Chapter 231: An Unhinged Duo
[Music recommendation: RAYE, 070 Shake - Escapism.]
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Nigel had a bad feeling as he reached for the door to the ladies’ room, but when he stepped inside, he was stunned to find that... there was no one there.
His brows knitted together in confusion. Had he been mistaken?
Then the persistent buzzing of a phone echoed across the silent room.
His gaze snapped towards the sink counter, and his heart plummeted to his stomach when he spotted a silver clutch lying on the floor, its contents scattered across the marble.
Panic crashed into him as he recognised it instantly. It was the very same clutch Miss Jade had been carrying.
His eyes swept towards the row of bathroom stalls. Every door stood open except for one that was slightly ajar, and Nigel’s instincts immediately screamed danger.
Without wasting another second, he silently grabbed a small, heavy stone plant pot from the counter and carefully advanced towards the stall.
The moment he drew close, a muffled whimper reached his ears, and his blood ran cold.
Adrenaline exploded through his veins.
"Argh!" With a furious yell, he drove his foot into the door, sending it flying open.
And the sight before him made his blood boil.
A masked man had one hand clamped tightly over Jade’s mouth, while the other held a wire pressed hard against her neck as she desperately struggled to break free.
"Miss Jade!"
Nigel didn’t think. He simply reacted.
With every ounce of strength he had, he swung the heavy stone pot and smashed it straight into the masked man’s head.
"Ugh!" the man groaned in pain as Nigel’s attack connected, momentarily loosening his grip on Jade.
Seizing the opportunity, Nigel grabbed Jade by the wrist and yanked her towards him. The force sent them both staggering backwards as they struggled to catch their breath, their eyes locked on the masked man.
To their horror, he recovered far more quickly than expected.
His head slowly turned towards them as they continued retreating, inching closer to the door in hopes of escaping.
But the man had other plans.
He glared at them with murderous fury and hissed, "You’ll pay for this, bastard!"
Nigel glared right back.
"Who are you calling a bastard?"
With a furious snarl, the masked man lunged at them, looping the same wire around Nigel’s neck before violently yanking him backwards against his chest.
"Nigel!" Jade screamed, panic flooding her voice as she continued wheezing from the wire that had nearly strangled her moments ago.
"Run... Miss Ja...de..." Nigel choked out as he desperately tried to wedge his fingers beneath the wire to ease the crushing pressure around his throat.
"Not without you!" Jade shouted back, her eyes frantically sweeping the room. "A weapon... I need a weapon!"
Her eyes landed on a tall steel bin.
Adrenaline surged through her veins as she rushed towards it, hoisted it with both hands, and swung it with every ounce of strength she had.
Bang!
The steel bin smashed into the masked man’s head.
"Fuck!" the man grunted before collapsing to his knees, clutching his head in agony.
Nigel instantly seized the opening, wrenching himself free from the man’s hold.
"Let’s go, Miss Jade!" he shouted.
Grabbing Jade’s wrist, the two of them bolted towards the exit.
"Not so fast!" The masked man lunged from behind and clamped a vice-like grip around Nigel’s ankle.
Nigel was violently yanked off his feet and crashed hard onto the floor. Still holding onto him, Jade lost her balance as well and came crashing down beside him with a painful thud.
The masked man yanked Nigel towards him and pulled out a knife, aiming it straight at his chest.
Nigel’s eyes widened in horror. At the very last second, he rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding the blade that would have plunged into his heart.
"He’s really trying to kill me!" Nigel yelped in panic.
"Yeah, no shit!" Jade shouted back.
She turned just in time to see the assassin raising the knife again.
"No!"
Without thinking, she slipped off one of her six-inch heels and hurled it straight at his face.
Thwack!
The stiletto struck the assassin square in the face.
"You bitch!" he roared, staggering backwards as blood trickled from beneath his mask, adding to the injuries Nigel’s flower pot and Jade’s heel had already gifted him with. "I’ll kill you both!"
But Nigel and Jade didn’t back down.
Nigel hastily crab-walked backwards while Jade forced herself onto shaky feet, her gaze darting frantically around the bathroom before her eyes landed on the soap dispenser.
She ripped it off the wall, pointed it at the assassin as though it were a gun, and glared at him.
"You wish, motherfucker!" she screamed and furiously began to pump the dispenser.
Squirt after squirt of liquid soap shot straight into the assassin’s face, splashing into his eyes before coating the floor beneath him.
"Argh! My eyes!" he howled, stumbling blindly as he rubbed at them. "Fuck! I’ll kill you painfully, bitch!"
While the assassin was occupied battling basic hygiene, Nigel spotted his own chance. He bolted to the cleaning cupboard, flung it open, and grabbed the first thing his hand landed on.
A toilet brush.
Turning on his heel, he wielded it like a sword and bellowed, "Let’s wash that potty mouth of yours!"
With a battle cry, Nigel charged forward and....
Whack!
He smacked the assassin square across the face with the toilet brush.
"Take that! And that for emotional damage!" Nigel yelled with every strike, while the assassin tried to cover his head, utterly bewildered by the janitorial onslaught.
Meanwhile, Jade paused for the briefest moment, stunned and, admittedly, quite impressed that Nigel was taking on a man nearly twice his size with nothing but a toilet brush.
Knowing that wouldn’t be enough, she slipped off her other heel and rushed over to help.
"Yeah! Take that, asshole!" She swung the stiletto with all her might, the pointed heel smacking straight into the assassin’s face before she followed it up with a brutal kick right between his legs.
The assassin let out a strangled groan and collapsed onto the floor like a sack of potatoes.
But neither of them stopped there.
The two of them continued to beat the absolute shit out of the man.
By now, they looked less like two people defending themselves and more like an unhinged duo on a wild witch hunt.
That was when the bathroom door flew open with a deafening bang.
Nigel and Jade froze mid-swing and turned their heads in perfect unison.
Cillian stood in the doorway, his eyes widening so dramatically they looked ready to pop out of his head and roll across the floor.
And a single phrase escaped his lips in sheer disbelief, "What the fuck..."