Chapter 535: Intruder (1)
Wathcing the girl run towards the danger, Gabe could only shake his head! What the!!! He wanted to call her out but that might alert the intruder to their presence, putting her in more danger.
Cursing under his breath, he quickly followed in her wake. However, despite his best effort, he found himself hindered by the darkness and the unfamiliar layout of the house, his progress slowed by the obstacles that loomed in his path. He’d barely made it to the base of the steps when he saw her shadowy figure disappearing upstairs.
He’d reached halfway, when she heard the sounds of scuffling begin and a man’s loud groan, followed by more sounds. Finally, his heart pounding in fear... he saw them.
In the doorway of the room, Autumn struggled against the intruder’s grasp, her face contorted with fear and determination as the man tried to choke her. Gabe’s blood ran cold as he watched the scene unfold before him, his instincts kicking into overdrive. The man was not trying to scare her but actually kill her.
Without a moment’s hesitation, he lunged forward, his body moving on pure instinct as he closed the distance between them in a matter of seconds. With a swift, practiced motion, he delivered a powerful punch to the intruder’s side, the force of it sending the man sprawling onto his back with a grunt of pain.
As the crumpled to the ground, Gabe rushed to her side, "Are you okay?", he asked with concern evident in his voice and helped her get steady on her feet.
Autumn nodded, her breath coming in ragged gasps as she clung to him for support. "I... I think so," she whispered, her eyes wide with shock as she glanced at the intruder lying unconscious on the floor.
Gabe’s jaw tightened with the need to give her a piece of his mind for being foolish but instead he ordered her," Stay here. And call the police." He noticed when she hesitated so he simply dialed the number and handed her the phone on speaker mode, and listened to her detail the incident.
Once the dispatch assured her that they were sending a car, he quickly scanned the man, who lay on the ground, moaning in pain. With practised ease, he tied him up with the makeshift restraints of the bedsheet before checking the man’s pockets for any items that might have been stolen.
But as he surveyed the room, he realized that something was off about this. A normal burglar would have run away when Autumn tried to catch him, instead of trying to hurt her. And, even as his mind processed these words, his gaze scanned the room again and that is when he noticed. A small jewelry box sitting on the dresser, its contents scattered haphazardly around it. And despite the chaos, the precious jewellery remained untouched. Why?