Chapter 193 His Tenderness

Charles did not have much time to pamper Bella, he had to go back to the fight. With the help of his supernatural powers, it just took a few minutes to get Dora back.

When Bella saw Ziv walk out of the factory with Dora in his arms, she knew that everything had ended well. At least that’s what it seemed upon first glance. Only upon taking a closer look did Bella see Dora's badly mutilated legs. It was as if someone had stripped off narrow slices of skin with the help of a surgery tool, thus leaving the flesh exposed.

Bella opened the door of the car and rushed to her friend. The gory spectacle was too much for her. It made her feel nauseous. She dare not go too close to Dora. Despite her miserable condition, Dora’s bloodshot eyes were wide open.

“Thanks for saving me,” said Dora with a faint smile.

“Who did this to you? I’m sorry for not showing up in time. I didn’t want you to suffer so much,” said Bella looking at Dora’s legs.

“It’s just a surface wound,” said Dora. She wanted to laugh but as soon as she moved her lower jaw, her entire face was paralyzed by a wave of intense pain. Charles showed up and moved between Dora and Bella. Maybe he thought that Bella would be too upset if she saw Dora in such a condition.

“Take her right away to the hospital then come back here for us,” he said to Ziv.

Bella wanted to follow Ziv but Charles held her back. He pointed to one of the guards and asked him to go with Ziv.

The leader of the assault group came out of the factory to report to Charles. He said that there was only one survivor and he was too stubborn to talk.

“Take him back to the Mansion. We’ll see if he’s going to talk or not,” said Charles.

Two guards led the captured man out of the factory and into the van. Bella stared at them in a puzzled manner.

“Aren’t you going to call the police?”

“I would prefer to interrogate this man using my own methods. After I have found out what I’m looking for, I may turn him over.”

“What you’re doing is illegal!” she said.

“If we had waited for the police to act, your friend might have already been dead,” said Charles. Bella could not come up with something to say. She knew he was right.

“Try not to kill him at least,” she muttered.

“It’s safe now. Do you want to come with me to the factory? We may find some vital information in there.”

The interior of the factory was very different from the outside world. There were huge rusty machines everywhere and aluminum pipes-most of them covered in mold-seemed to grow out of the walls. Dead bodies full of bullet holes were scattered all over the filthy floor and there were bloodstains everywhere.

Bella pulled out her handkerchief and held it over her nose. The mere sight of the blue handkerchief made Charles’s heart tremble.

“For how long have you been using this handkerchief?” he asked.

“Since I was a kid,” said Bella. “Why are you asking?”

Charles did not answer, only led Bella upstairs to the second level. Unlike the ground floor, this section did not seem affected by the violence that occurred a few minutes earlier.

They entered a room that resembled a science lab. The ceiling and walls were white and there was a cot in the middle with bloodstains all over the sheets. Next to the bed was a bench with a steel tray upon which a row of medical instruments had been arranged. Some of those also displayed traces of Dora’s blood.

Charles put his fingers on a crimson stain and brought it to his nose.

“It seems that Dora’s blood also has some traces of mermaid genes,” he said. “Maybe not as pure as yours, but good enough to attract the interest of those people from Devenport.”

“They were behind Dora’s abduction?”

“So it seems,” muttered Charles.

“Can we go to the hospital to see Dora? I want to make sure she is okay,” said Bella. “Don’t forget she doesn’t have any relatives and she will feel very lonely when she wakes up.”

“Now I know the way to keep you by my side. All I need to do is get sick.”

“You got Katherine to take care of you!” said Bella boldly and rushed out of the room.

“How are you going to go to the hospital? There is no vehicle to take you there,” shouted Charles from inside the room. “You will have to wait for Ziv to return.”

He got out of the room and went after her. Bella stopped and turned around.

“Promise you will take me to her.”

“Only if you promise to take care of me when I get sick,” he said.

“Can you cut the fifties Hollywood act? Stop behaving like this is a stupid romantic comedy. Plus, even if I wanted to take care of you, Katherine would probably not allow that.”

“You’re my legal wife. I’m sure you can show her who the boss is.”

“For what purpose? I’m fed up with all this! Let’s say I’m stupid enough to take care of you, you will only shove me away the moment you get back on your feet!”

“It’s up to you to determine how I am going to treat you. Things could be better if you weren’t so strung up.”

Charles reached out to hold her hand. Maybe they were not in love but that couldn’t stop them from holding hands. Bella had to admit that she liked the gentle side of Charles. At moments like this, she could tell that she was not over Charles entirely. She still had a crush on him. One second of tenderness from Charles’s side would make her instantly forget all the bad moments.

Just then, they heard the sound of the car engine. Ziv had come back.

“We must go to see Dora,” said Bella.

“If you want to see Dora, you need to pay the price,” said Charles.

“No problem. As long as there is no accident on the way to the hospital,” she said.

The hospital was just a few miles away from the factory. Moreover, Ziv had added the hospital's position on the GPS; it wouldn’t be trouble for Charles to find it.

Bella didn't expect that he would drive so fast. The trees in the landscape were a blurry image and the wind blowing through the window hurt her ears.

The last time he drove so fast was when Katherine was missing. This time it was because he wanted Bella to see her friend as soon as possible.

When Bella arrived at the hospital, Dora had already been taken to the surgery room. She was walking nervously back and forth in the corridor when Edwin called.

He wanted to tell her about Dora’s abduction and the ongoing search for the precise location she was being held.

“You can stop searching for her,” said Bella. “We have already found her.”

“When did that happen?”

The last voice sounded like Nick’s. It seemed that he was in the same room as Edwin. Bella was now baffled. How could Edwin and Nick know each other?

“Is she okay?” asked Edwin.

“We took her to a hospital not far from the place we found her. Can you ask Carl to contact me? He will surely want to hear about Dora.”

“What’s the name of the hospital? I can bring him there.”

“It’s Saint Anna’s. Located near the twenty-fourth highway.”

“All right. I will drive him there.”

“Who was that?” asked Charles when Bella hung up. These words made Bella nervous. How could she explain that she was talking to Edwin? Because Charles had demanded so, Bella had blacklisted Edwin’s phone. He wouldn’t be very pleased to hear that Bella was receiving his calls.

Any attempt to explain the reason she was talking with Edwin would be of no use. Little did it matter to Charles that she was talking to Edwin for the sake of Dora. The only thing that matter to him was that she had broken her promise.

“The only way to contact Dora’s boyfriend was through Edwin,” explained Bella.

“Right. And now they’re going to show up here?”

“Yeah.”

Bella was preparing herself for a fight but Charles seemed to calm down. This was not the kind of reaction she was used to.

“Aren’t you angry?” she asked.

“I don’t want to show my anger because that will upset you. I don’t object to you having the right to choose your own friends. Only you must keep in mind that Edwin has bad intentions. Better to steer clear from him.”

“I removed Edwin from my blacklist because I wanted to contact Dora’s boyfriend, Carl and the only way to do what was through Edwin. Carl's cafe is very close to Edwin's restaurant and they know each other. There is nothing else to it. I promise."

“I understand,” said Charles. “When people get sick they always want to be close to their loved ones.”

With these words, he grabbed Bella from the shoulders and laid a kiss on her lips.

His unexpected move must have startled Bella. She pushed him back as if he was a total stranger.

Charles didn’t like being rejected. His face darkened and a sinister glow appeared in his eyes.

“You’re supposed to be my wife,” he said.

“You had better stop making fun of me.”

“What do you mean by those words?”

“Remember that time under the under the pine? When you kissed Katherine and told me you didn’t love me. I was also your wife back then. Or that other time when I was stupid enough to stand in front of a shooting gun to protect you but you only wanted to take care of Katherine. I was hoping that in the case we could not be lovers we could at least be friends but even that is impossible.”

Charles did not know what to say.

“I promised you I would do the test tube, don’t worry, I have not changed my mind. You don’t need to pretend that you love me.”

“How about you Bell, do you still love me?”

Bella shook her head without hesitation.

“I can't afford to show my love. I dare not to love and I don’t love you anymore!”

“What if I say that I love you?”

“I would say that there is something wrong with your head.”

Charles’s heart sank with those words.

“So you don’t believe me?”

Of course, she didn’t believe him. When she loved him so much before, he was not willing to tell her that he loved her. With Katherine between them, how could she ever believe his words?

“My Lord, there should not be love between us. If I am just a surrogate and you already have a wife on Vancouver Island, how can there be any love between us? I don’t want to cause any problems between you and Miss Katherine.”

“Don’t you see that I have always loved you?”

Charles was telling the truth, but Bella could not believe his words any longer.