37: Bites, Face Mask, Action!

“You said anyone close to me can be the suspect. I don’t believe it is you,” Drino concluded.

“Of course, I won’t get myself in this situation. If I wanted your money, I could’ve seduced you and asked for money,” Ashmille retorted.

He snapped. “R-Right… I’m dumb not to consider that.”

“Shhh,” she shushed him.

Their conversation was hindered when they heard multiple footsteps. The basement door opened and revealed three people with covered faces, but the other one was shorter than the rest.

“Hi, Drino,” the fourth kidnapper greeted.

“That’s why you said the fourth culprit’s voice was weird, because it was the voice of the girl. We immediately assumed all kidnappers are male and became biased, which clouded our logical reasoning. In finding the truth, we must stick to the facts to see the truth, no matter how gruesome or unacceptable it is.”

“That’s right, and to give you more revelations, I was the Drino driver you booked.”

“We want 6 million pesos from you,” Witz demanded.

“I don’t have that much money,” Drino responded.

“You might not afford that amount on your own, so ask your wealthy parents then. You can give us now the 50%, then release you, use this girl as a hostage, then come back here with the 50% from your parents.”

“Don’t involve them in this matter. I might seem wealthy to some people, but I am not. When I started my startup, I incurred a significant amount of debt. I don’t want to keep your hopes high, but that’s the truth.”

“I’ve been watching your house for a month now. I live near your village. The right time has come when you started riding a car using the app. I waited patiently to get your booking, and I was lucky this time. But it was never on my plan to kidnap the lady next to you.” - Kidnapper 4

“Have you been using your own app since it launched?” Ashmille asked Drino.

“I’ve been using the app more often lately. Because of the issues we received, I decided to give myself a try and experience the customers’ problems firsthand so I can give them appropriate solutions. My team and I have been working on it. We will announce its new features next month.”

Drino looked at Kidnapper 4. “What do you want from me?”

“I want you to take your job seriously.”

“I don’t understand you.”

“Your job is to entertain your fans and not date a petty girl you met randomly on the streets.”

“Are you a fan?”

Drino suddenly has an idea why she’s acting like that. The agency has informed its talents that dangerous situations like this could happen, so he wasn’t that surprised. However, this could have been handled better.

“Besides being your fan, I am not losing the effort I put just to be treated like this. I am giving you a life lesson to be remembered in your lifetime as a public figure. Your fans own you, so do your thing.”

“Is that all? Don’t you want my money? Then why did you work with the other guys?”

“This kidnapping wouldn’t have been made possible if I hadn’t collaborated with them. They demand big money for their service. And it was a success. They deserve the reward they’ll receive from you.”

“It’s not a success if you get captured,” Ashmille murmured.

“Shut your mouth.”

“If you’re so jealous of my personal dating life, why do you have to go through this? What the usual fans do is they spread hate online but draw a line when it comes to hurting them in person.”

“I’ve come this far. And I’m also doing this for the other millions of fans of yours. I’m doing all the work here, but many would benefit. Doing this was not much of an effort.”

“T-That’s ridiculous.”

“One question, Drino, letting go of that woman you’re dating wouldn’t hurt you, am I right?

“You don’t own Drino or anyone. You’re just a mere piece of an obsessed and deranged fan who cannot control her desires and separate real life from her delusional world.”

The fourth kidnapper slapped her.

“Don’t hurt her!” Drino shouted.

“That’s what you get for butting in,” she glanced at Witz and Doofus. “Get rid of her. We don’t need a supporting actress here. Let Drino stay until you get your money.”

“But we need her as a hostage for the money,” Witz complained.

“She’s nothing for Drino. If you release Drino after he gave the half ransom, do you think he’ll let himself be kidnapped again to give the other half? Most probably, while attempting to give the second half, he already contacted the police for an ambush. You should get it in full in one go.”

Doofus and Witz grasped Ashmille by her arms and stood her up. Doofus held her while Wits covered her eyes and mouth with a white cloth so she couldn’t see or scream.

“I’ll give you the money now, just don’t hurt her!” He stood up. “Where are you going to take her?”

Witz showed him his knife. “Don’t move or else…” he pointed the knife at Ashmille’s throat. “Move an inch, I’ll stab this girl’s neck an inch.”

“We don’t plan to kill people here as long as you cooperate. We’ll throw you both into the woods.” – Kidnapper 4

“Six million? I can ask one of my staff to transfer it right away for you. Give me a phone and your bank details.”

“We want it in cash,” Witz stated. “Get your staff the full cash, and we’ll give them the instructions on where to drop the bag of money.”

“Alright, deal.”

Witz brought out his phone. “Give us the details of your staff. We’ll contact them to speak with you.”

“You were originally to do this kidnapping alone, weren’t you?” Ashmille interrupted.

“What?” Kidnapper 4 didn’t understand her because she was gagged, so she removed the cloth from her mouth.

“Your staff are unprepared for this. You hired them on the spot. Maybe because you got scared to do it alone.”

“I’m not scared! It was because you were there at the scene! It was only Drino who was supposed to be kidnapped.”

“Uh, no, you’re wrong. These three wanted to kidnap a wealthy girl who was at Drino’s debut party so they could earn more money.”

“Is that true?!” she gazed at the two furiously.

“S-Sorry, Ma’am. We wanted to maximize our efforts. Since we’re abducting one celebrity, why don’t we add the pretty and simple girl who is also wealthy like him… But we dragged a different girl instead. She’s not wealthy, Ma’am, but she’s also pretty and simple.”

“Idiot!”

Ashmille pondered that this kidnapping cash was not planned well. They demanded money after kidnapping rather than demanding beforehand, so that the victim could prepare the cash beforehand. They kidnapped their source of money instead of kidnapping Drino’s loved ones.

There are two kinds of kidnappers. One wants the money, the second wants to warn and teach Drino a lesson. The first kind became greedy because they wanted Anthasia to be kidnapped, too. However, it led to a chaotic abduction case.

“Hello? Who is this?” a male voice answered Witz’s phone call.

Witz put the phone to Drino’s left ear.

“Hello… This is Drino.”

“Sir? Sir Drino?! Where are you? We heard you were k-kidnapped last night during your party! The police are working on it. Are you okay, Sir?”

“I’m good. But the kidnappers needed the ransom money now. Could you assist me on this?”

“Yes, Sir, absolutely. W-What do I do?”

Witz showed him a script of the instructions Witz had typed earlier. Drino read it carefully.

“That’s all, Sir?”

“We will update you after they receive the money.”

Ashmille saw a bulge in Tres’s pocket. He has a gun, while Witz has a knife. The rest seem unarmed.

Ashmille coughed. “Help, please, I need my face mask.”

“You’re mumbling what?” Witz frowned.

“The place is dirty and dusty. I’m sensitive and allergic to it. I need my face mask.” She sneezed multiple times. “It’s in my right pocket. I couldn’t reach for it with my hands tied at the back.”

“Why should we even care?”

“I can die from this allergy. If I’m dead before you release us, then that makes you murderers.”