"Ah!" Noreen screamed.
The pain from her wounds suddenly washed over her like a tidal wave, ten times worse than before. Instead of showing her an ounce of respite, Matthew whipped her without mercy.
"Ah...no!"
Matthew was like an imp of the Devil, if not probably the Devil himself incarnate. "I am not interested in what he has done in his company."
Noreen tried to stay awake but it was too hard, her head spun and the dizziness overcame her. "Matthew Huo, I am the number one star... in the entertainment circle. Do you know what a big mistake you've made by kidnapping me? In less than 24 hours, news of my disappearance will spread all over the Internet, and then..."
Finally, the pain was just too overwhelming and Noreen lost consciousness as she couldn't take it anymore.
'How dare she threaten me at the face of death?' Matthew thought furiously. Every fiber of his being wanted to strangle that woman, even if the whole world found out that he was the one who killed her. Matthew could care less about what the world thought of him.
Thinking of his wife who was still in a coma, Matthew chucked the whip to his bodyguard beside him with a murderous look in his eyes. "Throw her down into the sea."
"Yes! Mr. Huo!"
Plop! At night, the waves were powerful in that violent way of storms and their roar echoed across the sea to the land.
A woman was thrown into sea with her hands tied by a rope. The other end of the rope was fastened to the guard rail of a speed boat. Noreen flipped chaotically across the water as she was dragged on a rope behind a running speedboat.
"Cough, cough, cough." If the pain had rendered Noreen unconscious, the torture she was experiencing now woke her up.
She spat out water, coughing and struggling to catch her breath, but the pain had drained her body of all strength.
Matthew stood on the deck and looked at the woman in the sea, his cold eyes displaying no emotions.
Just as she was about to go under, one of Matthew's bodyguards pulled the rope and brought her back to surface.
Thirty minutes later, when the speed boat had returned to the pier, the woman was almost lifeless, barely holding on to her life.
Just as Matthew was about to confront her again, his phone started ringing. It was Debbie. "Mom?"
"Rika has regained consciousness! Matthew, come to the hospital at once!" Debbie was almost screaming because she was so excited.
The murderous look in that man's eyes suddenly dissipated when he heard the good news. "I'll be right over!"
Before leaving, Matthew glanced at the woman on the floor and ordered his men, "Keep an eye on her. If she is hungry, feed her peanuts, and if she is thirsty, give her sea water."
Noreen was allergic to peanuts; even a tiny piece could make her suffer for an entire night.
And drinking sea water was only going to make Noreen suffer serious dehydration. It seemed as though Matthew had no intentions of giving her some respite.
When Matthew returned to the hospital, Damian had already fallen asleep and Wesley was talking to Carlos in the corridor.
He greeted the two elders first. Wesley replied, "Matthew, Rika has regained consciousness, but she hasn't fully recovered yet. She still needs some more rest."
"Yes, the doctor said that there is nothing to worry about anymore. She'll make a full recover soon," Carlos said.
Matthew nodded and walked into the ward.
Inside the ward, Debbie was texting Blair, keeping her updated on Erica's physical condition. When she noticed him come in, Debbie put away her phone and helplessly said, "Rika was acting like a child. She kept asking to see you the moment she opened her eyes. Luckily she's asleep now."
Matthew nodded, maintaining silence so that Erica wouldn't feel disturbed. He sat down on the edge of the bed and held Erica's hand, and his eyes, that bred nothing but hatred just a while ago, was now full of tenderness.
"Where have you been? Your sister said you didn't go back to the manor," Debbie asked in a low voice.
Putting his wife's hand to his lips, he replied in a cold voice, "I was just out to take care of some unfinished business. After all, someone has to pay the price for putting Rika here."
Debbie understood what he had meant. "Your dad said it was Noreen Xia's doing. Is that true?"
"Yes."
Gifford had his people torture Barry, who in turn confessed that they had received their orders from the boss of the Immortal Killer Sect.
Carlos pushed the door open and stepped inside just as he had overheard the conversation between mother and son. He snorted derisively at Matthew and said, "This was your fault! How many women have you been messing with? Phoebe, Camille, Noreen... All of that stops now! I don't want to hear another word about this again!"
Before Matthew could say anything, Wesley stepped forward and said, "Carlos, it's not the boy's fault. It's obvious that Rika had provoked Michel's people. This time, it had nothing to do with him."
Frustrated, Carlos looked at Matthew contemptuously and said, "It seems that you have found someone to back you up?"
Glancing at him, Matthew didn't bother to answer his question. "Dad, Mom, please go home and get some rest. I'll stay here with Rika."
Debbie didn't want to leave, but she had no say in the matter as her son was already pushing out.
Wesley also wanted to stay and look after Damian, but Matthew said that Gifford and Sheffield would come over later, so Wesley followed the elderly Huo couple to the Huo family's manor.
Around midnight, Sheffield and Joshua appeared in the hospital together.
Sheffield explained to the man who was waiting for them at the door of the ward, "Gifford had to leave on some urgent business. Don't worry, Joshua and I will be here tonight."
Nodding his head, Matthew took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and glanced at the two men.
The two men knew what Matthew was insinuating, so they told the bodyguards to guard the door and left for the smoking area at the end of the corridor.
In the smoking area
Matthew lit a cigarette and looked out the window in a pensive manner.
Sheffield exhaled a mouthful of smoke and teased, "You might as well quit smoking now that Rika is back. Don't you want to try for a daughter this time?"
Joshua chimed in, "I think Sheffield is right. When Rika recovers, you two should just stop worrying about anything else and think about having a daughter or two while you're still young!"
Thinking of the scar on his wife's belly, Matthew flicked the ash off his cigarette and said, "Last time when Rika was pregnant with four babies, she left me for more than three years. What if she leaves me again if I get her pregnant again?"
In truth, Matthew didn't want Erica to suffer the pain of childbirth again.
Not even if he wanted a daughter.
Sheffield puffed smoke on his face, which angered Matthew at once. He was just about to teach the naughty man a lesson, but Sheffield yielded just in time. "Hey, we're in a hospital. Be a gentleman! To be honest, I don't think Rika is to blame for what happened between you two. You never confessed your feelings to her even though you loved her since such a long time ago. Then one day, Rika suddenly found out that not only did you have feelings for her, you were deeply in love with her. The fact that the goddess of your heart wasn't that bitch from the Su family, must have come as a shock to her. I can totally see why she would feel confused and unable to make the right decision."
Joshua nodded, "Now that she's back in your life, just have a good and happy life with her. Give birth to a niece for me as soon as possible."
In the days when Erica went missing, Matthew had been looking for her everywhere like a madman. To quell the sadness in his heart, he would force Joshua and Sheffield to drink with him, and sometimes, their night-outs would end up in a friendly fight. Since Matthew was trained in martial arts, he would easily beat up Joshua.
Matthew, however, wasn't feeling very chatty today. "Of course, I want to have a happy life with her."
Not only did he want to have a happy life with Erica, Matthew wanted her to have the best possible time of her life with him.