My Child and I Married a Billionaire novel Chapter 228

Chapter 228: Chapter 228: Jumping the Wall

Zeke Walton was going crazy being stuck at home.

He had no phone and no way to contact the outside world. The door was locked tight, and his room was on the third floor. He really wanted to jump out the window, but after considering it several times, he couldn’t muster the courage.

For the first two days, he tried arguing and fighting with his family, demanding his parents let him out.

But this time, his mother was dead set on siding with his father. No matter how much of a fuss he made, it was useless. Left with no other choice, Zeke began a hunger strike.

Two days of fasting didn’t faze his parents. They just called a doctor to the house to give him an IV drip for nutrition.

Zeke tried to make a run for it while the doctor was administering the IV, but he was too weak. He didn’t make it two steps before being dragged back.

His father had given him an ultimatum: if he wanted to leave this house, he had to agree to marry Simone Vaughn. Otherwise, they would rather keep him locked up at home for the rest of his life.

Today was the seventh day. Zeke Walton was at the end of his rope. He felt like he would genuinely go insane if he didn’t get out, so he lay on his bed, scheming for a clever way out.

After thinking for a while, he actually came up with something.

He stripped the sheets and duvet cover from his bed, tore them into sturdy strips, knotted them together, and waited for nightfall. He would tie one end to the bedpost, throw the other out the window, and climb down the fabric rope to escape. A jailbreak!

As he waited with eager anticipation, the sky finally darkened.

By the time the villa fell completely silent, he had lost track of the time.

In the dead of night, Zeke slipped out of his room without a hitch. But he still had to face the perimeter wall.

Luckily, there were pathway lights on the lawn, so it wasn’t completely dark. He snuck around to the front hall, brought back several flowerpots, stacked them up, and finally, with great difficulty, scrambled onto the top of the wall.

Just as he thought victory was in sight and was about to let out a triumphant little laugh, the house alarm went off.

He saw the lights in his parents’ and the housekeeper’s rooms flick on one after another. They were pushing open their windows. There was no time to hesitate. With a leap, Zeke jumped from the top of the wall.

The wall was a good two meters high. He hadn’t had time to think when he jumped, but as his body hurtled toward the ground, fear finally hit him.

’Even if this doesn’t kill me, I’ll be crippled for sure.’

The escape plan had failed.

Zeke shut his eyes in agony.

There was none of the bone-on-concrete crunch he expected. Instead, a searing, scraping pain shot through his head and arm.

Along with the pain, he heard two loud sounds—"OW!" and "THUD!" He had crashed into an electric scooter that happened to be passing by, pinning its rider underneath.

"Ow, that hurts like hell! What are you doing?"

Fortunately, the rider was wearing thick clothes and a helmet. Although they’d been hit, they weren’t seriously injured and quickly crawled out from under him.

Zeke heard the shouts of his parents from behind the wall. He knew they would all be out looking for him any second. Ignoring the rider’s question, he gritted his teeth against the pain and scrambled to his feet.

"Quick, quick! Get me out of here! I’ll pay you!"

"What?"

The rider he had knocked over was a girl. Seeing him climb over someone’s wall in the middle of the night, she thought he was a thief and instinctively took two steps back.

"What do you think you’re doing? You... stay away from me!"

"I’m not a bad guy." Zeke endured the pain, lifted the scooter back up, and plopped himself onto the seat.

"No time to explain! Are you getting on or not? If you don’t, I’m taking it!"

Seeing that he was about to steal her scooter, the girl grew even more frightened.

"You... you..."

"Dammit, there’s no time! I’ll explain later! Hurry up! If you don’t get on, I’m really leaving!"

With that, Zeke twisted the throttle, and the scooter lurched forward a short distance.

Terrified that he would actually ride off with her scooter, the girl had no choice but to run and hop on behind him.

The butler parked the car at the neighborhood entrance and got out to question the security guard. Zeke quickly steered the scooter into the middle of the road.

Though the night wind was chilly, in this moment, the breeze of freedom was a balm to his body and soul.

Zeke couldn’t stop himself from roaring into the air, "I’m finally out! I’m finally free! I’m never going back to that damn house, fuck!"

He deliberately chose quiet, deserted roads. After they had put who-knows-how-many streets behind them, the girl, seeing no sign of him stopping, couldn’t help but remind him.

"Didn’t you say you’d give the scooter back after we got out? Where are you going?"

Zeke had no idea where he was going either. Hearing her question, he spotted an alley up ahead and steered the scooter into it.

The moment the scooter stopped, the girl jumped off impatiently and stood two steps away, her posture wary.

Only then did Zeke realize that without the delivery driver’s jacket, she was only wearing a thin long-sleeved shirt.

The wind had blown her ponytail out to the sides of her head. She looked thin and frightened, pitifully frail.

He took off the helmet and jacket, shook them out, and handed them back to her.

"Don’t worry, I’m not a bad guy. Thanks for helping me out tonight. I should give you some money to thank you, but... Just go."

He wasn’t dressed much thicker himself. Winter had already arrived in Veridia, and the nights were damp and cold. After leaving his warm room, his wool sweater felt terribly thin.

Most importantly, the right sleeve of his wool sweater had been torn wide open when he scraped against the scooter, and dark red blood was seeping out from underneath.

His right cheek and chin also seemed to be injured, and they were bleeding too. The blood trickled in a winding path down to his neck.

But from the looks of it, he seemed completely unaware, numb like a seasoned criminal. He looked more and more frightening in the dim night, and the girl didn’t dare to point it out to him.

She put on her jacket, grabbed her helmet, and swung her leg over the scooter.

In less than two seconds, Zeke was left alone in the alley.