Chapter 33 Seeing no chance of assistance , she had to haul her drenched body and begin the trekback along the highway . The evening breeze rustling through the trees sent violent shivers through her wet clothes , but the chill ran deeper from within her stomach . On a night like this , on this deserted road , she had been the target of a calculated murder attempt so brutal that she had nearly missed seeing another sunrise . Her chest became unbearably tight , and her mind went blank with dizziness . It wasn't hard for her to figure out who was responsible . Ever since she leaked that video at Anne's engagement , the Holts had been unusually quiet , not pounding on her door as they usually did . But she had never imagined that their silence masked a scheme to kill her . Throughout the years , even though she had never quite fit in with the Holt family , she hadn't assumed they had the worst intentions . At most , she anticipated loud arguments or career scheming from them . But she never could have imagined that they would heartlessly threaten her life , ignoring any potential criminal consequences . The more she dwelled on it , the colder she became , with chills spreading from every pore and her body trembling uncontrollably . Initially intending to walk along the road and wait for a vehicle to pass by , she found herself standing there for ten minutes without seeing a single car . So , she opted for a shortcut and turned onto a narrow path beside the highway . This was a mountain trail . It was narrow and not overly steep . Despite the pitch - black night , she could still discern the trail thanks to distant lights and the moon's glow . Having frequently camped with friends and even explored untouched forests abroad , she felt no hesitation about walking alone here . After all , compared to the life -and - death danger she had just faced when nearly falling into the river , this dark path was nothing . The route was half the distance of the main road , yet it still took her more than an hour of hiking to arrive at a small town on the outskirts . Without her phone , she had no way of knowing the time . The houses along the road were all closed up . There were few streetlights , and not a single person was around . This place felt like a suburban village where people likely went to bed early , with no shopping centers or public transport available . Just then , she spotted an electric scooter and a bicycle parked outside a nearby house . Upon closer inspection , both were locked . Feeling trapped , she noticed a screwdriver in the front compartment of the electric scooter that had likely been left behind by the owner after some repairs and forgotten . She took the screwdriver , deftly drilled into the U - lock cylinder of the bicycle a few times , and tapped it lightly until the lock sprang open . To make a swift escape , she abandoned any moral considerations , promising herself that she would make amends by paying double the compensation later . She climbed onto her bicycle and began pedaling intensely toward the city , which was more than six miles away . After cycling for a half - hour , transitioning from rural roads to county highways , she finally encountered a few cars speeding past . Despite her attempts to flag them down , most drivers , cautious of potential scams , chose not to stop . It was the middle of the night , and a drenched , attractive woman waving from a bicycle on a suburban road could easily be suspicious . A couple of cars did pull over , but the drivers were unsavory men who eyed her inappropriately . Boarding their vehicles could have led to a different kind of trouble , so she continued to pedal with determination . At last , after more than 20 minutes , she arrived at a gas station .