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Chapter 9
"I wouldn't even dare to step on an ant..." Alexander Huxley's eyes reddened, his voice trembling. "Do you really think I'd do anything terrible to Mr. Smith?"
Sophia Sinclair's heart skipped a beat.
Those usually gentle eyes now filled her with an inexplicable unease. But seeing his pitiful expression, she softened.
"One day," she conceded. "By this time tomorrow, you return him unharmed."
Luna Smith tugged at her sleeve, her little face scrunched up. "Daddy has to keep his promise!"
"Of course." Alexander gently ruffled her hair.
The moment the door closed, his smile vanished.
In the basement of Huxley Manor, Ethan Smith was shoved roughly to the ground. He looked up into Alexander's icy glare.
"Tie him up," Alexander ordered coldly.
A bodyguard kicked the back of his knees, forcing him down with a sharp pain. Coarse ropes bit into his skin, drawing blood.
Crack!
The first lash came, and Ethan bit through his lip.
"Does it hurt?" Alexander leaned down, using the whip to tilt his chin up. "This is just the beginning."
The second lash tore through his shirt, leaving a bloody welt on his back.
"Ah!" Ethan finally cried out.
Alexander grinned viciously. "I wonder what Sophia would think if she heard you scream like that?"
The lashes rained down. Blood soaked through his clothes, pooling on the floor.
"Aren't you afraid... they'll find out?" Ethan gasped.
"Find out?" Alexander scoffed. "As long as you're alive, I have a hundred ways to make them believe me."
Ethan suddenly laughed.
Too bad he wouldn't live that long.
"You bastard!" Enraged by his laughter, Alexander swung the whip harder. "How dare you touch my woman?"
A phone rang abruptly.
Alexander's expression shifted instantly. His voice softened as he answered, "Sophia?"
"Let me speak to Ethan," Sophia's voice came through the receiver.
Alexander's face darkened as he shoved the phone toward Ethan, mouthing a silent threat: Say the wrong thing, and you're dead.
"...Alex didn't... do anything to you, did he?"
Ethan swallowed the blood in his mouth. "...No."
"I'm coming to get you tonight." She paused. "Luna misses you."
The call ended abruptly. Alexander backhanded him. "Stop playing the victim."
He turned to the bodyguards. "Keep going. Just leave him breathing."
"But Ms. Sinclair—"
"I'll handle them," Alexander sneered. "You just make sure he suffers."
The sound of the whip echoed through the dark room all night.
By dawn, Ethan was barely alive. The bodyguards frantically changed his clothes, wiped away the blood, and dumped him onto a couch.
Golden light shimmered before his eyes.
[Mission complete. Exit the timeline?]
"Wait..." His voice was barely a whisper. "Can they... see the footage?"
[As you wish.]
As the light enveloped him, the manor's front door burst open.
"Ethan!" Sophia's voice was frantic, more panicked than ever before.
On the couch, only a smear of fresh blood remained—and the quiet flicker of surveillance footage.