LISA'S POV
For a moment, I had forgotten the situation I was in. I'd forgotten that I was a wanted criminal—and, worst of all, I had absolutely no idea how to get myself out of this mess.
I was smart, and I could handle myself in a fight, but I was confused. What was my next move? What was I supposed to do? Should I sit back and wait, watching how things unfolded, or should I take action before things got even worse?
I turned to look at Simon. He raised an eyebrow, silently urging me to continue with my story.
I sighed and began narrating everything that had happened. After what felt like an eternity, I finally finished.
"So, yeah, that's how I ended up here. You're currently looking at the youngest wanted criminal in the country. But since I've escaped, I guess I'm probably the youngest wanted criminal in the world now, right?" I asked, addressing absolutely no one in particular.
Throughout my story, Simon had sat there with his mouth hanging open and his eyes wide in disbelief.
I sighed and snapped my fingers in front of his face.
"Earth to Simon!" I said with a smirk.
As though someone had suddenly pulled him out of a trance, he gasped and shook his head.
"Wow! You're in a really nasty situation," he said, adjusting his glasses.
"Well, thanks for the reminder," I replied sarcastically.
"And your best friend? She's such a loser! I can't believe she would do something like that to you. You must have been devastated. And your stepfather? He's even worse! How could he frame you for something like this? It doesn't make any sense that the police would believe him so easily!" he exclaimed with a frown.
"I know, right? But that's life, I guess. Sometimes, things happen that you never see coming. And right now, all I want is to get out of this mess."
"So, what's your plan? I'm going to help you. We're in similar situations. We've both been betrayed by people we trusted, and our mothers are caught up in similar circumstances. I'll do whatever I can to help you."
I barely managed to hold back my laughter.
"What exactly do you think you can do with that skinny body of yours? They'll probably scare you into giving up before you even get the chance to do anything. That's probably why you got caught while working undercover. You don't have the guts for this kind of thing."
"Hey! That's mean!" he protested. "And before you forget, I'm Simon, the hacker. You're definitely going to need my help. I may not be good with my fists, but I'm good with my hands. Besides, I can learn how to fight!"
I couldn't help smiling.
"Fine, then. Here's the plan. First, we need to find out where their boss is. From what I heard that son of a bitch say, the boss personally requested my mother. That means we need to find out who he is and where he's hiding. We also need to figure out how to get away from here and find the resources we'll need to continue our search. And, of course, money will be important."
"Wow! That's quite a plan," Simon remarked. "I'll see what I can find out about the boss. But how exactly are we going to get out of here? And where are we supposed to get the money?"
"Let's just say I have a few ideas for what we'll do once we're out of this place," I replied with a smirk.
We had no idea how many days we'd spent there, but we knew it had been more than one. The room was dark, with no windows or way of telling whether it was day or night. Still, despite our terrible conditions, we'd been making progress with our plans.
By then, we were both exhausted, hungry and desperately thirsty.
"At this rate, we're going to die before we even get the chance to escape," Simon complained.
"Don't lose hope. We need to stay strong and show them that we aren't going to break so easily. That's exactly what they want—to see us give up. We can't give them that satisfaction," I said, offering him an encouraging smile.
Just then, we heard footsteps approaching.
"I hope you've finally learned your lesson. Maybe now you'll understand that you can't go around running your mouth whenever you feel like it," a stranger said as he unlocked the door.
"Come on out. We don't want you dying on us. You're the most beautiful girl here, and we need you alive. You're going to make us a lot of money."
He burst into laughter.
"Come on. Let's go," I said to Simon.
"They won't let me out. They said they want me dead, but not before making me suffer for a while," he replied with a sad smile.
I scoffed.
"And here I was, listening to you talk about helping me. I didn't realise your days were already numbered."
I turned towards the man standing at the doorway.
"I'm not leaving without him! I'm willing to make you a lot of money, but he's coming with me. If he doesn't, then forget the money and forget everything else!"
"You're one naughty bitch, aren't you? Seems like you still haven't learned your lesson," he muttered before walking away.
A few minutes later, we heard footsteps again, followed by the sound of the door opening.
"Both of you, out!" another voice commanded. This one sounded much more authoritative.
We hurried out of the basement, and I immediately squeezed my eyes shut. The light was so bright that, for a moment, I thought it would blind me.
"I haven't seen daylight in God knows how long," Simon muttered beside me.
We were taken back to the container where the other girls were being held. I immediately noticed that their numbers had increased. Unfortunately, so had the number of men guarding the place.
I moved closer to where Simon was sitting.
"I'm observing the area. We need an escape plan. When they brought us here, I estimated that we'd been travelling for about an hour. The road also seemed quite narrow."
"Yeah. There's an abandoned hospital somewhere around here. Apparently, a lot of people died there, and people say the place is haunted. Nobody really comes around this area, so I guess they chose a pretty convenient location," he explained, nodding thoughtfully.
I smacked the back of his head.
"Focus! We need to make our move tonight. Our first priority is getting out of here. Once we're somewhere safe, we can figure out what to do next. That's where you'll come in."
"Me?" he asked, adjusting his glasses. "Where do you need me to hack into?" he added with a grin.
I rolled my eyes.
"Is hacking the only thing you ever think about? We'll discuss all that once we're out of here. For now, let's concentrate on getting away. Make sure you eat as much as you can tonight. Something tells me we're going to have a very long night."