Chapter 3

Petunia yelled, "Michael Cardin, you dare hurt my grandson because of money? It's below freezing outside! How could you just leave the baby on the floor? Are you trying to freeze him to death?

"I order you to pick him up right now and bring him back here! You don't deserve to be his father!"

Beads of sweat dotted my forehead as anxiety swamped me. Before I could say anything, Brad turned the camera around to show himself.

"Old man, I don't have the time or energy to joke around with you. I'm going to give you one last chance. Either bring the money over in half an hour, or you'll be visiting them in the morgue!"

As the kidnappers were all wearing gruesome-looking masks to hide their identities, Petunia took one look, gasped, and fainted.

Brian was so enraged that he roared, "Michael, have you gone nuts? You know that Petunia has a weak heart, yet you still have the audacity to scare her with such horrifying masks? I'm taking her to the hospital immediately!

"In the meantime, I want you to get your ass back here with Nathan!

"I seriously regret letting Jen marry you! I'm going to make sure that she divorces you and that you leave this marriage with nothing! Not even a dollar to your name!"

Following a brief commotion in the background, the video call ended. I could feel my heart sink with it.

Jennifer had transferred away all the money I had to Hendrick, my father was still in a coma at the hospital, and now, my in-laws didn't believe me…

"Leave the marriage with nothing to your name, huh… That makes you a penniless bastard, then." Taking out a gun, Brad aimed it right at my forehead. "You've delayed me for long enough. Now, it's time to send you on your way."

However, instead of shooting me himself, he tossed the gun at a younger-looking man. "Here, you handle it."

Nathan's crying was becoming increasingly weak. As Brad turned to go be on the lookout, I heard Nathan.

[Daddy, in my previous life, I heard the police talking about this guy. His name is George Bennett, and he has a kind heart. He only joined them because he needs money for his really sick grandma.]

I instantly understood what he was getting at. When I noticed George staring at the gun hesitantly, I uttered softly, "Hey, George, won't you feel guilty about using an innocent's life to save your grandma's life?"

The hand holding the gun visibly jerked a little. "How did you…"

"If you let us go, I promise to pay for all your grandma's medical bills."

"B-But you don't have any money anymore."

"I might not have any now, but that doesn't mean that I can't make more in the future."

A sliver of hesitation entered his eyes. He glanced over his shoulder at where Brad was talking with the other thugs, then looked over to Nathan, who was turning blue from the cold.

Several seconds later, he nodded. "If you can think of a way to escape, I'll cover you."

[Daddy, there's a hole behind that chair on your left. You can crawl outside from there!]

My eyes lit up. "There's a way out over there, to the left! Cover us later when we escape."

We came to an agreement swiftly, and George went behind me to untie the ropes binding me.

I breathed a silent sigh of relief, thankful that I could hear Nathan's thoughts.

However, one of the thugs suddenly turned their head and noticed what was going on. He immediately shouted furiously, "George, what are you doing?"

Brad's brow furrowed as his hand whipped out another gun that he used to shoot in our direction.

"You dare betray me!"

My jaw dropped open as I watched the bullet pierce right through George's calf. Yet, before I could react, Brad snapped the gun over to fire at my shoulder.

"Michael, I knew you wouldn't behave!"

The agony spread from my right shoulder to all over my body. Since George had been one step away from fully untying me, I had to quickly wriggle my hands free, then tip my body over to one side.

My shoulder was injured a second time as I crashed to the floor. I heard a crunching sound before I was completely unable to move my right arm at all.

[Daddy…]

From the corner of my eye, I could see that Nathan was almost completely blue by now, and even his mental voice sounded faint and weak. The blanket he had been wrapped in had been pulled open as well.

With the surrounding temperatures dropping lower and lower, I couldn't delay any longer. I had to take him somewhere warm, now!

"Don't be scared, Nathan. I'm here."

Using my only functioning arm to drag myself forward, I crawled over to pull Nathan closer before huddling over him to warm him up.

At that moment, Brad came over with his gun. His expression was stone-cold, as though he were looking at nothing more than a corpse.

"I was originally planning on leaving your son alive, but since you two seem so very close, I can't spare him."

"N-No!"

Right as he was about to squeeze the trigger, my phone rang.