Chapter 13 Avenge For Alicia

Alicia lay there, lost in thought, as if the world around her had disappeared. Louis sighed and gave her a consoling pat on the shoulder before heading out. He told the bodyguard stationed at the door, "Keep an eye on Alicia and call me immediately if anything goes down."

"You got it, Mr. Martinez," replied the bodyguard.

In the car, Louis's assistant updated him, "We pored over all the security footage in the area and used some of our connections to track down Kithara. We nabbed her in a cab heading out of town, thinking she could make a clean getaway."

Louis's eyes turned cold as ice. "Who the hell is Kithara?"

"Kithara is Karl's sis. Karl was the guy who snatched Mrs. Martinez to restore that old-timey painting. He's now doing hard time for stealing art. The footage we got shows that Kithara posed as a delivery driver for the past few days, stalking the antique market, waiting for a chance to get revenge on Mrs. Martinez."

Louis's hand balled into a fist at his side, his knuckles turning white. He went to the building where Kithara was being held. She had short hair, a ghostly complexion, red eyes, and chapped lips. Her androgynous features bore a striking resemblance to Karl's.

Louis sat on the sofa and stared at her, his eyes cold and piercing, "Why did you mess up Alicia's hand?"

Kithara glared back at him, gritting her teeth, and spat out, "She's the reason my brother got locked up!"

Louis sneered, "Your brother committed theft and kidnapping. He's right where he belongs."

Kithara shot him a sideways glance but said nothing.

Louis let out a humorless chuckle, his lips curling into a chilling smile, "I never lay my hands on women, but you're just too damn low."

Without warning, he snatched the ashtray from the coffee table and slammed it into Kithara's head. She tried to dodge, but Louis's assistant held her down, preventing her from escaping. The ashtray shattered on her forehead, blood gushing out. The shards of glass scattered across the ground, and the assistant kicked Kithara's leg, causing her to collapse onto the broken pieces, whimpering in agony. Louis got up, stepped on her hand, and pressed down hard, forcing the sharp fragments to pierce her fingers.

Kithara was whimpering in pain, begging for mercy, "It hurts, it hurts!"

Louis let out a sarcastic laugh, "You know what it feels like now, but did you ever think about how much pain Alicia felt when you crushed her hand in the door?"

"Alicia's hands mean more to her than her life. She has taken care of me for two years, massaging my legs and soothing my body and soul. She's a kind and gentle soul who never looks for trouble, but you had to go and crush her most precious finger." Louis contained his anger and said nonchalantly, "Her hand is worthless. Chop it off."

The assistant didn't hesitate and replied, "Yes, Mr. Martinez."

Louis turned around and left. As the door shut behind him, Kithara's screams echoed through the room, devoid of any humanity. The assistant used a knife to cut off her four fingers at the roots, leaving her writhing in pain on the floor, surrounded by a pool of blood.

Back at the hospital, Louis sat by Alicia's side, watching her stoic face. His heart was breaking, and just as he was about to tell her that he had avenged her, she grabbed his sleeve. Though she appeared delicate on the outside, she was strong on the inside and rarely showed her vulnerable side.

At that moment, she was fragile and dependent on him. Louis's heart softened, and he felt needed.

He gently reassured her, "Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere. I've been here for you these past few days." Alicia slowly let go of his sleeve. Louis gently fixed her hair and said, "Close your eyes and rest. I'll be here watching over you."

But sleep eluded Alicia. Her four fingers throbbed and swelled, the pain radiating from her fingertips to her heart, making every beat excruciating. Her nails had turned black and purple, a frightening sight.

Suddenly, a loud knocking sound interrupted them. "Bang, bang." Louis got up to answer the door, and standing there was a tall, slim man in a white coat, Leo. He held a bouquet of white roses and greeted Louis, "Hey there, cousin Louis. I just got out of surgery and heard about Alicia. I had to come see her."

Louis's face remained impassive, but his tone was frosty, "Mr. Grainger seems to have many professions."

Leo grinned and said, "I'm a doctor by trade, and Oddities of Time is my grandpa's shop."

Ignoring him, Louis returned to Alicia's side.

Leo placed the flowers on the bedside table and approached Alicia, asking softly, "Does your finger still hurt? Don't worry too much. I heard that the surgery was done by Professor White, who's a real pro. And you're young, so you'll heal up just fine."

"Thank you," Alicia murmured.

Leo examined her black and blue nails and said, "You have some bruising, and we need to take some blood to ease the pain." He called a nurse on his pager to bring a needle.

Louis raised an eyebrow and questioned, "Can you handle this?"

Leo flashed his work ID and responded, "I'm a specialist, cousin. I could even perform surgery. Taking some blood is no biggie."

The nurse walked in with the shot and some alcohol swabs, ready to get down to business. Leo got to work sterilizing the needle and then stuck it into Alicia's finger, drawing out a bunch of purplish blood. After getting all the blood out, Alicia's finger felt a little better.

Leo wrapped things up and patted her arm gently. "Time for you to hit the hay; I'll come check in on you tomorrow."

Louis stood up and offered, "I'll show you out."

They walked out together, and when Louis shut the door behind Leo, Alicia gave him the evil eye and said flatly, "Alicia ain't into your type, so stop trying to make a move."

Leo raised an eyebrow and grinned, "So what type does Alicia like?"

Louis tried to picture Chuck in his mind, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what type of guy he was, so he said confidently, "She likes my type."

Leo's grin grew wider, "Too bad you're her cousin, huh?"

Louis's eyes turned cold, "I'm her..."

But Leo's phone rang, interrupting him. He fished his phone out of his lab coat pocket and waved to Louis, "Gotta take this call." He answered the call and walked away, leaving Louis with a knot in his chest and a scowl on his face. However, when he went back into the hospital room and saw how uncomfortable Alicia was, his anger dissipated.

He glanced at his watch and saw that it was getting late.

Louis asked their nanny, Doris, to bring in some hot water. He used a towel to wipe Alicia's face and then went to clean her feet. But when he tried to take off her pants, Alicia clamped her legs shut, not letting him. Louis smiled gently and said, "I was bedridden for two years, and you took care of me the whole time. Now it's my turn to take care of you."

Alicia hesitated, her eyes getting a little red. They had talked about divorce, and Madelyn had stirred things up between them. Even though they weren't officially divorced, their relationship had changed. It felt a little awkward to let Louis clean such a private area.

After a moment of silence, Louis asked, "Should I have Doris help you instead?"

Alicia was quiet for a few seconds before slowly opening her legs. Louis was closer to her than Doris, so she felt more comfortable with him. Doris was quick to catch on and tactfully backed away. Louis cleaned her with care, and Alicia blushed like a beet. After cleaning her, Louis used a sponge to wipe down her legs and upper body.

It was late into the night, and Alicia finally drifted off to sleep. Louis lay next to her, wide awake and on edge, worried that she might move her hand in her sleep and mess up her finger bones. He held her hand tightly the whole time. After a while, Alicia had another nightmare and started shaking and curling up into a ball. Louis held her close and gently rubbed her back, like he was comforting a child.

Alicia felt safe and snuggled into his arms, murmuring "Ahh..." in her sleep.

Louis put his hand over her mouth, silencing her from saying the next name. After a long time, when she finally calmed down, Louis took his hand away and whispered, "You ungrateful little troublemaker."

Alicia was in such a deep sleep that she didn't hear a word he said. She had no idea how many times she had cried out "Chuck" in her nightmares.