With that, he nudged Andy surreptitiously. “Do you agree, old man?”
Andy nodded. “Yes. Those people surely wouldn’t want to impede on anyone else more than they’ve done already, so if we pretend we live here, they won’t bother us.”
Scarface was silent for a moment then nodded. Finally, he pointed the barrel of the gun at John and Andy. “Watch your mouth. If you say anything that blows our cover, I’ll put a bullet right through your head!”
John and Andy nodded. “Don’t worry. We’ll play it cool!”
Scarface finally plopped down in a corner and began to fantasize about what he would do with the money he could get from Andy.
He had been working for his entire life, and he could not even begin to imagine what five million dollars looked like. Even if he died, it would be worth it!
John shot Andy a meaningful glance.
The search team soon arrived at their floor. When they knocked on the door, Scarface flung it open in feigned anger. “Who is it? Who the hell thought it was a good idea to conduct a search in the middle of the night?”
The man outside the door glanced into the house. “Sorry, we’re just looking for someone. Who else lives here?”
Scarface furrowed his brow and snapped, “Me, my brother, and my dad.”
He even pointed into the house for good measure.
The man could not help feeling that something was amiss when he caught sight of the two people lying on the bed, but since the room was dark, he could not be certain.
Just as he was about to leave, someone shouted, “Help! We don’t know him! He kidnapped us!”
Both Scarface and the man outside the door froze.
John turned to stare, wide-eyed, at the man next to him.
How dare he? Did he have a death wish?!
John could understand that the old man was probably excited to see someone coming to save him after being entrapped for so long, but this was not the right time to do so!
“Rats!”
Scarface immediately whipped around and fired a shot toward Andy’s head.
A split second later, someone grunted in pain, followed by the smell of burning flesh mixed with blood.
The man outside the door tackled Scarface to the floor. “
Don’t move!”
The rest of his crew stormed into the room and switched on the lights.
They realized that Andy was not the only one in the room. Next to him was a younger man bleeding from the gunshot wound in his shoulder.
Andy, on the other hand, was scared out of his wits. He clung to John’s arm and yelped, “Are you okay? Young man! Are you still alive?”
“I’m not dead.”
John furrowed his brow. “Why are you so stupid? I’m surprised you even managed to survive so long.”
The look of concern froze on Andy’s face.
John chuckled at this. “Well, I guess I saved your life. Considering this, are you going to give me some kind of reward? I don’t ask for much. Just a few hundred thousand.
I need to pay for my wife’s surgery…”
Before he could finish, his eyelids fluttered shut, and he passed out.
“Father!”
Gwen, who had been waiting in the car all this while, could not stop herself when she heard that they had found Andy. She broke free of the bodyguard that was keeping an eye on her, then stormed all the way up to the fifth floor and leaped into Andy’s arms. “Father! Are you okay? I can’t believe it!”
Her entire body was shaking. She thought she would never be able to see her father again!
The truth was, she had already braced herself for the worst when she first found out Andy had been kidnapped. Not because she wanted her father to die, but because she knew exactly how ruthless Tyson was.
Thankfully, they had kidnapped Andy to lure her. Because of this, they had no choice but to spare Andy’s life.
She finally saw her father again, and all the worry and sorrow dissipated into nothing. With that, she burst into tears of joy.
Andy consoled her for a long time before finally saying,’
Well, it’s all thanks to this young man. if it weren’t for him, I’d be dead by now.”
Gwen froze, then finally realized that there was someone else in the room with them-a young man whom the men were tending to.
“What happened to him?”
She walked over to see if she could help.
At that very moment, she caught sight of his face.
“John?”
What was he doing here? Was he the one who saved Andy?
“What’s he doing here?”
Luke and Brettley, who also arrived as soon as they heard the news, were both stunned to see John.
Andy shot them an incredulous look. “Do you all…know him?”
“Know him? Oh, we go way back…”
Brettley sighed, then kneeled to get a closer look at John’s injury. “What happened?”
Before anyone could even answer, Andy sighed. With Gwen’s help, he slowly picked himself up from the floor. “It’s all my fault. We already agreed on a plan to escape, but I couldn’t stop myself from shouting when I saw these people coming to save me.
“The kidnapper fired the gun at me to try to kill me, but…”
He glanced rather remorsefully at the unconscious John lying on the floor. “This young man leaped in front of me to protect me. I was unscathed, but I can’t say the same for him M
With that, Andy lifted his head to stare at Gwen. “It’s all my fault. Not only did I drag all of you into this, but L.even injured this poor, innocent young man.”
Gwen shed a tear when she heard this. “It’s not your fault, Father. As for John…”
She sniffed and was about to say something when Luke spoke, frowning, “He’ll be fine. The gunshot wound is on his shoulder, and it doesn’t look too deep. He’ll be okay, but he needs to rest and rehabilitate.”
With that, he glanced at the men and asked, “Did any of you call 911?”
The men nodded. “The ambulance is already on its way.”
“Good.”
Luke turned to stare at Andy. “When the ambulance arrives, you should go with them to the hospital to get checked, too. After such a long time in captivity, you might’ve suffered some injuries not visible to the naked eye or even nutritional deficiencies.”
Andy finally turned to look at the man speaking to him. When he Luke’s face, however, his eyes widened in terror, and he staggered backward. “You… You…”
He clutched Gwen’s arm tightly, and his voice began to tremble. Why can I see Luke?”
Gwen paused for a moment before chuckling. “No, Father, you’re not in heaven, and he is Luke… This is all very complicated. I’ll explain everything to you when we reach the hospital, okay?”
Andy, still wide-eyed in shock, glanced first at Gwen, then at Luke. “Is this what you did when you spent your time traveling the world? Finding an identical twin to replace Luke? Gwennie, I know I’m not in a place to comment, but you shouldn’t have a person replace someone else’s identity. That’s not right…”
Gwen could not help rubbing her brow in exasperation. “He’s not a replacement…”
All of a sudden, the sound of the ambulance siren blared from outside the building, and someone shouted up to them, “The ambulance is here! You can bring the injured down now!”
Gwen helped Andy out the door. “Come on. Let’s go to the hospital, and I’ll explain everything.”
When they reached the door, she turned to glance at the unconscious man on the ground and shot Brettley a rather concerned look. “Are… Are you going to tell Bethan?”
Brettley furrowed his brow. “Well see.”
Ever since Anne’s death, Bethan had been weighed down by her guilt toward John and was thus sensitive to any news about John’s whereabouts. This was the reason she chose to come to Sharnwick City with Brettley. She hoped to get a glimpse of John and Sammie.
If Bethan found out about John’s injury, she would not be able to control herself and would perhaps do something irrational.
Brettley did not intend to intrude on John’s life here in Sharnwick City, and if John found out that they were here to check on him, he would be disturbed and might even get angry at Brettley for failing to honor his promise.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.