Take My Breath Away

As soon as Erica heard the noise from the wall and saw two people running toward her, flashlights knifing through the gloom, she knew they were after her.

Time pressing, she grabbed her hand and began to run.

"Why are we running? You tick someone off?" The girl was confused. 'Or maybe she stole something? After all, she climbed over the wall, ' she thought.

"Yeah, a real big shot. By the way, I saw you sneaking around the wall. You should run too, otherwise we'll both be caught. Something tells me that won't be a walk in the park," Erica answered without looking back.

'Oh, my God! Thanks to that jerk Matthew, my legs feel like concrete, and I think I'm slowing down in my old age, ' she thought.

At the Li family's house

Blair rang Gifford. "Hey, do you know where Chantel is? If not, go find her!" she yelled.

"Hey, hey. Slow down. You mean she's missing?" he asked in confusion.

"Today's Saturday. She should be here. She texted me she was going on a trip, but I haven't been able to get ahold of her since then. It's been six or seven hours, and I think she turned off her phone. It goes straight to voice mail," Blair said. Chantel usually stayed at the Li family's house on weekends to make sure Blair and Wesley were well taken care of. This was weird.

Knowing that things sometimes go wrong on trips, Blair just wanted to call to ask if she had arrived. Six or seven hours should be plenty of time to get somewhere and settle in.

"Where did she go? Maybe she's still on the plane," Gifford said. "Six or seven hours isn't that unusual if you're flying to another country. And you're not supposed to have your phone on then, anyway."

Blair shook her head. "Your father had someone look into it. She flew to Y City. That's only 2.5 hours by plane. She should be there by now. And why isn't she answering her phone?"

"I think you're overreacting, Mom. Tell you what: I'll call you as soon as I find her. Don't worry. She'll be fine."

"Okay."

Near a five-star hotel in Y City, two girls whispered to each other while taking turns checking out the entrance.

At first, Erica wanted to ask the girl beside her to go home, but she got to thinking—if she used her ID card to check in, Matthew would have no trouble finding her. She didn't feel like having that conversation.

So instead she urged the girl to check in for her. "I'll give you two

ed the hotel with her head down and took the elevator to the 13th floor.

In the room, Chantel was still amazed at the luxurious decor. Erica breathed a sigh of relief and slumped onto the sofa. "I need a shower. You want to go first?"

"There are two bathrooms. We can take a shower at the same time!" When she saw Erica's dirty-minded grin, she clarified, "Not like that!" In order to make it convenient for the guests, there were two shower rooms and a bathtub in the suite.

"Okay!"

Erica had always been wild and free. In the dead of night, she hugged the pillow for comfort and gradually fell asleep.

Erica was roused from her sleep by someone knocking on the door. She didn't know how long she'd been asleep. She was still in a daze, and wanted to tell the person knocking to go away.

She got up from bed, holding onto a nightstand to steady herself, and put on her slippers. She woke up more and walked towards the door, completely forgetting where she was. She opened the door hard and shouted, "What the hell? Ahhh! Why are you here?" When she saw the person standing there, she immediately woke up.

Gifford rolled his eyes at her. "Get out of the way!"

"What? How did you know I was here?" Realizing she had asked a stupid question, she changed her tone and followed Gifford into the room. "Hey, did Matthew send you? Are you supposed to take me back with you?"

Standing in the middle of the room with arms akimbo, Gifford pointed at Chantel, who was also confused, and told Erica, "I'm not here for you. I'm looking for her. I'm sure Matthew will be here soon."