Chapter 153 - The Announcement Of Revenge

"Return the child tomorrow morning. This is not the time yet," the voice of his mysterious boss rang in his ear.

"Where will I return the child?" Joey asked further, risking himself to clarify for this. A single mistake would surely end his life.

"Drop her at the hotel," said the boss who added his instruction regarding the name and location of the hotel.

Joey looked at the child in his lap. Since he brought her inside his van, they kept on running aimlessly at the roads. The boss's instruction was clear, he should not bring her to a hotel or any of their hideouts. Ever since he started working for his boss, he hadn't seen him yet. His personality and his background remained a mystery to him. There was one thing he was sure of, this man could be powerful. Even without seeing him, he could tell what he was doing so he could not risk himself in betraying him. Either he was in the same place with him or not, another thing he was sure of was that he was also monitoring his loyalty.

However, this current task bothered him. No matter how many people he was summoned to kill, no matter how many attacks he had initiated, taking a child as his victim was still heavy in his heart. His mind flew back to what happened yesterday. After he succeeded in persuading Chloe to follow him into his car, he, indeed, lure her with the colorful toys and candies. The child was indeed jubilating with the new set of goodies. When she started to get bored and looked for her parents, he covered her nose with the little amount of chloroform enough to keep her unconscious of what went through. Since his boss had no plan to harm her yet and that this incident now was just to announce his coming revenge, she must not remember his face and how her temporary abduction was carried out. Children don't lie.

Parking in front of the hotel, his mind flew back to the day he made a commitment to serve him. Seeing himself in his mind, his heart was wrapped again with that sense of sadness and pain he felt at that time.

"Sir, please save my daughter. I will do whatever you ask me in return," he begged, almost kneeling down to gain his favor.

He was referred to him by a friend who also served him. Bound by a thick blindfold, he was led into a room where a beautiful music met his ears. He was assisted to a chair and sat there for a while before the player of that grand piano slammed his fingers into the keys to end his piece.

"What's the matter with your daughter?" the man asked, his voice not far away.

"She's in the hospital right now, sir, and the doctor prescribed me the medicine which would amount to a million, not to mention those other hospital charges."

"How old is she?"

"She's about your age, sir."

"How about keeping her for a mistress?" the man may have smirked at him though he could not see.

"There's only one thing I want to ask from you as a condition, sir. Please let her retain her dignity. I am willing to lose mine, just please set her free."

Later at the Intensive Care Unit, the boss went to see Joey's daughter. Hooked to a mechanical ventilator and a cardiac monitor which kept on beeping as the numbers exceeded and preceded the normal limits, she was lying there with her whole face covered with plasters. A tube was connected to her mouth for her breathing, another to her nose for her feeding. In her arms were tubings attached to intravenous fluids and in one of her fingers was a connector to the cardiac monitor.

The doctor came in and was surprised to see him. His name was famous and he always appeared in magazines or in news portals. "Sir, it is an honor to see you visiting my patient. Is she related to you?"

The boss nodded and asked, "What's her chance of survival?"

The doctor looked at him straight in the eye. "I could not give you a false reassurance, sir. She is now in a very critical condition. We do our best and God will do the rest. He grants miracles. He can do many things beyond what our knowledge and expertise are can."

"From the way you say it doc, it seems that you are entrusting her life now to a divine power, which could mean your medical interventions hold little hope as of the moment."

"Sir, I believe in entrusting our lives first to the Lord before giving what we as humans can do. Nothing is too hard for the Lord."

The boss shook his head in amusement. How could this person who spent his years in studying and practicing medicine hold lesser faith in himself than the God he claims? Yet somehow, a strange feeling grew in his heart, making him feel that there was truth in all his claims.

"Doc, give her everything she needs. I want her to live," he sneered. The woman before him was already an inch closer to her grave and if she would really live, he might believe that there's a living God.

Joey's daughter was first admitted due to complaints of loose bowel movement. After three days where she hoped to be discharged, she felt a sense of numbness in both of her soles. The numbness ascended to her thighs until she could no longer move her legs. They thought she had a low potassium level in her blood which caused her weakness but when it was checked, it was normal. After a series of laboratory tests and diagnostic procedures like the Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Electromyogram-Nerve Conduction Velocity, she was found out to have a fatal disorder called Guillain-Barre Syndrome, a rapidly progressive paralysis and loss of reflexes. The medications and the medical management were extremely expensive and the recovery takes several months.

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Chloe moved and he was snapped back into his senses. "Baby girl, you want to go back to your mommy and daddy?"