Chapter 129

She never would have guessed the boy was actually kidnapped by criminals.

Talk about terrible timing. If she hadn't come up the mountain today looking for pigments, no one would have ever thought to search for Cody here.

"Let go of me! I want to go home! I want to go home..." Cody sobbed and struggled, then bit down hard on the short, heavyset man's hand.

"Ow! You little brat, you actually bit me!" The guy got mad and raised his hand to hit Cody.

A tall, skinny kidnapper stepped in, trying to keep the peace. "Hey, don't hit him. He's just a kid."

"This little troublemaker won't stop crying. Maybe we should just give him another sedative."

He shot Cody a look. "Mr. Heath, you better behave, or you're getting a shot."

Cody instantly went quiet, terror in his eyes. Nothing scared him more than needles.

Sniffling, he whimpered, "I want to go home..."

"As soon as your dad pays up, you'll be home in no time. For now, just hang in there," the tall one said in a half-gentle voice, carrying him back into the tent.

Lucie's heart was pounding. "Cody's been kidnapped," she whispered, eyes scanning the camp.

Five kidnappers. There were probably more somewhere, and they definitely had weapons. There was no way she and Elio could take them by themselves.

"We need to remember this spot and get down the mountain to call the police," she whispered.

Elio was crouched, watching every move the kidnappers made. "Lucie, stay here. Don't move," he murmured.

Before she could stop him, he was already slipping around the back of the tents, moving low and quiet.

Panic shot through her. "Elio, what are you doing? Don't do anything crazy!" she called, barely above a whisper.

"There's too many of them. If we mess this up, we'll just get caught too. We need to get help," she thought, frustrated. She'd brought a satellite phone, but Elio had lost it when his bag went over the cliff. There was no signal here; getting down the mountain was their only shot at rescue.

Elio glanced back at her, grinning with that reckless, charming smile. "Shh. Just stay put. I'll get the kid."

"Don't... it's too dangerous," she pleaded, voice shaking.

But he slipped away, darting like a shadow between the trees, sneaking closer to the camp.

The kidnappers were distracted, arguing over food.

"Hand me a water and pass the bread."

"I gotta pee."

"Go farther out."

The tall, skinny guy stuck a cigarette in his mouth and wandered into the woods, humming as he went. He'd barely made it fifty meters before Eliỏ was right behind him, silent aş, ghost.

The guy heard a faint sound and spun around. "Who's there—"

Elio lunged, arm snapping around his throat. One sharp twist and there was a sickening crack.

The man choked out a gasp and went limp. Elio dragged the body into the bushes, quickly searching him for weapons. No gun-just a knife.

Ten minutes later, the others started getting suspicious.

"What's taking Stick so long?"

"He's probably taking a dump."

"Sharpy, go check on him."

"Yeah, alright."

The one called Sharpy stood up and headed into the woods. "Stick, you done yet?"

He barely got the words out when Elio launched out from behind a tree.

Sharpy hit the ground with a grunt, wind knocked out of him. Elio didn't give him a chance to recover. One swift move, another brutal crack, and it was over.

Two down, just like that.

Elio scoffed under his breath. "Seriously? These guys call themselves kidnappers? This is barely a warm-up."

They were no match for him. He'd been a wild force of energy since he was a kid, training in judo, boxing, MMA-you name it, he'd mastered it. be like his

He always wanted to mastered it.

older brother, join the specialforces, do something that mattered.

His family had other plans. His brother followed their dad into politics Elio was supposed to take over his m's side of the family. business, inherit the massive e company, keep up the legacy He'd been groomed for it his whole life.

But he hated the scheming and backstabbing of the business world. Since coming

back home, he hadn't spent a single day at Pitts Enterprises.

"These three left aren't even worth breaking a sweat over," he muttered, eyeing the men by the tent. As long as they didn't have guns, he could handle thirty of them, easy.

Back at the tents, a bald kidnapper started to get nervous. "What's going on? Why are they taking so long?"

"Curly, Cross-Eyes, grab your stuff. Let's go check it out."

The curly-haired guy pulled a pistol from his waistband, heading out with the bald man. The one with crossed eyes hefted an AK and looked around, on full alert. Hearing the commotion, Lucie's heart jumped into her throat. She pressed herself tight against the tree, too scared to move, her worries for Elio growing with every passing second.