38

The terrifying shout from the masked man echoed through the small room like thunder, and the few customers inside instantly went into a state of total panic. Without wasting a single second, I grabbed Ella’s trembling arm and dragged her down to the floor, pulling her beneath our small wooden table. We curled up tightly together in the cramped space, trying our best to hide from the dangerous men. All around us, the other people in the restaurant rushed to do the exact same thing, scrambling under chairs and booths while whimpering in fear. But the young waitress who had just served our food refused to hide. Instead of going under a counter, she stood her ground, her face hardening with a strange, fearless anger as she boldly approached the three massive intruders.

She stopped just a few feet away from the barrel of their weapons, her chest heaving with deep, rapid breaths. "We are deeply sorry, but you men need to turn around and leave," she stated loudly, her voice completely firm and steady despite the clear danger. "This is a small fast-food restaurant, not a wealthy bank. We do not keep a lot of cash in our registers that you can rob. Go somewhere else if you are looking for money."

The massive guy standing on the far right didn't say a single word. He simply jerked his heavy black weapon upward and pulled the trigger, firing a loud blast directly into the white ceiling. The deafening sound of the gunshot exploded through the small building, sending a shower of plaster and white dust raining down on the floor. The pure noise of it made everyone scream in terror. The waitress’s fearless expression vanished instantly, replaced by a look of sheer shock. She dropped her body straight down to the tiled floor, curling into a tight ball and pressing her palms over her ears as she shook with fear.

The leader of the group took a slow, heavy step forward, his muddy combat boots clicking against the tiles. He lowered his weapon, pointing the dark, smoking barrel directly at the trembling girl on the floor. "We have absolutely not come across town today to rob this pathetic little place for pocket money," he growled, his deep voice muffled slightly by his dark face mask.

He slowly shifted his body, rotating the long black barrel away from the waitress. He walked a few paces closer to our booth, tracking his target until the weapon was pointing straight down at the space beneath our table, aiming directly at my face. "We came exactly for her."

At that precise moment, the blood in my veins turned to pure, solid ice, and my heart completely froze inside my chest. It felt like the entire world had abruptly stopped spinning, and the passing seconds stretched out into a long, eternal pause. My vision went blurry, and a strange, ringing silence filled my ears as I stared into the dark opening of the gun barrel. Those terrifying words pierced through my soul in a dark, painful way that I could not even begin to describe to another human being.

I swallowed the giant lump of terror in my throat, my eyes darting frantically from side to side to check the other tables nearby. My mind raced, desperately searching for some hope that he was actually pointing at a different customer sitting behind me, or that he had made a stupid mistake. But the leader noticed my eyes moving, and a dark, mocking chuckle escaped his lips as he took another step closer.

"Stop looking around you like a fool," he sneered, his voice dropping into a harsh, commanding rumble. "There is no mistake here. You are going to crawl out from under that table and come with us right now. Don't say a single word, and don't you dare complain. Because if you say anything to refuse, or if you try to do anything tricky, a lot of innocent people in this building will get severely hurt. Or tell me... do you genuinely want that precious little maid girl sitting right beside you to die a bloody death today?"

As he delivered the threat, he slightly tilted his weapon, pointing the barrel directly at Ella’s shaking head. Ella let out a tiny, pathetic whimper, clutching the fabric of my clean shirt as tight as she could.

"Come along with us quietly, and this little girl lives to see tomorrow," the man continued, his dark eyes crinkling behind his mask as if he were smiling at my desperation. "The same goes for every single customer in this restaurant. Follow our orders, and absolutely no one else will get a single scratch on their body."

A heavy wave of defeat washed over me, and I knew I had absolutely no choice but to surrender. I began to shift my weight, preparing to stand up and face the monsters. But the moment I moved, Ella’s fingers tightened around my hand with an iron grip, her tear-stained face filled with deep begging as she shook her head from side to side. She didn't want to let me go. I forced myself to give her a small, reassuring look, reaching out with my free hand to gently touch her trembling shoulders.

"Don't worry about me, Ella," I whispered softly into her ear, my voice barely audible over the sound of the restaurant's buzzing fridge. "Everything is going to be completely okay, I promise you. The very second these men drag me out of here and leave, you need to stand up and run as fast as you can. Go straight back to the mansion and tell Michael exactly what happened to me here. Tell him immediately, okay?"

Ella’s lips trembled, but she slowly nodded her head up and down to show she understood the critical mission. I gently pried her fingers away from my hand, taking a deep breath as I crawled out from the safety of the booth and stood up on my two feet.

"Put both of your hands high up in the air where we can see them!" the second gunman shouted aggressively, stepping forward to flank my side.

I quickly raised my palms toward the ceiling, my legs shaking slightly under the pressure. The leader gave a sharp nod to his partners, his expression turning cold and businesslike once again. "Let's go. Move your feet."

The second muscular guy reached out, his thick fingers aggressively grabbing the fabric of my clean dress to yank me forward. They surrounded my body completely, forcing me to march toward the glass exit doors while the remaining customers stared in stunned, breathless silence. We pushed past the shattered doors and approached the side of a large, dark transport van parked on the gravel. But just as the third man reached out to pull the vehicle's heavy sliding door open, the leader suddenly froze in his tracks. He snapped his fingers, a sharp look of sudden realization washing over his hidden face as if a critical piece of memory had just hit his brain.

He turned his body back toward me, his eyes narrowing into two dangerous slits, and then he said—