Chapter 3

A man wearing a three-piece black suit got out of the private plane, followed by his right-hand man. “Clear my schedule for today. I’m visiting the hideout for a surprise inspection.” The right-hand man nodded at his instruction, contacting the people who had appointments with the CEO while he guided them to the car waiting beside the plane.

Ethan Reed, CEO of the top Luxury Car Company in the world, Elite Motors. Aside from selling top-of-the-line, unique cars, he also established a foundation for the victims of physical and sexual abuse, which he called Savior’s Foundation. Because of this institution, he received multiple awards, such as the Novel Awardee of this generation, the Most Successful CEO in the country and around the world, the Most Influential Young Bachelor, and the Most Powerful Young Man in the country. Even the President of the country bows to him. 

Aside from all that, Ethan is a gorgeous man and has an angelic face. He has the perfect build, fair skin, tall, perfect jawline, long pointed nose, and thin almond eyes that captivate women’s hearts. All over the country, women seek him out and throw themselves at him whenever they get the chance. But in his 30 years of existence, not a single woman has captured his attention.

What they didn’t know was behind his angelic face and being the so-called Savior-of-the-country, he has a hidden character.

Ethan is the most powerful Lord of all Mafias. They have branded him as ‘The Devil-Reaper.’ Known as the ruthless, merciless, and cold-hearted king who is a threat to everyone who wants to mess with him. He tortures people, kills them to seek justice, and even the government couldn’t do anything about it. To cover his identity Ethan usually wears a mask whenever he goes to their hideout. Only a few of them know his real identity as the CEO and the Mafia Lord, and they were Willard, his driver, and Austin Morris, his best friend, and right-hand man.

They were on their way to the hideout, located in a remote area miles away from the city proper. From around the bend in the road, Willard saw a figure in a white dress crossing the dark, unlit highway. 

“Master, Austin, I see a young lady up ahead, and I think she needs help.” Austin looked at Ethan sitting at the back, asking for his approval on whether or not they should help her. Before he could answer, Willard frantically honks the horn and steps on the brake so hard they all get catapulted from their seats, reminding them they were lucky to be wearing their seatbelts.

“What the hell is wrong with you?!” Ethan ground his teeth.

“My apologies, Master. I didn’t mean to step on the breaks… It’s just that the young lady crossed the street and just stood there. I didn’t want to hit her.” Willard explained. Ethan released a long, deep sigh out of frustration.

“Are you sure you didn’t hit her? Where is she now?” Austin asked while looking out the windshield.

Ethan frowned. He instructed Austin to check on the young lady. 

“Ethan, she fainted. What will we do with her?” Austin asked, worry clear on his face. “There’s something here. She looked like she’s been abused.”

Ethan got out of the car. He tucked his gun behind him, looked around for potential threats, and checked on the young lady. He frowned when he saw her face was swollen and had bloodstains on the side of her lips. Somebody had definitely beaten her up. Aside from her face, most of her white dress was torn, and her feet looked bloody and muddy at the same time. ‘It looks like someone tried to rape her.’ He thought.

“Let’s go back to the Villa.” He instructed. Austin stooped down to carry the unconscious lady, but Ethan stopped him.

“Don’t touch her. Let me do it. Just open the door.” Austin nodded.

He easily lifted the lady in his arms, like she was made of thin air, and laid her gently beside him in the backseat of his car. 

Inside the vehicle, while they were on their way to the villa, Austin and Willard couldn’t help but sneak peeks in the rear-view mirror, wondering about Ethan’s behavior. How could a well-known billionaire and the king of all Mafia care for a lady… a stranger? They looked at each other for a second, and the same thoughts ran through their mind. ‘She caught the Devil’s attention.’

Ethan did not notice any of this happening as he stared at the face of the wounded young lady. She was filthy, but underneath the grime and the dirt, he could see she was lovely, and there was something about her that attracted him, and to which he had no explanation. Maybe he pitied her and didn’t want to see her get abused? Who knows, all he could think about was he wanted to care for her. He couldn’t help but grit his teeth. ‘Whoever laid their hand on you will surely face the Devil.’ He thought as his fists clenched.

The servants were lined up at the entrance to the villa as customary, waiting to receive the homeowner and help with anything, but Ethan didn’t see the need to ask anyone to help carry the young lady inside. Instead, he carried her protectively close to his body, hiding her face, leaving the servants in confusion. They wondered who the lady was but didn’t bother to ask for fear of getting fired.

Ethan stopped at the bottom of the staircase. He then turns around and orders Austin. “Austin, go find a female doctor and send her to my room. Ask the court maid to prepare the room next to mine. Buy new clothes for our visitors and tell our designer to get here, fast.” 

Austin bows his head then as a sign of respect. “Roger that,” He said, then excused himself to make a phone call.

Ethan laid her gently on his bed and threw a blanket over her. The young lady winced as he tried to caress her face.

“Don’t, please… no,” Alexa kept on squirming and begging while she was asleep. ‘She’s having a bad dream.’ Ethan could just imagine what happened to her, and it made him want to kill the person who harmed her.

Ethan caressed the young lady’s hair carefully this time and whispered sweet nothings while she slept. His other hand was holding hers to reassure her. “Hush now... you are safe. Don’t worry… You are with me.” The young lady calmed down, her knitted brows eased from their wrinkle, but she didn’t relax her grip, and kept on holding onto him.

An hour and a half later, Ethan heard a knock on his door. It was Austin, with a doctor following behind him.

“Master, the doctor is here.”

Ethan instructed the doctor to check her thoroughly and implied that she could not leave until he knew everything that had happened to her.

The doctor asked for two maids to help clean up and change the clothes of the unknown young lady while she examined her. Ethan assigned Ina and Maxime to the doctor’s care before excusing himself to give them privacy.

The doctor asked the maids to call Ethan when she finished examining the unconscious lady. “I gave the patient a mild sedative to help her heal. She has several broken ribs, her face will be swollen for a while, her nose was slightly bent but not broken, there were scars on her foot, I assume from walking a long distance. Some old scars on her back have long healed, not to mention she is malnourished and dehydrated. I left an IV to replenish her fluids. She’s safe from danger, but she still needs to go to the hospital for an X-ray as soon as she wakes up.” Ethan nodded.

“Was she… violated?”

“Not that I know of. I don’t have the tools to check her here, but if you send her to the hospital, we can verify the results. Or you can just ask her.”

The doctor left a long list of prescriptions for the young lady with instructions on how to administer them, and Ethan instructed Willard to buy them right away. 

It took 5 days before the young lady finally woke up. And in those days, Ethan kept vigil the whole time, leaving the house only for the most important meetings, and when he was gone, Ina and Maxime were there to tend to her.

“Who are you?”