Chapter 7: The Abduction

After racking my brain harder than I ever had before, I finally came up with a believable story to tell the triplets about their father—what he did for a living and why he wasn't around. Fortunately, they seemed to believe me. Or perhaps I should say they pretended to believe me, because deep down, they knew that once again, their mum was lying about their dad's whereabouts.

The following morning, before heading to the hospital to cover Alberto's shift, I first dropped the triplets off at school. After making sure they had reached their classroom, I said goodbye to them and headed back to my car.

Once inside, I started the engine and drove away.

I hadn't gone very far when I found myself on the lonely road leading to the main highway. Suddenly, my phone, which was buried somewhere inside my handbag on the passenger seat, began to ring.

"Who the hell can't even wait until I reach my destination before calling me?" I muttered irritably.

Keeping one hand on the steering wheel, I reached for my handbag with the other and placed it on my lap. I then began rummaging through it in search of my phone, growing increasingly annoyed as I struggled to find it.

The moment my fingers finally closed around the device, I pulled it out and glanced at the screen to check the caller ID.

It took only a split second.

But that split second was enough to change everything.

As I lifted my gaze back to the road, my heart nearly stopped at the sight of a car speeding straight towards me from the opposite direction.

My eyes widened in horror.

The vehicle was far too close, and I hadn't even noticed it approaching. Before I could react or do anything to avoid the collision, the other car slammed violently into mine.

BANG!

The impact was so powerful that my car flipped over, sending everything inside it tumbling around me.

For a few moments, I couldn't think straight. My head spun, my body ached, and the world around me seemed to blur into a confusing mess. I struggled to regain my senses, trying desperately to understand what had just happened.

Then I heard footsteps.

Several men were approaching my overturned car, their voices growing louder with every passing second.

Although I was still dizzy from the collision, I could hear them arguing among themselves.

"Do you think she's still alive?" one of them asked.

"How the hell am I supposed to know?" another snapped. "Look at the state of the car!"

"This was a terrible idea from the beginning," a third man complained. "What if we've killed her? Do you have any idea what will happen to us if she's dead?"

"Then why didn't you come up with a better plan before we got here?" someone else retorted.

I could hardly believe what I was hearing.

These men had deliberately rammed their car into mine, and now they were arguing about whether I was still alive?

What the hell was going on?

Summoning what little strength I had left, I reached for the door and tried to push it open. I needed to get out of the car before it caught fire or something even worse happened.

Unfortunately, the door wouldn't budge.

With a frustrated groan, I turned towards the opposite door and began kicking it with all my strength, hoping I could force it open.

"Open, you stupid thing!" I hissed through gritted teeth, kicking it again and again.

It seemed my desperate struggle finally caught the men's attention, because their argument abruptly stopped.

"Oh, shit! She's still alive!" one of them exclaimed.

"Well, don't just stand there! Get her out!"

Before I could deliver another kick, one of the men approached the door I was struggling with. He grabbed it and, with a single powerful pull, ripped it open as though it were nothing.

I barely had time to react before he reached inside, grabbed me, and hauled me out of the overturned car.

"Hello, surgeon. Nice to meet you," he said casually, as though we were meeting at a social gathering rather than after a deliberate car crash.

Before I could even process his words, he lifted me onto his shoulder.

"Hey! Put me down!" I shouted, struggling against his grip.

Unfortunately, I couldn't get a proper look at his face, let alone those of the other three men accompanying him. All four had their faces covered with masks.

"Who the hell are you people, and where are you taking me?" I demanded, thrashing against the shoulder of the man carrying me.

"You'll find out soon enough," one of the masked men following behind us replied.

"Find out? What the hell is that supposed to mean? Put me down this instant!"

None of them bothered to answer.

They continued walking as though my protests meant absolutely nothing to them.

By the time we reached their van, I was furious. The man carrying me finally lowered me and, together with the others, threw me inside before climbing in after me.

The driver, who had apparently been waiting for them, immediately started the engine.

The moment I realized they were about to leave, panic and anger surged through me.

"Where the hell are you taking me? Let me out!" I screamed, struggling desperately to get past the men surrounding me.

I had no intention of allowing a bunch of masked strangers to drag me wherever they pleased. Whatever they wanted from me, they would have to explain it first.

But my resistance only seemed to irritate them.

"Will you stop moving?" one of the men barked.

"Not until you tell me where you're taking me!"

"Tony, do something about her!" another man snapped.

Before I could react, someone struck me hard enough to send my surroundings spinning.

The last thing I remembered was trying to fight them off before darkness swallowed me whole.

When I finally regained consciousness, my surroundings were completely unfamiliar.

I blinked several times, struggling to clear the fog in my head. The space around me was much smaller than the van, and the low rumbling beneath me made my stomach churn.

My hands were also tied to my back making it impossible for me to move comfortably.

Confused, I slowly lifted my head and looked ahead through the windscreen.

All I could see was the sky.

For a moment, I stared at it in disbelief, wondering whether the blow to my head had somehow affected my senses.

Then one of the men noticed that I was awake.

"Hey, finally awake?" he asked casually.

I turned towards him, and my eyes widened.

Unlike before, none of the men was wearing a face mask. Instead, they all had headphones with microphones over their ears.

My gaze darted around the cramped space, taking in the seats, the controls, and the unfamiliar surroundings.

Then it hit me.

I was inside a helicopter.

"What the hell?" I breathed, staring at the man beside me. "Where am I?"

"In a helicopter," he replied matter-of-factly, as though that explained everything.

"No kidding!" I snapped. "I can see that for myself! What I want to know is where the hell you're taking me!"

He gave me a warning look.

"And you had better not think about doing anything stupid this time, unless you want to fall to your death."

My mouth fell open.

Was this man insane?

I glanced towards the windows again, and the realization that we were thousands of feet above the ground sent a chill down my spine.

There was no way I could jump out of a moving helicopter, and these men clearly had no intention of letting me leave peacefully.

Who the hell were they? And who could possibly have enough money and influence to arrange something like this?

Judging by the fact that they had not only orchestrated a car crash but also had a helicopter waiting to transport me, I could already tell that whoever was behind this was no ordinary person.

"And can you at least tell me where you're taking me?" I demanded, forcing myself to maintain a steady voice despite the uneasiness building inside me.

"You'll find out soon enough," the man replied with a grin that stretched from ear to ear.

I narrowed my eyes at him.

"As for now, the only thing you need to know is that as long as you do what you're asked to do, you'll return home safe and sound."

He paused, his grin widening.

"In fact, you might even wish to come back next time."

I stared at him in disbelief before letting out an angry scoff.

"In your dreams!"

I had absolutely no intention of entertaining his ridiculous threats.

"By the way," I continued, fixing him with a daring glare, "what happens if I refuse to do whatever it is you people want me to do?"

His grin never faltered.

"Well, you won't like what happens to you."

I clenched my jaw, resisting the urge to slap that irritating smile off his face.

Before I could respond, the pilot's voice came through the headset.

"Tony, we're getting close. It's time to cover her face, unless you want her to find her way back here whenever she wants."

Tony immediately turned towards the pilot.

"Of course not! We'd be in serious trouble if that ever happened."

He reached for a bag beside him and pulled out a small black sack.

"I'm sorry, surgeon, but I'm going to have to cover your face for a little while," he explained, his tone surprisingly polite. "We wouldn't want you finding your way back here whenever you feel like it, would we?"

I glared at him.

"You're kidnapping me, threatening me, and now you want me to cooperate with you? Are you people even hearing yourselves?"

He merely sighed.

"Sorry, surgeon. Orders are orders."

Before I could protest further, he slowly pulled the black sack over my head.

Darkness swallowed my vision.

I could no longer see the sky, the helicopter's interior, or the men who had abducted me. All I could do was sit there, listening to the continuous roar of the helicopter as it carried me towards an unknown destination.

My heart pounded harder with every passing second.

I had no idea who had ordered my abduction or what they wanted from me. All I knew was that I was completely at their mercy, and the uncertainty was slowly driving me insane.

Eventually, the helicopter began to descend.

I felt the change in movement almost immediately, and a few minutes later, it landed.

The men removed their headsets, climbed out, and then dragged me along with them, keeping the black sack firmly over my head.

"Now that we've reached your destination, can you please take this thing off my face?" I complained, struggling to catch my breath beneath the suffocating material. "I can barely breathe in here!"

"Patience, surgeon," Tony replied calmly. "In a few minutes, not only will the bag come off your head, but you'll also find out what fate has in store for you."

I froze.

"What the hell do you mean by that?"

I demanded, my stomach tightening with dread. "What do you mean I'll find out my fate?"

I knew perfectly well that people rarely used the word fate in situations like this unless something serious was at stake.

And given the lengths these men had gone to just to get me here, I couldn't shake the feeling that something terrible was about to happen to me.

The only question was whether I would make it out of this place alive.