Chapter 496 The Stalker
If not Piper, then…
Focusing her cold gaze on the man who was ready to escape from the crowd, Angie ran up and kicked his suitcase away before dragging him by the hair. Zeke, who had been watching this all by the sidelines, gulped as he was thoroughly dumbstruck.
Angie then dragged the man to Piper.
“Were you the one who sent the message to Walter using Piper’s phone?”
Even though the man was beaten up by Angie, he stared back fiercely without words. Out of nowhere, he started smirking in the evilest way possible, indirectly triggering Angie so much that she grabbed his collar. “Why?”
Piper also repeated her words while she slowly collected her thoughts. “You didn’t want to bring me along, so why did you do that?”
Standing up with great effort, the man spat a mouth of blood before saying calmly, “What evidence do you people have to say that I did it? Even if I did, how would I be charged, seeing as the person is already dead?”
Angie then kicked the man hard, causing him to fly back as Zeke quickly hugged her from behind to prevent her from attacking again.
“Calm yourself, Angie. It’s useless no matter how much you hit him.”
If she kept assaulting him, even if she did not go to jail, she would still be detained. It was quite obvious that the man was just agitating her on purpose.
Reigning her emotions under Zeke’s persuasion, she picked Piper up from the floor, saying, “Let’s go to the hospital.”
Just as the trio was about to exit the pickup area, the man suddenly showed a sinister smile. Slowly increasing the pace, the man then took out a paring knife at arm’s length from Angie and stabbed her back without hesitation.
Feeling her back suddenly turn cold, Angie then crashed to the ground as a sense of pain and blood loss enveloped her. Hearing the commotion happening behind her, she tried her best to turn her head around but to no avail.
Although the knife had pierced her skin, the man was stopped by an opposing force before he could do further damage. He only looked somewhat in disbelief at the appearance of the man with a cold gaze, who grabbed the weapon with his bare hands.
“T-The stalker from…”
The next second, he was then kicked far away by Zeke.
Blood flowed profusely from his head as he crashed into the chair head first. Taking out his phone tremblingly, he bellowed somewhat deliriously, “I’m going to call the police now and say that you all ganged up on me. I’m going to make you all go to jail!”
With a cold face, Elijah only carried Angie, who at this point was already unconscious, and warned, “I know that you’re not afraid of jail time. But I wonder if your debtors will go knock on your family’s door once they find out that your child and wife are hiding away in Evergreen Mountain?”
After Elijah and the trio left, the man then quickly hung up in uncontrollable fear and shock.
Opening her eyes once again, Angie found herself already lying on a bed in the hospital of Silvercreek District. As the door to her ward was opened, she turned to see that it was Zeke who had entered.
Zeke beamed upon learning that she was awake.
“It’s good that you’re finally awake.”
When Angie was unconscious, Zeke had been tormented by self-guilt, unrest, and the threat from the stalker.
Propped up by Zeke, Angie then took a sip of water. He hesitated a little but, in the end, asked, “Did you know the direction-asking middle-aged man yesterday?”
With a slight delay, Angie replied, “I don’t.”
“Let’s call the police, then. I think that he might be a pervert.”
“What did you say?”
“He might’ve saved you, but just think about it for a second: How did he show up at such a convenient time? I suspect that he must’ve stalked you along the way. From my point of view, this person is very shifty!”
Feeling more and more creeped out, he took out his phone and was about to inform the police.
On the contrary, Angie just felt a headache, as she did not get to see what transpired behind her before she fainted. If so… Angie then grabbed Zeke’s hand.
Creak! The sound of the door being opened alerted the two as they both looked toward the entrance. Zeke, who quietly snuck the phone behind him, saw the stalker slowly walk in with a stern face.
“Were you stalking me?” Clutching the bedsheet, Angie tried hard to hide the panic in her voice.
“I don’t think the word ‘stalk’ is appropriate.” Elijah opened up the containers of food that he had brought. “I bought some food. Eat up first. The doctor said that you can be discharged once you wake up, so follow me back after this.”
Noticing Elijah’s bandaged hand, Angie could see that the hospital’s first-aid techniques were a bit lacking, as his long and slender fingers had been all wrapped up like a mummy’s, making him look somewhat comical.
Thinking back, Angie remembered that Elijah had found her a mentor in Taekwondo at the age of 13. She would come back with cuts and bruises, and he would always tend to her wounds. Because of this reason, Angie learned for five years straight, returning with small injuries often.
The moment she fell, Elijah was the only person that came to her mind.
Not noticing that Angie had calmed down, Zeke felt a wave of fear as he thought about what Elijah had said. Kidnapping people in broad daylight? One would think that this is a lawless zone.
“Ok.” Angie remained silent after that.
Seeing Angie agree to Elijah’s terms, Zeke, who was still on high alert, was suddenly shocked by her actions. He tilted his head and reminded her, “Angie, didn’t I just tell you that this man is very shifty? Why did you agree to go with him?”
“I can’t ride a bus with my injuries.” Eating hastily, Angie then gave Zeke a box of food, saying, “Eat up now. We’ll follow him once we’re finished here.”
Us? When did it become us?
Feeling somewhat wronged, Zeke put down the box of food and said puffingly, “No. I’m not going with him, nor will you, for that matter. I’ll get a taxi so that you won’t have to catch a bus.”
Hearing this, Elijah observed with interest the somewhat young and naive man, questioning, “So, you think that Angie isn’t safe with me? But what makes you think that she’s safe being with you? Fortunately, she did not sustain any major injuries today. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be sitting here so calmly having this conversation with me. And you, why didn’t you discuss with Courtney what happened? It’s fine that you don’t want to return to Manhattan with me, but you need to show that at least you are able to live normally here.”
After Elijah had lectured them, Zeke looked up only to find that he had regained that cold and emotionless expression, making it seem like the person just now wasn’t him.
Pondering about the whole situation, Zeke felt something was more and more amiss.
“Do you… actually know him?”
Giving in, Angie replied, “In his words, he is my father. Foster father, to be exact.”
“What?”
The revelation made the young man jump up from his chair with a pale face.
