Chapter 200: Scammed 4 Times...
The capital’s concrete jungle gave way to rolling green plains faster than Jake expected. The smooth multi-lane highway gradually narrowed into a standard two-lane provincial road, the asphalt showing signs of heavy freight wear with occasional patches of loose gravel.
Jake looked out the window, taking a deep breath of the fresh, open air. For years, his world had been nothing but towering glass buildings, cramped boardrooms, and glowing computer screens. Seeing the endless stretch of open land, the wide blue sky, and the distant hills felt strangely freeing. ’I should have left the city a long time ago,’ he thought, a rare feeling of absolute peace settling over him.
Inside the cabin of the Brabus, the atmosphere was loud. Melissa had already abandoned her movie, choosing instead to lean over the center console to argue about the music.
"Jake, I love you for the tablet, but your music taste is literally ancient," Melissa complained, plugging her phone into the auxiliary cord before Catharine could stop her. "You have the brain of a genius and the musical taste of a retired history teacher. We need rhythm for a road trip."
A loud, electronic pop track blasted through the premium speakers, the bass rattling the door panels.
Catharine winced, reaching out to turn the volume knob down a fraction. "Mel, my ears are already ringing. And sit back properly, the seatbelt won’t work if you’re hovering over the dashboard."
"Come on, Cathy, live a little! We’re out of the city!" Melissa bounced back into the leather seat, kicking her legs slightly. "Hey Jake, let’s play twenty questions. I get to start."
Jake caught her enthusiastic grin in the rearview mirror, one hand casually resting on the steering wheel as he kept the Brabus steady at a comfortable cruising speed. "Go ahead, Mel. But if it’s about my money again, Cathy is going to throw your phone out the window."
"Fine, fine. Question one," Melissa leaned forward, her eyes sparkling. "If you could buy any sports team in the world right now, which one would it be, and would you let me be the mascot?"
"I don’t think the team managers would approve a high schooler in a giant eagle suit, Mel," Jake chuckled. "But I’d probably pick the capital’s football club. Just so I could fire the coach. His decisions during the winter finals were painful to watch."
"See? Everything is a hostile takeover with him," Catharine teased, turning her head to smile at Jake. She looked incredibly relaxed, the constant tension in her shoulders from her regulatory work finally melting away under the warm morning sun filtering through the windshield.
Jake glanced over at Catharine, completely captivated by how beautiful she looked when she wasn’t stressed about work. He lifted his left hand from the wheel, taking her hand and bringing it to his lips, kissing the back of it gently. "You look gorgeous today, by the way," he murmured, his voice soft.
Catharine blushed, her eyes turning warm as she leaned over, pressing a sweet, lingering kiss against his cheek. "Thank you. You’re not so bad yourself."
From the back seat, a loud, dramatic gagging sound cut through the romance.
"Oh, please, mercy!" Melissa cried, throwing her hands over her eyes in mock agony. "My eyes are burning! I am trapped in a metal box with two lovebirds. Stop being so lovey-dovey, it’s absolutely disgusting! I’m going to throw up my breakfast."
Jake and Catharine both burst out laughing, Jake squeezing Catharine’s hand tightly before resting it back on the center console, keeping his fingers intertwined with hers just to make Melissa groan again.
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Two hours into the journey, the landscape changed from open fields to dusty acacia trees, and small rural towns began to appear at regular intervals. Every time the Brabus slowed down to pass through a local hub, the reactions were identical.
In a small dusty town called Boulevard, the heavy black wagon stopped at a red light right next to a local open-air market. The aggressive growl of the V8 engine immediately drew every eye on the street. Vendors holding up bags of oranges stopped shouting, and a group of young men sitting outside a local spares shop stood up to stare at the wide-body kit, the massive rims, and the dark tint.
"Look at that," Melissa whispered, peaking out the tinted window. "They’re staring like a spaceship just landed."
"Hopefully they know not to touch a spaceship," Catharine added, looking back at the rearview mirror.
Exactly five hundred yards behind them, Elias’s sleek black S-Class cruised silently, its dark windows and pristine finish looking equally out of place among the local delivery trucks and rusted sedans. The two-car procession looked like a high-level transport, causing local traffic to give them a very wide berth.
By the third hour, the early morning wake-up call finally caught up with Melissa. The loud pop music had been replaced by a soft acoustic playlist, and her head was slumped against the leather headrest, her mouth slightly open as she snored softly, her precious tablet held tightly in her arms.
"She’s out," Catharine whispered, looking back over her shoulder with a fond smile. She turned back to Jake, her voice dropping to a quiet, intimate tone. "Thank you for doing this, Jake. Seriously. You didn’t have to."
"I wanted to," Jake said, his eyes scanning the beautiful expanse of the countryside. Trees and hills rolled past under the bright sun, a massive contrast to the gray concrete he was used to. ’This is exactly what I needed,’ he thought to himself. "It’s nice. No phones ringing every three minutes, no market updates. Just the road and you."
Catharine smiled, resting her head gently on his shoulder as he drove.
Around midday, Jake pulled the Brabus into the parking lot of a modern, bustling highway junction mall on the outskirts of Palapye. The complex was busy, filled with travelers stretching their legs and families getting lunch.
"Wake up, sleeper," Catharine said, shaking Melissa’s shoulder. "Food stop."
Melissa blinked awake, instantly wiping her mouth. "Are we there?"
"Not yet. Halfway," Jake said, killing the engine. "Let’s grab some lunch and stretch our legs."
As they walked through the sun-baked parking lot toward the main entrance of the shopping center, they passed a shaded area near the taxi rank. A middle-aged man in a worn-out jacket approached them, looking distressed.
"Excuse me, boss," the man said, addressing Jake with a pleading look. "I’m stranded. I came here for a job interview but it fell through, and now I don’t have the bus fare to get back to my village to see my kids. Anything helps, please."
Jake didn’t hesitate. He reached into his pocket, pulled out a crisp hundred-mark note, and handed it to the man without a word. The man’s face lit up, bowing his head repeatedly as he thanked him profusely.
As they continued walking toward the fast-food court, Catharine leaned in closer to Jake, her eyebrows raised. "Jake, you do know that’s the oldest trick in the book, right? He’s probably been standing by that taxi rank all morning using the same line."
"Probably," Jake said easily, pushing open the glass doors of the mall.
Ten minutes later, while they were waiting in line at a chicken outlet, a young woman with a baby wrapped tightly on her back approached them, offering the exact same story about missing a bus back to her children in the western district. Jake handed over another hundred marks.
By the time they sat down at a corner table with their meals, two more people had approached their table with variations of the stranded parent routine. Each time, Jake handed out the cash without asking for explanations or showing any annoyance.
Melissa was busy tearing into a chicken wing, but she kept eyeing Jake like he had lost his mind. "Jake, at this rate, you’re going to have to trade this car for a bicycle just to afford the trip home. Even I know those guys are full of baloney."
Catharine shook her head, looking at him with a mix of amusement and curiosity. "I thought you were a ruthless businessman who calculates every single cent. Why are you letting them open your pockets so easily?"
Jake took a sip of his soda, a small, unbothered smile on his face. "If I give money to ten people who are lying, it doesn’t hurt me at all. But if the eleventh person is actually telling the truth, and they really are stuck out here without a way to get back to their kids, then the hundred marks actually matters. I don’t mind giving money to the ten scammers if it means the one who’s actually desperate gets home."
Catharine stared at him for a second, her expression softening completely. She reached across the table, squeezing his hand warmly. ’He acts so tough in the business world, but he has the biggest heart, she thought.’
Outside in the parking lot, the atmosphere was significantly less peaceful.
Three local guys in oversized hoodies had been eyeing the Brabus since it pulled in. Noting the capital license plates and assuming the owner was just a rich, soft city boy, they huddled near the rear bumper.
"Yo, this ride is probably worth millions," one of them whispered, pulling a slim metal tool from his pocket. "The owner’s inside eating. Do it fast."
He stepped up to the driver’s side door panel while the other two stood watch, looking around suspiciously. But before the metal tool could even touch the handle, a heavy, gloved hand clamped down on the guy’s shoulder like a steel vice.
The thief gasped, trying to twist away, but he was instantly slammed face-first against the reinforced glass of the Brabus window with a loud thud. Elias stood over him, his massive, broad-shouldered frame completely blocking out the sun. His face was carved out of stone, his eyes carrying the icy, lethal glare of a man who had survived years on actual battlefields.
"Step away from the vehicle," Elias said, his voice a low, terrifying growl that sounded like grinding rocks.
The other two accomplices panicked, but instead of running, they tried to act tough. One of them flashed a small pocket knife, stepping forward. "Hey, old man! Let him go or I’ll carve you up! You think you’re tough because you’re big?"
Elias didn’t even blink at the sight of the knife. An amused, dangerous smirk tugged at the corner of his lips. ’Kids playing with toys,’ the ex-soldier thought.
"You’ve got three seconds to drop that toothpick before I break your arm in three different places," Elias said calmly, his voice completely steady.
"Screw you!" the thief yelled, lunging forward with the knife.
Elias moved with lightning speed, a blur of motion born from years of military combat. He easily sidestepped the clumsy lunge, slapped the thief’s wrist to send the knife flying, and grabbed the man’s arm, twisting it sharply behind his back. At the same moment, two plainclothes guards from the S-Class materialized from the side corridor, sweeping the legs of the third thief and slamming him hard onto the ground.
A sharp groan echoed through the parking lot as Elias pressed the knife-wielder down onto the hood of the car, securing his hands with heavy zip-ties.
"You picked the wrong car today, boys," Elias murmured into the ear of the terrified thief, who was now trembling against the hot metal.
Elias adjusted his earpiece, his voice returning to a calm, professional level as he spoke into his lapel microphone. "Perimeter secure. Threat neutralized. No damage to the principal’s asset."
Inside the mall, Jake, Catharine, and Melissa finished their lunch, entirely oblivious to the confrontation. Melissa was busy laughing at a video on her tablet, and Catharine was packing away the leftover napkins.
As they walked out of the exit doors toward the parking lot, Jake noticed Elias standing casually near the front fender of the Brabus, looking completely relaxed, though his eyes were sharp as needles, scanning the area.
Jake walked a few steps ahead of the girls, catching Elias’s eye. Elias gave a very subtle, tight nod toward the edge of the parking deck, where a local security vehicle had just arrived to pick up the three bound thieves.
"We had a minor tactical interference while you were inside, sir," Elias reported in a low, level voice as Jake approached. "Three local elements attempted unauthorized entry into the vehicle. They have been detained. We can delay the departure by an hour to file a formal police report and press charges."
Jake looked back at Catharine and Melissa. Melissa was playfully punching Catharine’s arm, arguing about who got to choose the next snack stop. He turned back to his head of security. ’They’re having too much fun today. I’m not going to ruin this trip over some low-level street thieves,’ Jake thought.
"Don’t bother," Jake said quietly. "We’re on a schedule, and I don’t want to ruin the girls’ day with paperwork. Tell mall security to hand them over to the local precinct and let them deal with it. Let’s just move."
"Understood, Mr. Rivers," Elias excelled a crisp nod, stepping back to unlock the doors.
"Everything okay?" Catharine asked as she climbed into the passenger seat, noticing Jake looking toward the edge of the parking lot.
"Perfect," Jake said, jumping into the driver’s seat and turning the key. The V8 roared back to life, clearing out the lingering heat of the midday sun. "Mel, get your playlist ready. We have two hours left, and the roads are about to get bumpy."
"Oh, you are not ready for this next track!" Melissa yelled from the back, already waving her phone in triumph.
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