During Louis’ filming days, Elisa took care of Aoife’s family.
Matthew died a miserable death from rabies infection, while Christopher and Rachel were kidnapped and forced to work in a black factory. Rachel became paralyzed and unable to care for herself, while Christopher begged on the streets every day.
Soon after, the black factory was reported and sent to prison. Christopher and Rachel were rescued and sent back to the village. Rachel cursed Aoife all day while lying in bed. Christopher lived in a daze and never dared to leave home after being sent back.
Aoife had been determined when she paid them $200, 000 to sever their family ties. She changed her identity as soon as she received the household registration book, and Finn also intended to change her life, making her completely another person.
Even if someone were to investigate Aoife, they would find nothing.
From the moment Finn helped change Aoife’s name to “Elisa,” the world no longer had anyone named Aoife.
Louis didn’t tell Elisa that he was coming back, but the director did and asked her to supervise Louis and not let him slack off. When Elisa found out about Louis coming back early, she wanted to surprise him by booking a restaurant and preparing his favorite food, a candlelit dinner, red roses, and a violin.
Her body was no longer the same, and her hands were no longer disabled. She could eat, write, work, type on a keyboard, play with her phone, and of course, play the violin.
Her fingers were well maintained and flexible. As she touched the strings, a feeling came over her, and she placed the violin on her neck, bow on the strings, and closed her eyes.
She played a solo, “Where Is the Love” by Josh Vietti.
The cheerful and light violin music filled the already quiet restaurant, even the sound of the waiters walking stopped.
The restaurant staff who were preparing watched intently.
The familiar melody flowed gently from the strings.
The roses in the carefully arranged restaurant seemed to lose color, and everyone’s attention was drawn to the woman on the stage.
Today, Elisa wore a red dress, looking more vibrant than the roses.
The intense red color made her already fair skin even more eye-catching.
The music reached outside the restaurant, and many people stopped to listen, but the waiters politely turned them away.
“Sorry, this place has already been booked.”
Someone asked in confusion, “Is this a proposal?”
The waiter just smiled and shook their head, “I’m not sure either.”
Passersby were somewhat regretful, “I really want to go in and see who’s playing the violin.”
If the person playing the violin inside was the current popular actress Elisa, would the people outside be shocked speechless?
Elisa stood straight, elegant and noble.
With her eyes closed and a smile on her lips, her hands, as white as jade, held the bow, playing a romantic and lingering melody with a hint of joy, making people unable to help but be moved and feel joy, completely focused on listening, as if surrounded by flowers and butterflies, with honey pouring into their ears and sweetness flooding into their hearts.
The most surprising thing was the people who saw this scene live. If they hadn’t been silenced, they would have surely recorded this moment.
They had thought that Elisa was just acting, with rumors online about her low education and not even attending college before entering the entertainment industry. But they never expected Elisa to play the violin.
And the emotion, the melody, this could not have been played without the dedication and time to practice.
Wouldn’t this scene overturn the understanding of those online critics? Will they be humiliated by their own words?
Some of Elisa’s casual fans had now become die-hard fans, their eyes inexplicably warm.
Elisa, she really… really is outstanding.
There were only a few listeners around her, but she stood there like a beam of light, attracting all attention, confident, beautiful, proud, every move exuding charm.
After playing a piece, Elisa took a deep breath, opened her eyes, and found several restaurant staff members looking at her. She hesitated for a moment, then bowed to them.
Applause erupted.
Elisa took out her phone, thinking, “Louis should be landing soon, right? When he gets his luggage and comes over after a quick clean up, 6 o’clock for dinner would be just right.”
She sent a text to Louis and turned to Patrick, “Patrick, if you have nothing to do, you can go rest. You don’t need to protect me every day.”
Patrick shook his head, “Louis asked me to protect you well, so I naturally have to be responsible during his absence.”
“He’ll be back soon.”
“Well, he hasn’t arrived yet.”
Seeing that she couldn’t convince Patrick, Elisa realized he meant well and decided to leave him be.
“I’ll go to the restroom; you can rest here,” she said, and Patrick nodded.
In the restroom, Elisa noticed someone inside as soon as she opened the door and quickly shut it, saying, “I’m sorry, I didn’t know someone was in there.”
Something wasn’t right… She had booked the entire place for the day, so there should have only been staff. Additionally, the person inside was too robust to be a woman, as she had glimpsed earlier.
In a mere two or three seconds, Elisa sensed danger and, without thinking, swiftly closed the door and ran out.
“Help…” she had just opened her mouth when a large hand from behind grabbed her hair, pulling her back. Elisa screamed hard, her hand already gripping the door frame, she could get out if she just moved forward a bit more.
With her head being pulled back, Elisa looked up to see a man behind her, dressed in restaurant work clothes, his face covered by a mask, only revealing a pair of fierce eyes. Her mouth was covered, and there was a distinct medicinal smell in the air.
After struggling for a few seconds, Elisa involuntarily inhaled the drug. Her head began to throb more and more, and she couldn’t even scream. Eventually, she fell into a deep unconsciousness.
At that moment, the lights in the restaurant were turned off, plunging everything into darkness.
When Elisa woke up, she was already in a carriage. The effects of the drug hadn’t completely worn off, and her head was still spinning. Elisa had no idea how long she had been unconscious. Judging by the dim light in the carriage, she could vaguely guess it was around 7 or 8 o’clock.
The unfamiliar carriage, combined with the dim lighting, made the atmosphere suddenly eerie. She tried to keep calm and pretend she was still asleep, hoping to gather information about the people who had abducted her.
However, none of them spoke throughout the journey. Elisa squinted around, counting five people including the driver. Her hands were tied behind her, and after a long time in that position, her hands had become stiff and numb. She tried to find her phone but realized it must have been thrown away. She also attempted to touch her ring finger, but the ring was gone.
In the eyes of others, that ring was just an ordinary piece of jewelry. Now that it was missing, there was only one possibility: it had been taken off. There were two possibilities for its removal: either someone had discovered the mechanism inside, or that person had known what was inside the ring from the beginning.
A locator, a sharp blade to cut the ropes, and a sedative. He had used a sedative on Finn before. If Finn carefully recalled the process of his fainting, he would likely figure it out. So, was the person who kidnapped her sent by Finn?
Elisa was soon discovered to have woken up, and the person closest to her pulled her hair. “Awake, say a few words, why pretend to be dead,” he said.
“My phone?” Elisa asked.
“Of course it was thrown away. Otherwise, shall we leave it for you to make a call and let the person who was supposed to save you track you down with the navigation? Not only the phone, but also your rings, necklaces, earrings, and hairpins were all thrown away. Don’t even think about escaping. Even if you had wings, you wouldn’t be able to fly away from us,” he replied.
Elisa took a shallow breath, trying to calm herself down. With so many people in the car, all her self-defense items had been thrown away. Communication devices were out of the question. Now she could only bide her time and wait for someone to come to her rescue. Struggling would only waste her energy.
The atmosphere in the quiet carriage was eerily silent. Elisa slowly spoke, “Who sent you? What is the purpose of kidnapping me? Is it to blackmail someone? Or is it just for money?”
Elisa had many enemies, and although she had resolved many of them, there were still potential enemies. Among them, the greatest threats were Finn and Hamish. Elisa had no doubt that Hamish was capable of kidnapping someone, given his methods in the past. And Finn could very well be the one who had kidnapped her. Realizing he couldn’t possess her after discovering his love for Aoife, he might have wanted to destroy her instead. He knew she had booked the restaurant today and had kidnapped her in the bathroom. It seemed like a premeditated abduction.
But wasn’t Finn on the verge of collapse? Recently, Hamish’s attention had been focused on gathering shares. Did they have the spare capacity to kidnap her?
But it wasn’t certain…
“We’ll know when we get there,” none of the people in the car gave her a complete answer. They quickly fell silent, and the car drove fast. Elisa looked at the road outside, trying to memorize the route. In case she could save herself, she might be able to escape following the same path.
“Brother, it seems like she’s memorizing the route.”
“Then blindfold her.”
Whether Elisa wanted it or not, a piece of cloth was brought to cover her eyes, tightly tied, causing her eyes to ache.
Counting the three years she was presumed dead, Elisa’s real age was now 31. People over thirty were still considered young, having experienced a lot. She prided herself on not being shallow, even in the face of a kidnapping, she could keep herself calm.
The car turned and turned until it finally stopped at a place. It was very dark around. Elisa had adapted to the darkness while blindfolded. After the cloth was removed from her face, she quickly assessed her surroundings. There was a faint smell of rust mixed with mold.
This place was in the outskirts, in the wild. It was already dark, desolate, and a cold wind made the leaves rustle, creating a creepy atmosphere. Elisa was pushed forward by someone, and her red dress had already wrinkled. The knee-length dress exposed her slender legs, which were walking on a rocky path, limping in her high heels.
Her legs weren’t in good shape either, scratched by twigs and grass on the roadside, but they didn’t hurt. However, it was uncomfortable overall. Now wasn’t the time to worry about comfort. The focus was on whether she could escape and be rescued, and what had happened after she had passed out. She didn’t know if Patrick was in danger.
The people who had kidnapped her were all big and tall, and their presence was somewhat similar to Patrick’s. It seemed like this was the place.
Elisa stopped and, using the light from their flashlights, they led her into an abandoned factory. The kidnappers were cautious in their actions.
“Mr. Stewart, I have brought the person,” one of the kidnappers said.