Chapter 58 Chapter 58
Grace grabbed Adrian by the arm, her voice urgent. "Adrian, calm down!"
"Calm down?" His bloodshot eyes stared at her. “How am I supposed to calm down? Just keep swallowing it like you do? Grace, this isn't rational—it's cowardice! How could you let that bastard threaten you like that? Do you believe everything he says? What exactly are you afraid of? Grace, you're not the same person you used to be!”
Adrian's rage caused him to speak without restraint. Stunned, Grace felt a sharp pain in her chest. Unable to control herself, she asked him in a trembling voice, "Adrian, are you accusing me? Am I a coward? Am I willingly letting Benjamin threaten me?"
Adrian realized his mistake and closed his eyes in anguish. He stepped forward, pulled Grace into his arms, and said in a rough voice, "I'm sorry. That's not what I meant. I meant we should be brave. We should go to the police. We can't just let that bastard do whatever he wants."
Grace said nothing, only trembling in his embrace. After a long moment, she asked, "Adrian, do you know what we're facing?"
"Yes!" Adrian gripped her shoulders tightly, as if trying to give her strength. Just as he was about to continue, the sound of a door lock turning reached them from the entrance.
They both froze. Adrian released Grace, ignoring her tug, and moved toward the entrance. Just as he reached the hallway, the door burst open from the outside. Several burly men rushed in. Before he could react, they pinned him down. He struggled fiercely and shouted, "Who are you? Let me go!"
Without saying a word, one of the men punched Adrian in the stomach, doubling him over in pain. Another man snatched the phone from Grace's hand and tossed it back to the burly bald man who had just entered. The bald man glanced at the incomplete emergency number on the screen, chuckled. "I’m sorry, Ms. Hill."
As he turned his head, someone stepped forward and restrained Grace. Adrian's eyes bulged with rage as he roared, "Let her go!"
The bald man showed no mercy toward Adrian, however. He turned back, glared at Adrian fiercely, and ordered his men, "Beat him to death.”
Several men immediately swarmed Adrian, punching and kicking him relentlessly. Within moments, he was beaten to the ground. Grace tried to scream for help, but with tape over her mouth, she could only produce muffled whimpers.
Slowly, Adrian's resistance weakened. Just as he seemed about to lose consciousness, the bald man finally shouted, "Stop!" He ordered his men to drag Adrian up from the floor. Grinning, the bald man demanded, "Tell me! Which finger did you use to get Mr. Norman?”
His men yanked Adrian's hands out and pinned them to the coffee table. They barked, "Tell us!"
Grace let out a wail and struggled desperately toward Adrian. The two men beside her, perhaps not expecting such strength from her, suddenly lost their grip. This allowed her to crawl onto Adrian.
The bald man became furious and scolded his men, "You're useless! Pull Ms. Hill up. Use some restraint—don't hurt her."
Grace tore the tape from her mouth and clung desperately to Adrian, refusing to let go. "I want to see Benjamin!" she cried.
The bald man signaled his men, who pried Grace off of Adrian and resealed her mouth. Only then did he resume his insincere smile. "Ms. Hill, you're free to search for Mr. Norman if you wish. But please don't delay our business. We don't want to hurt you. Show us some consideration, won't you?"
He took a machete from one of his men and tossed it deftly between his hands. Glancing down at the unconscious Adrian, then looking back at Grace, he asked with a smile, "Tell us, which finger did he use to point at Mr. Norman?"
How could Grace answer? Held tight by the two men flanking her, she could only repeatedly shake her head, tears streaming down her face. The bald man chuckled and added, "Then let me ask this: Is he left-handed? I don't want to chop the wrong hand off again.”
"Please! Please!” Grace cried out incoherently and bent her knees in an attempt to kneel before the bald man. Adrian had regained consciousness at some point. With great effort, he glanced at Grace and hissed hoarsely, "Stand up, Grace. Don't beg these scumbags!"
"Good! Now that's more like it!" The bald man laughed and stepped onto the coffee table, planting his foot on Adrian's head. "Today, I only want one of your fingers." With that, he severed Adrian's right index finger clean off.
Adrian let out a scream, but he forced himself to swallow it back as the sound died in his throat.
"All right, you are a real man." The bald man laughed loudly and ordered his men to put Adrian's severed finger in a plastic bag. He then tapped Adrian's forehead lightly with his toe. "Too bad you picked the wrong people to mess with. Today, we'll let you off for Ms. Hill's sake. Remember, don't ever point fingers at anyone again. Next time, it won't just be a finger we chop off."
He ordered his men to release Grace, then strode away with his crew. Several cars waited in the dim back streets. Zach slid into the front seat of the lead vehicle and casually tossed the small plastic bag to the man in the backseat. "Here."
Landon glanced at the bloody severed finger inside the bag and wrinkled his nose in disgust before flinging it out the window. “You didn't hurt the woman, did you?”
“Nope!” Zach replied cheerfully. "I didn't touch the woman. Don't worry; the boys know their limits. We didn't even beat that guy to death. I just took his finger. The rest of the injuries are nothing serious."
Landon nodded in satisfaction.
Zach scratched his bald head and suggested, "Honestly, if someone dares to steal a woman from Mr. Norman, we should just find a way to take him out."
Landon pulled at the corner of his mouth. "Probably because of that woman."
Zach recalled Grace's near-madness earlier and couldn't help but chuckle. “I just don't get Mr. Norman. What kind of woman can't he get? Why did he set his sights on a married woman? I saw how devoted she is to her husband. You didn't hear the sound she made when I chopped off that guy's finger. She sounded like a she-wolf. It gave me the creeps just listening."
Landon frowned.
After a moment, Zach suddenly blurted out, "Do you think Mr. Norman's changed?"
Landon shot Zach a cold glare, cutting him off. "Do you have a dead wish?"
Zach gave an awkward chuckle. "I’m just talking nonesense!"
Benjamin wasn't like this before. While the Norman family was gradually cleaning up their act, they still held tight to Seattle's underground businesses. But ever since Benjamin took over Norman Science, he'd been phasing out the illegal operations and distancing himself from people like Landon—until he returned from abroad earlier this year.
Landon muttered to himself, "I think the current Benjamin is the best. This is our Benjamin."