Chapter 9

Since Hannah is not used to talking to strangers, she made no attempt to strike up a conversation with the "driver" during the entire ride.

Similarly, the man, still feeling resentful that he was being treated like a driver, made no attempt to strike up a conversation with her, and they both stayed silent until they got to the restaurant.

"We're here," the man informed her, eager to make her get out of his car.

"Thanks" Hannah curtly replied before she stuffed a hundred-dollar bill into the man's hand who was reaching for his coat on the seat beside her, not really knowing how much she should pay for the fare.

"Hey! Take this back!" the 'driver' yelled, but Hannah disregarded him and rushed into the restaurant.

Meeting the elderly man on the highway earlier had significantly inconvenienced Hannah, causing her to be half an hour late for her meeting with the son of her elder brother's partner, so each step she took became a little faster than her normal speed.

Inside the restaurant, Hannah immediately began to look around, searching for an Italian-looking man. Her expression appears calm, but she is quite anxious internally, knowing that she is late.

Fortunately, her beauty was far too eye-catching, and a man soon noticed her and requested that a waiter bring her to him.

"Good afternoon, ma'am. Your date asked me to lead you to him. I'll be guiding you to his table, please follow me," the waiter told her before he politely made a gesture for Hannah to follow him, which she did.

When Hannah arrived, she saw a young man seated at one of the tables with his back to her. As he was the only person there, Hannah believed he was the person she was meeting, so she thanked the waiter who had shown her the way and went over to speak with him.

"Sir Racca?" she asked, drawing the man's attention away from his phone. His curly hair cast shadows across his face.

"Please, call me Alfonzo. You must be Miss Hannah, right?" he said, requesting for him to be called by his first name instead of his last name. Alfonzo then stood up from his seat and pulled out a chair for Hannah to sit on.

"Yes, but please call me Hannah. I'm so sorry for being late. That's so rude. It's just that an accident occurred on my way here," she explained, somewhat getting a little worried that she might ruin her brother's work if she made a mistake.

"It's fine, don't worry about it. What would you like to eat?" he asked as he returned to his seat with a smile on his lips, appearing generously understanding, but Hannah declined his offer once again with an embarrassed look on her face.

"I'm sorry. I ate before coming here, so I'm still a little full," she said.

At that moment, Hannah's cheeks had a deep shade of pink on them as she felt ashamed, not only for being late but also for having to reject his good intentions.

However, she really couldn't eat anymore since she had to watch her weight as a model.

"Oh... then, how about we get out of here and go for a walk? I heard that there is a park nearby," he said, the excitement in his voice fading slightly.

"All right, let's go," Hannah readily agreed without thinking twice. They got up from their seats and left the restaurant. They made their way to Alfonzo's car, a stunning black sedan parked at the restaurant's entrance.

Upon reaching the car, Alfonzo opened the door for Hannah, like a gentleman would. Only when Hannah was seated did he go into the driver's seat and start the car. They then drove away from the Nata restaurant at great speed.

"Is the park far from here?" she asked him, which made him shake his head before he talked.

"No, it's only a few minutes away," he said before he once again poured all of his concentration into driving. From that moment on, the car became deafeningly quiet since none of them spoke again.

Hannah, who has never been on a blind date before, is at a loss for words. She would never admit it to anyone, but at that moment, she was feeling very awkward and anxious at the same time.

She didn't know how long Alfonzo drove, but during the entire ride, Hannah would secretly fidget with her fingers and look out the window beside her to keep herself entertained.

A few minutes passed by with her in a daze when suddenly, she began to feel dizzy.

Hannah tried to put up with her discomfort for a while, too embarrassed to complain when she remembered how late she had been earlier, but when she felt like she was about to throw up, Hannah could no longer stop herself.

"Alfonzo, can you stop the car for a while? I don't feel good," she said, finally breaking the silence between them as she turned her head to look at him.

What she didn't expect, though, was that when she looked at 'Alfonzo' this time, she would see him taking off a skin-like mask from his entire head, just like those actors did in the movie.

Startled by what she saw, Hannah froze in her seat and almost forgot to scream.

It didn't take long before she shuffled to the other side of her seat, putting as much distance between herself and the unknown man as she could while also trying to open the door beside her at the same time.

"Who are you? You better let me go now before my brothers realize what you're doing! You might get the ransom, but you'll surely rot in jail for this!" she screamed at him when she failed to open the door.

The unknown man, however, didn't even bother to reply to her.

As she frantically looked around, only then did she notice that the houses they were passing by were becoming fewer and fewer and that the man still kept on driving and was getting closer to the foot of a mountain.

Seeing this, Hannah became even more frightened.

She was aware that the further they drove, the more dangerous it became for her and that she needed to escape as soon as possible.

At that moment, it was proven to the young maiden that the years she spent learning martial arts techniques were not in vain when she used the said technique and delivered a hard kick on the man's head.

The man wasn't expecting her to suddenly become violent, so her actions made him lose control of the car, causing it to collide with a tree.

The force of the car hitting the tree was so great that it made Hannah's slender body jolt forward, but she wasted no time in remaining startled.

In a panic, she quickly removed her seatbelt and escaped the car through the now-broken window.

As she fled, cuts and scrapes emerged on her arms, but the adrenaline coursing through her body kept her from feeling the pain she was experiencing.

As soon as she was able to go out, Hannah began to run as if her life depended on it, which it did at this moment. Feeling the cold air blowing in her face as she ran, Hannah felt her heartbeat accelerate.

"Help! Somebody, please help me!" she cried at the top of her lungs. Unfortunately, though, the last house that they passed by was miles away, so there was no one to hear her screaming for help, no matter how loud she shouted.

Hannah ignored the burning ache created by the small scratches on her skin when she was cut by the broken window during her escape.

Even though she fled as fast as she could, Hannah soon realized that it wasn't fast enough when she heard someone rushing behind her, and before she could cry any louder, something hard hit her in the back of the head, knocking her unconscious.

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Author's Note

Uh oh! Here we go now, someone had finally kidnapped our little rich lady. Who could it possibly be? Is it the man named Ivan? Or is it someone else? Are you curious as well? To find out, continue reading on the next page. I guarantee you'll enjoy it. Happy reading, sweethearts!