Chapter 161: The Escape 0.3
NO ONE’S POV
"What on earth are you doing here?" Vivien asked, her voice tight as she stared at Amelia, who was currently sitting right in front of her on the small, worn-out apartment couch.
Amelia’s eyes immediately locked onto a glaring, dark purple bite mark peeking out from the collar of Vivien’s shirt. A suffocating anger burned straight through her chest, making her nails dig into her own palms. But with her dad’s threats still echoing in her head and her own reputation currently burning to ash on the internet, she forced herself to hold back her screams.
"I am here to make a deal," Amelia said, crossing her arms tightly over her chest and leaning back, trying to look superior.
Vivien raised a single eyebrow. "What kind of deal?"
Amelia reached into her luxury handbag, pulled out a check, and slapped it onto the coffee table between them. "Five million dollars. Take this money and leave the city permanently. I don’t want to see your face anywhere near Dominic ever again."
Vivien stared down at the check, her jaw practically dropping. So much money! A bizarre, thought flashed through her mind- So those K-dramas weren’t lying after all?! This stuff actually happens in real life?! For a split second, she felt exactly like a tragic female lead being cornered by a wealthy, dramatic villainess offering her a fortune to run away.
Seeing Vivien’s stunned silence, Amelia let out a bitter sneer. "What? Is it not enough for a broke girl like you? Or are you just staying because you want to snatch him away from me?!" she demanded, her voice rising loud.
"Girl, nobody wants your man!" Vivien snapped back, her own voice booming across the room as her patience completely evaporated.
She had absolutely had enough of Amelia’s delusional, high-society drama today. "I don’t know what kind of crazy rabid dog bit you to make you think I actually want that cold, terrifying brick! He is literally blocking my every single path in life right now!"
Amelia completely froze, staring at Vivien in absolute stunned silence. She had expected tears, greed, or defiant claims of love- not pure annoyance toward the billionaire CEO.
"What? You don’t believe me?" Vivien huffed, throwing her hands up in frustration. She scrambled off her chair, marched over to her desk, and grabbed a stack of papers and her laptop, aggressively sliding them across the table right in front of Amelia. "Here! See for yourself! Look at these!"
Amelia warily looked down. On the laptop screen, the tracking software clearly displayed Dominic’s private server Network. Next to it were her building’s original leasing documents, showing the ultimate parent company holding her contract was a direct subsidiary of Valente Corp.
"See?! He is the one who is obsessively tracking me and trapping me here!" Vivien huffed loudly, collapsing back onto her chair and crossing her arms in exhaustion. "I am the one trying to escape from him!"
Amelia huffed, tossing her perfectly styled hair over her shoulder as she tried to process the absurd reality of the situation. "I don’t care about his twisted hobbies! As long as you are completely out of his sight, he will eventually stop looking and no longer care about you!" she said, her voice laced with desperate frustration.
"I pray to God you’re right," Vivien muttered, rolling her eyes hard. Without a single shred of hesitation, she reached across the table and took the check. She wasn’t stupid- this was her golden ticket, her literal get-out-of-jail-free card.
"Keep your man completely to yourself," Vivien added, "In fact, do me a massive favor and tie him to your side with a heavy iron chain so he stops coming after me. Tsk."
Amelia stood up, her heels clicking against the floorboards. She didn’t say another word as she turned on her heel and walked straight out of the apartment, slamming the door shut behind her.
But as she marched down the dimly lit hallway of the apartment complex, the stunned confusion on Amelia’s face melted away, replaced by a venomous expression. Her eyes glinted with fury.
Leave with a million dollars and live happily ever after? Amelia thought, her jaw clenching. As if.
Vivien had still slept with Dominic. Vivien was still the reason Amelia’s own life, reputation, and family standing were currently crumbling into dust. Amelia had only offered the money to get Vivien to let her guard down and isolate herself from Dominic’s protective radar. She had another, far more permanent plan in mind, and she wasn’t letting that broke girl off the hook alive.
Just as Amelia’s footsteps faded down the hallway, Vivien wasted no absolute time. She dashed to her laptop, her fingers flying across the keyboard. Using the newly acquired funds, she began systematically erasing every financial chain Dominic had wrapped around her.
College fees for the remaining semesters? Paid in full. Check.
Apartment rent for the past months and the steep early lease-termination penalty
Transferred immediately. Check.
"Haaa..." she let out a long sigh, leaning back in her chair for a brief second.
It was all done. Every single outstanding balance was cleared. Now, there was absolutely no legal loophole left for his high-priced lawyers to exploit. He couldn’t sue her for breach of contract, and he couldn’t call the police on her for unpaid debts. She was financially a free agent.
Slowly, she looked down at her vibrating phone. Before I completely turn it off and disappear, I should inform Mom, she thought, her chest tightening with a bittersweet pang.
She dialed the familiar number. The moment her mother picked up, Vivien kept her voice as calm and reassuring as possible, gently explaining that an incredible, sudden career opportunity had come up and she was moving out of the city immediately.
On the other end of the line, her mother sounded surprised, a note of maternal worry creeping into her tone. "Moving so suddenly, Vivien? Did something happen? Do you need to come back home to us?"
"No, Mom, please don’t worry about me at all," Vivien replied, forcing a soft smile into her voice to mask the nervousness. "Everything is completely fine. Once everything settles down in my new place, I will be right back to visit you and dad. I promise."
Her mother hesitated for a moment but ultimately agreed, telling her to stay safe. With a heavy sigh, Vivien cut off the call.
She walked over to the glass pane and looked out of the window one last time. Outside, the sky was tuning dark. The sun had completely disappeared. Perfect, she thought. "The perfect time for an escape before that monster shows up to snatch me away."
Without a shred of hesitation, she popped the SIM card out of her phone and snapped it completely in half, tossing the broken plastic into the trash. She packed her laptop securely into her backpack, pulled up a burner app on her desktop to rent a private car under a generic name, and swiftly shut the computer down.
She waited in her apartment. Ten minutes later, her phone app pinged- the rented car had arrived and was waiting down by the curb. It was finally time for her grand escape.
Dressing strictly, Vivien pulled on an oversized black hoodie, a dark face mask, and a low baseball cap that completely shadowed her eyes. She grabbed her bag of money and her backpack, ready to bolt.
But as she took one final glance out of her bedroom window to check the street, she froze.
Down in the dim alleyway, right behind the rental car, was another black vehicle with tinted windows. The engine was silently, its headlights completely turned off.
It didn’t look like a standard taxi or a neighbor’s car. They looked incredibly suspicious, just sitting there like predators waiting in ambush.
Vivien stopped dead in her tracks, staring intently at the dark vehicle from behind her curtains. Was that Dominic’s men already tracking her down? Or was it Amelia’s private goons waiting to revoke the "deal" they had just made?
Slowly, she glanced back down at the money check. The thin lining of her escape was suddenly looking a lot more dangerous.
Peeking through her curtains, Vivien watched as the doors of the suspicious vehicle swung open. Two heavily built men stepped out into the dim streetlight. As they adjusted their jackets, she caught the distinct glimpse of tattoos crawling up their necks and wrists.
Yep, I knew it, she thought, a cold sweat breaking out under her cap. Those weren’t the highly professional guards Dominic employed.
These guys looked like back-alley muscle hired from a local gang. If they weren’t Dominic’s men, it meant only one thing: Amelia had absolutely no intention of letting her walk away with that million dollars alive.
"Tsk, as expected from that crazy girl," Vivien muttered fiercely.
Reaching into her desk drawer, she grabbed a dagger she had kept hidden away for emergencies. She securely tucked it into the waistband of her jeans, adjusting her oversized hoodie to cover the hilt. She slipped out of her apartment and locked the door behind her.
She had only walked a few steps down the dimly lit hallway when she heard the thud of combat boots coming up the stairs. The men were already here.
Lowering her baseball cap, Vivien kept her head down, hugging the wall as she tried to calmly walk past them like a random neighbor.
"Hey, kid," one of the men growled, his deep voice echoing in the narrow corridor.
Vivien froze, her heart leaping into her throat, but she forced her posture to remain casual. The man stepped into her path, holding up a crumpled piece of paper. "Do you know where this girl lives?"
Vivien glanced up under the brim of her cap. Sure enough, it was a recent picture of her. Thinking fast on her feet, she raised a gloved hand and silently pointed directly at her own apartment door further down the hall.
The men looked at the door, nodded to each other, and immediately pushed past her, heading toward the apartment. Vivien let out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding and picked up her pace, practically rushing toward the exit stairwell.
She was this close to freedom.
But just as she reached the door, the click of a lock turning ruined everything. One of her older neighbors, a notoriously chatty woman from across the hall, swung her door open. Her face lit up when she spotted the familiar black hoodie.
"Hey, Vivien! Oh, I’m so glad to see you here, dear! I was just about to return the- "
Before the woman could even finish her sentence, the hallway went dead silent. The two hitmen stopped right in front of Vivien’s door, their heads snapping backward in perfect unison. Their cold eyes locked dead onto Vivien.
"Fuck!" Vivien cursed loudly under her breath.
Breaking into a full-blown sprint, she slammed open the fire door and bolted down the stairs.
Behind her, loud shouts erupted as the two men realized they’d been tricked. The heavy thud of their boots followed her into the stairwell.
Back in the hallway, the bewildered neighbor stood frozen, completely unable to understand the chaotic scene unfolding before her. Sensing danger, she frantically pulled out her phone to call the police. But before she could even dial the first digit, the third man- who had been lingering near the stairs- stepped up behind her and delivered a brutal blow to the back of her head, knocking her completely unconscious onto the floor.
"Target is on the move! Down the west stairs!" he barked into a walkie-talkie, turning to join the frantic hunt for Vivien.
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TO BE CONTINUED
