Jimmy cursed.When Simon Hunter had interrupted him and the missus, annoyance several times the intensity of what he usually experienced, roiled through him. Jim had been lost in the kiss, all his senses had been numb except for the pounding of his heart, the echo of which he could still hear in his head like horn trumpets.
So when he let the missus go on the Chairman"s orders, his entire body grew stiff with reluctance.
d.a.m.n.
He hadn"t expected her to kiss him back.
The thought made Jim blush, the taste of her mouth still lingering on in his own. The young master could hardly settle the chaos in his heart, and silently, he shoved his hands into his pockets. He breathed hard.
He still couldn"t get himself to look in her direction as she walked back to the hall. He was much too afraid of what he was already feeling.
Albeit the emotion was stupid, they had just kissed after all, but Jim felt it through and through. Anxiety of the strangest kind, one that threatened to curb the little happy dance that his stupid, logical self had begun to do.
"You kissed her! She kissed you! What does it mean?!"
His insides shrieked.
This time though, the logical self wasn"t being annoying at all. In fact, its inquisitive inquiries made the young master smile.
Just then though, Jim"s fingers touched the square box in his pocket. And a thousand curses ruptured through him again.
d.a.m.n!
He had forgotten to give her the ring.
The wife still was without a ring!
In that moment, the young master felt like holding his head in his hands and then banging it into the ground hard. How could he be so stupid?
Thanks to the heat of the kiss, he had totally forgotten about the ring!
The thought alone made Jim move in determination. His hands clenched into fists inside his pockets, and he started to move back into the hall. To his utter annoyance, several people began to greet him on the way, and he was prevented from seeing the wife for quite a few minutes.
When all the greeting had been done on his end though, Miya was nowhere to be found.
For a second, Jim thought he had seen the girl stand by the third entrance, leaning against a wall. When he looked that way though, she wasn"t there anymore.
Wait.
It was time for the plan to begin too. Thad Carver was about to come.
Where had Miya gone?
Jim looked across the stream of people in the entire hall, finally coming to the brooding conclusion that Miya wasn"t in it. He couldn"t find her anywhere.
He was going to walk over to the third entrance, when a small hand held his own.
He looked down to stare at Ben"s worried face looking up at him.
"Ben?"
Jim was surprised. The little guy wasn"t supposed to be here at the party. It would get dangerous in some time. What was he doing here?
It was probably the quiver in the little boy"s hand, and his fearful voice that made Jim immediately stand on alert.
"Jimmy," Ben said, "I saw a big man take mommy."
Jim froze at the words. Ben"s own face drained of all colour at the words.
"H-He had a gun."
The young master"s face visibly paled, as he looked into the boy"s eyes.
"Where?" he asked.
Ben was quick to reply.
"I was on the first floor. I saw him take mommy in a black car. I learnt the number. It was…"
Jimmy"s legs worked on their own.
His first instinct was to safeguard the boy. So he picked him up by the arms, and took him to Rebecca"s room. Without alerting the woman, and telling Ben to stay quiet regarding the matter, he ran downstairs.
Ben however, was worried to the point of sweating. He asked Jim before he could fly away.
"Mommy… she"ll be okay, Jimmy… Right?"
Jim was fast to nod.
"Yes, my boy," he told him, his voice a.s.sured, "Of course she will. I"ll protect her for the both of us."
With that, he ran to the third entrance.
The traces of blood made the young master curse out loud, and he saw how they ended on the driveway abruptly. Then picking up his phone, he dialled his father"s number.
Simon Hunter picked up the call.
"Jimmy."
"It"s Miya. She"s been taken hostage." Jim"s voice was on the verge of panic.
Simon Hunter"s voice held an edge to it too, but he seemed calmer than his son. He breathed slowly, before responding, "I know. There"s a camera on her dress. I"m linking you to the live image."
With that, the call was hung up.
Jim froze for another instant.
d.a.m.n! d.a.m.n! d.a.m.n!
d.a.m.n it all!
Simon Hunter had already antic.i.p.ated that this could happen!
The thought had previously entered Jim"s mind too, but he had once again been defeated by his arrogance. He had put in too much faith in the power that the Hunter name held, and had simply a.s.sumed that cheats like Thad Carver simply wouldn"t dare to do something like that on the Hunters" ground.
He had made the same mistake twice.
It had happened before too. When he had ordered those goons to attack him and Miya, when he was still working on getting her to agree on a marriage, the plan had backfired. While he had a.s.sumed the men would never defy orders coming from a Hunter, those thugs had gone ahead and tried to shoot the boy.
A cold sweat ran down Jim"s back.
He couldn"t believe he had let it happen again.
Almost in a frenzy, the young master watched as his phone was connected to the live image of the b.u.t.ton camera that Miya had been wearing. Thanks to Ben, he knew the number of the car, so without wasting a second, he pulled out his bike and roared through the night.
His eyes were plastered on the phone though.
While still driving through, he had initially thought his heart would stop beating. His hands had gone cold. But as he observed the sequence of events, his own heart beat in shock, almost leaping out of his body once he saw the bullet that went past Thad"s ear.
He yelped out in surprise himself.
And it was only then that he stopped his bike. Parking it a good distance away from the car, that was circling an orchard at the back end of the Hunter manor, he took the cover of a tree close by.
He had received Simon Hunter"s message, and his own hair stood on end as he sensed the presence of too many threatening, invisible figures in the dark. They were there to handle business if anything went wrong.
Jim was immediately calm.
He walked to the nearest tree where he saw the shadow of a lurking guard, and borrowed a gun. Then he watched the scene play out inside with a heart that beat in his mouth.
He knew from the wife"s face that she would be okay. In fact, she seems to be enjoying it. Almost as if she liked being there alone, without him or Ben to hinder her.
Thankfully, the play was over soon.
His bride was too careful. She left no possible lose ends, and when she tore apart her dress and dressed the f***ing guard"s wrist, Jim wanted to shoot the man.
He controlled the urge, though.
He couldn"t exactly hear the video, the sound would have resounded in the air and he wasn"t carrying headphones. But Miya seemed to have made a recording on Thad Carver"s phone itself. Of course, she didn"t know she had been wired.
So when the car drove off, Jim was somewhat relieved, but his anger was still raging through his body. He sensed all the figures around relax though.
The young master couldn"t resist just one last urge.
Taking the aim of one of the car"s wheels, Jim shot.
His own body jerked from the recoil of the shot. Thankfully, the gun was one fitted with a silencer. He hadn"t gone for shooting practice in a long while. But when he saw the car rush away faster and even more haphazardly, he felt all his senses go calm.
He couldn"t do much, since the wife wanted the men alive, but this would at least increase their agony.
It was small revenge.
The young master then turned his attention to Miya.
She was talking on the phone with somebody.
And he was immediately filled with an unknown feeling, that felt like relief, but made him unhappy. He looked at her ragged dress, her bleeding hand, at the number of guns she held, and his throat clenched.
Why was she always landing into trouble?
Even with the best arrangements around, he could never, ever come to her aid on time.
He tried, and failed.
Every d.a.m.n time.
Jimmy Hunter cursed again. And as he saw his wife disconnect the call, and look expectantly towards the driveway, once again, his feet moved on their own.
She was standing a few meters away.
Jimmy couldn"t help it.
With two huge, neat strides, the young master approached her back. He watched as the girl immediately grew tense and was about to turn around. Before that could happen though, he had embraced her in his arms.
Jim pressed her back into his body, his arms wrapped tightly around her small waist. His head rested directly above hers, and he closed his eyes in relief.
This woman…
She really was going to be the end of him.
Calming down his heart, so that he would be able to control the outburst of emotions, he looked down at the missus, only to find her looking up at his own face.
"Jimmy?" she asked softly.
Jim"s heart stopped working when he saw that face. He saw the faint swell on her cheek, back from when Rebecca had hit her face. He looked at the blood dripping from her hands. And then he looked at those eyes.
He didn"t know what he felt. His eyes brooded with an emotion as heavy as the night. His words were low, and they hurt his chest, when he said,
"Don"t you ever, ever do that to me again, Miya. Ever."