"I swear!" the first girl cried, cutting into Jenna's thoughts. "She was walking in and then men came out of the vans. Big men. They made her faint and carried her away."
Jenna's stomach dropped.
"Th-this fell," a trembling boy shoved a phone in her face. "She dropped it when they took her."
Jenna took the phone, feeling complicated. Just as she decided to call her uncle and report the matter, the school security officers broke through the small crowd surrounding her.
"Miss Churchill? Please, come with us," the man said firmly. "You need to answer some questions."
"What?" Jenna snapped, anger finally punching through the shock. "I just got here! I didn't—"
"Miss," the second officer interrupted, already reaching for her arm. "This is a serious incident. We need your cooperation."
With that, innocent Jenna was dragged towards the headmaster's office.
…
Minutes later...
Hazel was tied to a chair. Her mask was taken off, revealing criss-cross plasters around her cheek, mouth, and jawline.
Even with the redness around the plasters, which clearly marked pressed, tender wounds, De Warden still had her mouth tapped.
Across from her, De Warden sat crossed leg, slowly caressing a gun, while Shin worked desperately on security database, erasing every trace of their vehicles from the public CCTV cameras.
The rest of the men flocked around the empty warehouse like sentinels waiting for instructions.
With a flick of De Warden's finger, Scar-face picked up the bucket of water laying beside him, strode to Hazel and doused it on her.
She gasped awake like a goldfish, but the tape prevented her voice from slipping out.
At first, she was disoriented. But when she finally understood her circumstances, Hazel panicked and began to thrash, but with how tightly she was bound to the chair, all her struggles were futile.
De Warden uncrossed his legs and leaned forward, forearms resting on his knees.
"Look at me," he ordered.
Hazel was too scared to obey. She was trembling, whimpering, and thrashing.
The sight made De Warden frown.
"Stay put," he groaned.
At once, Hazel obeyed. Her face was streaked with tears, mixed with the droplet of water running down her hair.
"Where is my ring?"
Hazel stared at him, wide eyes and confused, as if he'd just spoken another language.
Scare-face stepped forward and yanked the tape off her mouth. He wasn't gentle.
She winced in pain. However, nobody was waiting for her to collect herself. And she could see that they meant business.
"R–ring?" she choked out. "I—I don't know what you're talking about."
Scar-face snorted from the side, arms folded across his chest. "Still acting dumb?"
Hazel shook her head violently. "I swear! I don't know you, I don't know any ring, I didn't steal anything!"
De Warden studied her in silence.
Her fear was raw. The kind that soaked into the bones and left no room for acting. Her gray pupils were blown wide, her breathing uneven, and her knees were trembling and drawn together defensively.
A person who was reborn from an apocalypse, who was bold and fearless enigh to steal his ring wouldn't be so spineless, he thought.
His gaze trailed up to her finger. It was empty. There was no jade ring. Her wrist too had no red string.
His jaw tightened.
She wasn't the one.
For some reason, he was disappointed and excited at the same time – excited that he didn't waste his time chasing a weakling, and disappointed that he'd wasted so much time to catch a rat.
"You went to Gerald Antique Square yesterday," Scar-face said suddenly, his voice sharp as a blade. "In your school uniform and the same black and white backpack."
Hazel froze.
"And," Scar-face continued, eyes narrowing, "you were wearing that same white nose mask."
Her lips parted slightly.
"And you, young lady," he said slowly, deliberately, "stole something that's very important to my boss. Where is it?"
Hazel's heart slammed against her ribs.
"I—I didn't—" she began, then stopped.
Because suddenly, something clicked in her mind.
Yesterday, Jenna had ran out of school before closing, and she came home late.
Jenna also had a black and white school bag, a mask that looked identical to hers, and lastly, from behind, they looked similar.
It had to be her.
Hazel swallowed hard.
De Warden noticed the shift immediately.
"Speak," he ordered coldly. "Before I lose patience."
Hazel's fingers twisted together. Tears welled up in her eyes again, but this time they weren't just fear, they were desperation tangled with scheme.
The bitch was scheming against Jenna, even on death's door.
"I—I think you've got the wrong person," she whispered.
Scar-face laughed darkly. "Funny. You match every detail."
"I match because we look identical from behind!" She blurted out.
The room went silent.
De Warden's eyes narrowed a fraction. "Who?"
Hazel rushed on, words tumbling over each other. "My cousin, Jenna." She paused. "I didn't go to any antique square. I've never been there, but I can't say the same for Jenna. She acted strange yesterday in class. People said she screamed, 'I'm alive' and ran out of school like she was being chased. And she returned home very late at night."
She watched De Warden and Scar-face lock eyes for a moment.
Thinking she'd successful sold Jenna out and bought her own life, she added a bonus.
"She–she seemed like a changed person this morning." She raised her chin, allowing her tears drop desperately. "She did this to my face. And threatened to kill me. I didn't do anything. She looked like a crazy person."
Scar-face frowned. "Your cousin?"
"Yes!" Hazel nodded frantically. "Jenna. Jenna Churchill."
At the name, De Warden leaned back into his chair, eyes narrowing ever so slightly. He didn't recall that name in the apocalypse, so she wasn't a powerhouse.
De Warden knew the names of the powerful people in the apocalypse, and those under him. Jenna, that name didn't ring a bell.
So, how did she know about his ring?
The only people who knew about his ring were those in his base. Was this so-called Jenna one of those settlers?
Scar-face turned to De Warden. "Boss…"
De Warden didn't respond immediately.
His gaze dropped to the floor. Then, suddenly, he laughed.
A deep, amused laughter that sent a chill down Hazel's spine.
"What kind of relationship do you have with your cousin?" He asked.
Thinking she would be implicated if she lied that she had a good relationship with Jenna, Hazel quickly told half the truth.
After all, she wanted Jenna dead, and looking at these people whom Jenna had stolen from, they wouldn't spare Jenna. Hiding her excitement, she responded quickly.
"W–we're not close. Jenna hates my branch of the family and accused us of killing her parents and stealing from her… it's not true. My parents love her and treat her like their child but she's mean…"
De Warden rose from his seat, his action cutting her off abruptly. "Since you're not close, you can't serve as bait to draw her out, but you can serve as a gift."
Before anyone could tell what he meant, gunshot sounded, a bullet hole appeared in between Hazel's brows.
Scar-face blinked, confused and stunned, as he watched the permanent horror etched on Hazel's face.
"Was it necessary?" He paused. "She's Benjamin Churchill's daughter."
While Hazel was unconscious, they'd used her ID to trace her family.
"Since you have so much time to be afraid of irrelevant people, take some men back to Maddadas and keep an eye on the stockpiling. Make sure you don't miss anything on that list."
With that, he stepped towards Hazel, pulling out a knife from behind his belt.