Chapter 7
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My forehead was haphazardly wrapped with cotton strips to stop the bleeding, and my vision was still somewhat blurry.
I pounded on the basement door with all my strength.
“Alayna! Gavin! Natalia! Let me out!” I shouted.
Only after my palms were bleeding did I faintly hear movement outside.
“Sienna,” Alayna threatened, “either you go back and file for divorce so I can marry Austin, or I’ll find some random man to sleep with you and see if Austin still wants you afterward!”
I had no choice at that moment. I could only agree to the divorce first.
“I’ll go back and file for divorce, just let me out!” I said.
A faint light filtered into the basement as Alayna’s face appeared. “Remember, you must tell everyone I was the one who saved them back then! Otherwise…”
Before she could finish, her demeanor suddenly changed, and she kicked me down the stairs.
A sharp pain shot through my shoulder, and my back went numb from the impact. I could only protect my head tightly to
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avoid more serious injuries.
“No, that won’t work,” she said. “If I let you go back, you definitely won’t do as I say. Finding a man is more reliable.”
Hearing this, I panicked. Despite the excruciating pain, I crawled to the basement door and pleaded, “Alayna, I’ll definitely do as you say, just let me out first!”
But there was no response from outside.
As time ticked by, I heard a man’s footsteps in the distance.
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Nervously, I grabbed an old pickaxe from the basement, ready to fight for my life once the door opened.
A sliver of moonlight seeped through the crack, and I seized the opportunity, swinging hard at the gap.
There was no scream as I expected. Instead, the pickaxe seemed to be firmly caught by someone, and no matter how hard I pulled, I couldn’t retrieve it.
This isn’t good! This person is very strong!
I dropped the pickaxe and frantically searched for other tools, but tripped and fell.
The footsteps behind me grew closer. Cold sweat soaked my entire back as I helplessly shrank into a corner.
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“Please spare me!” I begged. “I can give you money, ten thousand dollars, twenty thousand dollars, whatever you want. Just let me go, and I’ll serve you as a servant for the rest of my life to repay you!”
The basement was pitch black, and I could only plead in panic.
“You’ve been a servant for twenty years already and that’s not enough? You want to serve someone in the next life too?” A deep, familiar male voice suddenly brought me back to reality.
“Austin? Is that you?” I asked tentatively.
Strong arms pulled me into an embrace, and as I leaned against his solid chest, I felt like I was in a dream.
“It really is you!” I exclaimed excitedly. “How did you know I was here?”
I could feel Austin’s heart pounding violently–the first time I’d ever felt him so frantic.
“Do you have any idea how scared I was?” he said. “When I heard you went home to repay the money, I immediately took time off to follow you. I was just half a day late, and I couldn’t find you anywhere. I asked Gavin and Natalia, and they said you’d left. But there was no sign of you at the bus station or in any of the counties. I thought you’d been kidnapped!”
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Chapter 7
“I was kidnapped,” I sobbed softly. “By Alayna.”
Austin took off his jacket, draped it over me, and held me tight.
“I searched your entire house, front to back,” he said. “The basement was the last place. If I hadn’t found you here, I would have completely fallen apart!”
In the moonlight, Austin’s profile looked exceptionally handsome.
I instinctively kissed him on the cheek. “Thank you.”
Austin’s face instantly turned bright red. His anxious words from earlier disappeared as he stuttered something about leaving.
After carrying me out of the basement, he kicked open the front door of my house.
“Mom and Dad,” he said sternly, “this is the last time I’ll call you that. From now on, Sienna is part of the Webber family and has nothing to do with the James family!”
Gavin and Natalia looked terrified as Austin threw the kitchen knife straight onto the bed, landing just two fingers‘ width from Gavin’s pillow, leaving them speechless.
At the doorway, Alayna stood with a sleazy–looking man, witnessing everything.
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“How… how did you…” she stammered.
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Austin, being a soldier, needed to show only a fraction of his killing intent to make Alayna back away repeatedly.
He threw a punch, knocking the man beside her to the ground. “Get out!” he shouted.
The man fled in terror, leaving Alayna alone to face Austin.
“If you ever dare to bully my wife again,” Austin warned, “I’ll use that kitchen knife to cut off your legs. Do you believe me?”
Alayna collapsed to the ground. I didn’t spare her another glance as I left with Austin.
Everything that needed to be said and done, I had accomplished.
The rest would depend on their own fate.
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