CHAPTER 117: CHAPTER 117: THE DIFFICULT ESCAPE ROUTE

Adrian Desmond had escaped death multiple times and did not consider the present degree of danger significant. He had been in even more dangerous situations and had always managed to survive.

If he had let fear or hesitation hold him back, Adrian Desmond would not have been alive today.

Standing in front of the little cabin in the valley, Adrian Desmond was filled with emotion. It was where she had first run away and fallen into Charlie Parker’s hands. Desperate, she had turned to him for help, and he had brought people to "capture" her back. They were pursued by the Uncle’s men, and the two of them had fallen to the bottom of the valley, ending up right here.

"I didn’t expect to have a chance to come back here..." Adrian Desmond whispered, his voice laden with an unintended sorrow and nostalgia.

Walter Klein also recognized the little cabin where Adrian Desmond and Sienna Johnson had once spent a night. Judging from Adrian’s appearance, it seemed that the old memories had been stirred up by the familiar scene.

Sigh... Walter Klein thought.

"Sixth Master, I’ll go find some food."

"I want to eat pheasant."

He’s still ordering food at a time like this? A little too capricious, huh?

"Yes!" Walter Klein dared not provoke Adrian Desmond right now. Whatever Adrian said, Walter would obey, even though Adrian was heartbroken and injured.

Adrian Desmond went into the cabin alone. Without even lighting an oil lamp, he sat there in the moonlight, almost blending into the night.

"Mai, I’m in the little cabin where we once stayed... The cabin is still the same. But you’re not by my side.

I’m injured. I used the hemostatic herb you taught me. It’s very effective, stopping the bleeding as soon as it covered the wound. But if you were here, my injury would be treated much better."

"..."

"Has our child been born safely? Is it a boy or a girl? Does the baby look like you or like me?"

"..."

"I hope the baby looks like you." Because he loved her so much.

When Walter Klein caught a pheasant and brought it back, he heard Adrian Desmond murmuring to himself as if he were in a trance. Walter couldn’t help but feel a pang of sadness as he listened.

"Madam, where on earth are you?" Walter muttered, his voice filled with anxiety. "Please hurry and come back. If you don’t return soon, I’ll genuinely start to worry that the Sixth Master is going to lose his mind."

The valley was quiet, the bright moon high above, and unknown small creatures made soft sounds. In this place, Adrian Desmond missed his woman, his son...

「...」

Mai!

Where are you?

Mai—

The calls seemed to resound right beside her ear.

Who was calling her?

In a car struggling forward through a torrential downpour, the woman sleeping across the back seat suddenly sat bolt upright, startling the already highly alert man driving.

"Miss Johnson, what’s wrong?" Lucas Robertson asked.

Sienna Johnson was lying in the back seat, so Kiki had to sit in the front passenger seat. Although Sienna’s pregnancy was four months along, past the more precarious first three months, the arduous journey had still made her ill.

"Mai, what’s wrong?"

Kiki, who was sitting in the front helping Lucas Robertson navigate, quickly turned her head. Seeing Sienna startled awake, a flicker of heartache crossed her eyes.

"Mai, just hold on a little longer. We’ll be in Cagalanga soon. Once we’re there, we’ll find a doctor for you right away," Kiki comforted.

Sienna Johnson, supporting herself with one hand on the seat, looked somewhat bewildered, her thick black lashes seemingly damp with moisture. She had just been dreaming—dreaming of Adrian Desmond.

Lucas Robertson glanced at Sienna Johnson in the rearview mirror. Her beautiful, large eyes were vacant, devoid of any emotion. She then turned her head to look at the torrential rain relentlessly beating against the car window. It was as if only after a long moment did she remember that she had already escaped.

She had finally left Adrian Desmond!

"The mountain road is difficult, but we must reach Cagalanga tonight, or we might be caught by Adrian Desmond," Lucas Robertson explained.

Kiki argued discontentedly, "But this blasted weather is too dangerous! Can’t we find a place to rest for a while?"

"Do you have any idea how vast Adrian Desmond’s sphere of influence is?" Lucas retorted.

"Aren’t you supposed to be very capable?" Kiki countered, unconvinced.

"If it were just me, of course, there would be no problem. But with you two women, there are many more variables. If you don’t want to be captured and brought back, then listen to me and stick to my schedule. We must reach Cagalanga tonight. If we haven’t arrived by daylight and Adrian Desmond casts his dragnet, we will absolutely be caught."

Sienna Johnson’s pale lips moved slightly, as if she wanted to speak, but in the end, she said nothing. She just slowly lay back down on the seat and curled herself into a ball.

"Look out!" Kiki shrieked.

There was a sharp turn ahead. Lucas Robertson was driving too fast, and the car skidded violently, feeling for a terrifying moment as if it would plunge straight off the cliff.

Kiki broke out in a cold sweat, speechless for a long moment.

"Stop being so jumpy," Lucas Robertson warned, his voice tight. "If you make me lose control and the car rolls off this mountain, don’t blame me."

After spending a few days with Lucas Robertson, Kiki thoroughly disliked him. The two could barely exchange a few words without arguing—or rather, Kiki would argue, and Lucas would simply ignore her.

"Kiki, Lucas is right. We have to seize every second," Sienna Johnson interjected, her voice weak.

"But—"

"Don’t say any more. I can endure it."

Tonight was Adrian Desmond’s wedding night. Sienna Johnson felt a pang of anguish at the thought of him being intimate with Melanie Carpenter.

She couldn’t go back.

She couldn’t face an Adrian Desmond who had been with another woman.

This hellish, stormy weather, these winding mountain roads... driving on such a path was like walking a tightrope across a chasm.

Not only were the roads slippery and narrow, but they also had to watch out for large stones rolling down from the mountainside.

Just moments ago, they had encountered falling rocks several times. Fortunately, Lucas Robertson’s driving skills were good enough; otherwise, who knew what kind of accident might have occurred.

Now, their lives were entirely in the hands of Lucas Robertson, the man at the wheel.

Even with his excellent driving skills, Lucas Robertson couldn’t drive too fast in such road conditions, so their journey was delayed.

The rain was torrential. SWISH, SWISH, SWISH! It hammered against the front windshield. Even with the wipers on their highest setting, they only granted a second or two of visibility at a time.

The road ahead, illuminated by the high beams, was winding and ominously dark.

Witnessing this, everyone couldn’t help but feel their palms sweat.

Kiki no longer dared to distract Lucas Robertson while he was driving, terrified that a moment’s lapse in his concentration would send them all plunging to their deaths off the cliff.

Lucas Robertson, however, showed no signs of impatience or panic. He gripped the steering wheel steadily, driving with caution. Though his face was obscured in the dim light, his eyes were exceptionally sharp.

The road ahead grew increasingly difficult. After they turned onto a mountain track, the surface, now a mix of stone and earth, quickly degenerated into a quagmire.

The dirt path, washed out by the heavy rain, had dissolved into a series of muddy pits.

The car began to jolt relentlessly, its occupants thrown from side to side and bounced up and down.

Sienna Johnson, in the back seat, endured the worst of the violent motion. She felt as if her body was being repeatedly tossed high into the air only to slam back down onto the seat. All she could do was grit her teeth and instinctively protect her belly.