21. The Jewelry
Heidi remained inside the car, her wide eyes fixed on the men. Luckily, the glass was tinted. They shouldn’t be able to see her.
“Open the door!” A hard voice came from outside, and one of them pounded the car’s door hard.
“Open it now! I have a gun, and I won’t hesitate to use it.”
Heidi didn’t know whether the car was bulletproof or not. She reached forward with trembling hands and unlocked the doors.
But that was her biggest mistake.
Instantly, three men jumped inside the car. Two of them held her down and the other one fiddled with her clothes.
“Ah! Let me go!” Heidi screamed and flailed her limbs, kicking the masked men. “What the hell do you want? Let go of me! There’s no money on me!”
She was powerless against the huge men. They didn’t only ransack her clothes, they also checked every compartment in the car.
“Ah! Help! Robbers!” Heidi kept screaming for help, while the men ignored her.
Just when she thought they were about to do worse, the men communicated with their eyes and left.
Heidi remained pinned to the driver’s seat, her heart in her throat and her eyes wide with fear.
What just happened?
As those cars drove away, Heidi was confused and scared. Her limbs were suddenly weak and she scrambled out of the car to take in long drags of the air.
Standing alone in the strange neighborhood, Heidi was a bit disoriented. Then someone grabbed her arm.
“Ah!” Heidi jumped, looking at another man dressed in black.
She thought all of them had gone. Where did he come from?
“Let go of me!” The sharp edge of a knife glistened against the flickering lights.
Heidi’s expression paled. Instinctively, she sent a flying kick to his groin. The man groaned and staggered back which gave her the opportunity to run.
His hard footsteps came from behind her.
Heidi regretted not calling the police as she ran in a random direction.
“You can’t run far, Heidi! Why don’t you save us both the hassle?”
He even knew her name.
Heidi stopped and faced him. At the sight of the knife, every question she wanted to ask fled her mind and she resumed running.
Never had she run this far in her life.
Heidi didn’t look back for once. She ran from one dark alley to another, guided by the flickering streetlights.
She didn’t even realize when his footsteps stopped following her.
Clearly, the man had lost her. Heidi stayed hidden for several minutes behind a trash can.
Not knowing if the man was lurking out there, she’d rather not bait on her chance.
Moments later, his figure ran past. Heidi shrank against the wall, holding her rapid breathing.
When the figure didn’t return for a while, she tiptoed out of the place and fortunately found her car after running through some alleys and passing the dead streetlights.
Heidi jumped inside the car and bolted the doors.
Her teeth chattered and she wrapped both arms around herself, shivering from the cold.
When she reached for her phone to dial the police, she found the screen shattered beyond recognition.
Both her phone and the purse were on the floor.
Remembering that she had an extra phone inside the purse, she picked it up.
Her phone was there.
Her credit card was also inside, and her ID card and other important stuff.
Only one thing was missing…
The jewelry Grandpa Winston gave her. Realization dawned on Heidi and her eyes dimmed.
