“Oh, no!” Seeing that, Fae’s eyes widened.Her heart pounded faster than before; she never expected that her bad mood earlier would lead them into this kind of danger.Fae’s footsteps immediately faltered, torn between whether she should step forward or retreat. “Derek... just give him what he wants and let’s get out of this place.”Bargaining with someone like that was the last thing Fae wanted to do, though it wasn't always the case. But prioritizing their personal safety above everything else was paramount.Yet Derek held a different view; having lived a hard life filled with lifelong struggles, he refused to simply bow down to those who demanded things from him, to those who made requests and tried to pressure him.Derek glanced briefly at Fae, making sure she stayed back. “Calm down, Fae.” Then his gaze returned to the brawny, terrifying man in front of him. “He’s just threatening us; he isn’t brave enough to hurt even a mouse on the street.” A mocking smile appeared at the corne

The woman spoke with her breaths coming in ragged gasps. Her face was pale and filled with terror.She hid behind Derek’s body, her hands gripping tightly onto Derek’s slightly blood-stained black shirt.Her hands were trembling. “Help me… they want to kidnap me.”“Kidnap?” Derek’s expression hardened. “Tell me, who?”At the same time, several people ran from the end of the hallway. But upon seeing that the woman was with Derek and also Fae, they stopped in their tracks.“He…” the woman spoke in a whispered voice. Her hands shook even more violently.Derek stared at the two men walking toward them.Sweat still soaked both of their bodies. Yet right now they were trying to put on calm expressions.This looked strange. One of those two men was a doctor, distinct with a white coat and a stethoscope hanging around his neck.“Sir, she is my patient.” The man named Danny spoke softly. He tried to display a friendly face.The woman shook her head. “No... no. They want to kidnap me. Please ta

Thin smoke billowed from the tip of a cigarette pinched between Derek’s fingers, twisting into the quiet night air of the room before finally vanishing. It had been a long time since he had quit smoking, and now the man occasionally took another drag when his mind was weighed down by heavy thoughts.The man stood upright near the large window, letting the cold wind touch his face. His mind was far from calm; the image of Melly being dragged away by force in the hospital courtyard earlier kept flashing in his mind, leaving a strong knot in his chest.“This is really odd,” Derek muttered softly, his voice laden with suspicion.His instincts flatly rejected the charade put on by Jordan and Doctor Danny. There was a dark secret behind that fake diagnosis paper. “Who on earth is that woman? I need to find out about that.”With a swift movement, he reached for his phone not long before Victor came into his room.“Sorry to wake you, Victor.” He saw the middle-aged man enter his room still fu

“Uncle, I listen to you. I will listen to you, please let me go now.” Melly struggled, her hands bound to the bed.Her eyes were fixed on the man standing before her like a statue, staring at her and observing her coldly. Melly was like an object of analysis to him, whose every development he noted, but not so that the woman would get better.Instead, he was determined to make this condition more real. There was no madness in Melly’s previous state, but he was creating it. He confined that body, breaking her mind by pressing her in that place and limiting everything, until her sanity reacted to the pressure, to the boundaries she could no longer accept.“I want her condition to be even worse for the next few weeks, Danny. You need to maintain it for some time ahead so that my plan will succeed.” He turned to Danny, the man in the white coat standing beside him.Danny, the psychiatrist treating Melly, was no different from Jordan. He didn’t see Melly as someone who needed his care, and

“No! Dont… please dont!” She pleaded to the man.Her body struggled with all her might, jerking violently to break free from the restraints on the cot, her tears kept flowing, her vision blurred, but in the corner of that place she still saw Jordan.She could clearly see his silhouette still standing there, not far from her bed, with both arms crossed over his chest. The man stood coldly, looking toward Melly, as if reluctant to miss a single moment of that torture.Melly’s feelings were completely shattered, driven by despair she called out that name once more, hoping to be saved before the needle touched her skin and pierced it. “Uncle… help me… please, I beg you, Uncle Jordan! Don't let him give me medicine anymore! I’m begging you….” she kept pleading.Yet not a single one of them felt any pang of remorse hearing her sobs, not a single one of them looked hesitant. Both of them were like statues whose hearts could not be moved by her pain, by her pleas and negotiations.“Argh! Just