Coolest Girl in Town

Narissa's opponents were heavily armed and they used that to their advantage, leaving her with no

room to do anything other than dodge behind the racks and shelves as she tailed them from a distance.

"Trying to get away? You won't be escaping that easily!"

They had reached the exit and were about to get into the vehicle that was waiting for them, so Narissa

couldn't hesitate any longer. She picked up a brick and threw it at the person who was firing the most

bullets at her.

He was hit in the head and fell unconscious at once. Narissa rushed out and rolled on the ground to

grab the gun before firing shot after shot at Stenson's car.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The bullets made contact with the car. She was completely focused on firing at the car that she didn't

notice someone aiming a gun at her from behind.

"Damn it! It's bulletproof glass!"

Narissa didn't think that Stenson would be as vigilant as he was. Even after she had emptied the gun's

barrel, the car was merely dented.

She watched in frustration as the car sped off and threw the gun on the ground with so much force that

it was half-buried.

Just then, a gunshot rang out behind her.

Bang!

The moment Narissa heard the sound, she felt a bullet whizzing past her right ear.

At the very next second, the bullet shot through the tree in front of her, leaving behind a gaping hole.

That was so close!

Thank goodness he missed, or else, it'd be my head that was sporting that hole now.

Narissa exhaled in relief and turned around to find that the shooter was less than fifteen feet away from

her. He was clutching his hand and writhing around on the ground in pain.

However, before she could get any closer to check on him, a silver needle came flying in the air to end

that man's misery.

Narissa looked in the direction where the needle had come from and saw Zephyr jumping down from a

tree.

Evidently, she would've been dead by now if he hadn't injured that man's hand.

Despite their mutual dislike for one another, she kept ending up indebted to him.

Under such dangerous and pressing circumstances, neither one of them was in the mood to argue.

They simply nodded in greeting.

"El wasn't in the car with them so she must still be in the dugout!" Narissa filled Zephyr in before the

two of them went back inside.

After searching all the rooms and seeing no sign of Elise, Narissa went back to the first room. Zephyr

was kneeling by the pool of blood and scraping some of it up with a strip of card.

"So? Did you find anything?" Narissa asked impatiently when she saw how calm he was.

At times like these, she had to admit that the wheels in Zephyr's mind spun faster than hers did.

All she could think of right now was Elise and the baby's safety. She couldn't bring herself to calm down

and study the situation, so she had to rely on Zephyr instead.

"Don't worry." Zephyr stuck the card inside a plastic sleeve and calmly stated, "This isn't Elise's blood. If

she wasn't injured despite the messy state of this room, it means that her opponent didn't have the guts

to do anything to her. Even if we can't find her, at the very least, we can confirm that she's currently

unharmed."

Narissa felt her heart finally settling back in place, but it was still hard for her to come to terms with the

situation. "This dugout has four exits. They must've taken El away already. Stenson, that dirtbag, had

better make sure that El and my future goddaughter are safe and well, or else, I'll beat him up every

time I see him and make sure he never gets to hold his head up high in Wegas ever again!"

"He won't be a dirtbag then. He'd be a sewer rat," Zephyr joked.

As soon as he spoke, a strange sound filled the air.

Beep, beep, beep.

It kept getting louder as it echoed inside the dugout.

Zephyr had a bad feeling about this. He grabbed Narissa's hand and started running. "Run! They're

going to blow the place up!"

Narissa instinctively flung his hand off and the two of them separated. They kept the same pace at first,

but as the path to the exit got narrower, Zephyr soon fell behind.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

They could already see the light coming in from the entrance to the dugout when a series of explosions

broke out inside the dugout, sending clouds of smoke and fragments outward.

Narissa was the first to make it out of the dugout. She saw the murky cloud gaining on Zephyr, so she

bided her time and just as he took a step out of the dugout, she charged toward him. They both fell to

the right of the entrance and managed to avoid the cloud of smoke and debris from the explosion,

though they were still covered in dust.

All was quiet again, and when Zephyr finally regained his senses, his expression was stiff. Narissa was

lying on top of him and his face was right in front of her chest. He could see the curves that were just

barely hidden by her top, and he flushed red.

"Cough—"

Narissa coughed and cleared her throat. When she finally came back to her senses, she noticed

Zephyr's gaze and narrowed her eyes dangerously. "Harboring such sleazy thoughts at a time like this?

A loser's a loser, alright."

She climbed off him.

Zephyr stood up and dusted himself off as he lied and said, "Who said I was having sleazy thoughts? I

was feeling awkward on your behalf. You keep trying to stand in front of others to protect them instead.

You don't let anyone else protect you. Who else would get injured, if not you? You should learn to rely

on others too. No one would laugh at you for doing so."

Narissa kept acting as if everything was fine after seeing what Alicia and Jamie had done together, but

Zephyr was worried to see someone who was usually so loud and excitable be this quiet. He didn't

want her to explode from keeping everything bottled up inside.

After all, he was a doctor. It was his duty to save people. Even though they didn't get along, he couldn't

pretend as if nothing happened.

Narissa picked up on the implications in Zephyr's words and she scuttled a little further away from him.

"Just come out and say whatever you want to say. Don't beat around the bush."

The moment she finished speaking, Jamie arrived at the dugout in his car.

He leaped out of the car and rushed over to check on Narissa. "I heard the explosions from the foot of

the mountain. Are you alright?"

"I'm great," Narissa replied curtly before walking off.

Jamie stood forlornly without moving. He felt as if he was an abandoned pet who no longer had a

home.

"Doc," he mumbled somewhat to himself. "I think I made a grave mistake. What do you think I should

do to get Narissa's forgiveness?"

"I'm a doctor, not a relationship expert. You should be asking yourself that question. However, I think a

guy who lets his woman get hurt and upset doesn't deserve to call himself a man."

For once, Zephyr didn't joke around with Jamie. He simply said his piece and walked off.

Jamie sighed. He looked haggard and deflated. It was as if his soul had been sucked out of him.

Soon, Danny arrived as well and everyone gathered at a river near the foot of the mountain.

"I don't think El's in any danger right now, but they've taken her somewhere else and we still need to

find out where," Narissa said.

Now that they knew Stenson was behind this, they weren't as worried anymore.

Stenson was all bark and no bite. He wouldn't dare to hurt Elise.

Danny nodded. "The Hellens' territory isn't all that big. I'm sure we can find her if we search through all

of Wegas. Zephyr, how's my brother doing?"

"Not good," Zephyr replied. "The poison in him is a slow-moving one that's hard to deal with. I came

here to see whether there were any medicinal herbs that I could use."

"Thanks for all your efforts. Keep his condition a secret from the kids for now. As for Elise's situation,

you can be honest with them. The kids are old enough now. They need to learn to be strong. Let them

slowly get used to these kinds of situations."

After a short meeting, everyone left to begin their search for Elise once more.