Ben and Clara VII

"Well, it did look like flirting to me from where I was standing."

Andrew frowned deeper and gritted his teeth, "Hey, that accusation is baseless. I haven't even thought about any other woman apart from Linyang who keeps throwing tantrums at me all the time."

Michael sighed and helplessly shook his head, "What are you doing Andrew? Look, I really appreciate you showing fondness over Ms Yang but do you think she will even give a damn about you after you reveal your intentions?"

"What does my intention have to do with the Yang's?" Andrew asked.

"Are you kidding me An? Don't act like you don't know about the relationship between the Yang's and the Li's. Do you think Linyang would pounce into your embrace if she finds out what we are here for?" After taking a deep breath, Michael added, "Look everything is very simple, either you stop listening to your father and confront everyone to sort things out or you forget about Linyang and focus on your mission."

Andrew frowned and snapped, "I don't wanna do both."

Massaging his forehead, Michael sighed, "What the hell is wrong with you? Since when did you become like this? Weren't you the most sensible one between us? Why is it me who is guiding you this time?"

"You are too noisy and I don't wanna talk to anyone for sometime." Without waiting for his reply, Andrew dashed out of the room.

…..

Outskirts of country S

Farak's farmhouse.

Caressing Clara's head, Farak kept on humming something for quite sometime before splashing some water on Clara's face to wake her up.

Patting his cheeks, he said, "Elder sister wake up, wake up. Li Jin will be here any minute, I just called him over."

Holding her throbbing head, Clara frowned and slowly opened her eyes.

"That's it, get up elder sister and fix your hair. Li Jin is coming over soon and you dont want him to see you like this right?"

Lightly touching her forehead, she groaned in pain. She passed out after Farak hit her head with the metal chair.

"Here wash your face—" splashing water on her face, Farak chuckled.

"Stop it Farak—" she groaned in pain before pushing his hand away.

"What are you doing elder sister? Li Jin will be here any minute, don't you want look good when he arrives?"

"Ben is coming?"

Farak chuckled and nodded his head, "Hmm he is, I called him over. I told him to come alone if he doesn't want me to hurt you and guess what?" Without waiting for her reply, he added, "He said that he will give everything I want but I shouldn't harm you. Ahh he is so nice but….but—"

Pausing for a while he frowned and continued, "What about brother-in-law? What will we do with him?" Tapping his chin with his fingers, he said, "Hmmm I think we need to get rid of him." Taking out his phone, he murmured, "Let me call him over too. We can kill him together and then bury him in the backyard."

"Fa—"

Pointing the rod towards her, he shook his head and chuckled.

….

A couple of hours later.

Lying on the ground, Clara kept on crying for hours. She didn't know whether Farak really called Ben over or not but she was scared, scared that Farak would harm him. She had suffered and been through so much just to make sure that he stays safe and doesn't get involved in all of this but who would've thought that things would turn out this way.

She was also worried about Philip and was hoping that no one would come to save her. She would rather die than let another person lose his life because of her.

Just then the basement door opened and someone rushed inside.

Clara wanted to get up but her body was limp, her head felt very heavy and she could hardly open her eyes.

"Clara," Ben shouted before rushing towards her. He stopped and frowned for a few seconds when he saw a body hanging on the ceiling.

Brushing past the hanging body, he squatted on the ground and panicked after seeing her in such an awful state. Her forehead was covered in blood, there were multiple scratches and injuries all over her arms and her left foot was bleeding.

Lifting her head up, he placed it on his lap and slowly patted her cheeks, "Clara, babe wake up."

Slowly opening her eyes, she lightly pushed him away and mumbled, "Go from here."

"Are you crazy?" Looking at her chained hands and legs, he tried to pull off the chain from pipe but couldn't.

"Damnit," he groaned in frustration. Letting go off the chain, he quickly took out a handkerchief from his pocket and carefully dabbed it on her forehead. "Don't worry honey, I'll take you to the hospital."

Jerking his hand off, Clara pushed him away again, "No, just go from here. You shouldn't have come here Ben, you aren't supposed to be here."

He frowned and pulled her closer, "Are you still planning to push me away? You did that the first time and look what happened? Why do you always keep things away from me Clara? You would rather take Philip's help then mine? What kind of logic is it?"

Caressing her cheeks, he added, "Stop it honey, this way you are hurting both of us. And what makes you think taht I'll leave you alone? I am taking you with me."

Clutching on his shirt, Clara started sobbing harder. "Farak, h—he is crazy Ben, he will definitely harm you so you need to leave."

"Shut up," Ben snapped before wiping her tears away. "I am not leaving without you."

"But—"

"Don't say anything Clara, you always did what you wanted to and I never stopped you but this time there is no way I am going to listen to you so just stay quiet and dont worry, I have everything planned." Ben retorted.

"He will be here any minute Ben, I don't want him to harm you. Please do something and save yourself."

…..