“By the time old Mr. Fuller and Ashton returned to their country, they’d offended many illegal businessmen in the region, and the plot to assassinate the Fullers came into being. While they were being hunted, they were forced to pawn everything they owned just to make it back. That necklace belonged to Ashton’s grandmother. George Fuller kept it with him all these years. Mr. Abe learned of this and used the high sentimental value of the necklace to lure Ashton to Venria.”
I was able to venture a pretty good guess as to how the rest of the story went.
Abe used the necklace as bait to get Ashton to his territory.
The appearance of me and my value to Ashton was a stroke of dumb luck.
Ashton would never have guessed that I was here, and Abe would never have guessed the relationship between Ashton and me.
Danny rose to his feet when I did not speak. “What else would you like to know?” he asked lightly.
“What is the relationship between Armond and Mr. Abe?”
“They’re business partners.”
“Kyanine?” I asked, suddenly frightened.
“Our product is mostly exported to Western Europe,” Danny smiled coldly. “Not much to Chanaea.”
“What are they partners on, then?”
“Jades.”
I nearly forgot. Venria exported an astounding variety of gemstones.
We relapsed back into silence. At his readiness to leave, I didn’t feel like asking any more questions. As he was about to exit the room, I said, “I would like to see Mr. Abe.”
Danny nodded and left the room.
True to his word, Abe appeared the following morning.
His tall frame cast a long shadow over my bed. “You wanted to see me?” he asked, looking at me in an odd manner. It was calculating but cold at the same time.
I nodded and sat up. “You promised me once, that if I did as you said, you would let my friends go.”
Abe raised his eyebrows in derision. “Your friends?” he repeated with a laugh. “You still think your life is worth four of theirs?”
“Yes, because Ashton cares about me!” I answered, my eyes fixed upon his.
Abe grunted and absentmindedly tore up a leaf from the potted plant. “Are you his wife?” Abe asked, squinting at me. “Under these circumstances, shouldn’t you be more concerned for his life over the lives of others?”
He paused. “Unless you’re so confident in his abilities that you think he will get out of this alive.”
“No matter which it is, you can’t go back on your word,” I said fiercely.
Abe laughed madly for an instant. “You have yourself a deal.”
“Take care of the ladies,” Abe instructed Dante. “When she’s healed, send them back unharmed.”
“Yes, Sir!” Dante answered.
I was away from K City for several months without being in touch with Ashton. I had wanted to leave, but I knew deep down that I was unable to bear a child with him.
I chose to leave and held on to the hope that with time, he would meet a girl worthy of him to bear his children.
But I have never expected to have run into him amidst my soul-searching trips.
It was an accident, but a coincidental one.
I sighed in despair. How am I supposed to keep traveling down this path without making mistakes?
Thankfully, my bones and arteries were unharmed and I began to feel like myself again only after a few days, though it hurt when I occasionally touched it. It was a gunshot wound, after all. It will leave a mark.
But it wasn’t unbearable.
Abe kept his word as well. On the day of my discharge, Danny was there to pick me up to return to the villa.
Before I could say anything, Dante initiated. “Ms. Stovall, aren’t you planning on visiting your friends?”
I did, of course. “It’s time that they went home,” I said with a nod.
As we made our way through the long operating theatre, I saw Nora through the glass room. After days of being locked away from sunlight, she looked haggardly and frail. Her mass of hair was shockingly white as well.
Nora and the rest seemed indifferent to see me. Being used to the life in the theatre, they barely glanced up at me before closing their eyes again, as if they’d never known me.
My heart ached when I saw that. “What happened to them?” I asked Dante.
Dante cast an eye over them. “All the women who come here will become this way; this isn’t unusual.”
I was unable to breathe. “Didn’t you say that you would take good care of them?” I asked in a low voice.
“Hah!” Dante laughed coldly. “We are taking care of them by letting them live. If you hadn’t bargained for their lives, you would be looking at a pile of corpses now.”
I was at a loss for words, despite the rage in my heart.
“Release them!” I ordered.
Dante didn’t speak but raised his hand in a gesture toward the man guarding their door.
He opened the door and helped the lifeless women to their feet.
