Chapter 5

Alicia POV

I didn't stay long at the hospital.

My right hand was re-bandaged. The doctor warned me that if I injured it again, the hand would truly need to be amputated.

I merely nodded faintly and completed the discharge procedures.

I didn't return to that glass villa, which felt like a prison. Instead, I took a taxi to the cemetery, where my brother Ryan rested.

By the time I left the cemetery, dusk had fallen. A fine, bone-chilling rain began to fall.

I stood by the roadside waiting for a car when a black, unmarked van suddenly screeched to a halt in front of me.

The door slid open with a whoosh, and two burly men in ski masks rushed out. Before I could react, one delivered a chop to the back of my neck.

My vision went black, and I completely lost consciousness.

I don't know how much time passed, but I was woken by a bucket of ice water.

The biting cold made me shiver violently. I opened my eyes to find myself tied to a rusty metal chair in an abandoned factory. The air was heavy with the smell of machine oil and decay.

"Awake?" A man with a scar across his face walked up to me, toying with a sharp dagger. "Alicia, long time no see."

I forced myself to calm down. "Who are you people? If it's money you want, name your price."

"Money? I want blood!" Axel suddenly grabbed my hair, snarling. "Nathan, that bastard. He had his PR department spread rumors that my products were toxic. Drove me to bankruptcy."

"My wife jumped with our child. He destroyed my whole family. Now I'll make him taste losing his loved ones too."

I gave a bitter smile, finding it ironic. "Then you've got the wrong person. I'm not his loved one; Seraphina is."

"Cut the crap! Who in New York doesn't know Nathan protects you fiercely!" Axel didn't believe me. He pulled out his phone and started a video call with Nathan.

The phone rang for a long time before it was answered.

Nathan's stern face appeared on the screen; the background seemed to be a high-end conference room in New York.

"Nathan, look who this is." Axel aimed the camera at me.

On the other end of the screen, Nathan's pupils contracted sharply. He abruptly stood up. "Alicia! What do you want? Don't touch her!"

"Feeling sorry for her?" Axel burst into manic laughter.

"Nathan, you've got it coming! Listen, I want you to immediately issue a public apology through the Harrison Group's official account, admitting that your PR department maliciously smeared my company! You have ten minutes, otherwise, I'll make your wife suffer slowly, bit by bit!"

Nathan's face instantly turned ashen.

I knew what he was thinking.

If he issued such an apology, the Harrison Group's reputation would be completely ruined, its stock price would suffer a devastating blow, and it could even face massive breach of contract penalties and legal lawsuits.

"Calm down. I can give you money, whatever amount you want. But that statement is impossible," Nathan said through gritted teeth.

"I don't want money!" Axel roared, and the dagger in his hand plunged into my thigh.

I let out a muffled groan, biting my lip hard to suppress any sound. Blood immediately stained my pants.

"Alicia!" Nathan's eyes were bloodshot, his hands gripping the table, veins bulging on the back of his hands.

We had years of history. He couldn't possibly let me die. It looked like he was about to compromise.

However, just as he was about to speak, Seraphina suddenly burst into the frame.

I closed my eyes.