Chapter 914:
Through the shimmer of heat and metal, he saw them inside armored vehicles—men and women dressed in fine clothes, wearing cruel smiles. Their laughter carried through the air, mocking the silence of the wild around them.
The lion’s tail lashed. One step closer and the current would have killed him, but he didn’t back away. He prowled along the barrier, muscles taut, eyes locked on the figures beyond the glass.
Inside the villa, Kailee lounged in a velvet chair, a drink in hand. Around her gathered the sons and daughters of the world’s richest families, trading idle jokes as they admired the trophies from that afternoon’s hunt.
One of them pointed at the lion with a careless laugh. “Why’s it still out there? Didn’t Felipe and his men deal with it already? If it’s coming here on its own, then their effort was for nothing.”
“Maybe it picked up the scent of a feast and arrived earlier than expected,” someone joked, laughing loudly without a hint of unease.
The guests had unwavering faith in the villa’s security.
Kailee lifted her glass and cleared her throat. “Ahem!”
When the crowd’s attention turned to her, she set the glass onto a waiter’s tray, straightened her collar, and adopted an expression of sympathy and resolve—like a poised orator stepping up to speak.
“My friends,” she began, her voice bright with passion and contagious energy, “we must understand that every wild creature is a priceless gift of nature. To witness rhinos slain for their horns, elephants brought down for ivory…”
Her voice wavered as she paused at the perfect moment, her eyes turning misty—just enough to draw soft laughter and polite applause from the elegant audience.
Carried away by her own performance, Kailee stretched her arms wide. “Our duty is not to kill, but to protect! We want our descendants to see…”
A sudden crash cut her off as the villa’s doors flew open. A young man, drenched in blood, stumbled in with a girl in his arms. His panicked entrance froze the room. The moment he laid the small girl on the floor, the festive mood shattered, silencing every voice in the hall.
“How could there be a girl?”
Startled, Kailee rose and moved toward the commotion.
Felipe, his hands smeared with blood, stammered in disbelief. “I swear I had no idea! I saw the lion and pulled the trigger. Damn it, I didn’t even know where she came from. That’s the middle of the reserve. Can you believe a child just appeared out of nowhere?”
Jennifer Thorpe, evidently a doctor, snatched the villa’s first-aid kit and rushed to the girl’s side. “She’s lost a great deal of blood. I can stop the bleeding for now, but if we get her to a hospital quickly, she might make it.”
“Wait—could she be the one who owned that lion?” a man who knew the lion’s history asked sharply. “My subordinate said that lion was rescued from a farm and cared for by a young girl. It arrived this morning. Could she have hidden in the truck and come here by accident?”
Someone immediately phoned the driver, Marlin. When he answered, understanding struck him like a blow. “Earlier, her father showed up searching for her, but I didn’t allow the guards to open the gate. Could she really be his daughter? Is she still alive?”
“The situation’s critical. We need to get her to the hospital right now,” Jennifer insisted as she worked on Ella. “Hurry. Carry her to the car!”
.
.
.