Unveiled: The Survivor's Triumph

Faye was freaking out, crying and huddling in the corner.

I was losing it too, but I tried to keep it together and warned Quade. "You better think twice. Mess with us, and you'll regret it."

Quade just laughed it off. "Regret? Whatever, I'm still doing it. If I go down, I wanna go down happy."

I couldn't believe my words not only didn't scare him but made him even more determined.

Quade tossed his jacket, and the mustache guy caught it.

He started unbuckling his belt, heading straight for Faye.

Suddenly, there was a loud bang, and the iron door flew open.

Seeing Dennis standing there, my heart, which had been drowning in despair, suddenly sparked with hope.

"Who the hell are you?" Quade yelled at Dennis, his belt half-off.

Dennis glanced at me, then strolled in with a grin.

"Sorry, the snow's brutal out there. Needed a place to crash. Figured this old factory was empty."

"Get lost. I'm no saint; I don't take in strays," Quade snapped.

Dennis didn't even flinch. He sat on a wooden plank and casually lit a cigarette.

"Not a great time to be wandering in this weather."

Quade yanked his belt all the way off, pointing it at Dennis, ready to strike. "Are you messing with me?" Dennis kept smoking, totally ignoring him.

I was pretty worried for Dennis, seeing as Quade had the numbers.

Dennis's chill attitude seemed to piss Quade off even more, and he swung his belt.

"Get him."

At Quade's command, his guys rolled up their sleeves, grabbed weapons, and got ready to rumble.

But just as the mustache guy grabbed his weapon, an iron rod came out of nowhere and knocked it out of his hand.

I didn't even see where the rod came from; I just knew the mustache guy was now shaking his hand in pain.

Quade's crew was still in shock. And in a flash, Dennis was in front of us, shielding Faye and me.

I knew Dennis was always Ethan's driver. But Ethan only had him drive when he was too drunk or something. Dennis was low-key, and I barely interacted with him, so he was kind of a ghost. Now, I finally took a good look at him.

He was tall and looked pretty solid, but not like a bodybuilder. He wasn't old, maybe early thirties.

Realizing Dennis had played him, Quade looked embarrassed and cursed. "Meddling in other people's business, huh? Get him."

At Quade's shout, they all rushed at Dennis.

Even though I had a feeling Dennis was hiding his true skills, I was still worried for him.

After all, he was just a driver, and taking on so many guys alone seemed impossible.

But soon, I realized my worry was pointless.

I had no idea Dennis was such a badass. Even with all of them attacking at once, they were no match for him.

I secretly felt relieved, knowing we were saved.

In no time, everyone except Quade was down.

"Who the hell are you?"

Seeing Dennis's strength, Quade didn't charge blindly anymore.

Dennis dusted off his clothes and said calmly, "Just a guy."

At that moment, footsteps echoed outside.

Seeing the familiar figure at the door, my eyes welled up with tears.

Ethan took a drag on his cigarette, exhaling smoke slowly as he walked in.

"Dennis, I told you to go easy. Why are they all down?"

Listening to Ethan's cocky words and seeing Quade's crew in their current state, I felt an indescribable sense of satisfaction.

Dennis shrugged innocently. "I did go easy. Didn't expect them to be so weak."

"Ethan?" Quade clearly recognized him and looked pretty scared.

I figured after what Quade did to Faye, Ethan wouldn't have let him off easy and must've given him a good beating. But now, it seemed Quade had forgotten the pain after his wounds healed. Ethan stood a few feet away, smoking, not making a move, but his calm demeanor was intimidating.

Then another guy walked in, someone I recognized from the last time Ethan was gambling at the underground casino-Simon.

With Simon's appearance, Quade's crew got even more nervous.

"Mr. Green." They greeted him anxiously.

Simon strode over and kicked one of them in the stomach, cursing, "You've been with me for so long, and I never knew you had such guts."

The small fry trembled in fear, heads down. "Mr. Green, we didn't dare, we..."

At the critical moment, they probably wanted to rat out Quade but were too scared.

But Simon was a smart guy. If he was here now, he probably knew everything.

He grabbed Quade by the collar. "Getting backup behind my back?"

Quade turned into a wimp in front of Simon, begging for mercy.

"Mr. Green, my bad, I really messed up. I didn't mean to cause you any trouble. Please, forgive me."

Simon shoved him to the ground. "I honor my bets, but you're screwing me over."

Then he turned to Ethan, coughed lightly, and said sincerely, "I swear on my life, I destroyed that video. I didn't know they secretly made a copy." Quade nodded frantically. "Yeah, yeah, we made a copy. It has nothing to do with Mr. Green."

I started to piece it together-the USB drive must have that video on it.

So when Ethan bet with Simon to get the USB drive back, he was trying to stop that video from spreading and ruining Faye.

Just as Quade was about to get up, a shoe pressed down on his face.

He lay there, one side of his face mashed against the floor, unable to move.

"Quade, tell me, what are you up to today?" Ethan's tone was calm, but the pressure of his foot was intense, distorting Quade's face. Quade mumbled, "I was wrong."

Ethan lifted his shoe, and just as Quade sighed in relief, he let out a high-pitched scream.

Because after lifting his foot, Ethan kicked him right in the groin.

"If this thing is so disobedient, why not just cut it off?"

Quade begged for mercy desperately.

Dennis had already untied the ropes for Faye and me.

As soon as Faye was free, she ran into Ethan's arms, crying her heart out.

This time, Faye's tears were real; she must have been mentally shattered.

Ethan gently patted her back, comforting her. "Alright, it's over. Don't cry. Your agent is waiting for you outside."

Faye clung to his clothes, unwilling to let go, but Ethan kept his distance. She struggled for a bit before finally letting go, wiping her tears, and slowly walking outside.

Before she could step out, her agent rushed in, draped a coat over her and put a hat on her.

Ethan looked at me, his gaze intense, and suddenly strode towards me.

He lifted my chin, staring at my face, a storm brewing in his eyes. "Who hit you?"

The guy with the mustache was so scared his legs went weak, and he immediately knelt on the ground. "I did it. I was wrong."

"Slap yourself," Simon kicked him and said.

The mustache guy nodded and started slapping himself with both hands.

"How did he hit you?" Ethan asked me with a dark expression.

The mustache guy quickly explained, "I only slapped her once, just once. Nothing else."

He suddenly remembered something and hurriedly took out two phones from his pocket, offering them with both hands.

"And I took these two phones. I didn't touch her, really didn't touch her."

Before he could finish speaking, Ethan kicked him far away.

The mustache guy wriggled like a worm, desperately trying to crawl away.

Ethan didn't kick him again, just told Simon, "He's your man, you deal with him."

Then he turned and picked me up, walking out.

I could walk on my own, so he put me down and held my hand firmly.

As we walked out, I didn't see Faye; her agent must have taken her away.

We got into the back seat of the car, with Dennis driving.

The car quickly left that nightmarish place.

I asked, "How did you know we were here? And Dennis is so skilled; I never knew."

Dennis heard me and laughed from the front, "I'm not that skilled. I just like practicing martial arts, and it came in handy today."

Ethan smirked and snorted, "They were pretty stupid kidnappers. Don't they know the hotel and the whole city are full of surveillance cameras? It's not that easy to take someone away without anyone noticing. They just dug a hole for themselves."

Dennis dropped us off at the villa and then drove away.

Back in the living room, Ethan had me sit on the sofa and then went into the kitchen, coming out with an ice pack.

He sat next to me, wrapped the ice pack in a towel, and carefully applied it to my face.

Thinking back on everything that happened tonight, I felt a mix of emotions. "Actually, Faye needs more comfort."

I was telling the truth. I didn't know Faye had gone through so much before.

Pitiful people must have something detestable about them, but detestable people were also pitiful.

Ethan said calmly, "She's tougher than you think."

Recalling the video, Faye cried helplessly, and just now she screamed and cried, clearly very broken.

But I believed Ethan's words. I shouldn't underestimate her mental resilience.

If she didn't have enough mental resilience, how could she still be so cheerful after going through such things? Even if she was choosing to forget to fool herself, it still takes a lot of effort to pull that off.

"So the USB drive contained that video?" I asked.