Ten Rules to Bind Her Heart - Chapter 70
The door closed with a gentle click.
Then came the muted, steady thud of Shen Yu’s footsteps on the corridor carpet.
One step. Two…
They gradually receded until they disappeared at the far end of the hall.
Like a marmot holding its breath and playing dead, Xia Zhiyao lay rigid in the darkness for a full five minutes.
Once she was certain the murderous presence had truly gone and would not suddenly double back, she flung off the covers and released a long breath.
Then, as though someone had pressed a switch, she sprang from the bed with a boing and landed on the floor.
“He’s gone… He’s really gone!”
She clutched her chest. Her little heart hammered wildly beneath her ribs, threatening to leap straight out of her throat.
Excitement.
She was so excited!
He truly had not punished her or tormented her.
And he was letting her go out tomorrow!
The sheer joy and excitement instantly sent the two swats she had taken on the bottom flying from her mind.
Zhiyao the runaway filly plunged headfirst back onto the bed, hugged the blanket, rolled once across the soft black mattress, then rolled again.
She was going out!
Tomorrow, she could go out!
It would be her first real outing since she had been brought to this hellish place!
And she was going to town—to a place where ordinary, living people actually lived!
Most, most, most important of all!
That murderous presence would not be beside her, watching her every move!
There would only be the cool and handsome, yet kind and gentle Dr. Anya!
Hahahahahahaha!
“Has my luck finally turned? Heaven has opened its eyes!”
Xia Zhiyao buried her face in the soft pillow and released a muffled cry. Her pale, tender feet kicked wildly in the air, all dignity forgotten.
After more than twenty days, she could finally get some time outside!
Eventually, the excitement rushing through her began to cool, and reason slowly returned.
She rolled onto her back and sprawled across the bed, staring at the chandelier overhead as her heart began to pound once more.
Because a wild idea had occurred to her.
Wasn’t this…
Wasn’t this a once-in-a-lifetime chance, bestowed by heaven itself… to escape?
Shen Yu would not be there. Only Dr. Anya.
Anya might be one of Shen Yu’s people, but surely a woman would be easier to deal with than a man?
Besides, Dr. Anya was a good person.
Xia Zhiyao peeked out from the covers. A furtive, nervous gleam shone in those clear, innocent eyes.
She sat bolt upright and seized the silver-gray handgun beside the pillow.
Its body was cold and heavy in her hand, the mother-of-pearl grip glowing softly.
The cold hardness of the metal and the complexity of its machinery proclaimed its power as a tool of violence.
Even without bullets.
Still…
She raised the gun, aimed at empty air, narrowed one eye, and supplied the line in a low voice.
“Don’t move!”
…Mm. That sounded rather imposing.
So long as she did not pull the trigger, who would know it was unloaded?
Mon State Market.
She had seen the name in an article on geopolitics.
It was a border trade zone filled with all kinds of people and, if she remembered correctly, less than fifty kilometers from the national border!
Once they reached the market, there would be crowds everywhere.
Countless prison-break scenes from the movies flashed through her mind.
Perhaps she could slip away while Dr. Anya tried on clothes in a boutique?
Or pretend to have a stomachache, go to the restroom, and climb out through the rear window?
Once she vanished into the crowd, she could find a kindly looking local truck driver, give him the priceless agarwood hairpin in her hair, and beg him to take her to the Huaguo Embassy…
Yes! The embassy!
And if it went badly?
What if they discovered her?
Xia Zhiyao tightened her grip on the gun, a desperate ruthlessness flashing in her eyes.
If it went badly, she would…
Her mind instantly staged a heart-stopping Hollywood blockbuster.
Tomorrow, once they reached town, she would find a crowded place. When Dr. Anya was not paying attention—or when they went to the restroom—she would draw the gun and press it to Anya’s lower back, then threaten her in the coldest, most emotionless voice she had ever used.
“Dr. Anya, don’t make a sound. Don’t turn around. Let me go, or I’ll shoot!”
Dr. Anya might be a military doctor, but she was still a doctor at heart. Surely she would be afraid of a gun? Of course she would!
Then Xia Zhiyao would steal Anya’s car keys… No, wait. She did not know how to drive! Damn it!
Then… then she would lock Anya in the restroom and run toward the embassy with every ounce of strength she possessed!
As long as she made it through the embassy doors, even Shen Yu, for all his power, would not dare march inside openly and drag her away, would he?
It was the Huaguo Embassy!
The more she considered the plan, the more workable it seemed. Her blood burned hotter with every thought.
Freedom’s first light appeared to be just ahead.
But…
Xia Zhiyao looked down at the gun, and the excitement in her eyes dimmed slightly.
Dr. Anya… had treated her so well.
After she had been whipped, Dr. Anya had gently applied medicine to her wounds.
When that pervert Jackal tried to hurt her, Dr. Anya had drawn her weapon without hesitation and stood between them.
Pointing a gun at the person who had saved her life…
Would that not make her the snake in the farmer’s bosom?
It would be repaying kindness with betrayal.
Frustrated, Xia Zhiyao raked her fingers through her already tangled hair.
“But… this may be my only chance.”
She paced the room, torn by indecision.
“Xia Zhiyao, you have to be ruthless!”
She spoke sternly to herself.
“This is life or death. It isn’t the time to worry about honor among friends.”
“If you don’t run, are you really going to stay here and be that twisted tyrant’s pet for the rest of your life?”
The thought of such a future chilled her entire body.
And if Shen Yu discovered her escape…
The image was too horrifying to contemplate.
He might break her legs—or truly do what Jackal had said: flay her and make her skin into a lantern.
No, no, no. It was not a possibility. Considering the tyrant’s depravity, it was a certainty!
“I don’t care anymore!”
Xia Zhiyao gritted her teeth, shoved the gun under the pillow, and hardened her gaze.
“I’m going home. Mom and Dad are waiting for me.”
Her survival instinct temporarily silenced her conscience.
At worst… at worst, once she escaped to Huaguo, she would burn incense for Dr. Anya… No, wait, pah, pah, pah! She would mail Anya the largest silk banner of gratitude she could find by way of apology!
Yes. That was the plan!
Xia Zhiyao climbed back into bed. She pushed the gun beneath her pillow, decided it did not feel safe there, then took it out and hugged it instead.
Her mind churned.
She lay there imagining her deeply flawed “great escape,” her thoughts shifting from maps to Shen Yu’s furious face, then to the tears she and her parents would shed when they reunited.
“Mom, Dad… wait for me.”
She closed her eyes in the darkness, her lashes damp.
“I will come home.”
She did not know how much time passed. The rain outside gradually ceased, and drowsiness crept over her until she fell asleep clutching a corner of the blanket.
Her dreams that night were strange and disjointed.
She dreamed that she was racing through dense virgin jungle with a dark mass of wolves behind her.
She ran and ran until at last a tall boundary marker appeared ahead. Painted across it in vivid red were the two characters that haunted her dreams.
Huaguo!
“I’m home! I made it home!”
She screamed in ecstasy and hurled herself toward the boundary marker with the last of her strength.
Only to crash headfirst into a hard, scorching embrace.
She lowered her eyes. When she opened them, the first thing she saw was a pair of black military boots.
Then the man’s low, demonic murmur sounded above her.
“And where do you think you’re running off to, little thing? Hmm?”
