Chapter 57: Chapter 57: Not Even for More Money
What was even more absurd was that when Kieran Kerr got out of the car, he saw a colleague he had just met that morning get out of the driver’s seat of the car behind them. The man hurried past him and began speaking with the driver.
Kieran Kerr didn’t speak the language of Smaragdia well, but he could still understand a few simple words.
Kieran stood to the side and listened silently for a moment, piecing together fragments of their conversation.
The gist of it was that the translator’s brakes had failed, and he had accidentally hit their taxi.
It wasn’t intentional, but he would fully compensate the driver for the damages and offer him an extra sum of money to see if he’d be willing to settle things privately.
When the driver heard the offer of money, his temper cooled somewhat, and he stopped looking so vicious.
After some haggling, the two finally agreed on a reasonable sum.
The translator, Wyatt, transferred the money without hesitation. The driver, letting his guard down slightly, stepped aside to call for a ride.
Seeing his chance, Wyatt shot Kieran Kerr a meaningful look.
Kieran pointed at himself in surprise, finally realizing something was amiss.
But he wasn’t an idiot. It was obvious Wyatt was on guard against the taxi driver.
Kieran Kerr nodded and quietly followed Wyatt toward the car he had arrived in.
Once they were on opposite sides of the car, they exchanged a look and, with perfect coordination, scrambled inside as fast as possible, locked the doors, and started the engine.
The driver had just finished telling his accomplice where his car had "broken down" when he heard an engine start. He whipped his head around instinctively, only to see his target escaping with the other man!
He gave chase for a few steps before remembering his own car was disabled. Screaming in rage, he pulled out a handgun and started firing wildly at the rear of their fleeing vehicle.
Even though they were already a good distance away, the sound of gunshots still made the two men’s hearts pound, breaking them out in a cold sweat.
"Let me make one thing clear! I’m only doing this life-or-death stuff this one time. There will be no next time! Not even if you offer me more money!"
Wyatt’s hands trembled on the steering wheel, and the cold sweat on his forehead was practically a waterfall. He felt like the ordeal had scared a few years off his life.
"What in the world is going on?"
"You’ll have to wait for Ms. Kerr to explain the details. Right now, we’re going to the airport."
Worried the brazen scammers would regroup and come after them, Wyatt drove like his life depended on it, the tires practically smoking. He finally tore into the airport just before dusk.
It wasn’t until they were seated on the flight home, finally and truly safe, that Kieran Kerr got the full story from his mother.
"What did you say? You were at the mall for an inspection, ran into some powerful ’master’ who divined that I was being catfished and was about to be in danger, and so you sent Wyatt to come rescue me? Mom, are you sure *you’re* not the one who got scammed?"
Before Kieran had even finished his sentence, and before Ms. Kerr could explain from the other end of the call, Wyatt, who was sitting beside him, chimed in, "Why don’t you jog your memory a little? Remember that driver chasing us and *shooting* at our car? Who do you think really fell for a scam here? Is it even a question?"
Kieran Kerr was at a loss for words. He thought about how he hadn’t been able to reach his mother’s phone earlier, yet the call went through the moment he got on the plane. A bitter look crossed his face.
’Of course he knew he had fallen into a trap. He just hadn’t wanted to believe it.’
Ms. Kerr, however, was startled by what Wyatt said. "They shot at you? Are you hurt? Is it serious?"
"We’re not hurt. It’s all thanks to you, Ms. Kerr, for warning me ahead of time that something was wrong with the driver. I hit his car to stop him, paid him off to lower his guard, and successfully got Manager Kerr away. As we left, he lost his temper and started shooting at us. If we hadn’t been so quick to get away, we’d both be goners right now."
Wyatt wasn’t just recounting the events. He felt that after going to such great lengths to rescue someone, even if it wasn’t a heroic deed, it was certainly hard-earned. He had to play up his contributions to the boss to secure his own job.
But Ms. Kerr was terrified by his account. She vaguely recalled what Arabella Donovan had told her. After being instructed to contact the company employee on the business trip with Kieran, and upon learning that Kieran had just left the hotel in a taxi, Arabella had asked those questions.
"Was Mr. Kerr’s trip planned, or was it a last-minute decision?"
"It was planned. The taxi was booked in advance."
"You’re sure it was booked in advance? In that case, I suspect the driver who picked him up is part of the fraud ring. Tell whoever is going after him to be careful."
The reason Arabella had asked was that while reviewing reports on the original international case, she had discovered that Kieran Kerr had been captured the moment he stepped out of the car.
Moreover, the subsequent investigation revealed that despite Kieran having been moved to multiple locations, he had left no trace behind.
It was as if he had vanished the moment he stepped out of the hotel, only to reappear when his body was discovered.
An international case would naturally be difficult to investigate, but such an absurd conclusion was still jarring. It made one suspect the author had simply written him a cheap death.
But faced with the situation in reality, Arabella Donovan had to consider the possibility: perhaps Kieran had been ensnared from the very moment he was picked up at the hotel, stepping right into the trap set by his online "lover," from which there was no escape.
As it turned out, Arabella’s concerns were spot on.
It was precisely because of her warning that the young heir of the House of Aethel Jade, with Wyatt’s help, managed to break free from the fraud ring’s carefully laid trap and avoid a tragic death in a foreign land.
The day before, after saying what needed to be said, Arabella Donovan and Eloise Donovan had gone to the boutique Mrs. Rhodes mentioned, where they each picked out a cocktail dress they liked before returning.
She hadn’t paid much attention to the aftermath. Kieran Kerr was in another country, and she was just a Daoist from a remote village; her connections were no match for Ms. Kerr’s.
’If even Ms. Kerr couldn’t save him, then there was certainly nothing more Arabella could do.’
Fortunately, early the next morning, a manager in a sharp business suit personally delivered two valuable sets of jewelry to their hotel, asking for the Donovan sisters by name.
The moment Arabella and Eloise saw the gesture, they knew Kieran Kerr was likely safe.
"Pardon me, are you Miss Arabella Donovan?"
"I am."
"Our boss instructed me to deliver one set of jewelry to Miss Arabella Donovan and another to Miss Eloise Donovan, as a token of gratitude for your assistance." The manager, a woman, offered a professional smile as she handed over the jewelry boxes, her hands covered in white gloves.
"Additionally, our boss has a message for you both. She went to pick up our general manager early this morning, so she was unable to come herself. She said that in a couple of days, when she is free, she will bring the general manager to thank you in person. She hopes you won’t mind the delay, Miss Donovan."
"Your general manager is... your boss’s son?"
"Yes."
"I see." Arabella finally smiled. "Please thank your boss for her gift."
