Once Bitten, Twice Shy

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The madman pressed the knife against the child’s neck once more.

“I’ll lock the door! Please don’t get upset. I’ll listen to you. Just don’t hurt the child!” Samantha said while retreating slowly to the door. She closed it gently and locked it with a click.

She then looked at the madman again and said in a very soft voice, “Sir, I’ve locked the door.”

The madman stared at the door lock for a while before finally looking toward Samantha. He spoke viciously and said, “Walk over here!”

Samantha walked toward him without saying another word.

When she was within a few steps from the madman, he stopped her and said, “Stop! You can just stand there!”

Samantha obediently followed his orders and stood motionlessly there.

Her obedience seemed to have satisfied the madman as his hostility dissipated a little. The hand that was holding a knife against the child’s neck was slowly relaxed too.

Samantha gently breathed a sigh of relief. She did her best to ensure that she spoke in the most natural and relaxed tone when she said, “Sir, I’m standing right in front of you now. You can tell me if you have any demands.”

The madman pressed his lips tightly and said nothing.

Samantha did not rush him but softened her tone instead. Instead of asking questions, she chatted casually, “Sir, have you seen the sky outside today? The air today is really fresh and the sky is so blue. It’s beautiful, not like the cloudy weather we had a few days ago.”

The madman unconsciously looked out the window, as if being swayed by her words.

However, he sneered not too long after that. “No matter how beautiful the scenery is, it’s all useless. This is a dog-eat-dog world. Everyone’s the same!”

Samantha maintained the momentum and asked, “Have you encountered something unpleasant, Sir? I’ll listen to you if you don’t mind telling me.”

“I have nothing!” the madman said. He then repeated in an even louder tone. “NOTHING! I lost my job, my money, and my wife brought my son away. I lost everything!

“I just… All I wanted…was to give my wife and son a better life. I received insider news that the stocks I invested in would go up. It went up very well at the beginning, so well that I was thinking about buying a big villa for my wife and son once I just invest a little more money. I decided to borrow some money online and invest all of it in.”

“But I was damned. After I put the money in, the stocks started crashing and crashing, and I lost it all. My wife even blamed me! Can you imagine her blaming me? Didn’t I buy those stocks for her sake too? She’s just the kind of woman who deserts their husbands after seeing them penniless!

“Then there are those debt collectors chasing me every day. They spouted all sorts of sweet words when I borrowed money from them. I only owe them money for a few days. I told them I’ll pay them back when my stock rises, but they kept pushing me and pushing me!

“My company’s even more laughable! They said my actions were misconduct and that they’d fire me. Do I deserve to be treated as less than a person just because I owe some money!

“There are also those stocks I bought. They’re all leeches who suck the blood of us investors. They make money like it’s nothing and couldn’t even care less about whether ordinary people like us live or die. Society is unfair! Don’t people at the bottom deserve to live? Fine by me, then! I’ll bring everyone down with me! We’ll die together!”

The madman became increasingly crazier and more animated as he spoke.

Samantha clenched her hand tightly and took a deep breath to suppress her anger.

The entire situation boiled down to the madman’s insatiable greed for money. He did not know when to quit after making a bit of money and suffered huge losses after borrowing more money to invest.

Instead of blaming himself for his own actions, he faulted his wife and son, thinking that he did all that for them. He blamed the world, society, and everyone else, and he still could not come to terms with his own actions. Even worse, other innocent people had to suffer for his sake, and the people he held hostage were children and women!

A person like him should really be punished, not once, but a thousand times over!

After Samantha calmed her emotions, she forced a smile and said, “Doesn’t this all come down to money? Money problems aren’t entirely unsolvable. It really isn’t worth going through all this trouble.”

“Easy for you to say! Do you know how much money is involved!” The madman was very angry and his entire face became even more savage, “Those rich guys are the ones that take it all away from us. They can never get enough of the money they make. It’s the rot in our society! Society is disgusting!”

As he said that, he had a spine-chilling smile on his face. “I’ll die here today and show everyone just how vicious this dog-eat-dog world is. I’d be happy enough if this is the last contribution I make to society.”

He hugged the child in front of him tightly, “Hey kid. You and I will die here together. It’ll be worth it!”

The child had been keeping quiet and holding back his fear, but the madman’s words frightened him so much that his emotions crumbled completely. He burst out in tears and cried, “I don’t want to die…”

Samantha’s expression sank.

The child would have been better off silent because the madman might go crazy if the child started making a fuss.

Sure enough, the child’s cries and struggles made the madman even more ruthless. “You little b*stard. Shut up or I’ll stab you to death if you cry again!”

The police officer outside heard the situation and spoke calmly to Samantha through the Bluetooth earpiece, “Hello, Samantha. I’m a policeman. I want you to listen carefully to me. Our sniper is already in place on the roof of the opposite building and is now aiming at the madman. However, the window is in the way and I need you to do two things!”

Samantha could not give a response so she pretended to touch the hair near her ears with her fingers, and tapped the earphone twice with her finger to indicate that she had heard it.

The voice sounded again over there. “First, you must walk to the window and open it.

“Second, you have to find a way to distract the madman’s attention. His attention must remain on you for at least thirty seconds.”

Both things were extremely difficult, because for one, the madman would not allow her to walk around for no reason or even open the window. Distracting the madman for thirty seconds was even trickier.

As difficult as it was, she had no choice but to do it because the child would die otherwise!

‘Calm down, Samantha. Calm down! You can do it. Believe in yourself!’

Samantha cheered herself on and looked right at the madman, saying, “Sir, do you know who I am?”

The madman did not even look at her and merely yelled at the child in his arms. “Cry again and I’ll kill you right now!”

He held the knife against the child’s neck.

Samantha’s hand clenched tighter and she continued speaking clearly, “Do you know who Timothy Barker is then? The CEO of the Barker Group?”

Timothy Barker, Barker Group.

Those words prompted the madman to look suddenly at Samantha..