Chapter 227 Keep On Running, and Don’t Look Back
Mr. Wayne looked as miserable as sin while he spoke of what had happened six years ago. “You offered your wife to me six years ago, only to go back on it at the last minute. Not only did you steal my business away, you even crippled me! How should I get even with you for that?”
Rachel’s expression changed in disbelief when she heard this. Did Justin cripple Mr. Wayne back then? I never heard him talk about this, though, she thought to herself. “Mr. Wayne!” she called out anxiously as she came to her senses.
“So much time has passed since what happened six years ago. No matter what he has done, you look healthy and fine right now. We can negotiate over what compensation you want, so don’t hurt Samuel.”
“Fine?” Mr. Wayne suddenly flew into a rage and grabbed Samuel toward him. Amid Samuel’s cries of pain and Rachel’s screams, he seized Samuel by the throat and asked, “Look! It’s been six years. You two have kids, whereas I’ll die childless. Is this what you mean by saying that I’m healthy?”
Die childless? Rachel was stunned. What has Justin done to Mr. Wayne back then…
“Let’s settle the score today for everything you’ve done to me!”
“Don’t touch him!” Rachel’s screams were almost desperate. “Let go of Samuel, please!”
However, Justin grabbed her and stopped her from going to Samuel’s side. He then said to Mr. Wayne, “Now that things have turned out like this, you can’t make up for anything by hurting a child. What exactly do you want? I can promise you anything as long as you let go of Samuel.”
“I want you to kneel down and kowtow to me now!” Mr. Wayne’s bellow reverberated in the rain.
Rachel’s face turned deathly pale. Before she could come to her senses, the man beside her knelt down toward Mr. Wayne without batting an eyelid, splashing rainwater as his knees hit the wet ground.
Rachel looked at him in disbelief, for no one knew how proud he was better than her.
Obviously, Mr. Wayne hadn’t expected that either. After being stunned for a moment, he burst into laughter. “Serves you right, doesn’t it, Justin? How could you say you don’t care about this little brat now that you’re kneeling before me?”
“Can you let go of him now?”
“In your dreams!” Mr. Wayne replied while holding Samuel by the throat. He threatened, “I want you to kneel down and kowtow to me until I’m satisfied!”
Justin’s hands clenched into fists at his sides. “Justin!” Rachel said as she tried to drag him up, but before she could reach out her hand, she saw him bending down and kowtowing in Mr. Wayne’s direction.
“It’s not loud enough. I can’t hear it.”
Without hesitation, Justin kowtowed again in the rain, his forehead knocking against the ground.
“I want you to apologize to me and beg me for mercy while you kowtow to me!”
“I’m sorry, Mr. Wayne. Please be the bigger person and let Samuel off.”
“That’s nice. Just go on.”
Justin bent down and kowtowed in the rain over and over again. Soon, his forehead was grazed, and the blood that trickled down his cheeks was washed away by the rain.
The rain got heavier and heavier, and Rachel could hardly keep her eyes open as her tears were mixed with the rainwater. He’s such a proud man, yet he’s allowing Mr. Wayne to humiliate him like this. She shouted anxiously, “Isn’t this enough, Mr. Wayne?”
“Enough? How could this be enough?” Mr. Wayne threw Samuel aside and took a document from the bodyguard beside him. “Here’s a contract. I want you to transfer the piece of land that the Burton Group has acquired to me unconditionally.”
Rachel’s head buzzed, for the same condition had been put forward six years ago.
Justin got up from the ground and stood in the rain, drenched. In fact, he could hardly keep his feet if it weren’t that Rachel was helping him by the arm. “Okay.”
“Come over and sign the paper then.”
Rachel supported Justin as they walked step by step toward Mr. Wayne.
Mr. Wayne’s bodyguard handed the pen to Justin, turned the pages of the contract right away to the last page where the signature was supposed to be, and let Justin sign his name.
Justin was holding the felt-tip pen, but Rachel stopped him as soon as the tip of the pen touched that page—she wanted to persuade him to wait a minute and rethink it. After all, Samuel wasn’t related to him by blood, so he needn’t go to such lengths. However, she couldn’t bring herself to say that since she wanted to save Samuel as well.
It seemed as though Justin knew what she was thinking; he held her hand tightly for a moment and signed his name on the document right away without saying a word. “I’ve signed it, Mr. Wayne.”
Mr. Wayne took the document from the bodyguard and looked it over with satisfaction. “Justin, I really didn’t expect you to be so flexible as to agree to transfer such a huge project without protest. Unfortunately, it’s not that easy to forget about what happened back then. I’m still going to throw this boy into the river—”
Before he could finish his sentence, Justin suddenly kicked the bodyguard beside him out of the way and knocked over the hatchet man who was holding a dagger to Samuel’s throat. After pushing Samuel toward Rachel, he shouted, “Run!”
Rachel turned around and fled with Samuel in her arms. She didn’t dare to look back, for all she could think about was what Justin had whispered to her ear just now when she supported him to let him sign the document. “I’ll stall them in a while, Rachel. Run away from here with Samuel, and do not look back!” The words ‘Keep on running, and don’t look back!’ keep reverberating in her ears.
Rachel ran into the rain with Samuel in her arms. She didn’t dare to look back, nor could she do so. She knew that there was still hope for everything if she ran away, but Mr. Wayne would never go soft on them if she was caught. She didn’t know how she had run away from there, nor did she know how she found the courage to stop a car by the side of the road. All she knew was that something snapped inside her when she saw that the person who got out of the car was none other than Julian. “Save us, Julian! Call the police!” The sound of police sirens and ambulance sirens mixed together was the only sound she remembered before passing out.
…
Rachel found herself in the hospital’s ward when she regained consciousness. “You’re awake.” Julian held down her arms. “Lie down, and don’t move.”
Rachel felt dizzy as soon as she got up.
Julian said, “You’re very weak because you got caught in the rain when you hadn’t fully recovered from your fever. You need to rest for a few more days lest you contract pneumonia.”
Rachel’s throat itched as soon as she opened her mouth, and her head buzzed as she coughed.
“Don’t worry, Samuel is fine. That kid’s in good health, so he’s already alive and kicking. Jolly has taken him back.”
Rachel nodded in relief. Suddenly, she recalled something and asked anxiously, “What about Justin?”
Julian’s face instantly wore a complicated look.
“How is he?” Rachel became anxious at once. I ran away from there at the time, leaving him all alone with those thugs. Also, Mr. Wayne hates his guts, so he definitely wouldn’t go easy on him. And it took so long for the police to arrive… “How exactly is he?”
“He’s fine!” Julian held her down. “Calm down, okay? He just injured one of his legs and will recover after some rest.”
“Really?”
“Yes, he’s really all right.”
However, Rachel didn’t believe Julian until he stressed that repeatedly. Julian had a complicated look on his face when he saw how distracted she looked. “Chris, you still care a lot about him, actually.”
