"Hahaha! He's a smart boy, he knows what we're after." The men laughed. "Now be smarter and give us the money." One of them stepped forward.
Viviana, preoccupied in her head, pondered for a moment. She had already seen the fact that she was about to be captured. And their was no point in running as she would run out of breath and get caught eventually. Even if she managed to escape she had nowhere to go and no life to go back to for the moment so the wisest option now was to get caught and think of another plan to meet her grandpa as the upfront methods were not working.
'Is getting caught with a wound better than without one? I'm sure no man would beat an already injured person, would he?' She considered this for a moment and looked at the bottle in the guy's hand that was about to be slammed into her head. 'Definitely not dodging that.'
She made up her mind and got to her feet. She was trapped, that was obvious, so she decided to vent her anger and frustration that was trapped in her chest, all while completely accepting any beating she received. 'Why? Are you dumb? Did I not already tell you that I didn't have any money on me?' Viviana growled back at the men.
"Haha! Look at this pimp." The men laughed. "Let's see how arrogant he is after I beat him up."
"Yeah, sure, do that, but let me throw the first punch." Viviana said and rotated her fist around as if stretching her muscles. The men were confused, and Viviana went in for the man's jaw, hitting him with all the strength she had, packing it with all the helplessness and frustration she could. To her surprise, there was a cracking sound from the impact. Her face stiffened. 'Did I break my bones?' she thought.
"AAAAAGH!!!" The man she punched curled up into a ball and fell onto his back, rolling on the floor as he held his face. The other two had a look of surprise on their faces, and not to lie, Viviana felt much lighter after hitting the man.
"I will kill you!!" The man on the floor, still rolling around, threatened. The other two men decided to take revenge, and the man with the beer bottle threw it against her head, crashing it into pieces. Viviana's face crumpled in pain as warm blood started to pour out of her head, instantly dripping down her forehead.
"Vroom!" And at that exact moment, she heard the sound of a car approaching. 'Plan successful,' she said inwardly and threw her body backward, acting as if she had collapsed.
Kiera, who had witnessed half of the scene, rushed out of the car, his overall expressionless face showing a hint of anger in his brows. The men towering over Viviana noticed him approaching.
"Here's another one. This one should have the money, or he'll end up in a worse condition," said the man who had hit Viviana with the bottle.
Kiera's lip curled up in frustration as he stopped beside Viviana's unconscious body. He wasn't smiling out of pleasure but out of barely contained anger. "He's smiling?" The man with the shattered bottle in his hand was surprised by Kiera's courage and decided to teach him a lesson. "You will not smile after I kill you!" he said, throwing his hand with the sharp bottle towards Kiera. But Kiera, who was way out of their league, blocked his hand and slammed his elbow into the man's arm, causing it to crack instantly. The man roared in pain. Within seconds, Kiera had dealt with the two other men, leaving them writhing on the ground with their third partner. Viviana stayed in her unconscious act, not wanting to be subject to this violence.
'I can't believe I was overjoyed by the fact that I would get my head busted with a bottle just so I could survive these people,' she pitied herself inwardly. Her standards had fallen way low ever since she had switched bodies.
Kiera then turned to look at Viviana, his gaze making her nervous as she hoped she wouldn't blow her cover. "Haah!" she heard Kiera's heavy sigh past the muffled cries of the men in pain. He slowly crouched beside her, placing his finger against her nose as if checking if she was still alive. He then picked up a handkerchief from his pocket and pressed it against her forehead. The scent of the handkerchief was subtle but distinctly a man's perfume that tickled Viviana's nose. She was distracted by the scene, but then Viviana felt a hand under her neck and the other under her legs. 'What in the world?' At this point, Viviana was about to jump out of Kiera's arms due to the great shock. This was not something she had expected. This was the first time she had been carried in such a way. Her heart felt as if it was about to be thrown out of her chest. She was so surprised but acted as much as a dead body as possible, letting her limbs dangle to be more convincing.
'I didn't see this part in the vision. Was this supposed to happen? Wasn't Magnus supposed to be here?' Her thoughts were interrupted when her chest felt heavy. A familiar feeling took over her, the same one she felt whenever Magnus was around. Then she heard Magnus's voice. "Huh!" he muttered, scanning Kiera and Viviana, then looking past Kiera's shoulder and nodding.
"Get him back to the mansion. And you deal with the rest," Magnus ordered the man behind him to deal with the men in the alley. Viviana wanted to cough out; she was breathless in Magnus's presence but tried as hard as possible to act unconscious. 'Please just leave already!' she prayed inwardly. Soon she felt Kiera walking away from Magnus, and her chest felt slightly better.
'Oh, Kiera, if only you were not working for this shitty man, I could have shipped you with Liora,' she thought inwardly. Kiera's strong arms and solid chest were ideal for keeping Liora safe from these people who caused her pain. Kiera managed to easily open the car's back seat door, lay her inside, and then walked towards the front seat to start the engine and drive away.