Chapter 1

VERNERO POV

The drug they used on me was slowly wearing off, and I was slowly slipping back into consciousness. However, my body was so damn sore that I could barely move a muscle, probably because I’d been chained to a chair for over 71 hours now with no food, no water to drink, or anything to keep me sane. I had been careless, careless to let my guard down, and actually thought I got my shit together.

But I’ll give them; the Sicilian men had been clever and swift this time. They managed to capture me.

I groaned softly and winced as the wound on the left of my groin oozed with blood. The fucker’s did me a good number there.

I engaged my ears to pick up all the sounds, since my eyes were failing to pitch in; I decided to settle with hearing. There was laughter coming from the left side of where I was chained. The conversation among the people seemed to be an easy one, but the smell of pot was intoxicating and I knew I had an easy pass out of this place. If they were really smoking pot, then my escape plan was going to be an utter success. The honking of horns and the sound of a very bustling street could be heard loud and clear not far from where we were. Which meant one thing; we were inside the city. Probably at some closed-down factory building or some docks! That I wasn’t sure of since I was knocked out this whole time!

The chattering outside was of four people, probably keeping an eye on me so that I couldn’t escape. I rolled my heavy head on my neck and willed my eyes to open. Slowly, my vision came back to me and I assessed the dense cell I was caged in. It didn’t seem to be that big and the walls were of metal. No iron bars, no stinky walls! Which meant I was in a cargo container. Well, that made things easier.

I moved my hands behind me and twisted the ring on my finger until the back of it was positioned nice and well, then carefully switched on the small laser which made a small vibrating sound as it cut through the metal chains. The laughter outside told me that my guards were unaware of what was happening. There was a loud clang on the ground as the chains fell off and I winced with the thought that they heard me.

“What was that sound?” One of them called out causing the conversation to halt.

“You are probably high man. I didn’t hear anything.” The other contradicted and they all agreed. The conversation went on like nothing had happened and I let out the breath I was holding.

Stealthily, I engaged the laser ring to slice through the chains around my feet and carefully laid them on the floor when they were all through. My feet seemed to be numb for a moment and I couldn’t help groaning from the pain that shot through my leg. These fuckers did really do me good.

I got onto my feet and slowly took delicate steps toward the entrance of the container. I was sure to stay hidden in the shadows as I took in my surrounding and made a plan for my escape. The guards outside were really out of it and that gave me a way out. I had to be quick, swift, and very stealthy if I wanted to make them pay for what they had done.

With that, I willed my body to be numb, and once the void settled, I sprinted from the shadows and leaped right on one guard’s neck, twisted it until it snapped. The pot made their mind heady and they took a full minute to contemplate what was actually happening. By the time their bodies connived with their minds, I had three of them down and one stared at me with so much fear in his eyes as I twisted the cocked gun on his forehead. I placed my finger on my mouth and silenced him to keep it down. He gave me one nod and I lowered the gun with just an inch.

I glanced around and spotted a broken fence not far from where I was. That was it, my chance to get out of here. I looked at the fucker in front of me and placed the gun back on his head, pulled the trigger, and then boom! His brain was on the floor. There was a moment of still silence as I limped toward the broken fence and crawled under the small hole. Right after I made it out, the sirens went off. Fuck!

I spotted a very narrow passage in front of me and ran towards it. There was yelling and shouting behind me as men scattered to make out where I ran off to. I willed my painful body to be in cahoots with my mind, and then I ran. Thanks to a decade of diabolic training, I could run around with angry wounds oozing buckets and rivers of blood.

The shouting could be heard not far from where I was. I spotted a soft light seeping from yet another alley on my right and took it. I came to a halt when I realized that it was a dumpster of the residential building. And it was a dead end.

A silhouette flickered from a distance and I ran towards it. It was a girl and I cursed myself for what I was about to do to her. She didn’t deserve it nor did she deserve being dragged into all this fiasco. But if she played funny, well…

 She let out a yelp as I threw my body on her but I was quick to cover her mouth so that she didn’t let out another sound. Her eyes widened when she took in my form.

“Shhhhh. Don’t make a sound.” I commanded trying to sound as normal as possible. The thuds of heavy footsteps against the ground drew nigh and I had to do something not to get caught.

“I am sorry!” I called before pulling the small body to mine and slamming my lips on hers. Her body was rigid for a whole minute as she tried to stomach what was actually happening and when it clicked into place, she began thrashing and hitting my not-so-in-the-good-condition chest. I held her closer and whispered against her lips;

“Make a sound, and you are dead!” I didn’t want to sound like a prick, but really, if she made a simple sound; then I was a dead meat.

The footsteps halted for a second, and murmurs could be heard as they tried to make out which way I sprinted off.

“Horny teens!” one spat as they all took off in another direction. Once the sound of their steps was swallowed by night, I pulled myself from the stranger in front of me and before I could explain myself, she landed a very healthy blow right on my stomach causing me to groan and drop to my knees.

“You are bleeding.” She screamed in a panicked voice as she scrunched down next to me.

Her small hands fumbled with the buttons of my shirt as she tried to pull it off me.

“We should call the ambulance. You have bled a lot!”

One thing I made out, this girl was either an A-class idiot; or she was an idiot. How could one be concerned about someone who flat-out manhandled her while she was innocently going to dump the trash?

~~~

LEIGH-ARI

My body was glistening with sweat from the adrenaline rush. Seeing blood had activated my doctor mode despite the fact that this piece of ass in front of me decided to assault me. Was that even an assault?

“N-no. No amb… no ambulance.” He whispered as he tried to stay awake.

“Right no ambulance. Can you walk? You need to have your wounds treated as in right now.” I called out opening his heavy eyes and looking at his eyes. The low light made it impossible so I had one option left, except to take him into my apartment and treat his wounds. At least my apartment was just on the first floor.

I fixed my silk night robe and pulled him up. His limp body weighed a fuckin’ ton and it was rather a struggle to get him up. But after a long eternity of struggle, I hauled his body up and wrapped an arm around his waist, then walked towards the back entrance of the apartment building, since I left with it to dump the trash. That and to avoid the curious glances that were surely going to be thrown my way.

“Are you even human? You are as heavy as a freaking elephant.” I complained taking delicate steps towards the small stairs that led to the inside of the building.

A chuckle followed by a violent cough rumbled from the elephant that was slumped in my hold. And he spat blood. Shit!

“Easy there buddy. We are almost there.” I soothed as we climbed the stairs.

“You… Your voice…”

“My voice? What about it?” okay, this fella didn’t know when to shut up. Even when he was hurt to this extent he still wanted to talk.

“It’s familiar.”

“Okay. You’ll tell me about it later. Now save your energy so that we can make it to my house.” I dismissed him as we doodled towards the elevator. The stairs didn’t seem like a healthy option at the moment. I prayed to the creator of the heavens that there was no one to use the elevators and thanks to my luck, there really was no one. Soon, we were standing in front of my door and I shifted his weight so that I opened the door with a free hand. once it was ajar, I pulled the heavyweight champion inside and sloshed him on my rug in the living room, then ran back to lock the door and dashed to the kitchen, and retrieved my heavy medical kit.

“I don’t know why you don’t want an ambulance, but your wounds need to be treated. You might be a criminal considering the fact that there was a chunk of armed men chasing you, but as a doctor, it’s my duty to save a life. So for now, I will treat your wounds, then call the cops on your sorry ass for sexually assaulting me and many other reasons.” I rattled preparing all the necessary equipment. Although my rug wasn’t an operating table and wasn’t 100% sterile, I made sure to keep it clean and washed it every week in case… things like this one happened. And lucky for his life, I had just cleaned it two days back.

I loved my hands and took the shears, STAT!

Then cut through his shirt and actually cursed when I saw not one, but multiple wounds that seemed to be infected marring his front. His breathing was labored as I washed all the angry open wounds and attended to them carefully. Occasionally, I’d call out just to make sure he was awake and when he replied, I continued.

After bandaging his chest, I glanced at his legs and realized that they were also covered in wounds.

“Honestly, I don’t know why you don’t want an ambulance, but this; this is really bad. You are lucky you stumbled upon a surgeon!” I rattled hurriedly tearing his pants into too.

This was going to be a long night!