Free Web NovelChapter 133: Against All Odds
Megumi froze in his seat as Ricardo kissed her on the cheek. Fortunately, she was being held hostage for ransom, and she was aware that they wouldn’t really do anything to her as long as her father did his part of the deal. Nevertheless, she felt crippling fear at the sight of the criminal. After severely beating Hajime almost to death, he was now focused on her, and she couldn’t do anything about it.
SLAM!
Before Hajime lost consciousness, he noticed the door to the warehouse slammed open. If he had been awake for a second longer, he would’ve noticed that the three people who entered the room were none other than his debt collectors.
"What the f— what on earth, Ricardo!" Shelly almost let a bad word slip out of her mouth upon witnessing Hajime on the ground. She immediately approached Ricardo, grabbing him by the hand before looking at Megumi to see if she was all right. Right now, she was shaking in her boots, but she knew she had to do it; otherwise, she wouldn’t be able to forgive herself.
"Stop this, he’s just a kid." Shelly pleaded after briefly checking Megumi. She couldn’t dare look at Hajime since he had been lying on the ground as still as a fallen scarecrow. For all she knows, Hajime was already done. His back wasn’t heaving up and down... was he even breathing?
"Stop? What do you mean stop? I already stopped, didn’t I?" Ricardo shrugged as if he didn’t do anything wrong. He approached Hajime, stepping on his head and twisting his ankle. As if that wasn’t enough, he shifted all his weight on one of his legs before kicking Hajime on the head.
"Do you want me to stop?" Ricardo confirmed as he wore a devilish grin on his face. This time, he stepped on Hajime’s right hand and crushed it underneath his sole. He was satisfied.
Shelly looked at the guards who were just standing there doing nothing. Obviously, they were scared that their leader would do the same thing to them. They wouldn’t dare speak up, just like what Shelly was doing right now.
Clenching her fists, Shelly seemed like she was about to burst. With all the anger welling up inside her, she stomped her feet and nodded at the other two debt collectors, Jiro and Tamotsu.
"That’s it. We’re taking the girl with us." Shelly didn’t even wait for Ricardo’s approval. She started untying Megumi’s knots.
As for Tamotsu and Jirou, they, too, helped Shelly. While they had no idea why Shelly was acting weirdly, they still stuck by her side, even if it meant going against the orders of their boss.
"What are you doing?" Ricardo’s face contorted to pure anger, but he was able to suppress his impulsive tendency. He gritted his teeth as he desperately tried to maintain his composure. Apparently, he found Shelly attractive and didn’t want to act unbecoming in front of her; that’s why he held everything in.
"We’re looking after the hostage. You do your thing, but honestly, we can’t fully trust you with your short temper. Who knows what you’ll do to our prized hostage while you’re out of it? Don’t stop us; you’ll regret it." Shelly spoke with a resolute expression on her face. The false bravado she wore was effective, and she seemed like she didn’t care whether Ricardo hurt her or not.
’We’re not going to look after the lady... we’re going to free her, call the police, and turn ourselves in. I can’t believe we let it go this far... this shouldn’t have happened.’ Shelly spoke in her mind, pursing her lips while she worked the last knots that bound Megumi.
Due to a series of unfortunate events, she had no choice but to work under a criminal. She had debts to pay, and her drunkard of a father got in too deep that she had to rely on criminal activities for money. The same could be said for Jurou and Tamotsu. They were simply doing their job, but they’ve never genuinely tried hurting anyone.
From the gaps in the warehouse, they witnessed Hajime being beaten up, and honestly, they knew that these wrongful acts had gone too far. The guilt had finally caught up to them, and they couldn’t sit back and watch anymore.
"Let go of the girl, Shelly," Ricardo spoke with clear intent in his voice. "Let go of the girl." He repeated.
"We’re going to keep her away from here. You do your thing with Hajime. He’s your target, right? He was the son of those pesky secret service agents of sorts who gave you a hard time, right? Then don’t drag the girl into this mess. She’s our way out, I can’t afford to lose our way out." Shelly defended herself.
"Let the girl go," Ricardo repeated.
Ignoring what he had just said, Shelly turned towards Megumi. As she plastered a forced smile on her face. "We’ll get you out of here." She mouthed.
Megumi stared at Shelly with a deadpan expression on her face. She nodded. Everything that she had witnessed left her disoriented, and she couldn’t speak. All that she could do at that moment was nod.
Click!
A series of gasps erupted from the guards as they heard a clicking sound. Shelly had been in the dark side for a long time now, and she knew where the sound came from even before she turned her head around to face Ricardo.
"I said, let the girl go, Shelly." Slight panic was present in Ricardo’s voice as he spoke. However, there was no shred of hesitation in his eyes. One wrong move and Shelly would receive a bullet to the forehead.
"Grgggrgrgrh." From the ground, an indistinct voice was heard. And just then, Ricardo felt a hand grip his ankle with incredible strength. He flinched.
It was Hajime, he was still conscious! freewebnσvel.cѳm
"I said we’re not done talking yet, bastard," Hajime growled while blood leaked out of his mouth.
