Chapter 8

A sudden wave of weightlessness washed over Aurora.

Just then, Owen, who had parked his car and was about to walk into the building, looked up abruptly, only to catch sight of Aurora plummeting from above.

Owen's eyes widened in disbelief.

'She's really throwing her life away to get out? Has she completely lost it?' Owen thought.

When Owen saw Aurora's heart stop, he darted forward, but he couldn't save her in time.

Luckily, as Aurora was about to hit the ground, she landed on the neighbor's clothesline, which broke her fall. She didn't crash straight onto the concrete.

Even so, the impact was so brutal that her vision went black, and she nearly passed out from the pain. She couldn't move a single limb.

Owen rushed to her side. Seeing Aurora's face twisted in pain and the wounds covering her body, his shock quickly gave way to a surge of rage.

Aurora's head spun from Owen's rough handling. Her chest felt like it was splitting open. She struggled to speak, "Let me go. I need to get myself a burial plot."

Owen acted as if he hadn't heard her. He roughly dragged the nearly limp Aurora toward his car, yanked open the trunk, and stuffed her in.

The overpowering smell of gasoline made Aurora nauseous, almost gagging.

The trunk slammed shut, throwing her back into darkness. The roar of the engine blared in her ears, sharp and relentless.

It felt like forever before the car finally stopped.

Owen threw open the trunk, and a blast of icy wind rushed into Aurora's lungs, making her gasp for air.

He dragged her out against the light. Before them lay a heavily guarded military training base, with high walls and barbed wire. Not far away, dogs barked, and whistles from soldiers drilling echoed in the air.

At the gate stood a tall man in an officer's uniform, with a streetwise edge to his looks.

When he spotted Aurora behind Owen, his eyes widened in surprise. "Owen, what's this about?"

"Do me a favor." Owen shoved Aurora forward, his face grim. "See if you can straighten her out while she's here."

'Straighten me? Seriously?' Aurora scoffed inwardly. She dug her nails deep into her palms, her whole body trembling from the pain.

Lucas WhiteLucas flashed a grin and said, "No problem, I've got this."

At that, Owen rubbed his tired eyes and clapped Lucas on the shoulder. "Thanks, man."

As he was about to say something to Aurora, his pager buzzed in his pocket. It was Evelyn. "Owen, Lily keeps complaining about her chest hurting. You need to come back right now."

Owen's face fell. He turned to Lucas. "Lily is sick. I have to go back right now. She's all yours."

Without sparing Aurora another glance, he jumped into his car and sped off.

As Owen's taillights faded from view, the fake smile on Lucas's face slipped away instantly.

He yanked Aurora by the arm and marched her deeper into the base.

This was the military K9 training zone, where huge iron cages were packed with shepherd dogs.

Owen yanked open a cage, paid no attention to Aurora's desperate resistance, and tossed her inside.

The black-furred dogs caught the scent of a stranger and immediately went berserk.

Her heart almost froze in terror.

Outside the cage, Owen made an attack gesture, and the black dog instantly caught on, lunging straight at Aurora.

In a desperate moment, Aurora snatched up a shard of glass and, with all her strength, stabbed the sharp edge into the dog's neck.

Blood splattered across her face as the savage beast collapsed, twitching a few times before going completely still.

Aurora slumped to the ground, clutching the blood-dripping shard of glass, her breath coming in ragged gasps.

Lucas froze for a moment, then his rage exploded. "You killed a military dog? There's no escaping death for you."

With that, he whipped out his gun, his eyes blazing with murderous intent.

Here, he called all the shots.

Lucas raised his gun, finger tightening on the trigger.

When Aurora finally saw the gun pointed straight at her, she gave a bitter smile.

'Am I really going to die here?' Aurora thought. 'No way. I won't go down like this.'

Out of nowhere, a dark figure appeared, landed a sharp elbow to Owen, snatched his gun, and pressed the barrel right to his temple.

Then the figure turned to Aurora, who was still frozen in shock. His voice was deep and hushed, "Sorry I didn't get here sooner."