. I will keep your dad and the Windsor guy alive once we’re free.”
Kevin’s words frustrated Danika. She was smart enough to understand that Kevin was stringing her along, and she refused to believe that they’d release the hostages after they crossed the border.
We Can’t Save Them
Kevin’s anxiety grew when he received no answer. “Miss Zellweger, do you want your father dead?”
“I promise,” she sighed, feeling that she was at the mercy of the mercenaries. Still, she was not too concerned now that her team had tracked down their location. As long as she tailed them, she would have a chance to rescue Graham and James.
Kevin let out a relieved sigh. For a second, Danika got him thinking that she refused to entertain him. “Good thing that the Clusians are soft-hearted,” he thought.
After the call, Danika hid well to keep herself out of sight from Kevin and his men, whom she expected to leave soon.
Just as she had guessed, ten minutes later, there was movement at the logging factory not far away. The sight of Kevin exiting the factory with his men brought relief to Danika as it proved her search fruitful. She watched Kevin closely as he climbed into a car, his other men occupying the other cars. Soon, she spotted Graham and James being shoved inside one. She immediately arranged for her team to tail the group of men without once letting them fall out of sight.
Seemingly worried about being flagged down by police, Kevin and his men avoided the freeway. Instead, they took an off-beaten path to the border. Since Glensbury and the small town were right next to the border, the journey would only take five to six hours. Given the distance, they could likely reach the border by noon.
Danika knew that she couldn’t keep on tailing Kevin and his men forever because, at this rate, they’d bring Graham and James across the border.” Get a few crash-proof cars to ambush them,” she instructed Neil. “Wait for my order. Once it’s time, well have those cars crash into them.”
“But isn’t that going to provoke them?” Neil was worried.
“No. We’re very close to the border. They don’t want to waste time here.” Her main concern was that Kevin would react to the ambush by holding Graham and James hostage, and she could not give him the chance to do so.
The cars kept going until they reached a fork in the road. Kevin’s car slid into one of the forks, and when the second car followed suit, Danika grabbed the chance and gave the order for the ambush. In the blink of an eye, the second car carrying Graham and
James was knocked into a different lane.
Seizing the chance, Danika immediately ordered her men to speed up and go after the second car. At the same time, Kevin was in a quandary. He’d have to turn back if he wanted to save his men, which would not only be a waste of time but also expose him to an ambush, especially when he had no idea how many men Danika had brought.
“Let’s go!” He bit the bullet and made his decision to abandon the second car.
“Boss, what about them?” His men looked begrudgingly at the second car, which was stalled in the other lane, knowing that their colleagues in that car would be dead meat if they were left behind.
“We can’t save them.” The level-headed Kevin added, “Tell them to kill Graham Zellweger and James Windsor.”
“Roger that.” His men understood they were fortunate to even escape the ambush.
They could only hope for the best for their colleagues in the second car.
In the other car, the mercenaries were momentarily stunned after the crash but soon realized that they had been ambushed. They were about to draw their guns when
Danika’s men showed up. However, they were not after the mercenaries-their priority was to save Graham Zellweger and James Windsor.
“Kill the two men.” The mercenaries in the second car yelled at their colleagues when they received the order from Kevin. The others promptly pulled out their guns and started shooting at Graham and James.
Have You Been Shot?
When Danika arrived at the scene and saw the madness, she grabbed the steering wheel and crashed the car in front of the mercenaries to stop them from shooting at the hostages. Then, she hopped out of the car and walked over to Graham and
James, taking off her ski mask. ‘Dad, James.”
“Danika, I know you wouldn’t let us down.’ James was glad but unsurprised to see her, for he knew she’d come to their rescue.
On the other hand, Graham, who looked a little pale, forced a smile at her.” Danika, I have nothing to worry about if you’re this capable.”
“Let’s get into the car and talk after we leave.” She was worried that Kevin and his men in the first car might turn back. Even though it was an impossible scenario, she didn’t want to risk it.
“Sure.” The two men nodded and went into the car that Danika drove. They didn’t walk long before Danika noticed something amiss in Graham. “Have you been shot?”
