5
When life is going too smoothly, there’s always someone who crawls out of the woodwork to mess things up.
I was leaving the office one evening, on my way to an art auction, when my car was cut off by a van as we exited the underground
garage.
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Chapter 2
Several masked men holding pipes jumped out and started banging on my windows.
“Get out of the car!”
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My driver, a former special forces soldier, remained perfectly calm. “Miss Caldwell, please remain seated. They’re not getting away.
He pressed a button on the console.
The windows were bulletproof. The doors locked automatically. And a silent alarm was instantly sent to my company’s security
headquarters and the nearest police precinct.
I watched the men futilely beating on the car and shook my head.
the
The incompetence of kidnappers these days was truly disappointing.
Didn’t they do any basic research on their target? My car was custom–built. They couldn’t get through it with pipes; they couldn’t get
through it with a handgun.
After a few minutes of useless smashing, they started to look confused. The leader, clearly agitated, pulled out his phone.
“Hey! Your intel was garbage! We can’t get this car open!”
I listened with mild interest. So, it was premeditated.
Less than five minutes later, the sound of sirens echoed in the distance. The would–be kidnappers heard it, their faces paled, and
they dropped their pipes to run.
Too late.
My company’s security team arrived even faster than the police. A fleet of black SUVS screeched to a halt, boxing them in. A team
of bodyguards in sharp black suits and earpieces swarmed out and had the pathetic thugs pinned to the ground in seconds.
By the time the police arrived, it was just a matter of cleanup.
I never even had to get out of the car.
My driver asked, “Miss Caldwell, are we still going to the auction?”
“Of course. I’m not going to let a few idiots ruin my evening.”
Later, at the police station, I found out who was behind it.
Chloe Sanders.
My former best friend.
After I pulled my family’s investment, her father’s company went bankrupt. The shock sent him to the hospital with a heart attack.
Her mother spent her days at home, weeping.
Chloe blamed me for all of it.
So she hired a few local thugs to kidnap me for ransom.
The plan was simple.
And incredibly stupid.
The detective in charge of my statement looked at me with a sense of awe. “Miss Caldwell, your composure is better than some of
the rookies on my force.”
I smiled. “You’re too kind. Perhaps I’ve just had to deal with more than my fair share of fools.”
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Chapter 2
The detective chuckled.
When I left the station, Laura was waiting for me.
“Miss Caldwell, Chloe’s mother called. She’s begging you to be lenient and let her daughter go.”
10.11
“I haven’t done anything to her,” I said. “Kidnapping and extortion are criminal offenses. The court decides the sentence, not me. I
don’t have the power to interfere with the justice system.”
She said… she said she would get on her knees and beg you.”
“Tell her to save her knees. She’ll need them when she’s visiting her daughter in prison.”
I got into the car, feeling a
de
sense of exhaustion. Not physical, but mental.
I truly don’t understand why some people think that just because they made a mistake, they automatically deserve forgiveness.
Because she’s pitiful?
Being pitiful doesn’t give you a license to hurt others.
This world doesn’t run on a system of ‘whoever is weakest is rightest.‘
You do the crime, you do the time.
It’s the most basic rule there is.
