It Was a Woman

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"Hmmm, you're right. Then I guess I should go now then, I still have some business I have to finish. I just came by to greet you, please do enjoy your stay here," Hanlu said, his smile as bright as the sun. Seeing this, Fyre squinted his eyes as if they were hurting just seeing Mo Hanlu. He knew the Casanova President of the Mo Empire was someone like this but seeing the signature smile in person, he was too dazzling for his poor eyes.

"O-okay I will t-thank you," Fyre stuttered before looking at the Older Alpha leaving the vicinity until he couldn't see his back anymore. Even when Mo Hanlu was gone, he still remained in a daze as if hypnotized by that resistible charm. He was only able to pull himself out of the hypnotism when Tian Zi made a sudden sound making him glare at the younger Alpha in annoyance.

Meanwhile, Hanlu hummed seemingly in a good mood. Good thing he saw Tian Zi and his friend, Fyre, that way he wouldn't be so much in a bad mood and accidentally kill his prey in an instant. Ian especially told him to make the fucker pay, he will do exactly that and he will make sure he will have fun while doing that.

"S-Should I continue my report?" The assistant suddenly asked, he couldn't help but feel nervous seeing Hanlu whistling while scanning his tools. They are now in the room where all of Hanlu's torture equipment was kept as the Alpha was looking for the right tool he would use today. Since he uses them all the time, the tools are needed to be cleaned and sterilized. Of course, Hanlu wouldn't want his prey to die due to an infection, which would have been such a bummer.

"It's okay, I remember him already," Hanlu replied, holding one tool in his left hand and another on the other hand as if contemplating which one he was going to use. In the end, he decided to take the two as he walked out of the room, and following him still was the assistant. When they finally arrived at the door where the kidnapper was kept, there was a man waiting there for him. Since the head of security was currently away, the second in command took over.

Truthfully, he was only second in command because Hanlu and Laotian both trusted Aldrin and he was one of the most efficient when it comes to doing his job but when it comes to fighting ability, the second in command was actually more dominant. He's younger and quicker, also very competitive but still has good manners.

"Sir," Nigel greeted as he opened the door for Hanlu. Hanlu briefly nodded at him before finally he walked inside the room and the first thing Hanlu could see was a blindfolded man with his hand and leg tied down on the metal chair. There was an obvious bruise on his cheek, meaning his capture didn't go as smoothly explaining why he's now unconscious.

"He tried to struggle so I had to restrain him," Seeing his curious eyes, Nigel quickly explained without being asked. Unlike Aldrin, Nigel has a little bigger frame compared to him and Laotian. One punch he will definitely send your consciousness flying.

"Hmmm, how did you know it was him?"

"He ran as soon as he saw us approaching," Nigel simply replied, making Hanlu nod imagining what might have happened. 'What an idiot, if he didn't panic and run, he wouldn't have been found out that easily. He could have still escaped and hidden a little better,' Hanlu instantly thought looking at the unconscious man.

"I doubt he's working alone," Hanlu commented suddenly. If this man was so stupid to give away his identity just lie that, Hanlu doesn't believe he would have trouble locating this man. He doesn't believe this man would be able to devise a well-planned tact like that.

When he attempted to kidnap both Lan and Luangmin he executed his plan on the perfect day where there were many people at the campus, he perfectly avoided CCTV cameras and even managed to find an escape route that no one would have ever thought of making his plan flawless, it was simple but effective that they couldn't find a single clue. If he didn't call Daniel back then, they wouldn't have known who he was.

"I thought so too, sir. He's too stupid to plan out something," Nigel replied, nodding.

"Hmmm, well. Let's find out who's his accomplice," Hanlu dragged the nearest chair he could get towards in front of the unconscious man. The back of the chair faced him before Hanlu sat on it with his front-facing on the leaning board and his arms on top to support his shoulder and head.

Nigel didn't need to be told as he quickly took a pail filled with ice-cold water before throwing it to the unconscious man waking him from his slumber.

He groaned in pain at first, his eyes were still blindfolded. When he realized he was bound he started struggling, the old memories he had before came flashing into his mind as he started screaming in panic.

"LET ME GO YOU FUCKERS! LET ME GO!" He screamed furiously. His grating voice sounded unpleasant in the ears, annoying Hanlu in an instant.

"Mr. Mark Gotti," Hanlu called, trying to hold himself but he couldn't continue what he wanted to say as Mark Gotti continued to yell and struggle without a stop.

"YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS! I'M GOING TO FUCKING KILL YOU IF I GET OUT OF THIS!" The man shrills again. And as if something snapped, without saying anything Hanlu stood up from his chair, and without warning, he punched the man on his face with his bare hand before he cursed in annoyance.

"That is if you get out of here you bastard," Hanlu whispered dangerously, his eyes glaring at Mark Gotti as if he would kill him instantly if he said more.

"You should have just continued turning into a new leaf. That way you wouldn't have to die this way," Hanlu added before walking back to the chair and cleared his voice, about to start all over again with his investigation but when he saw blood running down Mark Gotti's nose, he cursed again and looked at Nigel.

"Did I put on too much strength?" Hanlu asked, seeing that Mark Gotti was now once again unconscious. He believed he didn't hit the man that much though, he thought Mark Gotti would have taken it easily like a man, he guessed wrong.

"Yes sir. You hit him like you were going to kill him," Nigel replied unreservedly because that's what he had seen although if he was the receiving one, he wouldn't have fainted like that.

"Did I? Dammit, now we have to wait for him to wake up again," Hanlu sighed frustratedly. "I have a dinner I need to catch," he added and glanced at his wristwatch. When he saw it was roughly 2 hours before dinner time, he wasn't patient enough to wait for Mark Gotti to wake up again.

"Let's force him up," Hanlu said before he took his favorite tool which he called clippers. Unlike the normal nail clippers, the one he was holding wasn't sharp because its purpose wasn't to cut something although it is used mostly for fingers. The reason why Hanlu liked this is because it's more painful than the finger cutter. Unlike the finger cutter, his clipper was aimed to flatten anything placed in its clutches including bones without splattering blood all over. Of course, there are instances that blood may spill out during the process but the finger cutter was way messier.

"I'll start with the pinkie," Hanlu chanted, he didn't wait a second before the clipper clutched onto Mark Gotti's pinkie, and not a second passed both Hanlu and Nigel heard the painful sound of bones shattering to pieces. Unfortunately, Mark Gotti was still unconscious without a single gasp or flinch.

"That's weird, he should have woken up with that pain," Hanlu mumbled and unclipped his tool from the completely flattened pinky.

"Next, the index finger," Hanlu said again and moved to clip Mark Gotti's other hand's index finger. And like the pinkie, the bones on that finger shattered to pieces as it turned dark purple but still, Mark Gotti was still unconscious.

"Wait, don't tell he's dead?" Frowning, seeing his prey still unmoved, he realized maybe the man was actually dead. 'Shit, did I really punch him that hard?' Hanlu thought before he pressed his finger on the man's neck to feel his pulse.

"Bastard, don't freaking scare me like that! I almost thought I won't be able to make you suffer as you should," Hanlu sighed before he smacked the unconscious man's head lightly. For a second, he thought the man was dead, thankfully he isn't.

"He might be one of those heavy sleepers, sir," Nigel guessed, making Hanlu nod.

"We might need to wait for a couple of minutes, he's out cold," Hanlu decided but as he was about to fix his things, Mark Gotti suddenly started groaning lightly until it became louder and louder.

"Arg…" Mark Gotti moaned due to the excruciating pain he was suddenly feeling. He realized, he really did fuck up. He shouldn't have reacted recklessly when he saw Mo Hanlu's men approaching him. His action gave out his identity. If he acted calm and received a few beating denying the accusation, maybe he still has the chance to escape.

"Now you're awake,"

"S-Someone t-told me to," Mark Gotti suddenly muffled breathlessly. The pain he was feeling was so great he couldn't even let out a scream.

"I-It was a woman," Mark Gotti continued. The woman who came to him that day was pretty. She didn't tell him her name but even if she did Mark Gotti still wouldn't have known her. She doesn't seem like she was from the country due to her thick European accent, she only came to offer a deal that's too tempting for him not to accept.

Interested, Hanlu listened for a bit. Although he would have enjoyed torturing the answer out of the man, confessing voluntarily was okay too.

"A woman?" Hanlu repeated walking towards his chair ready to listen for the rest, unfortunately, Mark Gotti doesn't have anything to say anymore.

"T-That's the only thing I know, S-she already p-planned out a strategy for me and even o-offered me money. W-we didn't s-saw each other a-again since then," Mark Gotti confessed between his labored breaths, his body slowly getting used to the pain.

Hearing Mark Gotti's story, Hanlu couldn't help but believe him because he doubted a coward like this man was able to lie when his life was at stake.

"Nigel, get me a picture of the woman who was with Veronica Chime before," Hanlu instructed, he had a strong feeling that this was once again connected to Jordan Perrel. That man is really out for them, even willing to target children without feeling conscience.

Complying with the command, Nigel left in a hurry and not 5 minutes had passed, he came back with the picture of a woman in black champagne.

"Hey, look at this. Is she the woman you're talking about?" Pulling the blindfold down, Hanlu showed the picture to Mark Gotti. His eyes were dazed due to the pain so it took a while for him to recognize the picture but as soon as he did, his eyes widened.

"T-That's her. That's the woman w-who came to me," He uttered almost breathlessly. He thought he had grown accustomed to the pain but now he realized he didn't.

"Great," Hanlu said, pulling away. He was about to walk out of the room however as he was at the door he halted and looked at Mark Gotti.

"Test out the new drugs on him, I don't care if he dies from it," Hanlu said to Nigel before he twisted the doorknob open, to which Nigel replied with a simple nod. They have new torture drugs that had yet to be tested, so Mark Gotti was the perfect guinea pig for that.

"W-Wait! I-I told you what you n-needed to know," Mark yelled after he heard what Hanlu said. The voice he thought that wouldn't come out earlier, had finally surfaced as he called the Alpha in disbelief.

"Yes, you did. But I never said you are free to go if you did," Hanlu said before finally, he left the room, stunning Mark Gotti. 'Was this monster really planning to kill him?' he thought and watched Mo Hanlu's back disappear behind the heavy metal door.