Stuck in you

Jack kicked the man hard. He dropped onto the floor, writhing in pain.

Seeing this, Rachel was overcome with emotion. Jack approached, bent down, and removed the tape which covered her mouth.

Both of her hands were tied behind her back. With a straight face, Jack carefully but swiftly removed the shoelaces that bound her.

When the laces were removed, an overwhelming feeling of relief came over her. Her eyes welled up with tears.

She felt so lucky. Jack had come just in time.

She remembered how terrified she had been when the three men had said that they would leave her here to die.

She thought about the horrible reality of being thrown away like garbage and with no one knowing where she was.

After successfully freeing her, Jack helped her to her feet. Rachel croaked, "Thank you."

In a low voice, he said, "Seriously? Why so formal with me?"

Rachel opened her mouth and looked up only to find his sour face. He put his arm around her waist, and together, they walked toward Michael. That was when he noticed that something was wrong with her feet.

Frowning, he asked, "What's the matter with your feet?"

Rachel tried to rotate one foot, and a sharp pain shot up her body. It turned out that she had sprained her ankle.

Determined not to be a burden, she clenched her teeth and tried to move her foot again. It hurt even more than it had moments ago.

Awkwardly, she explained, "I think I sprained my ankle. It hurts too much. I can't walk."

Michael kicked the man who was on the floor. When he was sure that the man was unconscious, he turned his head. He saw Jack putting Rachel's arm around his neck and then carrying her with both arms.

Although he knew that it was inappropriate at the moment, Michael couldn't help but let out a loud whistle.

'That's my bro. Way to go, Jack!' he thought.

"Let's go," Jack said.

"Are we going back the way we came?" Michael asked.

Jack replied, "That's our only way out. The gate is locked."

He had found out, while they had been searching for Rachel, that there was no way to open the gate.

"Let's go downstairs first."

on the floor. Jack,

burning up to the door of the banquet hall. Now,

around them. All the curtains that had been on the windows had burned and fallen down, setting the

had walked through earlier was now engulfed in flames. Choking on the smoke, Michael fell back in shock. Coughing, he yelled, "Damn it! What the

her hold on Jack and said softly,

down and letting her stand on her feet. Holding

carpet and said, "I don't know what they've poured over here, but it ignites upon contact with fire. The three men upstairs

surely in flames. There was no way

way out now was to run back up the stairs. A worse fate awaited

It's still possible to go through the flames now. Let's go upstairs

Jack lifted Rachel off the floor. Together,

blush. She knew what she was feeling was highly inappropriate at the moment. In an attempt to hide her flushed face, she lowered her head and pressed her face against

was she

Jack walked as fast as he could with her

conscious now and was anxious to wake

panic, the three simply ignored him and

balcony. Shards of glass, from the window they had broken,

three were relieved upon hearing fire truck sirens from a distance. Outside the villa, a crowd had formed and was steadily

some distance away. The crowd could not easily see

took out

from the downstairs windows rose up and reached them where they stood. Choking and with watery

been holding her this whole

said in a low voice, "Put me

until she could steady herself. When it was clear that she could stand

in or for some other unknown reason, but Jack's thoughtful gestures were magnified

Rachel had been found.

narrow escape. The palm of her hand still hurt slightly. When she turned to

He asked, "What happened to you? You are seriously

villa. She was the only one who was unfortunate enough

her head and looked at her hand. She said, "I fell down. It was

How careless of her!

trying to get away, and no one had known that she was still here, she might have perished in

words to

to talk about it now.

arms and steadied her. "Your

He and those with him breathed a sigh of relief. The fire truck had arrived. Upon learning that they were fine, Rick felt glad. It was as if it was he himself who had escaped death. Without delay, he ran to the firefighters to

the nervous look in her eyes, he asked Michael to hold on. Then he handed

Rachel? I want to talk

He looked at Jack and Rachel, who were leaning against each other. He cleared his throat and handed Rachel