Chapter 77
The crowd lessened around me, and | couldn't find Emily anywhere. Where did she go? At first, | thought she
wanted to give sspace to other people to congratulate me, but then her disappearance took longer than
expected, making worry gnaw at my guts. | told her to stay close and there weren't really any attractions that
could have driven her to wander around.
"Tanner!" | called out after my ex-best friend. "Have you seen Emily?"
"No, but | did see her at the front line. She was even there when the race ended." My anxiety intensified as he
said that. "Lethelp you look for her."
| nodded and we both started looking for her. She toldthat she would be fine on her own. Did the crowd
make her nervous? But she was now better at controlling her anxiety among huge crowds.
"I'm glad you two are back together," Tanner broke the silence, probably trying to make a conversation to ease
my growing fear.
too. I'm thankful that she tookback," | said as | looked everywhere.
"You seem happier," he pointed out.
"Because | am happier. She makesso happy," | admitted, looking at him for a second.
Tanner was about to say something, but a crease appeared between his eyebrows. | looked at him in confusion,
but he motioned forto stay quiet. The two of us moved towards the back of the fast food and beverages
kiosks. There was a closed kiosk at the far left, whe Was that my Emily?
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Tanner tried to open the door at first, but it was locked. Muffled screams erupted, making Tanner and | break the
door in a matter of five seconds.
My eyes widened in horror at the sight in front of me. My fiancé was held against her will as there was duct tape
over her mouth and her hands were tied together with a zip tie. Her jacket was thrown aside, but she still had
her clothes on.
Rage took overas | roughly pulled the guy away from her. | found myself beating the hell out of him. Who did
he think he was? | wasn't going to let him live for another day. He terrorized her and | wasn't forgiving when it
cto Emily. "Leave him for me! Focus on Emily!" Tanner's voice snappedout of the bout of anger | was in.
Quickly, I moved towards her and gently removed the duct tape. She broke into sobs, and | held her close. "I'm
sorry. I'm sorry." | kept repeating those words, not knowing what else to say.
| looked aroundas | held her and found a knife in the corner. Did he use it to scare her? | used it to cut the zip
tie that held her wrists together. Her skin was already red. Once her hands were free, she wrapped her arms
around my neck and her sobs intensified. "I've got you." | kept kissing her head. | looked at Tanner and found
that he had already beaten the hell out of the monster who forced himself on my girl.
"You're going to spend the rest of your life in prison!" | yelled, causing Emily, who was still holding onto me, to
flinch.
"Man, | wasn't going to do anything to her," His tone was pathetic, as if | was going to believe whatever he
wanted to say. "Somebody paidto do that to her." My head snapped back at him once he said that.
"Somebody paid you to assault his fiancée?" Tanner spat.
| looked down at Emily's hands and gently took one of them in mine.
"Yes! A red-haired woman! She gavetwo grands and toldto scare this woman and take a few pictures of
her in scandalous positions and she'd findagain next week to take the pictures and giveanother three
grands." He was breathless as he spoke. "I d-don't know someone with r-red hair," Emily stammered, looking up
at me. Neither did I, but hair colour wasn't an indicator of anything.
| reached for her jacket and helped her put it on, making sure to shield her from the bastard before us. Taking a
closer look at her face, | realized that the skin under her left eye was a bit red. Did he hit her?
"He hit you?" | whispered to her and she slowly nodded, causing my blood to boil. Had it not been for how she
was holding onto me, smashed his face against the wall.
I would have
"How do we know that you're telling the truth?" Tanner asked him.
"You'll find the money in my back pocket." Tanner reached for his back pocket and indeed, he found the money.
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Chapter 77
"What do you want to do?" Tanner looked at me.
"First, | want to take Emily home, then I can pay attention to that rat," | said. She needed to be home. | had to
make sure that she was safe first before making any move.
"Listen, go get two of the bouncers and take Emily home. | know what | will do. I'm going to keep him in one of
my warehouses. | will send you the details and we can see what we can do tomorrow," Tanner gaveclear
instructions. "Alright. Thanks, man." | got up and helped Emily up too. She was shaking but was calmer than how
she was before.
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Quickly, | made my way to two of the bouncers, making sure that Emily was by my side. | wasn't going to leave
her alone again. The thing was, that area had always been safe and nothing like that had happened before. Was
Emily targeted? | thought we were finally done. After making sure that the bouncers headed to where Tanner
was, | took Emily back to my bike. At a moment like that, | hated that | only had my bike with me, not a car. She
wasn't in a good state that could allow her to ride a bike.
"Are you going to be okay on the bike?" | asked her, studying her face.
"Yes. Let's just go home, please," she whispered, looking atwith her beautiful green eyes. | loathed the
glossiness | saw in them.
"Sunshine, you're safe, okay?" | murmured, taking her in my embrace again.
"| w-was so scared." Another one of her sobs tore my heart and | tightened my hold on her.
"And I'm sorry it tookso long to find you." | kissed her head, not letting go of her. If she neededto hold
her for a while, | would do that. | would do anything to make her feel better.
After five minutes, Emily was calm enough to get on the motorbike. | put her helmet on her head and secured it,
then took us back home.
Once we arrived, | took her to the bathroom and ran her a hot bath to help her calm down. There were a few
bruises on her body, but thankfully, there was no serious injury. Once she walked out of the bathroom, | brushed
her long hair as she sat down on the bed.
| brought her one of my T-shirts and helped her put it on, then took her in my arms as | tried to get her to fall
asleep. | knew that it would take her long to fall asleep, but | made sure to stay awake until she was out.
Tomorrow was going to be a long day. | wasn't going to let somebody hurt her and get away with it. He was going
to regret lying his hands on her.