The Prisoner Son Returns as the Medical Saint

Chapter 6: Threatening

Two of the other bodyguards moved to her before she could take another step.

They were not rough but they were completely immovable, and within seconds Jenna found herself pinned, her arms locked, her feet barely touching the ground.

Mark found his voice again somewhere under the shock and the humiliation, and what came out of him was raw and ugly.

"I will kill you!" he screamed, spittle at the corner of his mouth, his eyes red. "Every single one of you! I will have your entire families wiped out, you hear me? You are all dead!"

Jenna, never one to be outdone, started screaming curses. Real ones, the kind that came from somewhere low and desperate, strung together in a breathless torrent aimed at Vivien, at the bodyguards, at anyone within range.

Vivien's face changed.

It was subtle. The composed mask did not crack exactly, but something behind her eyes went very still and very sharp, the way a person goes still when something crosses a line they cannot ignore.

Her grandfather was lying in a hospital bed right now, his body failing him, doctors standing around him with nothing useful to offer. And this woman on the ground was screaming curses at her family.

"A hundred times," Vivien said quietly.

One of the bodyguards looked at her. "Miss Holden?"

"Slap her," Vivien replied, her voice perfectly even. "A hundred times."

The color drained from Jenna's face immediately.

What followed was not quick. It was methodical and it was thorough, and Jenna went from screaming insults to screaming in pain to, eventually, sobbing and begging with her palms pressed flat against the floor.

"Stop, please, please stop, I am sorry, I am sorry, please."

Mark, who had been scrambling to his feet with the intention of rushing at Vivien, met two bodyguards before he got within three steps of her.

The struggle lasted about four seconds. When it was over, Mark was on the ground and one of his legs was bent at an angle that made it immediately obvious something had snapped.

His scream was long and high and genuine.

Edward had been standing in the doorway watching all of this with his arms loose at his sides and a slight frown pulling at his brow.

Not distress exactly. More the expression of a man watching something messy happen in a place he cared about.

He looked at Vivien. "Stop."

She glanced at him.

"This is the house my parents left me," he continued, his voice quiet and completely without drama. "I do not want their screaming in it. It is irritating." He tilted his head slightly toward the gate. "Make them leave."

Vivien held his gaze for a moment, then turned and gave the bodyguards a small nod.

The bodyguards stepped back.

Vivien looked down at Jenna, who was hunched on the ground with her hair loose and her face swollen, shaking visibly.

"You are leaving with your life," Vivien informed her, her voice carrying no satisfaction, just fact. "That is because of Mr. Harper. If it were my decision alone, you would be leaving without at least one hand." She straightened slightly. "Be grateful and do not come back."

Jenna did not argue. She could not even fully stand on her own.

She grabbed Mark's arm and dragged herself upright, and together they stumbled toward the gate, Mark half hopping and half dragging his broken leg, his face white and soaked with tears he was too proud to wipe away.

Nobody followed them.

They made it to the road outside the villa gates.

Jenna leaned against the wall, breathing hard, her hands shaking as she pushed her hair out of her face.

Mark slid down against the wall beside her, clutching his leg, his teeth grinding against the pain.

For a moment neither of them spoke.

Then Jenna's hand moved to her pocket.

She pulled out her phone, her fingers clumsy and urgent, and dialed. It barely rang once before the other line picked up.

"Ken." Her voice broke on the first word, and the tears came flooding out of her all at once, messy and uncontrolled. "Ken, that criminal, that useless criminal Edward, he had someone break Mark's leg. He broke our son's leg, Ken. Come here right now. Come here right now!"