Love Began with the First Meeting
Chapter 633 The Deadly Test (Part Two)

"There's no time left!" Brian cut in, his voice higher than usual. Then he turned around and sneaked into the opposite building. Stunned, Tony didn't have a choice but to go after his boss.

Brian wasn't being himself. He was hasty. Calculating as per usual, but overwhelmed with a sense of urgency regarding his next moves. They didn't take the elevator. Instead, they continued to walk up the stairwell until their position was in line with the red dot. They stood in front of the apartment that had a view of the opposite building. "I'll knock!" volunteered Tony.

As soon as Brian gave him permission, he knocked on the door and cleared his throat.

The door opened. "Who are you looking for?" A girl in her twenties, looking just about Molly's age, stood by the doorway in her cotton nightdress. She looked dauntless, having to deal with two strangers in her doorstep so late at night. This made things easier for Tony. Tony took out his wallet and pulled out a small pile of banknotes. "We want to borrow your place for a moment," he said directly, "We won't take long."

The girl looked at Tony, then shifted her eyes at Brian, and leant against the door frame. "I don't really need money..." she said slowly, "But it would be inappropriate to let you in for free." She looked at Brian intentionally before continuing, "I haven't had dinner yet. Why don't you invite me to eat instead?"

"Tony." Brian said curtly. He was in no mood to deal with the girl's preposterous demand.

Understanding him, Tony grabbed the girl and pulled her out of the apartment. The girl didn't even have time to scream as both Brian and Tony entered the house, slamming the door behind them. The girl banged on the door loudly, shouting that she hadn't even changed her clothes yet.

Brian peered through the windows, replaceing a spot with the most visibility of the opposite building. He stopped behind the one in the messy living room. He couldn't help but grimace. The room was littered with snack bags.

Brian hid behind the curtains, peering only through a narrow gap. Suddenly, his cell phone rang.

"Mr. Brian Long!" said the man brightly, his voice disguised with a voice modulator."Time's already up, and yet you, are a no-show." He sighed loudly on the other end. "No surprise there." The sound of a violent smack disturbed Brian as he heard Molly shriek. "I guess you're right after all," muttered the man before talking normally on the phone again. "It seems Mr. Brian Long really doesn't care about Molly's death at all."

Brian formed a fist with his hand as he dropped it to his side. Due to distance and poor lighting, he didn't have a clear view of what was happening inside the apartment on the same floor at the other building.

"She's just one of my playthings." Brian sounded cool and indifferent but his bloodthirsty eagle eyes told a different story.

"Really?" challenged the man, "If so..." The man's voice trailed off, only to be followed by Molly's cry. He put his phone on loudspeaker, looked at Molly, and slowly said, "Mr. Brian Long is really calm right now." Brian was fuming, his voice eerily slow and calm. "You can keep hurting her but... I'm afraid, you can't afford the consequences."

"Ha-ha!" The man laughed, and with his mechanical voice modulator on, it sounded creepy. "Does this mean that Mr. Brian Long care now?" He looked at Molly who had blood oozing from the cut in the corner of her lips. "If I don't see you within ten minutes," he said threateningly, "Molly Xia might just lose a valuable part of her body." Brian didn't answer. "I mean it! I'm warning you!"

Brian eyed the room where Molly was in. Trembling a bit, he managed to control himself from doing anything careless. Prominent veins were visible on his forehead. With a clenched jaw and painstakingly restrained anger, he swallowed hard before saying, "Do whatever you want..." Through the loudspeaker, Molly heard the cold, unsentimental voice that she was very familiar with. She looked terrible. Half her face was swollen, and her hair was all over the place. Looking at the phone in the man's hand, she tried to hold back the tears.

"Hahaha!" The man laughed as he looked at Molly's hopeless expression. His eyes showed a hint of new-found desire. "Look at that. I suddenly replace Mr. Brian Long's woman quite charming."

Brian heard the sound of clothes being torn apart. Hearing Molly's screams tortured him beyond imagination. He didn't realize he was holding back his breath.

Brian squinted his eyes through the window and saw the man dragging Molly towards him by the hair. She struggled to pull away from him, having no time to register any pain. The Derringer managed to slip from the palm of his hand. He narrowly caught it before it fell. He turned on the insurance and tried to regain his composure. "Plaything or not," he said, "As long as it is mine... I don't appreciate other people taking it from me." Tony came into the room. Brian looked at him and nodded, placing his gun on his side as he gestured his orders. As Tony left the room, he turned towards the window and looked at the opposite side once more. "If you want to play, it's okay. Just think of it as the last thing you'll ever get to do before you die." The man laughed at him. "Oh, by the way," added Brian, "I suggest you change the wallpaper. Water green doesn't match your ugly face."

The man instinctively looked around. Then he stared outside through the window, alarmed by Brian's words, but did not replace anything unusual. After all, he had chosen that place to avoid being monitored. "You..."

The man hung up the phone in frustration. Molly's eyes grew wide as she noticed his ferocious glare directed at him.

Molly bit her lower lip in fear. Her blouse was savagely torn apart by the man, exposing her cleavage. Ashamed and sad, she didn't know what to do anymore.

The man turned to his lackeys. "Take her away!"

"Yes!"

Everyone scurried to get Molly and dragged her out of the room. They no longer needed to use a lot of force with her. For a moment, it seemed like she had lost the will to survive. The man who wore a cap followed them closely from behind. When the crowd reached the elevator, the then in cap noted that all were going up. After giving it some thought, he said coldly, "Take the stairs. Move it!"

While his subordinates raced for the stairs, the door of the elevator opened. A few people came out in a rush, looking heavily armed. Stopping for nothing, they ran towards the stairs.

In the dark, their noisy footsteps echoed in the stairwell. Even if Molly somehow managed to slip away from the men's clutches now, she didn't know if it was possible to outrun them. She kept checking behind them, hoping someone would show up to save her. "There's also people downstairs!"

The man in cap paused to observe. He heard the footsteps from both ends, and looked up, "To the roof!"

Upon quick observation, Tony noted that Molly was being dragged to the roof by at least five men. "Go to the roof, Tony. Stop them." Tony heard Brian through his earphones. With a back up strong enough to overpower their limited numbers, Tony confidently complied with his boss' orders.

"Roger that," he said, and turned to his men. "To the roof."

With the sky as dark as ink, the dazzling stars stood out more prominently. The wind brought about a summer night breeze. It was the perfect weather for a contrastingly terrible event to occur. Molly shivered as they reached the roof, partly because of the gust of wind that blew her hair, but mostly because of the fear that she was too mentally drained to keep inside of her any longer. 0000