Chapter 16

Giselle's head hurt. The smoke and chaos from the bomb blast caused her ears to ring. She tried to cover it but her hands were strapped to the wheelchair. She groaned and moaned in pain but she was ultimately ignored. Finally, she slipped into unconsciousness.

When she awoke, she was in a dark room with only a faint light bulb overhead for light. Her hands were still strapped to the wheelchair and an intravenous infusion was connected to her left arm. She sighed and shook her head.

"I knew it. Meeting that guy was bad luck. And my life was going so well. Ahh, this must be karma"

"Hello Miss Cheadle, it's nice to finally meet..."

"Water"

"Excuse me….?"

"I'm thirsty. Give me water"

The darkroom was enveloped in silence before the low laughter of a man rang out. The owner of the voice walked into the light and crouched before Giselle. The smirk he had on his face was very familiar.

"Adam…...no wait, you're not Adam, are you?"

"Wow, I'm impressed. Most people can't tell us apart on the first meeting. You're one amazing woman, Miss Cheadle"

"What are you, his evil twin?"

"Basically, yeah. But, I'm not his twin. I'm his younger brother, Adrien. We're separated by a year"

"Eh? Wow. You have such strong genes"

"He loathes it though. He can't stand looking at me with this face"

"Then it's not genes, is it? You had plastic surgery"

"Ding! Ding! Ding! Right again. Wow, you're practically a genius. No wonder my brother likes you"

"So, basically, I'm in this situation because you want to get your brother's attention, am I right?"

"You're so smart, it's annoying"

"I'm a psychologist. It'll be a shame if I couldn't guess your intention. Was blowing up my clinic really necessary?"

"It's all fanfare. I personally like the explosion effect"

"I think your whole family needs to go into family therapy. This obsession must be a family thing. Do you have other siblings?"

"Yeah. We have three sisters. One older and two younger ones. They're cute, wanna see a pic?"

"Sure. And give me a glass of water while you're at it?"

"Would you like acid instead?"

"I'd kick your balls with this casted leg. Try me"

Adrien chuckled and went out. The room was quiet once more. She looked up at the drip bag and saw it was almost finished.

"I'd ask him to remove it when he comes back. I'm hungry"

When Adam reached the clinic, the police and firefighters were at the scene. Matthew looked haggard as he talked to the police. Adam rushed over to him.

"Where's Giselle?"

Matthew rounded up hid talk with the police and faced Adam.

"You're Adam Denver, yes?"

"Yeah. Is Giselle alright?"

His reply was a punch in the face. Matthew was about to deliver another one but was stopped by Ava. With a heaving chest, he yelled at Adam.

"This is all your fucking fault!! What did she ever do to deserve this? The past few days, she had been hurt over and over again and it was all because of you!! I heard she came in for work in a CAST!! A fucking cast!!"

"Look, I know you're upset but can we do this later? We have to find Giselle"

"Oh, I know where she is. The police just told me they can't help us because she's in the hands of international mercenaries, SOLEMN. Apparently, it is owned by Adrien Denver, who left this note when he took Giselle"

"Giselle is with Adrien? Fuck!"

"I guess you really don't know anything about her. She may be calm to you but she's still a fucking human being. She got kidnapped at the age of fifteen and again when she was 18. Now you come along and her life is going to shit again. You'd better find her and bring her back in one piece or else you'll regret living"

"Giselle was kidnapped before? Oh my God, what have I done? What have I…."

"Boss!! Relax, we can still go and get her. We've got her location narrowed down" Jellal said after finally catching up to him.

"Matthew, I'm so sorry…."

"I don't want to look at you for another second more. Bring her back safely"