Sluggishly, Saint’s eyelid lifted before falling back from the lights and the sudden cold. He slowly opened his eyes, rubbing his hands on his forehead to check his own temperature; cold ran down his spine. Opening his eyes fully, three pairs of differently colored eyes stared back at him, their eyes following his every move.
Slowly pushing himself up, the one with dark blue rushed toward his side to help him sit up as his brain tried to get the image of the guy. It was Milo Tran; the other two were Dax and Dr. Quinn.
Immediately Saint saw them. He knew something had definitely happened, but his brain still couldn’t give him a flash.
"How long have I been asleep?" he choked, before clearing the lump that had formed in his throat.
"For three hours," Milo replied, sitting beside Saint.
"Why? What happened, did I...?" He asked, his eyes darting among the three men waiting for an answer.
"It happened again, Saint," Dax quickly replied.
"And I’m afraid to tell you this time that it was worse than the rest, and with the way Marchetti behaved I believe solely that something triggered Marchetti, Saint." Dr. Quinn called with a furrowed brow, his fingers tapping on the first-aid box that contained just one syringe shot that had been emptied on Saint earlier.
"Yes." Saint answered as he positioned himself properly on the bed, placing a pillow behind his head to support it against the bed’s wooden frame.
"What do you think triggered Marchetti?" Dax asked, boring holes into Saint’s cheek.
"I don’t know. Anything could have triggered him..." Saint confessed after hesitating for a bit.
"Think. Anything could have gotten to Marchetti, maybe a scent, blood, or even a memory." Dr. Quinn interjected.
"Did you smell a scent that could have made you lose control for a bit?"
"No." Saint replied nonchalantly, getting tired of their numerous questions.
"Then what made you burst out of your room door? We all know sometimes you let it happen there, but this time it was inside the pool."
"I don’t really know. I didn’t smell any scent, and I had someone inside my room I wouldn’t want to see my beast side." He confessed, getting up from the bed as he drowned the bottle of water placed on the nightstand.
"Who is she?" Milo asked, raising a brow. "You’ve got a wife now without our consent. Dax, you’re a snitch." He chuckled, but the rest of them didn’t laugh except for Saint’s eye that was giving him that don’t-let-me-strangle-you look. Milo gulped immediately, going quiet.
"Who is she?" Dr. Quinn queried, staring at Dax since Saint didn’t look like he would answer anytime soon.
Dax glanced at Saint, maybe he would answer, but instead he got up and walked toward the door.
"Dr. Edmund’s daughter." Dax revealed, rushing toward Saint before the two men could unleash their questions and anger on him.
"What?" They exclaimed in unison, mouths open, while Saint launched out of the door toward his room with Dax following behind him.
Reaching his room, two guards stood in front of the door, but the moment they saw him coming they stepped aside, bowing their heads slightly.
"I told them to lock her inside and guard it so she won’t come out or see you in that state," Dax whispered as one of the guards stepped forward to unlock the door.
Entering the room, she lay on the cold tiles, knees clamped together as she shivered. She stood up the moment the door was pushed open, coming face to face with Saint.
"Please, I need to go." She pleaded, her voice faltering.
Saint stared down at her face, her cheeks streaked where dried tears had trailed and left redness.
Within him, he knew she had been crying. He stepped closer toward her but moved back, pressing his ear with his hands as a low growl resonated inside his head.
After a minute of trying to get his balance, and finally doing so, he gripped her hands, pulling her toward Dax.
"Take her to the penthouse. I will meet you guys there," he said, marching out of the room, snarling.
Pure rage radiated from him, making Milo stamp his feet the moment he saw Saint coming down the stairs with a locked jaw and curled fist.
"I think someone pushed his button." He whispered, thinking Dr. Quinn was still behind him.
Turning his head, there was no one there; Dr. Quinn had rushed out of the house.
"Follow me." Saint commanded as Milo hushed behind him with some guards.
They drove out of the compound.
"You incompetent fools. I pay you more than you deserve just to keep her safe, but what did you idiots do? Let her decieve you. What kind of brains do you all have?" Edmund yelled at the twenty-five guards standing in front of him, scattering the neatly arranged files on his mahogany desk all over the floor.
"I give you all twenty-four hours to get my daughter here or else your children will pay for the sins of their fathers. I didn’t employ any of you to slack with my money. Either you bring my daughter or provide me the head of that fool pulling a threat at me, Edmund." He spat, panting around the office, his hands running through his hair trying to think of a solution.
"Sir, we will try our best to get him and even bring back your daughter in good health." A well-built man marched forward, lowering his head.
"Will you shut up, you fool." Edmund spat, green veins pulsing out of his old sagging neck. "I’ve just thirty minutes left to sign that and make it public. Do you know what it means to bind your only daughter with her kidnapper? Do you know what she has inside of her? Tell me what you can possibly do in the next thirty minutes?" Edmund hissed as he dialed the number of his lawyer.
"Get here immediately." He ordered, hanging up the call without waiting for the man’s response.
A guard rushed into the room, lowering his head. "Sir, someone is in the living room asking for you."
"Tell him I’m busy and won’t be coming out anytime soon," Edmund replied, thinking the visitor might be one from the OBD.
"Sir, I haven’t seen this man before. When I asked his name so he could get a quick response, he replied that he was a good friend of yours," the guard rasped, head still lowered.
"The two of you follow me. The rest of you stay behind and wait till I give an order." Edmund announced as he strode out to the living room where a young man whose eyes were slightly bent operated his phone with legs crossed. Beside him sat two men, one who seemed like a lawyer and the other casually dressed.
This was exactly how he had anticipated Edmund would react. A smile tugged at the corner of his lip as his ear picked up the sound coming from a room. Edmund was whining at his guard.
When Edmund stepped into the room, he took a minute to scroll through his phone before slowly raising his head. Tilting his head to the side, he tucked his phone into his side pocket, the smile growing wider.
"I never expected I would get the privilege to meet my beautiful friend after all these years." Saint laughed, his back resting comfortably in the chair.
"My apologies, but I don’t remember this friend." Edmund answered truthfully, wiping the bead of sweat with a cloth that had been tucked neatly in his side pocket.
"Let me give myself a good introduction, Mr. Edmund Hawthorne. I’m the one behind your daughter Aurora’s disappearance." Saint whispered, adjusting the ear pod in his ear, staring intently at Edmund as his hands curled into fists.
His face drained of color as he bit his inner cheek, trying to suppress the pure anger radiating from him.
"Oh. Let me get us a bottle of wine." Edmund said, forcing a smile as he moved into the room he had walked out of, then came back with a bottle of wine holding a glass.
"Thank you, Edmund. I noticed you didn’t get back to me nor did you do the binding, so as a good friend I thought of seeing you about it." Saint simpered as Edmund offered him a glass.
His lawyer placed a file on the table with a pen while the door was pushed open and another man dressed as a lawyer rushed in, standing beside Edmund.
"Edmund, we need just your signature. As for your daughter, we’ll let her sign when we get to her."
Just then guards marched through the door behind them, guns cocking as they pointed at Saint, Milo, and the lawyer, ready to pull the trigger.
"You really walked into your death, doomed." Edmund said, clasping his hands beside his back.