Chapter 162: Do Or Die
No One’s Pov
"Boss, something unusual just happened," the assistant said, his voice tense as he frantically tapped on his tablet. "Miss Vivien’s outstanding balances- her university fees for the upcoming semesters, her apartment rent for the past few months, and even the early lease-termination penalty have all been paid in full. Just a few minutes ago."
Dominic’s dark eyebrows furrowed, his eyes narrowing.
Ever since the hidden CCTV feed in her apartment had gone pitch black, he had been left in the dark. He had originally intended to give her a few hours of breathing room- a brief, taste of illusionary freedom before he brought her back where she belonged.
But this new piece of information shattered his patience.
Paying everything back meant she was systematically cutting all ties with him. She wasn’t just hiding, she was actively executing a calculated plan to disappear from his life forever. The very thought of her running away from him made a volatile rage flare up in his chest.
"Prepare the car," Dominic commanded, his voice vibrating with a deadly authority.
"Yes, Boss!" the assistant hurried to reply, bark-messaging orders to the security detail as he struggled to keep stride with Dominic’s long, furious paces down the grand hallway.
"Track her location. Now."
"Understood."
The moment they slid into the car, the driver hurried up. In the backseat, the assistant frantically booted up his laptop, his fingers flying across the keys as he accessed Valente Corp’s master tracking systems, trying to ping her phone, her laptop network, or any digital footprint she might have left.
Suddenly, the tapping stopped. The assistant’s face turned completely pale under the glow of the screen.
"Boss..." his voice rang out, trembling slightly.
"This... this is absurd. The tracking software isn’t registering anything. There is no signal, no network ping, no location data to be found of Miss Vivien anywhere in the city network. It’s like she completely vanished off the grid."
Dominic’s eyes turned absolutely dead and frozen. First, she inexplicably finds a million dollars to pay off every cent she owes him, and now her entire digital footprint is wiped completely off the grid? There was no way Vivien could have pulled off a high-level disappearance like this entirely on her own.
Which meant only one thing: someone else was funding her, protecting her, and pulling the strings behind this pathetic little escape act.
A dangerous aura filled the back of the car. Dominic slowly pulled his phone from his inner pocket and dialed a direct line to his private security team. The call connected instantly, but he didn’t wait for a greeting.
"Find Amelia Laurent," Dominic commanded, his voice dripping with terrifying malice. "Drag her into the basement. I don’t care what her daddy tries to do. Bring her to me."
Without waiting for a response, he cut the line, throwing the phone onto the seat beside him. He stared out the tinted window into the darkening city, a dark venomous smirk pulling at his lips.
"I really didn’t want to waste a single second of my attention on you, Amelia..." he murmured coldly into the shadows. "But you forced my hand."
Meanwhile, in the dim, chaotic alleyway.
Vivien burst out of the apartment complex’s fire exit, her lungs burning as she ran at full speed toward the parked rental car. The rental agent was just standing by the driver’s side door, holding the clipboard. Before the confused man could even utter a word of greeting, Vivien aggressively snatched the keys straight out of his hand, yanked the door open, and threw herself inside.
Before the men chasing her could even yell out, a deafening, loud BANG echoed through the narrow alleyway.
CRACK!
Vivien instinctively ducked her head, pressing her body flat against the passenger seat as a bullet shattered the side mirror and tore right through the front windshield, leaving a spiderweb of cracked glass. They were using silencers, but the impact was unmistakable.
They weren’t trying to capture her or take the money back. Amelia’s men were strictly shooting to kill.
"What the hell?! Help- !" the rental agent shrieked, his eyes widening in pure terror as he scrambled backward, pulling out his phone to call for help.
But his voice was abruptly cut short. One of the tattooed hitmen rounded the corner of the vehicle and delivered a brutal, heavy blow to the man’s temple with the butt of his gun, knocking him completely unconscious onto the asphalt.
"Don’t let her start the engine! Shoot the tires!" the lead hitman barked, raising his weapon to point directly through Vivien’s shattered window.
The sudden echo of gunshots and shattering glass had already begun drawing attention. Windows slatted open, and curious neighbors started peeking out into the alleyway. Taking advantage of the sudden commotion and the hitmen’s brief hesitation, Vivien slammed her foot onto the gas pedal.
The tires screeched, kicking up a cloud of smoke as the rental car lurched forward, narrowly missing the hitmen. The tattooed men didn’t hesitate; they sprinted back to their black vehicle, engines roaring as they immediately tore out of the alleyway following her.
Only two minutes later, Dominic’s car arrived at the scene. The neighborhood was in absolute chaos, with people crowding around the unconscious rental agent and dialing emergency services. Dominic’s men quickly dispersed into the crowd, and within seconds, they returned to report the details of the shooting and the high-speed chase.
Dominic’s eyes turned pitch-black, a gloomy, murderous aura radiating from his entire frame. His knuckles turned stark white as he gripped his cane. He had lost her once before. He was absolutely not letting history repeat itself.
This time, his patience was completely gone. Pushing his driver out of the way, Dominic stepped straight into the driver’s seat himself.
He slammed the door, shifted into gear, and floored the accelerator, as he sped off into the night.
Suddenly, his phone rang through the car’s Bluetooth system.
"Boss, we found a visual on a suspicious vehicle," his head security tracker reported frantically. "It’s a silver rental sedan getting chased by an unmarked black car down the highway. We aren’t entirely sure if it’s Miss Vivien- "
"It is her," Dominic cut him off, his voice flat and dangerously certain. "Give me the coordinates now."
"Sending the live location to your dashboard system now, Boss."
The digital map on Dominic’s dashboard lit up with a flashing red icon moving rapidly toward the edge of the city. Dominic’s jaw clenched as he cut through traffic. following the coordinates. A terrifying smile touched his lips.
No matter who was chasing her, and no matter how far she thought she could run, she belonged to him.
Vivien drove with high speed, her eyes darting repeatedly to the rearview mirror. The headlights of the black car were looming dangerously close, reflecting off her cracked glass.
"Dang it!" she muttered through clenched teeth, violently whipping the steering wheel to take a blind turn. She had absolutely no idea where she was going anymore, but as long as the road took her far away from her apartment and Dominic’s territory, she didn’t care. Her mind was a total blank, running purely on survival instincts and adrenaline.
Suddenly, a loud, explosive BANG ripped through the quiet night air.
The rear of her car instantly fish-tailed, the steering wheel ripping out of her hands as the vehicle went completely off balance. The rubber of her blown tire screeched against the dirt road, and before she could pump the brakes, the car careened off the pavement and BOOM! hit a massive tree head-on.
"Fuck!" Vivien cursed hoarsely.
The impact deployed the airbag, but her head still slammed brutally against the side window frame. For a few seconds, the world spun in a blur of gray. A sharp stinging pain flared across her forehead, and she could feel warm, thick blood starting to flow down the side of her face, dripping past her eyebrow.
Through the shattered windshield, she heard the thud of car doors slamming shut. Those men had successfully fired on her tire, and now they were hopping out of their vehicle, walking slowly toward her smoking car.
Shaking her head to fight off the dizziness, Vivien forced her aching body to move. She reached down into her waistband, her fingers wrapping around the cold hilt of her tactical dagger. She kicked her jammed door open and stumbled out into the open air, wiping the blood from her eye with the back of her sleeve.
The surroundings were completely pitch-black. They were on an isolated abandoned stretch of road surrounded by dense woods. No cars, no streetlights, and absolutely no one around to help her.
"Finally!" one of the hitmen sneered, a sickening chuckle escaping his lips as he flicked open a switchblade. "Tsk. What a troublesome little mouse. Kept running and running, making us waste precious ammo."
"Now, now... you can’t run anywhere anymore. You’re caught, princess," another man jeered, stepping into the dim moonlight, a heavy iron pipe resting casually on his shoulder.
"Should’ve just stayed in your little hole. Did you really think you could take Boss Amelia’s money and just walk away scot-free? She wants to make sure you never breathe the same air as Mr. Valente again."
"Let’s just finish this quickly before the cops show up," the third one grunted, pulling a silenced pistol from his jacket. "Hold her down. Boss wants a picture of the body before we dump it."
Vivien stood her ground, her boots digging into the dirt as she glared fiercely at their approaching figures. Her heart was pounding, but the raw terror in her chest suddenly hardened into a cold focus. She tightened her grip on the hidden dagger, hiding it behind her forearm.
It’s fine, Vivien, she fiercely told herself in her mind, her eyes tracking their every movement. You’ve dealt with so many insane plot twists and crazy situations already... you can absolutely deal with these low-life thugs too.
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To Be Continued
