"Let's go back."
On the morning of the tenth day at the farm, Stella finished the delicious breakfast Hunter had prepared for her.
She stood up to wash the dishes, then made the suggestion.
In the blink of an eye, more than ten days had passed since she was kidnapped by Steve, rescued by Hunter, and then hidden away at this remote family farm.
For a workaholic, missing over ten days of work was unbearable.
Stella felt restless.
She was worried that Bridger Safe & Vault might have been targeted by Steve in retaliation.
She also had no idea what had happened to Charlie and his team.
Of course, Stella wasn't willing to admit the other major reason she was desperate to leave the farm and return to work:
She couldn't accept the fact that her talent for lockpicking was vastly inferior to Hunter's.
Hunter looked at Stella calmly. He nodded, then shook his head.
"I'm leaving today. But Stella, you need to wait a little longer."
Stella's beautiful eyebrows knit together instantly. Her emerald green eyes flashed with intensity.
"Why?" She was clearly unhappy.
"I need to check on Steve first," Hunter explained.
"I need to guarantee your safety before I let you go back."
Stella shook her head firmly. "I'm going back with you!"
Before, when she didn't know Hunter well, she could accept hiding.
But after ten days of living together, Stella had grown close to him.
She felt sympathy for this handsome, orphaned Asian boy who was not yet nineteen but was so capable and driven.
And beyond sympathy, she had developed a significant fondness for him—despite him being eight years her junior.
"I can't let you take the risk alone!"
"Especially not for me!"
Hunter knew Stella meant well.
But he couldn't let her interfere.
He wiped the smile from his face and looked at her seriously. "Stop being stubborn, Stella."
"With my skills and reconnaissance ability, getting close to Steve's villa—or even breaking in again—is easy for me."
"I'm going to check your office and your apartment to make sure no one is watching."
"Only when I'm sure it's safe will I let you return."
"I've only dealt with Steve twice, but based on my intel, he's ruthless."
"The only reason he didn't kill you before was to use you as bait to lure out Charlie, who he thought stole the gold."
Stella suddenly recalled her two days in captivity. Her expression became unnatural.
She hadn't been assaulted, and her life hadn't been directly threatened.
But she had experienced Steve's method of torture firsthand.
Faced with a beautiful woman, he hadn't laid a hand on her.
Instead, he tied her up, starved her for two days, gave her only sips of water, and denied her basic dignity.
Even bathroom breaks had to be taken while bound.
For a woman—especially a proud, beautiful woman like Stella—it was humiliating beyond words.
Those two days had been a living hell.
She shivered involuntarily.
"But..."
Seeing she wanted to argue, Hunter cut her off.
"I'll be back before tonight. No matter what, I promise I won't stop you from going back tomorrow."
Seeing his firm attitude, Stella hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "Alright."
Having finally persuaded her, Hunter rested for a bit longer.
Then, he set off for Los Angeles.
He rode fast. Over an hour later, he was back in the city.
Since it was closer, he went to Stella's office first.
Everything seemed normal. The receptionist was working as usual.
Hunter checked the surrounding area and found no surveillance.
Satisfied, he left and drove toward Steve's villa.
During his days at the farm, Hunter had repainted his motorcycle and changed its livery.
He had also swapped the license plate for a fake one.
He had spent time at Old Parker's garage and done modification jobs, so he knew where to get custom fake plates. For convenience, he carried a dozen different ones in his Inventory.
Hunter arrived near Steve's villa quickly.
But what he saw surprised him.
Steve's villa was sealed with police tape.
The guard booth that used to be manned twenty-four hours a day was gone—completely removed.
Large sections of the main gate and the front wall had collapsed.
Looking at the cratered earth and debris, it wasn't hard to see that explosives had been detonated here.
"Don't tell me..."
"Did Charlie blow the place up that night? Besides the grenade I threw?"
"Damn. Looks like they used some serious firepower."
Hunter remembered hearing Charlie call Stella's name as he was escaping with her that night.
He knew Charlie had been there.
Without Charlie drawing Steve's attention at the front gate, Hunter never could have shot the breaker box and extracted Stella so easily.
But Hunter didn't know what happened after he left.
Judging by the destruction, it seemed Charlie and his team had caused quite a scene after Hunter vanished with the hostage.
Hunter watched the villa for a while. After confirming it was uninhabited, he moved to the cliff at the rear.
He inspected the area and found that all the climbing pitons he had left were gone. Every single one had been pulled out.
"What happened here after we left?"
With questions swirling in his mind, Hunter drove to Stella's apartment.
Arriving shortly after, he checked the area carefully.
No surveillance.
He approached the mailbox quietly. It was empty.
Thinking for a moment, he pulled out a metal pick.
He opened the door to Stella's apartment effortlessly and slipped inside.
The first thing he saw was a pile of mail scattered on the floor behind the door.
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